Growing with Plants

Epic Trillium at the Garden in the Woods

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:48:00 +0000

Yes, that's nurserydude and author Joseph Tychonievich admiring the awesome stock beds of trillium
at the New England Wild Flower Society's Garden in the Woods, in Framingham, Massachusetts

There are days in May when everything comes together like kismet, bright sunshine, blue skies, warm temperatures, migrating warblers, and woodland wildflowers. Today, my good friend Joseph Tychonievich ( from Arrowhead Alpines) visited me, and we spent the day touring my lousy garden, then lunch and a visit to the Garden in the Woods, in Framingham, Massachusetts. Run by the New England Wildflower Society this renowned botanic garden is special enough, but never so special as it is in mid-spring, when the trillium species bloom. Joseph and I could not have planned a more perfect day to hike the trails, and to visit the propagation beds ( where were you Dan Jaffe?! I know, we should have called first). These trillium beds show the fine work of propagator, Dan Jaffe.). Mr. Jaffe was probably resting while his trillium beds bloomed their butts. We stopped to take some photos of the many trillium species, and to catch a few birds - a Rose Breasted Grosbeak and a Baltimore Oriole sang high in the oak canopy.

Trillium grandiflorum in massive clumps.

Joseph's new book which I will be reviewing soon ( as soon as I get on from his publisher) PLANT BREEDING FOR THE HOME GARDENER (2013 Timber Press)sounds more than terrific, it sounds practical and even fun, as just talking about it with Joseph had inspired me want to go try some plant breeding again - something I do every now and then, but not nearly at the level that Joseph does. I hear the book is selling out fast, so be sure to try and order one before it goes into a second edition.

Raising your own varieties from seed has many benefits, and as Joseph and I chatted, I soon realized that we both shared a lot of the same concerns about growth regulators used on annuals and most commercial crops ( most every thing at big box stores) and how this limits performance in the home garden significantly ( it's why many annuals that we buy in-bloom in six packs, fail once planted into our own gardens. Joseph's book will show you step-by-step how to try your own hand at crossing your own annuals and veggies, and even how to develop some of your very own original varieties and selections. Even if you are interested in saving your own seed, this book will be essential. Go find one now!

Back to the trillium species at Garden in the Woods - the stock beds reminded both of us why we want to continue starting our own trillium from seed, yet we joked at the time involved ( sometimes taking more than 5 years to bloom from seed) and we shared hints and secrets about Gibberelic acid, sowing fresh or green seed, and division as alternate methods. Joseph's nursery carries and impressive selection of trillium species ( as well as many other native woodland plants from North America), but it's always fun to see how other people are growing them. One rarely sees any trillium in such numbers, it's a precious and rare site for any garden or plant enthusiast.

Trillium recurvatum

A sessile Trillium cuneatum v. lutea

Trillium cuneatum

Bothe Joseph and I were overwhelmed by some of the selections in the raised stock beds. Clearly, Dan has been doing some creative work here.

Trillium rugelii, one of the nodding trilliums - this one is actually the Southern Nodding Trillium

Trillium flexipes

Trillium grandiflorum cv. multiplex, the double white Wakerobin, or double trillium.

Gotta love my fav, Arisaema thunbergii ssp urashima ( I think, just guessing here, but it is my favorite and I get to see it so rarely). Love those little 'mouse tails' emerging from the spadix.

Japanese Primroses and Bleeding Hearts

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:04:00 +0000

Primula sieboldii selections from our garden ( from two years ago) range from delicate snowflake shapes, to phlox-like pinks, to nodding
geisha types which are so treasured in Japan.

In the great world of primroses, there are hundreds of species, most, unfortunately never make it into our gardens for various reasons, either nurseries rarely carry them, they are simply hard to find, or home gardeners simply don't know about them. The early-blooming delicate woodland primrose, Primula sieboldii from Japan, is one such plant. A species with hundreds of fabulous selections so treasured in Japan where there are clubs, public parks and even events organized around the blooming of this plant, here in America, just try finding even one selection. It takes some work, but there are a handful of nurseries ( mostly on-line sources) who carry this creeping, barely a ground cover but certainly mat-forming perennial primrose. I say - find one, and see for yourself how wonderful this plant is. Then throw away your creeping phlox that everyone has, and raise-the-bar horticulturally in your neighborhood.

I love this lavender veined form. I took this photo two years ago, but sadly, I think we've lost this selection.

Many of our own seedlings are variable, yet being prolific seed producers, each year we save packets of seed
with the hopes of finding even more, better, selections. More-better. Yeah.

Nostalgic plants return year after year, often reminding us of our earliest gardening experiences, and so it is with the common Bleeding Heart, typically found in its pink form, this white selection is less common.

This nodding form is a favorite in Japan, as it expresses a more demure gesture, so appreciated there.
This selection is called 'Pink Geisha'.

Our Primula sieboldii brighten the spring garden, as they grow in woodland-like duff below trees in partial shade.
Like most spring woodland plants, the show is brief, yet spectacular. The foliage remains for most of the summer,
unlike most woodland ephemerals.

Hellebores - a year after dividing

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Tue, 14 May 2013 02:35:00 +0000

I have a soft spot for dark, slate colored selections of Helleborus. This one is a classic Heronswood selection.

Last year, I divided all of my hellebores ( see here how to do it, it is easy!) and this is the best time to do it, right after they bloom ( but the gardening books won't tell you that!). Sometimes, it's best to take a chance and do it. The truth is, in New England, the soil is still damp and rains come every few days, so May is the safest time to divide these somewhat fussy, yet long lived perennials. Here are a few photos which I will bless you with few words, as I need to go outside to cover plants due to a late frost arriving tonight. Fingers are crossed, that it won't be as bad as one 12 years ago ( Christopher Lloyd was visiting here that night when we lost most every oak tree in the forests due to a May 15 frost). Davidia, davidia, davidia - please be safe!

More upright, and early, this Helleborus foetidus has a form that is quite different than other hellebores.

Daphne gets curious with a Bumblebee.

Hosting #gardenchat tonight! 9:00 EST

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:06:00 +0000

Get your gardening questions ready ( and make them interesting!). Tonight, I and a few of my fellow Troy Bilt Saturday6 bloggers will be answering you toughest gardening questions tonight on Gardenchat #gardenchat. This will be be first Twitter event, or is it Facebook too? Guess I'll find out tonight! As soon as I have more info, I will let you know, but this looks like fun and I am so excited to be able to connect with some of you more directly.

Here is a sample way for you to ask us questions :

Tomorrow on #gardenchat Twitter we welcome Dave Townsend (@THGarden) from Growing the Home Garden, Matt Mattus (@MattMattus) from Growing with Plants, and Helen Yoest (@HelenYoest) from Gardening with Confidence : You are invited to join in the conversation with the #Saturday6 sharing gardening tips!

Fill in the blank: The first plant I grew from a seed was ________________.

( of course, for my questions, you can ask something more...challenging, if you want!

Ghost Trees and Rarities

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Mon, 13 May 2013 00:11:00 +0000

The Ghost Tree, or Fabled Dove Tree, Davidia involucrata surprised me this spring, by finally blooming after 15 years.

Perhaps in no other time than that brief moment in May, do I feel as if I live and garden in a true plant collectors garden. Of course, this is certainly more of a plant collectors garden than it is any other sort of garden, but more often then not, to the 'plant collector' himself, the garden can feel a bit too familiar, too predictable, or even - dare I say - ordinary. I don't know about you, but I often forget about plants which I have collected and planted each year, they surprise me "Oh, that's where I planted that!", or "I totally forgot about that tree seedling!". Sometimes, I even scream out with surprise - as if I saw a rare bird ( well, not rare, but I did see a Baltimore Oriole flitting about on the edge of the woods with his bright, orange finest of feathers! He just flew in this week as our spring migration continues, along with my first catbird and house wren).

Gardening books often say that the Davidia looks like it has a bunch of handkerchiefs hanging in it. OK, it's a stretch, but sure is different than most other trees in the garden right now.

