Flowers

February 18, 2007

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Lilac FAQs

Guest post by Emira Mears

I saw a comment pop up on an old post of mine from last May about Lilacs that I thought I would pull out and do my best to address here. The comment, or rather question was about a healthy seeming lilac bush that doesn’t seem to be producing much in the way of blooms (or perhaps any). I did a bit of research into this as lilacs are one of my absolute favourites and I do worry a bit that the lack of hands on care that I give our lilac will result in a decline in the plants health. There have been (and continue to be) a lot of plants we inherited in this garden that I need to learn more about. Anyway.

From the reading and web searching I’ve done I can contribute the following info and a few more questions for any of you out there who have more knowledge or tricks up your sleeves:

Lilacs apparently don’t need heavy pruning but can do with a bit of thinning out. I know that my own bush sends off suckers and and new shoots a few feet away from the main bush as well as in the centre clump, pruning back some of these will apparently help the plant thrive as it is a heavy feeder or nutrient sucker so cutting back on some of the greedy shoots is a good idea. From what I’ve read I was a bit unclear as to when one should do this, so I’m not sure if it’s a Spring prior to blooming thing or a Summer post-blooming activity. Do chime in if you know. (And I should mention everything I have read has specifically pointed out a need to not over prune, so don’t go too nuts).
Cutting off finished blooms is apparently one way to encourage a healthy crop of flowers the next year. Now if you’re not getting any flowers that won’t help, but I do know that this is something I have not done at all really, but have now logged into my garden journal for this June/July to take care of.
Soil conditions: limey. Or so says the reading I’ve done. You can spread dolomite lime or other limey additives in November in my climate (zone 8ish/BC west coast).
Dividing or moving: Here’s where my big questions come in. I’m a bit worried about the location of my own lilac (between a healthy growing laurel hedge and a garage as seen in the photo there) and that lack of sunlight due to the physical constraints (it does face south so still gets lots of sun) will eventually cause it to suffer. If I wanted to take some of the offshoots and move them to a different spot in the yard, when would be the best time to do this? Or, say if I wanted to move the whole bush?

If any of you have any other tips for healthy lilac blooms do pass them on. I know I’m keen to do all I can to keep those gorgeous beauties bountiful each May.

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February 2, 2007

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Your Questions Answered: Gift Orchids

A constant stream of questions comes flooding through my inbox on a regular basis. I try and answer as many as I can but it’s quite an arduous task. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe I should start answering these questions publicly where everyone can benefit from the information or add their own thoughts and experiences to the mix. Please forgive me. I can be a little slow at times. This first question comes from an advice column I began writing last year for the now defunct and sorely lost Budget Living Magazine.

Question: I get orchids as gifts all the time but promptly kill them? How do I care for them?

Orchids have cultivated a reputation as difficult, but your plants are probably Phalaenopsis or moth orchids, a trendy gift-store variety that are surprisingly living room friendly.

The secret to indoor gardening is all about approximating a plant’s natural habitat in your home. Moth orchids are tree-dwelling jungle plants native to tropical regions where the air is steamy and warm. Setting up a tree in your living room is not necessary!

Grow It: Your plant will be comfortable away from direct light in a room with a steady temperature around 70º F. If you are comfortable so is your orchid. Grow your plant in a terra cotta pot with holes in the bottom and specially prepared orchid bark for good drainage. Give it a weekly 30 second dunk, pot and all, in a lukewarm bath. Allow the top of the soil to dry out between baths to avoid over-watering. Orchids thrive on lots of humidity. A simple humidity tray will do the job of fancy gadgetry. Line a leak-proof tray with an inch of aquarium gravel or river stones. Add water to just below the surface of the rocks and set the orchid pot on top without pushing the pot into the rocks. Constant “wet feet” can rot the roots — the trick is to provide a warm sauna rather than a long soak.

Go Further: Moth orchids are unique in that they can rebloom on the same spike. Most other orchids bloom only once per year. To encourage another round, cut dead flowers off just before the next joint on the stem. You should see new buds in 8-12 weeks. Once the flowers have gone, cut the entire stem off close to the plant base. Your plant will flower again before next spring. Enjoy!

For More Information

1. Wilma & Brian Tittershausen. Gardener’s Guide to Growing Orchids: A Complete Guide to Cultivation and Care, London: Anness Publishing Limited, 2001.
2. Orchid Lady

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January 28, 2007

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Grow This: Paphiopedilum Orchid

Living room gardeners needn’t be limited to corner-store variety orchids. Paphiopedilum, aka ‘slipper’ orchids (not to be confused with the cold hardy North American Lady’s Slipper) are an exotic tropical that produce a stunning, solo blossom sometime between late fall and spring. Each bloom lasts as long as 2-3 months and many varieties have dramatic, mottled foliage providing interest in between blooms.

Grow It: In the wild, Paphiopedilums (Paphs for short) grow underneath trees where they received indirect, filtered light, making them the perfect match for those of us cursed with small windowed apartments. Look for yellowing leaves as a sign of too much light. Repot your paph every two years with light and airy orchid bark. Give your plant a quick soak, pot and all, in room-temperature water. The bark mix should never dry out but should not be constantly soggy either. Choose a hardy hybrid variety like ‘Maudiae’, or ‘Gold Dollar’.

