Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs to cook with and it makes such a difference when it’s fresh! I’ve started some from seed this year but I’m also propagating some from cuttings in hopes of getting a head start.
Rooting Geranium Cuttings in Water
For the past three years I’ve tried overwintering my own geraniums. This year they spent the winter in our basement guest bedroom. Honestly, this wasn’t their best year. I decided to give some water cuttings a try and they’ve rooted so quickly! I’ll be potting these up here this week and starting another batch. I usually root my cuttings in whatever jar I’ve got lying around. Recently I purchased this propagator and I love that it looks decorative on my counter top!
This Week in the Greenhouse: Overwintering Geraniums
January. Finally. I’ve been anxiously anticipating the new year and the progression of the seasons. I have known for a long time how the feeling of potting mix, or the weight of a good pair of pruning shears melts stress and lightens my mood. Between the pandemic, quarantines, restrictions, and politics that have overwhelmed me this year I found escape in my garden. It became a haven for me and my family as we weathered the spring, summer, and fall in our own paradise. I began to feel the absence of garden therapy as the brisk days turned more chilly and even more as the snow fell and icy crystals coated my branches.
So in this new year and new beginning I’m finding a new sense of calm and hope when I walk out to the greenhouse to take a deep breath and check on my plants.
This is the first year we’ve heated the greenhouse all winter {I’ve got a post on heating the greenhouse coming soon}. On cold, sunny days it’s amazing to walk inside and find temperatures over 65 degrees when we are in the 20’s outside.
January felt like a milestone in the greenhouse. Up until now the greenhouse has soley been harboring plants to overwinter, I haven’t been actively growing. Enter the overwintered geraniums.
This fall before our temperatures dipped below freezing I took about half of my geraniums to experiment an overwintering technique. I dug up my geraniums from my hanging baskets and containers, rinsed the soil from their roots, trimmed them so they were about 4-6″ tall and placed them upside down in individual paper bags. I stored the bags in a cool basement closet and waited for the calendar to read 2021.
When I opened the bags this past Saturday I was pleased to find firm, green stems, and even some pale new growth! I soaked the roots in water for a while and then potted them up. I’m hoping the early start will allow me to take and root some additional cuttings.
Ornamental Kale & the Benefits of Perennial Foliage Plants in the Garden
We just couldn’t stay away. They say that the completely un-February like weather we’ve been having lately will disappear for a few days of rain and snow and below 50 degree weather. But even with that forecast on the horizon we couldn’t help ourselves, we had to go to the garden center to get some ideas and soak ourselves in the fragrance of the greenhouse. I can never get over that smell of fresh potting soil and sweet blossoms. There are few things more thereputic than the sound of running water and the smell inside a greenhouse.
While we were perusing their selection of early spring bedding plants we came across the ornamental kale, in which my daughter was immensely interested.
As she plucked a few leaves off and immediately tried to shove them in her mouth I explained that this was ornamental kale, and that we weren’t going to eat this stuff today. Although it’s technically edible, it’s not as tasty as the stuff we buy in the grocery store. She looked at me a little confused {as did the few folks around me as I explained kale to a 9 month old}, and we went along softly touching the ruffled texture of their leaves without popping them in our mouths.
It’s no secret the flowering plants are show stoppers in the garden. Big and colorful blooms can be eye-catching, sweet smelling additions to a garden, but I often prefer the understated beauty of foliage plants. Although they aren’t as flashy as blooming plants, they can provide texture and unity to planting beds. I like to think of them as the backup singers without whose shoo bop bops the song of my landscape wouldn’t be complete.
The supporting foliage of ornamental kale will dwindle once the weather heats up around late May, but here’s a few perennial foliage plants that can provide a beautiful backdrop for both perennial and annual blossoms.
Succulent Container Gardens at Disneyland
A few weeks ago I was at the happiest place on earth. We traveled to Disneyland with my parents, five siblings, and niece. It had been over three years since we’d all been on vacation together, and it was a blast. Disneyland is magical, there’s no question about that. I believe part of the magic comes from attention to detail, specifically in their planting.
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Container Gardens at Gardener Village
I have a May birthday. But even better than having a birthday during the month that the official growing season starts in Utah, I have an end of May birthday. This means that the wisteria is blooming, calibrachoa and potato vine are starting to creep down the sides of planted containers, and lilacs have just stopped blooming but viburnums are still going strong.
When I was growing up anticipation of my birthday was always coupled with that of the end of the school year. Now that I am relatively “grown up” and I teach school the excitement of the end of the school year is even more intensified even more. This might be because this was my very first year teaching high school. or maybe because I’m leaving for Disneyland the first of June. I’m guessing a combination of both. Which, lets be honest, do not sound like things that a normal 23 year old is excited about on their birthday. But hey, that’s just how much I love Disneyland.