The biggest surprise this week was something I have been waiting for - for 16 years - the blooming of our Davidia involucrata, or The Fabled Dove Tree ( or Hankerchief Tree if you like silly names). A true Zone 7 tree, I took a chance in our Zone 5 garden, and planted a young tree 16 years ago. Each year, hoping to see it bloom with it's distinctive white bracts fluttering in the wind on a May day - but I just about gave up, as the tree is now 30 feet tall, and seemed to suffer with nips of frost every other spring. This year, it finally bloomed ( the flowers are actually hidden underneath the white handkerchief-like bracts, looking not unlike blackberries. Rejoice! Introduced from China

Davidia trees are no longer 'rare', but they are something you would need to order online from a specialist nursery, as they are still uncommon. The Davidia is one of those plants with a good story behind it. First described in 1869 it was named after a French missionary, Armand David. Scottish plant hunter Augustine Henry found only a single tree when exploring in China near the end of the nineteenth century, and sent a collected, dried specimen to Kew. In the early part of the 20th Century plant collector Earnest Henry Wilson traveled through China in search for the single tree that Henry found, but discovered that it had been cut down for construction material. He later found a grove of trees, but they were growing on a steep cliff. Eventually, after a boat disaster, and disease, he was able to collect a few specimens to bring back to England.

There are many special selections of Japanese maples ( Acer palmatum) which have snow-white foliage in the spring. I've lost most of the Japanese names for many of the trees I have in my collection, but who cares when they look this nice! My best advice? Plant as many choice Japanese Maples as you can possible afford in your garden, they only
get better with age, never too large, and always graceful.

Some of the variegated Japanese Maples that I have planted near the house, are illuminated at night with spot lights
placed underneath them. Even on a rainy spring day, they glow.

Small trees like Japanese Maples create the perfect shade for many choice woodland collector plants.
Here, my Podophyllum collection grows in the leaf duff and compost under a half-moon maple.

Close-up images in plant catalogs might lead you to believe that these Japanese Maples with variegated foliage
could look sickly or ill, but in the garden, that is not the case - the overall form and color transforms
into a tiered, elegant structure which enhances any small garden.

Another small tree is all about tiers - check out the layered effect created by this variegated Wedding Cake Dogwood, Cornus controversia var. variegata.

Golden trees virtually glow in the spring garden. This Golden Locust, Robinia pseudoacacia 'Frisia'
keeps its bright, chartreuse foliage right until fall.

Planting Celery and Artichokes

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:38:00 +0000

Home grown celery that will be comparable to commercial farm-raised celery is not an easy task for anyone, but with some weekly care ( mostly fertilizer and water), healthy, yet thinner-than store bought, crispy flavor-intense celery can be had throughout a long growing season. Think of home grown celery more as an herb, a seasoning rather than something you would stuff with peanut butter. The greener it is, the more bitter it will be.

Celery and Artichokes are two crops often over-looked by home gardeners, and for a good reason, they are long-growing crops, not particularly easy, and they are not space savers ( although, as you can see in the photo above, I sneak in my celery seedlings into my onion bed!). Both Celery and Artichokes need deep, rich soil and lots of moisture, as commercialy, these are both cool-growing and irrigated crops. So plan on plenty of hose runs, and tri-weekly watering. Still, growing your own is better than supporting commercial growers who are doing God-knows-what to their crops, and then flying them to you. Growing these in your back yard makes far more sense, and, naturally, the results are healthier.

OK, I know - just mention celery to most home gardeners, and they respond "It's just something I don't grow since all I get is bitter, dark green leaves.". It's true that celery as a crop requires lots of fertilizer, rich soil and sunlight, and a copious ( i.e. crazy) amount of constant moisture, to even come near the thick, crispy stemmed type one finds at the market, but don't assume that you cannot grow it at home, it just takes a little planning, and care.
I grow celery because its one of the top 5 toxic vegetables ( commercially, it requires more chemicals than most any other vegetable) but at home, that is unnecessary, aside from a little liquid fertilizer ( or, a lot!), I feel that at least, my home grown celery offers a healthy alternative for a few months to the large, foreign-looking monsters one finds at the market. Here how I do it.

Celery seedlings are set out into the garden after growing from seed, these seedlings are 4 months old, started under lights in January, transplanted into individual pots in the greenhouse, and fertilized weekly to keep them strong. What makes these different than store-bought plants or store bought veggies? I use no growth retardants, no chemical insecticide, and I know exactly what fertilizer I am providing ( 15-16-17 with micro nutrients, and limestone).

Celery takes a long time to grow well, seed must be started early, generally in late January or early February indoors. carefully transplanted, the seedlings are grown on in individual pots ( I use 3 inch plastic pots that I wash out each year, but choose something where roots can spread out and grow while young, for celery has roots like trees, and one wants a good root spread at a young age to avoid tangles and unnecessary disturbance when planting out. I set plants out into the garden in mid-May, and provide them a drink of fertilizer rich in phosphorus and potassium. Water-in well with a good drink of vitamins, and provide plenty of water every week, and before long, you too can be harvesting celery that actually has flavor. On that note, if you want to skip fertilizer all together, grow celery for the leaves alone, which are essential ingredients in home made stocks ( irreplaceable in chicken or vegetable stock) and a flavorful addition to tuna salad. One can pick leaves right through frost.

Fertilizer is essential when growing celery, as this is a crop that demand plenty of nutrition and constant moisture. Blanching is rarely needed with new varieties, but one can still place boards or even better, tar paper cones wrapped around the plant in late August if you want whiter stems (I like the stronger celery flavor, but after harvesting, I place plants in vases of cool water for a day which tempers the bitterness). Remember...bitter means healthy vitamin-rich antioxidants !

PLANTING-OUT ARTICHOKES

An update here on my artichoke project ( in case you are following along). Now planted out into the garden, my plants are positioned 2 feet apart ( a little close, but plant no closer - 36 inches is best). Like celery, artichokes need a consistent and adequate supply of both water and fertilizer. If you are stingy with either, then you just are not following good horticultural practice, and you will end up with few flowers, and small plants. I eat healthy, take vitamins, eat nutritionally-dense food, and, so do my plants. Just be sure to provide the "right" nutrients, and not unnecessary ones ( like crazy home-made Epsom-salt blends!).

It's might be helpful here to share how weather affects artichokes, for these are plants that prefer frequent fogs, cool temperatures and when combined with deep, rich soil and moisture, you will achieve the maximum yield. Be sure to plant enough plants ( I am only growing 6 due to room) but if I had the space, I would plant a long row with a couple of dozen plants 26 inches apart, for one wants a bowl full of artichokes to work with in the kitchen. Plan on flower buds being about a quarter of the size of the fancy California chokes, but they will have far more flavor and a remarkable texture. Each plant will produce one to four primary stems with a large bud, and then each stem, after initial harvest, should produce side buds which will be smaller.

Artichoke seedlings require at least 10 days of cool temperatures outdoors ( under 50º) if they are being grown to produce buds as an annual crop. Thankfully, my plants have been planted out for three weeks now, and each night temperatures have dropped well below 40º F. Called vernalization, this tricks the plant to believe that it lived through a winter, which will stimulate it to produce flower buds ( which, are artichokes!).

The artichoke seedlings, which have been growing on - first in the greenhouse, and then for the past few weeks,- have been set out into the garden where they have been recieving 3 weeks of temperatures below 40º which is needed for proper vernalization. These are being grown as annual plants, as artichokes are not hardy here in New England. Even though I know that these will provide smaller buds than the giants grown on the coastal plains of northern California, they will be fresh and crispy, and - home grown, and nothing beats that. Plus, I can enjoy fresh artichokes in mid to late summer, when they are out-of-season in California.

Another heavy feeder, artichoke seedlings are fed weekly with a balanced liquid feed and they are planted in a rich, compost created with our own duck manure. The leaves are really huge!

I will share images throughout the season, and then recap the entire process filing it under VEGETABLES and STEP-BY-STEP for you all to follow next year! If you have any questions on other step-by-step projects, just send me a note or ask me on my Facebook page, and I will be happy to either answer it, or grow the crop to perfection and document it! Now....get out into the garden!

The Birds of Paradise Project

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:51:00 +0000

Last night, after four days of plant society meetings and work at home, I treated Joe and myself to an amazing lecture and presentation in Watertown, MA, just outside of Boston, The Birds-of-Paradise Project, a study which lasted 8 years and took 18 expeditions. It documents the journeys and studies of two men, Cornell Lab scientist Ed Scholes and National Geographic photojournalist Tim Laman who, after 8 years and 18 expeditions to New Guinea and Australia, captured the most incredible and moving images of all 39 species in the bird-of-paradise family for the first time ever.

You all know I am obsessed about plants, but my real love has always been birds. Yesterday, which happened to another spectacular May day with bright blue skies, and cool temperatures, could have been a very bird-enhanced day, as, I had wanted to get up early ( I took the day off to recoup from the weekend!), as I wanted to go for a pre-dawn hike in the mountains nearby, to simple listen to the morning chorus - as the peak warbler migration is nearing, and the forests here become alive at 4:30 am with vireos, redstarts, warbler species, robins, thrushes and most every migratory bird who arrived here over the past two weeks. But, instead, I laid in bed just thinking about getting up, but I could not drag myself out! I knew I would regret it, as these days are rare, and this weekend, it is supposed to rain. At least I had this lecture planned.

