Easy Propagation Method and Voodoo Lily

Easy propagation method.
When the variegated ivy put out a long shoot of growth last fall, I tucked one end of it into a shorter bowl filled with vermiculite.
Both bowls sat on an east facing windowsill over the winter and were watered infrequently but at the same time. Both containers dried out between watering.

Today, I cut them apart. How easy is that?


VOODOO LILY
When Brent and Becky's Bulbs had their end of the season sale, I bought a Dragon. It was planted in a large pot and stayed in the garden shed over the winter. Here is its bloom as of yesterday.



Paghat says, "Dracunculus vulgaris (aka Arum dracunculus) is variously called the Dragon Arum, Voodoo Lily, Ragons, Snake Lily, Black Arum, Black Dragon, Dragonwort, & Stink Lily. In Greece it is called Drakondia, the dragon or serpent being the long spadex inside the enormous maroon-lipped spathe.It is native to the Balkans, to Mediterranean Europe, Greece, the isle of Crete & the Aegean Islands, all the way to Southwest Turkey. In some places it's a veritable weed in its natural settings, albeit a weed of splendid countenance.Though it looks like it ought to be tropical, it is not; & it transfers to the temperate garden with great ease, doing well in zones 5-8."

Someone took one into a local garden center and asked what it was. A local plant expert said it was a weed and to some people it is a weed because it spreads freely if it likes where it is growing.

If mine made baby bulbs I'll try one in the ground.

Salvias are Blooming with the spring Wildflowers

The wind has been terrific today. This afternoon it rained while I was mowing and then there was dime size hail. Spring has one surprise after another.

While holding the Salvia Greggii Pink Preference (Bustani Plant Farm) for a photo, a bee landed on my hand. They are all over the plants of course and you can actually hear them buzzing while doing the weed pulling. Ah, the joys of gardening.

In the shade garden, native Columbine
has taken hold and is slowly increasing in size as the years go by. We made the garden boundary with stones dug out of a planting hole for a crab apple tree. The bed was made from the contents of the compost pile, plus peat and cottonseed hulls. Every year, we add peat to keep improving the soil conditions.

Another 30 tiny seedlings and larger plants went into the ground today. The seeds of Red Star Hibiscus or rose mallow (Hibiscus coccineus) are getting their first true leaves.

Also the Edamame and cucumbers are sprouting and I think the seed starting is over for now - maybe for this year. We are running out of veggie garden space so I pulled out every other Brussels sprouts plant giving the remaining ones room to spread out a little.

As I was mowing today, I was able to see what looks OK and what needs more work. All in all, it is a pleasure to be outside at this time of year.

What's growing in your garden?

Viburnums by Michael Dirr

This Viburnum beauty is blooming in the back yard next to pink bearded iris and snow peas in flower.


When a plant is easy to grow, with flowers in spring, attractive leaves in the summer, fall color and winter berries, you would expect to see it everywhere.

Viburnums have all of those qualities. Plus they are strong plants with few disease or insect problems. Gardeners can choose Viburnums that grow 2-feet tall or 30-feet tall. The butterfly attracting flowers are usually cream-white but some are pink. Some varieties have shiny leaves, some are leathery and others are velvet textured. Fall leaf color can be red, purple or orange.

The varieties that produce fruit include berries that are orange, red pink, blue or black. To get an abundant supply of fruit, gardeners only have to plant two different types.

These shrubs can be grouped to make a hedge or privacy screen or planted as individuals. Deer are not fond of the leaves though some grazing happens in years when other food is not available.

Viburnums enjoy the slightly acidic soil common in our area. There are varieties that prefer full sun, shade, wet sites and dry soil. Very little pruning is needed except to remove dead or damaged limbs and shaping as desired in the spring after flowering.

A 4-to-6-inch thick mulch of pine needles or other organic material keeps weeds and watering to a minimum. They prefer little fertilizer.

