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The
Martha's Vineyard Times is a weekly publication.
April 14 - April 20, 2005 Edition
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Garden
Notes
Between downpours we are all so eager to get going in the garden. After cleaning up the winter's damage which occurred most seriously on hollies and other broadleaf evergreen shrubs, and routine pruning, and raking the lawn, many gardeners are straining at the leash to do some planting. We think immediately of peas, lettuce, and annuals, like cosmos and nasturtiums, when we want to plant. Some who are newer to gardening find terms such as “annual,” “biennial,” “herbaceous perennial,” “new wood,” “old wood,” and so on, confusing. Their use is really to organize our thinking about groups of plants and to help us to know what to expect from them, so I hopefully encourage you to learn to understand and use these terms. What's what in the garden A quick primer reminds us that annuals are the plants that grow, bloom, and set seed all in one season, like zinnias and snapdragons. (But, you question, some years my snapdragons winter-over! The explanation is that in our planting zone a plant may be used as an annual while being in fact a short-lived perennial with good cold tolerance.) A biennial is a plant that is sown and grown the first season but blooms and sets seed the second, after which it usually, but not always, dies. A good example would be digitalis, or foxglove. A perennial is a plant that comes back year after year, and a herbaceous (sound the 'h') perennial is one whose top dies down completely, like daylilies. Another category is a perennial, such as a tree peony, that leaves a woody part above ground from one season to the next; sometimes they are classed as sub-shrubs. As with all rules and categorizations, there are plants that are the exception, but that is where the gardener's increasing experience and knowledge help so much. Our horticultural appetites have brought us plants from all over the globe, from every imaginable climate and habitat; sometimes they are just quirky and don't conform to the rules. Even our climate doesn't always abide by the rules these days. Award-winners named In an earlier winter column I wrote about the Fleuroselect award winners. Another similar organization is the All-America Selections (AAS), which names annuals, bedding plants and vegetables of merit. This year's award-winning annuals are the following. Gaillardia aristata 'Arizona Sun' flowers the first year. The compact 8- to12-inch plant has three-inch mahogany red flowers with bright yellow petals. Vinca (syn. Catharanthus spp.) 'First Kiss Blueberry' has large, two-inch single violet blue blooms. Heat and drought tolerant plants will be about 11 inches tall and spread 16 inches. Zinnia 'Magellan Coral' has a fully double brilliant coral five- to six-inch bloom. Plants reach 15 to17 inches tall and spread 15 to19 inches. It has a superior flower quality and color. There are no bedding plant selections in this year's AAS, but the following are the AAS vegetable award winners. Eggplant F1 'Fairy Tale' is a petite two-and-one-half-foot tall and wide miniature eggplant. Its fruits are sweet violet/purple elongated oval fruits 49 to 51 days from transplant. Tomato F1 'Sugary' produces sweet, oval-shaped fruit in grape-like clusters on semi-indeterminate vines 60 days from transplant. Winter squash F1 'Bonbon' grows boxy dark green fruits that have sweet orange flesh loaded with vitamin A. Transplant to harvest is 81 days. Look for these in seed catalogues and garden centers. Not quite annuals A growing category of useful plants at our garden centers is that of tender perennials used as annuals or bedding plants, the so-called temperennials. (The great mother of all temperennials is the familiar geranium, or pelargonium.) Some that I find extremely useful are expanding ranges of diascia, Fuchsia, calibrachoa (Million Bells,) coleus, phlox, heliotropum, angelonia and osteospermum: many colors and growth habits are newly added. These are plants, many of them perennial in their warm native habitats, which are sold individually in four-inch pots. Indefatigable plant hunters have sourced them to fill our window boxes, containers, and beds with reliable, summer-long bloom or colorful foliage. Many are patented or “propagation-is-prohibited” plant material, where the retail nursery pays a royalty for the rooted cuttings. This is actually an expensive direction for plant material to take in terms of the consumer and I often find myself deploring it; but it has helped many commercial growers increase their profits to the point where some of the risks inherent to the business can be compensated for. Springtime chores await On the ground out in the garden, continue to rake out the beds or to remove debris by hand where the perennial and/or bulb tops are fragile. Then weed, cultivate, and redo the edges. This is pleasant to do now, while the soil is moist and easy working. My personal opinion about plastic or metal edging products is that they are far more bother than they are worth. They are a good deal of trouble to install but impossible to re-insert into the ground when they are ejected by frost action, without pulling them out and starting from scratch. I think it is better to buy a good edging tool or flat spade, put a good edge on it and then employ it from time to time throughout the season. Cut back perennial grasses and side dress with fertilizer. Look at lavender and thymes with a critical eye for pruning back to promote bushiness. Cut back nepeta and pull away dead chive and daylily foliage. Daylilies and Siberian iris can be divided. We can cut back the woody perennial/sub-shrub category (caryopteris, perovskia, buddleia and potentilla) now, bearing in mind that unexpected freezes might prove to be disastrous, as happened in spring 2004. Prune out dead or otherwise expendable canes from hydrangeas - as the buds enlarge it becomes harder and harder to do anything around the plants without knocking them off. Prune roses and inspect for dead or discolored canes. Prune back to a good bud that faces outward. Train or shape clematis, trumpet, and climbing hydrangea vines. This is a good time to apply horticultural oil sprays against fall cankerworm and winter moth larvae. Add composted manure or peat moss to perennial beds and re-mulch bare spots in shrub borders. |
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