I know this is not plant related, but I think you all will enjoy this regardless - check out their introduction video below ( this is how they opened their presentation) and it is so well done - also be sure visit their well designed and content-rich website, as it has so many cool features, such as the ability to click on any of the species and see footage, or hear the song of each one, it's far better than any nature show ( no sharks, dramatic music or ....well, sharks). In these videos you experience just the sounds of the forest ( Oh man, is it too late for me to become a wildlife photographer?). Be sure to check and see if these guys are coming to speak near you, as this was a monumental undertaking and the spectacular footage, as you will see, will leave you wanting more. This video below provides just a glimpse of their beauty, and the amazing photographic work presented in this study.

I too was very impressed with the quality of the entire presentation itself ( they used no Powerpoint or Keynote, but rather a new cloud based program called prezi, which by itself I found inspiring). In the end, I totally regretted not majoring in ornithology at Cornell, as was my life-long dream ( to become a wildlife artist), but at least, with modern tech, I can still participate in some small way. Enjoy this video, the footage is incredible. Oh, and be sure to order the book too! (BTW- no one paid me to post this, or even asked - it's just something I believe in, and I have a feeling you guys might enjoy it too!).

I did get some birding in this weekend, at the Tower Hill Botanic Garden, a few Yellow Warblers in the forest behind the garden, my first of the year as they just arrived this week ( plus, a few Palm Warblers, Pine Warblers and a few mystery Warblers! I have so much more to learn! Warbler ID is HARD!

Two Spring Plant Society Shows

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Sun, 05 May 2013 14:30:00 +0000

It's a magnificent spring here in New England, with daytime temps above freezing, and night temperatures near freezing, which has allowed native trees and plants, as well as spring bulbs and garden plants to extend their display to their maximum potential, a rare event as it is far more common for weather to swing into extremes of warm, wet , or cold. Across New England, even though we are dryer than normal, we are all appreciating the bright blue sky and stunning display of flora.

This weekend, as many of you know, we hosted the National Primrose Show members at our home for a party, and, we have been participating in the actual national show being held nearby at the Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Massachusetts. If you live near to Boston, this Sunday may be the day you make a day trip to Tower Hill, for you can get two shows for the price of one, as the Seven States Daffodil Show, as National Daffodil Society sponsored show, a show that was cancelled last year due to hot weather ( no Daff's), but this year, the benches are full, as well as the National Primrose Show sponsored by the New England Chapter of the American Primrose Society.

Enjoy the spring pics. as I need to run back up to Tower Hill for a lecture!

Neat rows of award winning daffodils at the Seven States Daffodil Show at Tower Hill Botanic Garden

Drama ensues as judging commences as entrants check their status.

There were so many entries this year, that beer bottles were recruited to help

Technology is beginning to emerge in some of these plant societies.

The National Primrose Show had fewer entries than in the past, but there were far more unusual species. Here,
early blooming Primula denticulata from Tibet, the 'Drumstick' primrose.

A beautiful fire-colored Primula x polyanthus

Primula veris and related species, sub-alpine meadow primroses, which are ideal garden candidates if you can find them.

Judith Sellars' award winning Hose-in-Hose form ( which means two-flowers stacked on top of each other).

A rarely seen species here, Primula rosea, small and sweet.

I entered only one plant, and I did win a ribbon in my class, ( a class of 3, but still!).

Some other highlights from the show, these auricula entries - always an audience favorite.

Tower Hill Botanic Garden looks great at any time of the year, but in early spring, it really puts on a show. One can walk in the woodland, meadows of daffodils, or simple stay on the many paved paths, strolling in the warm, spring, sunshine.

I really struggled last fall when picking out my Color-Blends tulip collection, I wanted this one, but decided on another ( which I will post soon), but next year......this might be it.

Rarely seen here in New England, a primula relative, Soldanella. A common high-elevation plant in the Alps, but challenging in a container, let alone in an American garden. There is a class for any plant included in the Family Primulaceae.

Tower Hill Botanic Garden is located on a hill overlooking a resoirvoir, and on a nice May day like this, the view is amazing.

The new winter garden at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, the glass house beyond, is the Orangerie.

The Stoddard Visitor center at Tower Hill ( I was Mrs. Stoddard's summer gardener years ago, when I was in high school and college, so I remember her every time I visit here. She would be pleased that her endowment created such a grand gift to the Worcester area.

Spring Garden Party Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Sat, 04 May 2013 05:38:00 +0000

Red an golden garden flowers paired well with black hellebores, salmon gasteria and vermillion nasturtiums from the greenhouse, just one of the arrangements we made today for our annual cocktail party for the American Primrose Society.

We've been so busy this week, trying to get the garden, greenhouse and house in order for our annual American Primrose Society cocktail party and dinner that we host every year as the society holds its national primula show near us at the Tower Hill Botanic Garden, in Boylston, MA (if you live in the Boston area, be sure to check it out both Saturday and Sunday until 4:00 PM).

I always feel unprepared for garden tours, but less so when more knowledgable guests are coming, as they often can look through such things as bad lawns and dumpy garden furniture, focusing more on the rare or unusual plants. Tonights party always is a hit, and many of the guests are noted botanists, horticulturists, and well known plantspeople. We know who is coming - like Taylor Johnston, greenhouse manager for the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum and her husband, a professor at Harvard, former nursery owner ( and friend) Ellen Hornig, Botanist, author and garden designer Kris Fenderson. There will be officers from the North American Rock Garden Society, and many members from local chapters, and last year Darrell Probst stopped by and partied with us until the wee hours of the morning, so we always get a good list of who's who in the plant world, particularly from the Primula Society. Tonight, we are also having as special guests Merrell Jenson from the Jensen-Olson Arboretum in Juneau, Alaska. These are serious plant people.

A black hellebore has stayed in bloom.

What this mean is that I need to cook alot of interesting food, which I don't mind doing, it means that I need to stock up on lots of wine, and it means that I need to pull out more interesting plants to decorate the house, or call out more interesting plants in the garden. The trillium and wild flowers are looking fine, so I am not worried about that, and even the more common bulbs are in peak bloom this year, given out long, cold spring, so all I needed to do was to pick some branches for the house ( my annual giant 8 foot tall arrangement of yellow magnolia flowers for the studio), and some planted troughs near the doors to capture the attention of the plant-saavy group.

The Frittilaria imperialis are in peak bloom right now, which I am thankful for.

Erythronium, or Dogs Tooth Violets, are just opening.

To die for - this Podophyllium delavyi just emerging is still under the protection of the glass in the greenhouse.,

I planted a new trough near the entrance to the house. ( not the blue 'Lagoon' Verbascum - new this year to the trade!).

Muscari, or Grape Hyacinths make a simple arrangement for the bathroom.

Branches, even if they only have small oak leaves on them, sometimes can make an arrangement. In this one, I combined native trees, shrubs and wild flowers in a granite container.

Yellow can be a difficult color to work with, but combine different shades of yellow, and sometimes it can work.

Each year I struggle with this very nice yellow magnolia, as it shades the greenhouse, and few plants can grow under it's dense shade, but during these few weeks of bloom, it is stunning, and I always change my mind. For now, it stays!

This black iris has no name, but we have shared it with more botanical gardens than any plant I have. Most recently it went to the collection at Wave Hill. It was one that my mother had grown here since the 1940's. Isn't the color amazing?

In Search of the Heirloom Pansy

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:49:00 +0000

Heirloom Pansies (Viola x wittrockiana) are selections that predate 1900. These old fasioned
Chalon varieties have ruffles petals, so favored by the victorians. These are young, and will
form more ruffles with age, as long as the weather remains so delightfully cool this spring.

We live in a world of super fancy pansies. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for 'super fancy', especially when it comes to plants, but generally always appreciate 'old-fashioned fancy' - heirloom, antique varieties that were once the 'super fancy' of their time. For Pansies, their time was 1870- 1900 - a time when viola and pansy societies attracted many active members in the UK. Of course, not everyone joined these exclusive 'leisure societies', as then, generally speaking, ones status and class divided the working class from the rich and privelidged who could not only afford choice plants, but whom also had free time.