Michael Dirr, author and Georgia professor of all woody plants, has a new 200-page book that covers the specifics of over 100-Viburnums with 400-photographs of new growth, fall leaf color, or berries.

Each plant's mature size, fragrance, attractive bark, growing requirements, place of origin and level of appeal is included. Dirr doesn't pull any punches when pointing out a particular plant's shortcomings and he raves about the best ones.

For the Viburnum collectors, landscapers and growers, propagation methods are given as well as useful information about diseases and insects that can affect Viburnums.

Dirr's wife, Bonnie, is an accomplished artist. She painted lovely illustrations of Viburnums to add to the book's appeal.

The description of a few varieties will help to illustrate their diversity. Look for them in garden centers.

Viburnum Burkwoodii is one of Dirr's favorites because its leaves are beautiful, the 2-inch flowers are fragrant, and it is hardy and adaptable. Burkwoodii has distinctive dark red leaves in the winter. The fruit is blue-black. Burkwoodii tolerates heat and pollution. Likes a moist setting in part-shade. Look for the Mohawk variety. Mohawk has red flower buds that open to white flowers. Its fall color is bright orange to red/purple.

Viburnum utile or Service Viburnum includes some of the most poplar hybrids including Chesapeake, Conoy and Eskimo. Chesapeake has dark green leaves, small white flowers and some black fruit. Conoy is evergreen, 5 feet tall and 8-feet wide. The flower buds are pink and the flowers are white. Leaves turn purple in the winter. Viburnum macrocephalum or Chinese Snowball grows 6 to 15 feet. The unscented flower clusters are 3-to-8-inch balls. Heat tolerant but must be watered, needs sun to produce flowers. Does not make winter fruit. A wild snowball variety, keteleeri, has lace-cap type flowers and fruit in the winter.

Korean Spicebush Viburnum carlessi is the most popular because of its intense fragrance. The flower buds are red and the flowers open to white. It has red leaves in the fall and red berries over the winter. This one cannot take wet soil but every other situation, including shade is acceptable. Grows 4 to 8-feet tall and wide.

Viburnum dentatum or Arrowwood is "one of the most durable Viburnums for general landscape use." Climate, soil, and pH - nothing bothers it. "Plants appear almost bulletproof." Flowers are white, leaves turn yellow and red in the fall. "Amazingly adaptable … great choice for difficult sites." Use as hedge, group, mass planting, screen and foundation plants. The varieties include: Autumn Jazz, Black Forest, Blue Blaze, Blue Muffin, Cardinal, etc.

Dirr describes Viburnum dilatatum or Linden as, "Wow! Spectacular!" Each cultivar has its own qualities. Catskill is 5-feet tall, Asian Beauty has red fall color and cherry-red winter fruit, Cardinal Candy has white flowers and red fruit, Catskill is dwarf and compact with autumn color, Erie grows to 6-feet high with orange-red fall color, Iroquois has cream flowers and scarlet fruit, Michael Dodge has bright yellow fruit and red leaves in the fall, etc.

If you think you have a Viburnum and wonder which one, Cornell University Viburnum identification site is at http://www.hort.cornell.edu/vlb/key/index.html

The book is "Viburnums Flowering Shrubs for Every Season" by Michael Dirr, published 2007 by Timber Press, www.timberpress.com. $40 full price and $26 at online booksellers.


After reading Dirr's book, we added two new Viburnums to our landscape and Blue Muffin is blooming already!

Which Flowers to Plant for Re-seeding and Plants' Bloom Time

Many plants re-seed and provide a full flush of growth and flowers the following year and some are stingy with their reseeding.

These are poppies. It's hard to believe that they will be three-feet tall with vivid flowers in a few months.

Do you have favorite re-seeding annuals? I'm looking for more to plant and would welcome ideas and suggestions.

Among other flowers that make a flower bed glow with color, these annuals re-seed: Phlox, marigold, bachelor button, calendula, coreopsis, spider flower, columbine, hollyhock, Johnny Jump Ups (violas), and ?

