Here’s something I have a lot of experience with. You can grow anything in a pot, although some plants do better than others. Let me show you what I’ve learned over the years.
I apologize for temporarily turning this site into You Grow Girl: The Amaryllis Story, but I promise you I have more posts on other topics on the go. Until then, as promised, here are a few photos of the ‘Green Dragon’ amaryllis.
And here are the flowers with red streaks down the centre of each petal. As previously mentioned, I don’t believe this is a bulb mix-up, but rather some kind of variation that occurred. I quite like it!
Back in November, I wrote about receiving a green amaryllis from a friend (it’s just starting to bloom) and mentioned another variety that I was coveting called ‘Green Dragon.’ Well, I went and bought that one, too. Or rather, I bought three.
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This little rosemary is ‘Blue Boy’ a compact variety that grows into interesting no-work bonsai shapes in a pot. I originally purchased several of these as table decoration and parting gifts for people who attended the Grow Great Grub book launch party back in February. I even took one home myself. And then I lost it. I have absolutely no idea what happened to that plant. It just disappeared. By then I had fallen in love with this little plant, so I bought another.
The plant in this picture is ‘Blue Boy 2: The Sequel” and miracle of miracles it didn’t up and walk away. It even made it here to the new house. So far so good.
As of today it is still outside, up against the house where it gains some warmth from the brick. This is unusual for my part of the world. I always leave my rosemary plants outside until just after a hard frost, but then I bring them in for the winter. I learned this secret to their success on my first trip to Portland, Oregon. I’ve been twice, both times in the month of February when it is cold, wet and blah. Rosemary grows very, very well in Portland. It’s not unusual to see plants that have grown into massive bushes and hedges.
Since those trips I take my cue as to when to bring my rosemary indoors based on how cold and wet it was there. Rosemary does not like how dry and warm it gets inside our homes during the winter months. Keeping them happily hydrated can be a struggle. As long as they seem happy, I try to leave my plants outside until the last possible minute, because once they come indoors it’s a bit of a production to keep them going until spring.
So far fall in Toronto has been relatively mild. I went out this morning after the rain to check on my remaining potted plants that are still outdoors (and shoo away digging squirrels). It felt a lot like Portland on those February trips. Even my calendula is still going and is about to bust out another bloom!
This year I have also been gifted with an unheated sunporch that is doubling as a cold greenhouse. I could put my rosemary in there and be done with it, but I’m keeping this one outside as an experiment to see what I can get away with. Although, come to think of it, I should be experimenting with the average rosemary plant and keeping the special one in the safer, protected spot.
I think I’ll go do that right now. Things are good right now, but I don’t want to have to go back for ‘Blue Boy 3: The Reckoning’ should the weather take a turn for the worse.
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Beautiful Tricolor Sage.
My tenth and last Globe & Mail Kitchen Gardening article for the 2010 growing season is set to be published this coming Saturday. It is on growing and eating cardoons, an Italian delicacy that I experimented with this year.
Until then, here’s a timely piece that was published in the Saturday paper on August 27, 2010. Even though the hardy garden sage begins producing leaves very early in the growing season, I most associate its warm aroma with the fall. Sage and squash is a classic combination. I suggest steeping some in oil to drizzle on top of warm squash soup or mash. Bloody good stuff.
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Warm and pungent, common garden sage is a classic culinary herb most associated with the flavours of the fall harvest – and now is a great time to plant it. Get yourself a year-old transplant on discount at an end-of-season sale and you should have a small bounty just in time to add to Thanksgiving stuffing, steep in lightly warmed olive oil or drizzle on top of a hearty squash soup.
The sage family is huge, but only a few are edible and even fewer still are cold-hardy enough to survive winter across most of Canada. Like other Mediterranean herbs, they like a sunny spot in the garden and prefer poor, dry soil that drains freely. Keeping their “feet” or roots from stagnating in moist soil is the secret to keeping them alive year-round, especially in climates considered slightly out of their zone. Another trick is to plant sage in the shelter of a warm wall, where it will have the greatest chance of survival.
Whatever you do, resist the urge to fertilize at planting time – or at any time for that matter. Culinary sages grown in rich soil tend to lose their spicy edge and can turn out rather bland leaves that are too “soft” and pest-prone. Otherwise they’re a pretty foolproof plant. My biggest hurdle each year is a mid-summer bout of a fungal disease called powdery mildew that is caused by high humidity around the leaves. Well-draining soil will go a long way to prevention, but, since you can’t control the weather, try plucking out excess foliage (and eating it, too) to increase airflow.
The most common variety (Salvia officinalis) is also the toughest of the bunch. Don’t prune it now. Wait until early spring and cut into the green growth only – never go into the woody stems. At its worst, hard pruning can kill the plant or at least prevent it from flowering – and the edible, slightly sweet flowers are one of the best reasons for growing your own. Toss a few into a spring salad or chop them up and infuse into softened butter or vinegar.
Beyond the common type, the remaining culinary sages won’t live past a year in most Canadian gardens, but are still well worth growing for their unique foliage and varied flavours. ‘Berggarten‘ tastes a lot like common sage but is much prettier, with very broad, oval leaves and a low, densely compact growth habit. ‘Purpurascens,’ ‘Tricolor‘ and ‘Golden’ a.k.a. ‘Aurea’ are the best choice for containers, as they stay compact and adapt well to cramped quarters. In fact, you can even bring one indoors to overwinter on a sunny windowsill for fresh sage year-round.
For something even more unusual, try growing a tropical sage such as ‘Pineapple’ (Salvia elegans) or ‘Fruit’ sage (Salvia dorsiana). Both grow edible, sticky leaves and bold flowers with a fruity, sweet taste that is most often used to make tea or garnish desserts. I’m currently hot on Autumn sage (Salvia greggii), a southwestern salvia that produces delectable, nectar-filled flowers in a wide range of interesting colours from subtle peach to hot pink and the deepest, darkest burgundy. I find the highly aromatic leaves are too bitter to eat, but so delicious to run your hands over on a grey winter day when you can use a boost in spirit and a reminder of the spring to come.
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I love this pot I photographed at Paul and Uli’s garden in Etobicoke a few month back. It uses a tender Kalanchoe as the centre feature and is stuffed full of tender echeveria (the frilled varieties are always my favourite), and pencil cactus (lower right).
This is a pot anyone can grow as long as the potting soil has a bit of grit added to it to help it drain well. Unfortunately, none of these plants will overwinter outdoors in cold climates, but they settle back indoors with little fuss.
I don’t even bother upending the roots. I just cut the stems, let them heal over for a few days (forming a callus over the cut end) and then stick them into some sandy soil. They reroot easily, and cutting them back in this way prevents those long and scraggly bare stems that are inevitable with these plants as they grow and drop their older leaves.
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