In North America, it was a different story, as viola's ( pansies are a cross within the viola genus - Viola-wittrockiana), as well as their other kin within the broad genus of viola, the 'Johnny Jump Up's, the violets- both scented, and non, and other selections of violas became popular cottage flowers and even cut flowers in most American gardens. Their ease of culture during those years of coal and wood-fired glass houses, meant that they could be grown to perfection in nothing more than a hot bed ( a cold frame heated with farm manure), ensureing that every class could afford the happy, cheerful face of the pansy in early springtime.

Today, pansies are swept aside as a disposable annual, promoted along side annuals which are far showier, but on sale far too early ( Impatiens and marigolds are already rushing off the shelves at my local Home Depot - a full month before they should be planted outdoors). Like many things, the pansy is suffering from an un-informed cunsumer who thinks they are buying something which may bloom all summer, not knowing that pansies perform best when sown in the autumn garden, or that pansies 'call it a day' once temperatures rise well above 75º F. This means little to opportunistic garden centers and home stores as they push and promote pansies along side 'far-too-early' tomatoes and other tender annuals, even selling them in hanging baskets, plastic bag-tubes and other novelty plantings. I think we have lost what is so special about the pansy - which is an appreciation for simplicity.

You may see 'old-fashioned' or even 'herloom' pansy seed offered by some seed catalogs, but true 'heirloom' varieties are lost. Many have been trying to back-breed, or re-breed similar selections, which are quite nice, but those once grown and introduced by the Vilmorin Company in paris are gone forever. Rumors inform me that the Dutch are experimenting in exploring older-looking varieties ( those with larger, ruffled flowers, or those with interesting rich color combinations with stripes, speckles and happier faces, but no one has yet been able to match the forms once so popular in the 1800's. Grower Kees Sahin keeps more than 10,000 varieties growing in the Netherlands. Try Renee's Garden for some heirloom mixes. I scour my local nurseries every spring, looking for mixes the look old fasioned. I tend to like muddier colors, browns, gold, black and putty colors. I'm not one to go for bright, solid colors with no faces on them, it's just not my style.

Mssrs. Veitch & Sons in London, once carried hundreds of selections of pansies around 1840.

I love to line the edges of my raised vegetable beds with two or three rows of pansies, which brightens up the grid of plots, and helps lift my spirits - at least until late June when the pansy season around here, is over, as hot and humid summer weather is the pansies enemy. They prefer cool, damp and misty spring conditions, but there are a few things you can do to let your pansies blooming as long as they possible can. First, keep the dead blossoms ( and most importantly, their seed pods) picked off. Second, fertilize them with a good liquid feed low in nitrogen. This will keep the roots study and deep, and the buds forming. I use 5.36.17. Third, grow your plants from seed if you can, for pansies do best if sown in the autumn, and allowed to grow slowing into winter weather. Don't worry, they can freeze, and we spring comes around, they may be later than the one that show up at the home center - but once they start blooming, they may continue all summer.

Pansies that I planted as seedling that I started last August, are still in their raised beds, and they are slowing starting to bud up. All the pansies in this post were purchased, but these such as the one in this picture, were wintered-over. In a few weeks, these garden plants will be lush, mounds of color.

Since we are hosting a garden/greenhouse party next Friday night for the opening of the American Primrose Society National Exhibition being held at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, I need some color in the greenhouse. Since I am primula deficient right now, pansies will have to do. I was inspired by the old Auricula Theaters one sees in England, where individual pots are set in row, and then tiered on steps so that one can appreciate each primrose up close. This sort of display works well with pansies, too. So this is how I am decorating the potting bench in the rear of my greenhouse. When guest walk through the greenhouse next Friday night with a glass of wine in hand, they will be surprised by these tiered rows of antique pansy varieties.

This weekend I found some ruffled exhibition varieties at a local garden center, which thrilled me, because all I could find at Home Depot were huge, floppy over-fertilized monsters. These, are what pansies are supposed to look like.
I potted some in home made pots to show off the young plants, but soon they will be upgraded to larger containers.

I have this problem when I visit garden centers and nurseries in the early spring, when trays and trays of pansies are lines out in neat rows.. My problem is that I cannot choose my favorite one, and usually leave with either too many, or none. You see, I am very particular about my color palette when it comes to pansies, those selections from the genus Viola, that we can have a love/hate relationship with. I have a long history with pansies, as it was one of the first plants that I ever grew, or at least, potted up, as my kindergarten teacher helped us plant pansies in egg shells one Mothers Day, as my elementary school happened to be across the street from a large glass greenhouse, one which grew pansies every spring.

Each year, I must buy a selection, but I vary the color palette each year, trying to not choose new hybrids, but instead, seeking older varieties, and maybe even exhibition varieties that were once so popular in England. At my first job as a gardener while in high school, I remember that the owner of the estate that I worked at insisted on light-blue pansies, which had to be planted out by the thousands in sweeping arcs ( all bordered with blue festuca grass - as the garden was designed by Fletcher Steele). Today, I still like these light blue pansies, but I find them more difficult to find amidst all of the new hybrids.

Don't turn away from some of the more difficult colors with pansies - check out how this combo worked last year for me.
Red, black and blackberry colored Primroses, Pansies and Anemones.

Tiger Eye Pansies are another favorite. The mustard gold color might seem difficult to integrate into the garden, but
pansies are supposed to be brown, muddy and messy with their coloring. Why not celebrate these odd tones and hues?

These ruffled giant pansies will look much better in a few weeks, but for now, they are enjoying an Impruneta
trerra cotta pot from Italy.

Thanks everyone!

87PY96R7RJ4D

Behind the scenes - the awful truth

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 02:34:00 +0000

Most of our 2.5 acres is an old garden, planted by my parents in the 1920's -1960's. Today, 70 years later, the garden has
become more of a restoration project, and a maintenance project than a design project. Little by little, I am introducing better trees and shrubs, and not quite sure about design yet. Add in four dogs, and a whole lot of free range poultry, and quickly, I am discovering that the garden is getting destroyed. No vegetable garden, as the dogs will eat it, and if I move it to the other side of the fence, the turkeys and chickens will destroy it. I'm not really sure what I am going to do. Still, I try to garden, and you all know, I cannot stop!

OK. It's time I fessed up. My garden is not perfect. My friends know this, people who visit here know this, and now, you will know this. The truth is, most of the images on this blog happen in a small part of our garden - in fact, in about 20% of it, near the greenhouse, in a fenced in area on one side of the house - it's about the only part of the garden I can focus on given my job, and time. The rest of our 2.5 acres is, well....unkempt. Messy. Even worthy of, well being shut down by the city for pure nastyness. There are times in the summer when we can only get to cut the lawn, if you can call it that, about once a month. Weeds thrive. Garden design is out of control, since many of the trees are over 100 years old ( all planted by either my parents or my grandparents), and sadly, many now need to be removed - a task that is just too massive and costly so we try to remove one every other year.

Here are some of the photos of areas that we have been able to begin restoring, bit-by-bit, and then, some of the problem areas which I still need to confront. Then, some of the new problems that have arrived - puppy problems. We are discovering that four Irish Terriers can destroy a garden overnight. Yesterday, they ate 3 large Crambe cordifolia plants right to the ground, today, they ran races around the greenhouse, and tore out more than 25 large Gladiator alliums, and destroyed the alpine garden. This week, they have eaten saxifrages in the troughs, bitten off most of the Pulsatilla blossoms, and broken most of the tulips. Lawn? there is no longer any lawn.

This was a problem area that I was able to overcome five years ago. In an effort to reduce lawn, I converted our front entrance into a woodland alpine garden, complete with a river rock dry creek bed ( just an illusion of a brook), and many small shrubs, alpines and woodland plants. This, was a good idea, and it is easy to take care of. I like the mountain look.

When I was a kid, this, our second driveway, was lined with huge weeping willows that towered over 100 feet tall.
After many Thunderstorms, a tornado and old age, they are gone, leaving me with 5 foot diameter trunks, and a long,
dirt driveway that is just crazy to keep weed free, even after 10 tons of gravel. The Dumpster is a necessity, but there is no hiding it. The house that you can barely see behind it is the one I am selling, along with that corner of my property.
This should help provide more money ( one less mortgage for me!), so that maybe I can build a garage.

Looking from the same position, back toward the back yard, and the house, you can see how much dry shade we have.

Another problem area, this needs to be opened up, which means these large white pines need to be removed, as well as about 4 tall Norway Spruces. Right now, it's just crappy vinca, pine needles and weeds. Bare dirt is everywhere, and very little lawn.