Gardeners have luck with many flowers re-seeding. What works for you?

Harvard University has a clever list on their Arnold Arboretum website that identifies plants by bloom time.

Order of Bloom was developed in the 1950s. What a great resource for continuous bloom even though Boston Mass may be in a different cold and heat zone than the one in which your garden grows.

Another plant database online that has good descriptions is at the Mountain States Nursery.

This link will take you there.

Do It Yourself Projects

If you have the energy for a do-it-yourself project, a small patio can be easy to do in time for summer guests and entertaining.
In a corner of the yard that gets shade, we laid concrete cinder blocks and sprayed a brick colored stain on them to give them a better look. It's big enough for a table and 4 chairs where you can relax with coffee in the morning or a book in the afternoon. The photo was taken this morning during a break in the rain.


Did you plant the 2007 plant of the year, Nepeta, last year?
We planted a row Nepeta Walker's Low from Bluestone Perennials last year in the front of our driveway garden. This week it is blooming its head off.
The scent brings honeybees, butterflies and other pollinators into the garden. We need the pollinators for our fruit and vegetables beds.

The pinkish purple flowers in the center of the picture, behind the Nepeta are Dame's Rocket. Last year we had one, this year there are four.

Also blooming in that bed are two types of iris in assorted colors. On the top right of the photo, the little yellow flowers are last year's Red Russian Kale that is flowering.

In the shed there are seedlings of Nepeta Tuberosa that will be planted in a few days after this storm passes. The seeds are from Alpine SeedEx.

I've been afraid to plant them out too early since they are Mediterranean and you know how fickle those plants can be if they get rained on too much.

The strawberry plants are loaded with flowers and fruit. Each time a berry starts to redden, someone takes a bite out of it.

What's growing in your garden?

Spring and Summer Blooming Lilies

BULBS
This year I bought spring and summer blooming bulbs from Brent and Becky's, Easy to Grow Bulbs, Old House Gardens, Van Bourgondien, and a few others including the sale racks at Lowe's. This lollipop lily is one of the ones that came from Easy to Grow. The box of summer flowering bulbs from Old House Gardens was just planted within the past week. They will bloom in the hot days when other flowers are fading from the heat.

So, do you love to plant bulbs like I do? They come up and bloom and usually have long lasting flowers. They make more bulbs that can be divided over the next few years.

Last year the tiger lilies produced seeds that I planted and now they are also coming up.

NATIVES
The Plant Conservation Alliance is a source of information on a variety of topics of interest to gardeners. Lots of information about native plants to browse.

Residents of Maryland are lucky in that the site has a separate link about native plants for wildlife habitat restoration in that state.

This link is to plants for shade, woodlands,wood edges whether wet or dry in the Piedmont Region of Maryland but would apply to other locations as well.

Plants lists like these are helpful in generating ideas for our own yards whether we are planting around a pool, under trees or along a driveway where we want easy to grow flowers. Go native when you can.

Ways to Shape Your Plants

You may have pinched the top growth off of coleus and other ornamental plants to keep them full. We also commonly cut the bottom leaf growth off of tomato plants to bury them several inches into the ground at planting time.

What else do you pinch, prune, trim, coerce into more appealing shapes? Espaliered pear and apple trees are beautiful in the right setting. Thomas Jefferson had his fruit trees trained on wires as a space saving measure.

On a garden tour last weekend I saw Rose of Sharon shrubs being trained into lollipops. How clever to use plants that are easy to grow here and will adapt to pruning and shaping.
The homeowners cut back all but five branches and then put tree wrap around the trunks to block the sun from encouraging growth. The shrubs are between the house and the sidewalk so it is practical to control them.

When they bloom from June to August the flowers will be at eye level as you walk on the sidewalk. If they were not pruned, the shrubs would prevent the placement of the art objects and other ground level planting.

Do you prune to suit the placement of the plant? What kinds of plants?