Many people want to create a beautiful outdoor space where they can spend time with family and friends. But some of us want to dig deeper—creating a garden that also rewards us with easy-to-grow edibles like Raspberry Shortcake™, a dwarf, thornless variety that does especially well in a container, herbs for cooking, bouquet-worthy cut flowers, and by selecting plants that provide shelter and food for essential pollinators, helps to ensure a healthier planet. Here are some tips and tricks to get you growing.
|
PLANT SAVVY April 2015 |
|---|
Best Soil Starts
It’s a fact! Plants grown in nutrient-rich soils are healthier, with stronger root systems. In our nurseries, we amp-up our soil mix by adding mycorrhizae, a beneficial fungus. You can continue the healthy start by generously mixing compost into your own garden soil. We like the great tips from Gardenista on composting indoors and outdoors.
Plants for Cut Flowers
Summer’s all about vases stuffed with flowers right from the garden. This season plant prolific cut-flower favorites like Knock Out® roses (pest and disease resistant and self dead-head, too) or famously fragrant lavender which attracts important pollinators, and is waterwise, too.
Upcycle Your Plant Pots
Our familiar green pots are extra sturdy and avid gardeners find they have quite a few empties lying around. We asked our Facebook fans how they use them and got plenty of great ideas. As an outdoor dog toy…to hold golf balls and tennis balls… and sandcastle bucket at the beach. Upcycle items that you used to toss in the trash!
A Better Pomegranate
Plant an Angel Red® pomegranate tree this spring for a summer of bright orange flowers and a fall crop of sweet fruit. This newer variety produces a bounty of large, bright-red fruit with a higher juice content and yummy sweet-tart seeds. This small tree (10 feet high and wide) is fantastic for arid climates and is drought-tolerant once established. Antioxidant rich pomegranate fruits will last up to two months in the refrigerator.
Moving Pollen
Who doesn’t love to see dainty, colorful butterflies and buzzing bees in their garden? Two powerful pollinator magnets are Baby Pete™ Lily of the Nile, a dwarf variety that blooms earlier and longer than other varieties, and salvia, an easy to grow, very waterwise attractant for hummingbirds and bees.
Go Au Naturel
A recent trend we love for eco-friendly gardens—leave about 10 percent of your yard uncultivated and let it grow wild. Just leave it be and see what native plants and wildlife show up. It may be an ideal spot to plant milkweed for monarch butterfly caterpillars to feed on.
-
A Rose by Any Other Name…
Just isn’t a Flower Carpet! These easy-care groundcover roses turn twenty this year, so we’re giving away 15 Flower Carpet® roses to celebrate. Just pin some dazzling rose images and you might win. Contest ends April 14.
-
Water Right
When you first plant your fruit trees and berry shrubs, you’ll want to deep water them regularly during the first year until their roots become established. But there are some tricks you can try for drought areas. Learn more about watering!
-
Increase your Bounty
Bountiful Blue® blueberry is a low chill variety that produces plenty of juicy sweet berries. To increase your yield, plant a second variety of blueberry, keep the soil acidic by mulching with coffee grounds, and water regularly. Planting in a container can help with soil and water needs.
-
Using Beneficials
Choose plant varieties that have been bred to be more pest resistant, and you won’t need to use so many chemicals. Deploy beneficial insects like lady bugs, lacewings and praying mantises that get rid of other pests like we do at our nurseries. Find out more about our methods for growing healthy plants.
-
Showstopper
Compact and gorgeous, Scarlet Torch bottlebrush shrub had them buzzing at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show. Low-water, evergreen and smothered in early spring with brilliant flowers that attract hummingbirds, this dense shrub also provides nesting cover for birds. Check it out!
SHARE:
| Change your subscription settings here. |