Our Martin House has been over-run with English Sparrows, an invasive species which are noisy, and difficult to eradicate. We finally needed to paint the house, and clean out the nests ( two giant black garbage bags full!), plus a whole lot of eggs. We are going to install black screen inside to keep the birds out, as the only species that will nest in this community house would be these English House Sparrows, as Purple Martins don't migrate this far north into New England ( I just fell in love with the design of this Martin house, as it looked like an old English Dove Cote). It's an important design statement in the garden, so it remains, and without the English Sparrows, the house wrens and other song birds can nest peacefully in our many smaller bird houses.

The English Sparrow eggs are pretty, but I dont' feel sad removing this invasive species, or at least, slowing it down.

Some dog crazyness - and I mean crazyness. we've had to add turkey wire fences, and now, we need to install a chain link fence - 200 feet of it! I am freaking out, but I am afraid there is no turning back. I fear I have lost this nicer side of the garden, where I keep the Hellebores and most of my ephemerals. I will just have to relocate them, and I think the dogs will keep most plants broken or dug up.

The dogs, raising Hell. All I need now is a house trailer. Ugh. Good thing that pot is plastic, as they broke a large terra rosa pot this week that had a beautiful rosemary in it.

They chase each other around, jumping over hedges looking like liquid -1,2,3,4 as if they were running in a steeple chase, and they were the horses.

Weasley leaping onto the alpine wall, where there are many rare and unusual bulbs planted.

I usually don't like wood bark mulch, but this year we were able to get some two year old mulch. It is more composted, and looks more natural. It's about the only thing I can do to try and make the garden look more presentable for next weekend. It's still a mess, but with the poultry walking around, and all of the dogs, there isn't much more I can do.

If you remember a post last October, I planted a few hundred blue small bulbs under these Hornbeams. They are blooming, but they won't look awesome until next year, when they begin to spread more.

OK, back to the nicer side of things. I promise I won't complain more about the ugly parts, but I will admit one thing - when visiting many gardeners homes, I feel better when I see that they are 'normal' too! I think if I only had this side of the garden to take care of, I could focus more, and perhaps keep up with it, and I dream someday of living
in a home where only a natural planting in a woodland exists. No lawn, no mulch, no weeds.

Dividing Perennials Through Simple Division

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 02:18:00 +0000

This clump of Helenium is at the perfect stage of growth for proper division, a task which must be carefully timed if you intend to avoid any disturbance in growth.

There was a time when the bi-annual division of perennials consumed most of a gardeners time in early spring, but that was at a time when one either started perennials from seed ( I still do with some), or obtained choice varieties from a limited number of nurseries. This was a time before the internet, before mega-nurseries, before eBay. But some perennials are still difficult to track down, and so it is with many of the more beautiful helenium selections. Helenium is all-American, with most species native to the eastern half of North America. A choice perennial hoarded by those 'who know' and shunned by others who hate it, until they see one in bloom. It's one of those plants which I continually am asked to share, once visitors see it in bloom. Three or four feet tall ( unless you choose to cut it back early in the summer so that it will branch), helenium over-performs, and that's something which I never complain about as a gardener.

Helenium can help carry the perennial border through the hottest days of summer

As spring starts to arrive here in the North East, ( and a glorious spring, at that) - we gardeners are grateful for this cool, gradual introduction to summer, as it is kind to plants, and it offers us time to divide perennials such as hosta and phlox, which must be divided while only a few inches tall. In most years, I either forget to divide over-grown perennials, or I just run out of time. This year, I am already ahead of schedule, having divided a few choice hosta selections and other perennials like asters. Why divide? Well, first of all, division is essential for good health with many perennials such as aster, phlox, daylily, echium and helenium, as after thee or four years of continual growth, a sizable crown will begin to deteriorate in the center, resulting in a less than spectacular display, and if you never divide these perennials, they will eventually become weaker and weaker.

A few years ago I decided to invest in four selections of helenium, an under-rated perennial not often seen at garden centers, as it blooms in late July and early August, and come on - who goes to garden centers then! But although some of you may sneer at orange, gold or even brownish flowers, I crave their heat during these hot summer days, because they put on a spectacular display, and one that lasts for weeks. Aside from the fact that helenium are rather disease free ( sure, it can suffer with a little powdery mildew, which one can avoid if you water in the early morning), the genus is worth introducing to your perennial border.

Sure, you can plant just one, for a mature clump can be impressive alone, but I crave 'wow', so this year, I have divided my three clumps into 20 clumps ( and I love imagining what those gallon-sized containers would have cost me if I had purchased them on-line or at the garden center! I am not planting a perennial border that only someone who has won Mega Millions could!

After washing off as much soil as you can with a hose, take a sharp ( old) steak knife, and begin to remove sections. Don't be stingy, and try to cut away clusters with at least 8-10 sprouts. If you want to be frugal, you can cut out individual plants, but most perennials prefer to have neighbors, so plan on clusters, unless this is a hosta - those you can divide into single crowns.

No fancy tools are needed, but a sharp knife will be handy. I just keep an old steak knife out in the greenhouse just for such tasks, but helenium are easy enough to divide that all you will need is a pitch fork or shovel, and your hands. I first like to use the hose to remove an much of the soil as possible, a trip I learned from a hosta breeder, who once showed us how to propagate ( divide) an expensive hosta - one of those that cost $150. Just the sort of plant that you would want to divide into single crowns, with just a single bud to a each division. There is no need to be this frugal with helenium, but if you feel that you might need 182 divisions, feel free to go for it! I only need about 15-30 of each variety to appease my vision of massive drifts of color.

Plant crowns into fresh soil, and I like to provide them some comfort time in the greenhouse - my intensive care unit, for a week or two, but that is not necessary if you have time to plant them directly back into the garden. If you are like me, and planning to relocate your divisions into a yet-to-be-prepared new garden, you could always line them out in a raised bed where you plan to grow vegetables. I have even left them there for a year.

I repurposed some Anderson tall pots in which once houses plants from Plant Delights Nursery, which reminds me - now what would these have cost if I ordered them on-line? About $12 each in these pots! Division is by far the easiest method with plants like Helenium.

Newly divided and repotted Helenium sit in the greenhouse for a week or two, to grow new roots, and be carefully fertilized and watered as I prepare their new bed. Right now, there is much to do with planning for a garden party in two weeks, the American Primrose Society national show, and working on painting my other house next door to get it onto the market to sell.

Since Helenium are easy to propagate, there is no reason to ever buy more than one of each variety, and then divide them every year until you have a summer display which is epic.

Upcoming Rare Plant Sales

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:30:00 +0000

If you live in New England or New York, these four plant sales offer plants found no-where else! Plan to visit a few
over these next four weekends.

By this point, your local nurseries and garden centers are stocked to the brim with their first shipment from branded and wholesale growers. It's also a time of year when garden centers push for big sales knowing that Mother's Day often drives as many sales as any other Holiday. As you become more of an informed gardener, you will learn that what looks pretty in-market, often won't do well once planted into the garden. So pass on the greenhouse forced Gerbera, Martha Washington Geraniums, blue florist Hydrangeas in foil, and azaleas, and consider buying something more interesting.

Corydalis solida can often be found in pots at some spring plant sales. Since the bulbs go dormant by June, these
gems rarely show up in nurseries.

My best advice for you? Consider some of these upcoming plant sales held by plant societies and botanic gardens - for these often offer items rarely found at the commercial garden centers - over the next three weekends there are at least four must-visit sales here in the north east. Make plans to visit early, as these plant sales have loyal patrons who will arrive early, and bring lots of cash, for you never know what you are going to find. Many offer hard-to-find plants, or those plants not offered anywhere else. Most invite small, micro nurseries who will bring things that are in such short supply, that they never make it into the catalog.

Some of my best spring flowers have come from plant society plant sales.

Saturday, April 27

The 7th Annual North American Rock Garden Society Plant Sale at Stonecrop Gardens the following nurseries and vendors will participate in the sale:

- Wrightman Alpines, Ontario - Grower and supplier of choice alpine plants and rock garden plants.
- Evermay Nursery, Bangor, ME - Specializing in alpine plants and Primula species.
- Garden Vision Epimediums, Templeton, MA - Grower and supplier of Epimediums and other choice shade perennials.
- Debra Pope, Auburn, MA - Creates unique, custom hypertufa troughs.
- Don Dembowski, Pelham, NY - Spring Ephemerals and Woodland Wildflowers.
- Bill Perron, Cortlandt Manor, NY - Offers a variety of Cyclamen species, Arisaema, and Hellebores.