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How to Grow Dahlias
Its been a while. Between attending night classes to get my teaching license and trying to wrap up my first year teaching high school its been a little bit hectic. But school is out in a week and a half so there are no more excuses.
I’m going to write about something I’ve been meaning to write since last summer: Dahlias. I had a childhood friend whose mother grew fantastic dahlias under their bay window. The blossoms ranged in color from bright pink to fiery orange. Some blooms were small, others spanned about eight inches across. Time passed and I had mostly forgotten about this vibrant, flowering tuber until a trip to the Madrid Botanical Gardens.
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How to Take Care of Your Air Plant- Tillandsia
All through high school and into college I worked at a beautiful garden center. The owner’s sister managed the greenhouse. I spent countless hours learning how to properly water hydrangeas, and trim angel vine topiaries. Upon return from a buying trip in California, she brought me an air plant and a 100 year old chunk of grape wood to display it on. Sadly, my air plant wasn’t long lived. Because it requires so little care, air plants can be easily forgotten. The waterings were so infrequent that I missed them all together, and it was up on an obscure shelf where the air plant easily went unnoticed.
Fast forward to last weekend. I got my hands on a beautiful piece of cholla cactus with the idea of decorating my coffee table. I thought back to Christine and my 100 year old grape wood and decided to give another air plant a try. I drove up to Cactus and Tropicals, a nursery that specializes in houseplants, to purchase the perfect Tillandsia. With the hopes of keeping this air plant alive, I’ve researched Tillandsia and its care requirements.
So… air plants or Tillandsia grow the best in humid environments. Now my apartment in Orem, UT is anything but humid. The good news is that humidity can be falsified. By lightly misting the air plant once or twice a week, or soaking it in a bowl of water every two weeks, the plant can survive in drier climates.
Tillandsias prefer bright, filtered light. Direct light from window sills are is a definite no. Instead try place your plant a few feet away from a bright window.
Because air plants survive without soil, they can be attached to pretty much anything. Branches of driftwood, cholla cactus, manzanita, or grape wood are great decorative options. You can also use sea shells, rock, or glass terrariums. Air plants can be mounted using a non water soluble glue or silicone caulk.
Online Plant Catalogs
I love shopping at my local garden center. Supporting my community’s economy is just one benefit of this style of shopping. The other reason is much more selfish. When I venture to my favorite garden center I get to wander through displays of arborvitaes and knock out roses. I never make a quick trip to my favorite nursery, I’ll spend an hour or more meandering down the rows of perennials, looking at wave petunias and listening to the babbling of fountains. A purchase as simple as a packet of seeds or a bag of planting mix turns into a quest for design inspiration as a stroll, very slowly, towards the cash register.
But…. If you, like me, are living in a climate where nurseries are not open year round you can run into some problems. Lack of seeds to start in March, or limited stock and supply when garden centers emerge from hibernation in early spring can be frustrating. There is a solution. Join me on a walk through a virtual nursery open 365 days a year 24/7. Welcome to the world of Burpee.
I check my mailbox religiously this time of year for the Burpee catalog, but there is really no need to wait. Their website is more interactive, informative, and easy to use. At www.burpee.com you can browse through their offerings of vegetables, flowers, perennials, herbs, and fruit. They even offer organics and heirloom varieties. Under each of these categories you’ll find new plant varieties, some Burpee exclusives that you’ll only find on their site or in their catalog. This year I’m looking forward to trying…..
Burpee offers both seeds and started plants, giving you either the satisfaction of beginning your own garden, or a jump start on the season. I’ve never had many concerns with ordering seed online. I’ve known that when the seed arrived I could plant them at my leisure. Growing plants were an entirely different matter. I worried about trying to time my order and shipping with appropriate planting times for my zone. Burpee takes away all of those worries and concerns. They delay shipping for your products until the appropriate planting time for your zone.
Log on to Burpee.com, take a walk through the veggies and meander through the perennials. I’m sure you’ll find inspiration, just like in your favorite garden center. The only thing missing will be the smell of honeysuckle, the crunch of gravel, and the sound of fountains.
*all photos from www.burpee.com
Mediterranean Succulent Containers
I’ve been excited to write about succulent containers since I snapped the above picture outside a cathedral in Moneglia, Italy. This tiny town, set picturesquely on the Italian Riviera, was full of succulent inspiration. Outoor cafes, storefronts, and the beautiful brick archways that lead to the beach all sported succulent plantings. Its a less common style for containers, where full blossomed beauty is prevalent. The stark, geometric appearance has come to be associated with “modern” design. But instead of considering them modern, why not think of them as Mediterranean? Their simplicity emulates all things Mediterranean, with few blooms and an emphasis on texture. Water wise and full-sun loving, succulents thrive in containers providing maximum impact for minimal effort. There’ll be no need for dead heading or heavy fertilizing here, just a willingness to venture from petunias and marigolds.
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