Check out The Orchid Mall to find a local vendor or The American Orchid Society for more information.

See more photos of my favourite paph: Paphiopedilum Maudiae ‘Claire de Lune’ x Minnie May – How’s that for a race horse name!

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January 5, 2007

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Amateur Phenology

So. Ummmm. Who’s a little freaked out by this crazy weather? They say Canada is totally backwards especially for an El Nino year with the west coast all wet and wild and the east unseasonably warm and snow-less. I’ve heard that things are also a bit nutty in parts of the U.S and my Northern California friends are talking about super early magnolia blooms.

Just today I received a frantic phone call from my friend Sarah announcing that she had just spotted two yellow, blooming dandelions on her street. That’s exactly how she said it, “Mark this down: two blooming dandelions, January 4, 2007, Toronto, Ontario.”

Sarah also mentioned that dandelions are known as an indicator of weather patterns. Apparently there are people who record when the dandelions bloom in certain areas. While I do know that this kind of pattern study is called Phenology (as gardeners we are all amateur phenologists in some way), I have been unable to find information relating phenology specifically to dandelions. However, this article states that blooming dandelions indicate when the soil temperature is “… between 50 – 55 degrees. That is the same temperature that soil microbes become active, so dandelion flowers are a nice indicator for when the soil is waking up.”

I truly hope my soil is not waking up.

Actually I’m pretty sure it is. Here’s some photographic evidence:

crocus

The pansies didn’t actually stop. Pansies are quite resilient and will often keep blooming until the hard chill really kicks in. The container plants give up much earlier since they are much more exposed to the cold.

I have also noticed that a lot of other early spring risers are coming up in full force. These include perennials and self-seeding annuals such as: artemisia, globe thistle, anise-hyssop, grasses, and giant red mustard. I am not particularly concerned about the long-term welfare of these hardy plants but am worried about how this will fare for the more delicate of the bunch.

Anyone with further interest on how warming has affected gardening may want to check out this cool map of the U.S (Sadly I could not find a Canadian equivalent) that shows how the hardiness zones have been changed to reflect overall climate change.

{via the You Grow Girl Forums}

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January 1, 2007

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My 2006 Gardening Highlights

I don’t think I’ve ever done a “Best of” gardening list* but it seems about time to get started. I have done a “Things Killed” list but this year I’m going to accentuate the positive. Picking favourites is difficult for someone like me who tends to favour several things at once. Be warned that what’s on my list today might not be on my list tomorrow… or might not have been on my list yesterday.

Favourite Plant: Ack! This was a hard one. My personal gardening practice leans heavily towards the useful. I’m not really into growing flowers unless those flowers are useful to me in some way. Most of the plants I grow can be harvested at some point and used for food, medicine, beauty products, or scent. That said, I really fell madly in love with grasses this year and my favourite is the native Switch Grass (Panicum virgatum). It’s a beautiful and tough native that grows well in a variety of soil conditions. People are also starting to use it as an alternative energy source. So you see it does fall into that usefulness category afterall.

Favourite Vegetable: This was also a tough choice but it would be hard not to say ‘Black Pear’ tomato considering the incredible fuss I made over it back in the summer when it was in season in my garden. Oh god, how I miss slices of fresh tomato served on a fried egg sandwich!

Favourite Herb: Basil has long been my favourite herb period. Of course when I say basil I don’t just mean plain ole’ sweet basil but include the myriad of varieties, flavours, and colours that are available. So we can always safely assume that basil is a perennial favourite and my number one, period.

Getting that out of the way it would seem that I really developed an appreciation for calendula this year. I’ve been gardening in an alternate plot at my community garden over the last few years and this plot is fairly over-run with calendula. Calendula grows as a hardy, self-seeding annual in these parts — once you’ve got it, it’s not hard to keep it. While I pulled lots of plants out, I also left quite a crop in and was able to harvest large handfuls throughout the summer and fall. I decorated the apartment with calendula bouquets, ate lots of fresh calendula leaves and petals, and dried loads of flowers for future use in cooking and hand salves. It’s such a simple plant but it’s usefulness and hardiness has slowly gained my devotion to keeping pockets of it in the garden.

Most Improved: RADISHES I grew successful radish crops! This is such a joke considering that I have long known how to grow radish successfully in theory, yet had failed time and time again when it came to the application of that knowledge. This year I kicked ass and it was radishes all around!

Best Lesson Learned: I finally cracked the nut that is avocado seed growing. I plan to cover this topic extensively in a future article however I will say that after lots of experimentation I have hit on a method that works well and isn’t that silly 70′s era method that involves trying to balance an avocado pit on toothpick stilts. What you end up with is a real, busy tree and not a thin, leggy stem with three leaves on top.

Favourite Garden Book: I’ll admit that Michael Pollan’s “Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education” is not a new book. I started reading it in 2005 but it was early 2006 before the ideas in it had stewed around in my brain long enough to have a real effect on my consciousness. The entire book is about “rethinking our relationship with nature” and it was the starting point for evolving my own ideas about how we can rethink our view of The City from this out-dated and extremely limiting “concrete jungle” concept into a place where we (as a part of nature) can co-exist with nature.

* Turns out that with some digging I found this old list of top 10 houseplants.

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