Fee: $5/Free to members
garden@stonecrop.org | 845.265.2000

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sunday, April 28

The Manhattan Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society annual plant sale

"Sassy Succulents for Sunny Sites, and other uncommon plants for city folk"
El Sol Brillante community garden, NYC
10 AM until 1:00 PM

This is plant sale is my # 1 choice for interesting plants, and it is one not to miss, since these gardeners are both serious and friendly, and they curate an amazing collection of plants. After all, these are people who garden high on the balcony's and penthouses of America's greatest city and they really know their plants, as each one must be important (Be sure to tell them that I sent you!). They will be offering plants grown by their knowledgeable growers and many from selected premium nurseries in the New York area.

El Sol Brillante community garden
522-528 East 12th Street
(between Avenues A and B)
Subway - L Train to 1st Avenue and 14th Street

+++++++++++++++

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Plant Sale

Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Plant Sale, May 1 and 2 - there will be a members-only preview sale on April 30; for more information, check out bbg.org

+++++++++++++++

Saturday and Sunday May 4th and 5th
The American Primrose Society National Show

Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Boylston, MA

Two days of amazing primroses, and plant sales. See those rare auricula primroses, and hundreds of other types including companion plants. Also, it's a beautiful time to visit Tower Hill! Look for me, and I am one of planners for this show, and Joe and I will be running around like crazy!

So if you've been curious about stocking that hypertufa trough with rare, high-elevation alpines like saxifraga or if you've been wanting to start a collection of unusual hard-to-find epimediums grown from seed collected in China by Darrell Probst, or if you want to plant you very own primrose path, any of these three plant sales come highly recommended by me - but get there early!

Garden Delights from the Planet Earth

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 01:52:00 +0000

Native trees and shrubs are emerging now that spring is here, but this is not a native, but a bud on a plant from
the ~~southern~~ northern hemisphere (thanks Panayoti for setting me straight!) - a Kiwi vine, Actinidia kolomikta from east Asia, and not New Zealand as many people believe.

Dare I say that I am old enough to remember the first Earth Day, I was in 8th grade, and I remember that my school offered a special Earth Science class that year. I became so interested in all things environmental that my parents bought me subscriptions to National Wildlife and The Conservationist ( a New York State magazine at the time). I think all of this interest remained, as later I went onto college in Maine, majoring in Environmental Science. As things often go, I never took a career path that involved anything remotely environmental, a fact which still bothers me today, but my interest remains, so today, on this Earth Day, I am going to share some random images that I took this weekend around the garden, which, in a way, offer some proof that indeed, some of this early environmental awareness affected me.

Native New England plants are precious, and these, which I shared in an earlier post, continue to bloom in this nice, cool, spring. Mayflowers are fragrant, and love acid soil.

As anyone who has visited our garden, and you will find out - it's not that nice. I mean, it's nice if you like plants, but design-wise, it's pretty dumpy. It's all just too much to take care of for me, and I really have no idea how my parents we're able to do it with full time jobs. Oh yeah, they had kids to do the work - duh! Anyway, one of my plans is to convert the land back to woodland, a task that is virtually impossible in an urban environment, as anyone who has tried to do it, knows. So instead, I am gradually introducing select species of trees and woodland plants from all over the world, trying to create tiny ecosystems that can be more independant. Birch groves that can be allowed to drop their leaves, which in turn, will become mulch, and layer after layer will build up into a biomass where hellebores from Germany, Chinese and Japanese woodland plants, and of course, natives. Throw in a few small bulbs, ferns and low-level shrubs, and maybe, I will have something close to a care free garden.

The 'hot' trillium of the moment, Trillium pusillum "Roadrunner' is a selection of this running species
that currently is enjoying lots of chatter on various rock garden groups on Facebook and Twitter.
A dwarf species, this one (hopefully) will start running soon, for one cannot had too many trillium!

Dicentra cucullaria, commonly known as Squirrel Corn, or Dutchman's breeches (or what I used to call
it as a kid, 'Squirrel Breeches'). This one we collected when Joe and I had our first house in upstate New York, when I had my first job in the city, it was growing in the woodland all around our back yard. Yes, BAD to collect in the wild,
but I was 24, and probably drunk.

Another 'stollen plant' from our 20's, this Podophyllum peltatum, or Mayapple, was growing on his parents property in Northborough, MA. Today, we have hundreds and hundreds, as it runs, but in the nice way. I just love how
these Mayapples look when popping out of the ground in the spring. Like umbrellas, they love the moist
woodland soil on the edge of out property.

Last year I decided again to try some of those new Cypripedium hybrid ( lady slipper orchids), as I have had little luck
getting them established. This cultivar called 'Gisela' seems to have 'taken', with two spikes this spring. It's growing
where I have had luck with some species, so I am hopeful.

One of Darrell Probst's Epimedium species from his early collecting days when he first started exploring
China with Dan Hinkley. The tag is lost forever, but this one spreads nicely.

From Iran, Fritillaria imperialis add's it's skunky, musky odor to our woodland. I love it. One would think that
these gaudy giants would feel out of place in the garden, but surprisingly, they don't, and in Iran, they look
natural when they dot the highland meadows in spring.

Primula kisoana, a rather uncommon Asian species from south west China, Nepal and Tibet are a running primrose, which also will not become a pest, but one which you must allow to run, so that colonies can form. Woodland conditions, which remain slightly damp and rich with natural leaf mulch, will suit it best. No wood or bark mulch, and most woodland plants dislike anything other than leaf mulch.

From the high mountaintops of the Alps comes one of the world's most beautiful wildflowers, Pulsatilla, or Pasque Flower. There are both American species and European ones, even one in Japan. This plant, one that I started
from seed obtained in a seed exchange has bloomed in our stone wall for over ten years now.

Saxifrages define the authentic rock garden, or trough, and that's where this one lives - growing in a tiny crevice in a piece of tufa rock in one of our many alpine troughs. The encrusted saxifrages are delighful, from the highest of the world's mountain peaks - even higher than ski resorts in the Alps, where they cling into deep, protected crevices.

Joe found this House Wren egg, while cleaning out the wren houses this weekend. I am surprised that it survived the winter. It is so tiny, that at first, I thought that it was a hummingbird egg.

Planting a Strawberry Pot

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 02:03:00 +0000

Vietnamese potters are casting large strawberry pots which are finding their way to nurseries and garden centers. This one, which is four feet high, is very heavy, but the large size helps it make a presence in the garden.
I am using it as a centerpiece in one of my raised beds.

Strawberry pots, once a folly of the Victorian gardener, are making a comeback, but rarely do they see strawberry plants, more often than not, they are planted with succulents, or herbs. Today, the once novel strawberry pot can be a useful garden ornament. Truth be told, the strawberry is still more ornamental than functional, but why not celebrate it's brief history by potting one up with real strawberries, as the Victorian loved to do with the pocketed clay containers.
My choice this summer will be a pink flowered wild strawberry, as well as a white flowered French hybrid of the wild strawberry. I sort-of like the idea of not planting beautiful colors or even sempervivums and succulents, as I normally do, opting for simplicity - just strawberry plants.

My strawberry plants, hardened off after spending a few weeks in the cold greenhouse, are ready
to be planted into the strawberry pot.

Since the puppies will be tearing up the garden for a good part of their first year, ( note the wire!), I am trying to be creative with what I can grow. Artichokes, and container plants may rule the summer garden.

How to grow tomatoes from seed.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 02:54:00 +0000

It's the perfect time to sow tomato seedlings. It's ok if you accidentally sowed them too thickly like
this, tomatoes transplant well at most any stage.

If you're anything like me, you have taken great effort to try and grow your own tomato seedlings, only to pass a table at your local Home Depot and see these incredible beautiful, thick, lush green and ‘healthy’ tomato transplants that make your own look like the leftovers, the runts of the litter, but let me assure you right now - you will never be able to get your plants to look as lush or with stems as thick as the commercially grown plants, and that's OK. In fact, it's better than OK, and here's why...

Take pride Mr and Mrs Tomato parent, for your tiny offspring will outgrow and out produce these high-school, one-hot wonders once they get going in June. Why? Well, those nice-looking plants that you see on the shelves at the big box stores are steroidally enhanced. They have been drenched with hormones with every thing from those that cause thick-stems and dense growth, to those that force long roots. They have even been hit with some that cause the plants to blossom at young age. In a plant-way, they are mentally disadvantaged,if not chemically messed up. In the end, your home grown ( even thinner) seedlings will still have a better chance of becoming a doctor, a hero or even the kind of the tomato world by the end of summer.

So relax, and grow your own tomato plants and get over the fact that no home grown tomato plant will ever look like a enhanced seedling from a big box store. But if you still want bragging rights, you can raise naturally healthy seedlings, and here's how:

Here are my best tips and tricks for raising tomatoes from seed:

Some of the varieties I am growing this year. I can't wait! What are some of your favorites?

• First choose your variety and have fun -

I’m not going to talk about varieties, leaving that choice up to you. There are so many choices today, that you can really have fun choosing the type that you like. Naturally, there are enough posts out there about choosing the best variety for your area, taste and growing methods, so go snoop around. I, personally, like a mix of colorful heirlooms and then some disease resistant hybrids. I am a sucker for those that have descriptions that say things like "this won our taste test last year".

• Use clean soiless mix and clean pots –

This means no garden soil, but a new bag of soilless mix like Promix or a seed starting formula you like. Just never use old soil from last year, even if it is soilless – old soil is like drinking a warm glass of raw, pink chicken juice to tomatoes. They are highly prone to disease and virus’.

• Germinate at high temps –
Tomatoes germinate best at 75º - 85º

If you didn't sow one - three seeds per pot, thin young plants when the second pair of leaves
emerge. These were sown one seed to a pot, with a heating mat.

So use a heating mat if you have one or place your seed tray somewhere warm for a few days – even if you have to place it in a cookie tray and place it on top of your refrigerator. I use to put ours on the furnace, and now I use the shelf above our Viking range ( we’re fancy, but not fancy enough to care about dirt on the stove, or scratches).

•Thin seedlings to one per pot.
I know, it’s hard, but if you sowed 2 or 3 seeds to a pot, this should be easy. Just gently pull out the goofiest one, or sacrifice the others. Never cut seedlings out, as the remaining stem will rot and can cause an outbreak of something nasty ( i.e. raw chicken juice thingy).

Heirloom tomatoes are not only beautiful, and often more tasty, they are
also be more vulnerable to disease and virus - often becoming vector plants hosting
an outbreak, so keep them as strong and healthy as possible. No tomato is immune from
the air-borne spores which cause late blight, but with care, you can delay an outbreak.

Transplant seedlings to individual pots if you sowed too thickly. It’s OK, tomato seedlings transplant easily.

• Grow-on warm, but then adjust to gradually cooler temps.-
If you want strong stemmed seedlings, provide them with the strongest light possible, and bring them outdoors on warm, sunny days, as the wind will provide some free Crossfit sessions – it will help the weakling stems become strong, as the tension and flexing will stimulate the cellular walls to strengthen. The use it or loose it theory.

• Fertilize weekly and weakly –
This point is so essential for success, that you have to promise me that you won’t forget – your tomato plants are babies, and they need vitamins and proper nutrients. Period.

Last year I grew some plants in felt bags, the larger the better. The black helped
plants absorb heat, and I used sterile soil mix with tomato cages. The only
problem? These had to be watered twice a day.

Know that most sterile soilless mixes can’t provide enough nutrition ( check if your brand has fertilizer already added). Here where it gets squidgy – sure you can use organic fertilizers, but since you’re using a peat-based soil that has been somewhat sterilized ( no soil is completely sterile), organic fertilizer needs time to breakdown, and, well, organisms ( think yogurt in belly or gut flora). Without going into great detail, trust me here too – water soluble salt based fertilizer augmented with micro nutrients is best, and I save the natural, organic stuff for the garden or pots, since in order for it to break down properly, I have to add it to my outdoor soil in the autumn.

BTW- a note about organic fertilizer vs. water-soluble salts - ask any chemist, most water soluble fertilizer is basically the same thing. Chemicals are chemicals, and it’s just good horticultural practice to know that a lot of this hubbub about “organic” get’s a little crazy when it comes to fertilizer for the home gardener. But that’s another post. If it makes you feel better, at least choose a fertilizer that is low in nitrogen, and higher in phosphorus, but some nitrogen is OK for the baby’s first 8 weeks when it need to grow green leaves.

A high phosphate ( the second number) fertilizer is 'THE SECRET' for awesome tomatoes. You don’t want to mess around with nutrition and food crops, especially if you are serious about growing tomatoes as they are especially heavy feeders. Miracle-Gro 10-10-10 formula is just 'white bread' fast food for them.Sure, you will end up with giant, lush 15 foot tall, dark green plants but they will produce few tomatoes ( sorry sis, but I keep telling you this!).

Commercial brands marketed as 'Tomato Fertilizer' are also not all the same thing - many have more nitrogen ( the first number) and other don't. I can never figure out how so many brands can be so different? Just be sure that the middle number or the last number is higher than the first. I personally don't use Fish Emulsion fertilizer as I use a peat-based mix so I need a more synthetic mix, I also need micro nutrients, so I look for brands that have boron other micro nutrients.

In the garden I need to plan a year in advance, as I use manure. DO NOT add manure in the same year that you are growing plants, and all you will get is foliar growth. Tomatoes LOVE manure, but almost too much. Your plants will look amazing, but you will only get 2.5 tomatoes per plant. I promise. Dig in manure a year in advance if you can, or do what I do - turn it in at the end of the summer.

I use a good leaf-based compost and slow-release organic fertilizer dug into the ground in the autumn so it can start working, and then I augment with a liquid or granular feed (like 5-17-12) in the summer. I don’t care if you don’t tell anyone and you just tell them that you use fish emulsion and organic monkey poo from the Amazon, (but don’t use that black gold fertilizer sold for growing Mary Jane that comes from the Amazon River mud, it may have heavy metals in it).

Tomatoes are so prone to disease, that great care must be taken to keep plants as disease
free as long a possible, as most diseases come from the soil, or from the airborne sources
attaching to the plants when the foliage is wet. I avoid disease for as long as possible by
growing plants in containers with sterile soil, placed on hot gravel that helps the leaves dry off
after a morning watering. Fertilizing is key under these conditions.

• Grow you tomatoes in a new place each year, or in pots.

I grow most of my tomatoes in large tub or pots, and usually they are the ones that grow best. I use expensive Pro-Mix peat-based potting soil, and I never re-use it. When I do, my crop is less than half as good, so I learned my lesson. I think the Scott’s Miracle grow mix is good too, but remember, it has fertilizer in it, which will leach out by the time your fruit is ready, just augment it with Phosphate.

When planted out into garden or field soil, plants do best if you can find a new
plot of land each year. Trying to grow tomatoes in the same place each year
only encourages soil-borne disease, and it's almost impossible to avoid them this way.
Use a plastic mulch to keep soil from splashing onto the foliage.

If you plant your plant out into a garden, a raised bed or in the ground - transplant them into medium-rich field soil and space 12-24" apart for determinate varieties, 24-36" apart for indeterminate ( the sort you don't stake) For those that you do stake, space them 14-20".

Water young transplants with a high-phosphate fertilizer solution after transplanting. For the earliest crops, set plants out around the last frost date - avoid setting out unprotected plants until night temperatures are over 45°F (7°C). Any frost will cause severe damage! 

You can’t fake it with tomatoes, they seem easy, but the proof is in your harvest! Feel free to send me any questions you have, and I will try to answer them in a follow-up post!

Peace.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 02:07:00 +0000

Saddened by the horrific events in Boston today, our thoughts go out to out the victims

of this tragedy, their families and friends.

***

Primordia Rules - except at the garden center.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 02:59:00 +0000

Our state flower of Massachusetts - the Mayflower, Epigaea repens , is in bloom late this year, as it usually blooms
in our woodland in March, and not mid-April, but our snow cover just melted last week. Also known as the Trailing Arbutus, this is one of the only native plants currently in bloom aside from the maple trees and skunk cabbage.

Here in Eastern North America, the leaves on the trees wont' emerge for another month, after-all, the snow just melted this past week. Yet at our local garden centers, flats of annuals and even vegetables are arriving, on TV ads from Lowes and the Home Depot entice us to start buying out annuals now, and even at my local Home Depot this weekend, I watch ill informed customers buying flats of basil and marigolds, and I over heard them asking where the impatiens were - all this, when the native pussy willows are just beginning to blossom with force.

I like to remind new gardens who see forsythia blooming in front yards, and white magnolia stellata bursting forth that even though the grass is greening up and that landscape shrubs are blooming, that the only true sign of any importance is what ones native plants are doing. Look at your woodlands tomorrow when you drive into work, and tell me what you see? In our northern forests, things are timed rather perfectly, and no marketing effort can ever tell a maple tree when it should bloom, and if one perchance blooms early, the risk is far worse than any benefit.

The Goldfinches are begining to convert to transform into their summer golden color, but as you can see, the woods
behind them are still grey and dormant. With temps today staying in the 40's, our gradual thaw continues.

The birds know spring is here, radar sites that birdwatchers follow show mass migrations of early warblers ( our first Palm warbler and Fox Sparrows arrived!) passing just west of us. Woodcock are mating, and even though our wood frogs and spring peepers have yet to begin their chorus, the maple trees are finally beginning to bloom, or at least, they are in Rhode Island where I commute to work. Spring will come, eventually, but as far as the big box stores go, they seem to think that it is mid May. This weekend I saw truck loads of Erica in full bloom ( don't buy it, as these are southern grown and hoop-house tender) and pansies are everywhere ( do by those, as this is the season to plant cool growing annuals).

I understand the business perspective, that big retailers need to get a jump on each other, but sadly, the customers often don't really know the specific dates on when it is safe to plant things into the garden and most are lead down the wrong path by retailers who only what to sell their product, rather than nurture informed customers. Once you get home, who cares what happens to that pot of basil. I can't imagine how many disappointed people there will be in a few weeks when we get a frosty night, or even worse, a mid-spring snow storm. Learning the proper time to plant your seedlings should be the first thing new gardeners master.

Our spring clean-up continues, as I tried to focus on the greenhouse today, as it was a bit too blustery outside
to get anything done.

My best advice? Wherever you live, look not at the trees and shrubs in your neighborhood, for most landscape plants are from China or Japan, and tend to leaf-out far too early, look instead at your woodland plants, for they will know when to leaf out, and if you native plants are experiencing a late, cold spring as we are, you may notice that they are all quite late in emerging. Native plants rarely get tricked by Mother Nature, but even now and then, a late frost or freeze can damage native species ( I remember Christopher Lloyd visiting the US in 1999 when on May 15 we have a killing freeze that killed many of our local oaks which had leafed out early.

Just so you know that everything is not perfect here, this is our main entrance after Joe used the leaf blower to clean out the alpine garden.

I had planned to start my tomato seeds this weekend, but I am holding off for one for weekend. I say this as I saw people buying tomato plants at the nursery this weekend. Here in Massachusetts, it's advisable to plant tomatoes out into the garden on or near June first, when the soil temperatures reach 55º F. Still, there are many seeds or plants that can be set out into the vegetable garden right now - peas can still be planted, as should potatoes. Onion seedlings can be set out, but I am waiting for another week so that mine can harden off - become accustomed to our cooler outside temperatures this year. The same goes for leeks, pansies, shallots and seeds such as lettuce, beets, carrots and turnips.

Inside the greenhouse, I finally was able to tidy up one side, stacking clay pots, and filling nearly four
wheelbarrows with trash. I am always surprised by how much junk I can collect in just one winter!

The alpine garden near the greenhouse has many small bulbs planted in it, and each spring, I enjoy seeing how
many have self seeded in the loose gravel. This miniature narcissus ( a name which I have lost) looks like a standard daffodil when seen in a photo, but when I place it in scale, you can see how tiny it is.

More Lachenalia, this L. aloides v. luteola has beautiful olive colored petals.

Lachenalia aloides v luteola

I transplanted many Primula this weekend that I started from seed. They are still quite tiny, but soon each
will fill these 3 inch pots. Here, are some trays of Primula sikkimensis.

When I Google the name of a plant and mostly my images come up in the image search,
I know that I've crossed over into plant collecting geekyness. Such is the case with this
Melaespharula ramosa, a prolific blooming bulb related to Gladiolus. It may be a weed in warmer climates,
but for those who have cold alpine houses, it is a treasured small bulb.

Giant Corpse Flower Blooms

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:54:00 +0000

A sci painting entitled 'Amorphophallus titanum' by artist and illustrator 'Janasci on Deviant Art

A post on the Pacific Bulb Group today announced ( and shared a link from USA Today) about the blooming of a Giant Corpse Flower, or Amorphophallus titanum at the University of Miami - and yesterday, a colleague at work shared a post on our intranet at Hasbro where one of our toy engineers posted that he had over 400 Amorphophallus bulbs available, which he propagated over the years ( most likely A. konjak, a prolific bulbil producer). All of this Amorphophallusness must be a sign ( not unlike the Jesus found in a tortilla that I saw in the news last night), that maybe I should reconsider starting another ( yes, another) Amorphophallus collections. Look out Plant Delights Nursery - I am preparing my order! ( even though you never sponsor my blog when I have promoted your nursery and site for free over 50 times!). ( really, still love ya though!), ( just kidding).
(Really).

The University of Miami video describing the blooming last night of the giant Amorphphallus titanum. Courtesy of USA Today.

One of my fellow designers at work, yesterday started this conversation, as she asked me if I ever heard of the Dead Horse Arum (same plant at A. titanum in the video). She was just curious, but not really interested in growing any, but she confirmed this trend - I have grown, even collected Amorphophallus ever since Plant Delights Nursery's catalog was printed in just green ink without pictures ( just sayin'), and at one time, I had about 12 species ( not many in a genus where there are over 200 species). I started growing them for their flowers, but had little luck getting them to bloom. What surprised me though, was that as a collection, the plants themselves were very attractive - and when displayed together, they always received lots of comments from visitors to the garden, asked what they were.

Life cycle of an Amorphophallus via the U.C. Davis Conservatory.

Of course many of you won't have room to house the "largest inflorescence in the world", and as this particular species demands hot, humid, greenhouse conditions, few of us can provide the proper environment - but most of the other species of Amorphophallus are indeed 'growable', and better than being merely 'growable' they are easy to grow. Even better, they are quite beautiful plants, looking tropical, rare and just plain interesting.

Amorphophallus are grouped into a family of plants called 'Arums' which includes calla lilies, jack-in-the-pulpits and, well, you can see the family resemblance for yourself. Like most arums, Amorphophallus grow from a tuberous structure, like a bulb, which remains dormant for half of the year. When ready to bloom in the spring, when the soil in the pot is warm, the single bud or petiole (the stem to you and I), will emerge. The plant grows in one, single spurt (sorry - I could have been more vulgar with with genus, believe me I am tempted). The modified stem will reach a specific height ( depending on the species), generally about 2 -3 feet tall, when an umbrella-like single compound leaf unfolds into a graceful, palm-like display. Then, that's about it for the season, until it limps, and goes dormant again.

With each year, with proper fertilization, the bulb will grow increasingly larger, until it is ready to bloom, but I would not grow this genus for it's inflorescence, but rather for it's over-all appearance, in particular it's mottled stem, which alone, is absolutely beautiful.

But there might be another reason to appreciate the rotten-meat scented Dead Horse Arum...

A gelatinous thickening agent from A. konjac has many commercial uses in Asia, including in these sweet jellies
which I used to love when in college in Hawaii.

So if you are bored, try ordering a could of Amorphophallus species this year. Despite their notorious stench when in flower ( consider yourself lucky if you do get one to bloom) the bulb of a few species are edible, in Japan, - A. konjac, the Devil's Tongue arum, which is grown commercially for many medicinal uses, food products like 'Devils Tongue Jelly' which uses a ground powder made from A. konjac as a thickening agent which becomes firm, and gelatinous, not unlike Agar agar. This power made from the tuber, which is called Konnyaku, is the base of these popular 'Tofu noodles' which you may have seen in your supermarket.

And in your local Whole Foods market, you might see these "diet pills".... as gelatinous or 'fiber' can sometimes be marketed as a diet trick - you know, Glucomannan vs Psyllium. Don't be Psylly.

Recycling Succulents

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:47:00 +0000

Many species and selections of succulents are available from most any nursery. Don't worry about
the Latin names, just buy ones that you like. Later, if you become more interested, you can buy named
forms ( I like to order from Highland Succulents) who will ship un-rooted cuttings.

Contrary to what you may think, I don't like succulents and cacti.

Really.

I just grow them because they are easy, and no matter what anyone tells you, just because they are beautiful and carefree has nothing to do with why I grow so many. It may not look like it, but I am a lazy gardener. It's true, ask anyone who really knows me. I actually have very little free time to garden and fuss with things, and although many of you ask me "Matt, I don't know how you do all that you do!", the truth is, that if you ever visit me, you will see the truth. There is my 'prop' portion of the garden, and then there is the rest. And God forbid if you ever drop in unannounced and see the inside of the house! Hey, I have to spend some time on this blog!

Sure, Succulents are easy, colorful and fun to grow, and that's why I grow them. I will admit that I have been propagating most of my own succulents ( a loosely used term that bundles together many genus' of plants which have thick, water-filled leaves), and a good number of them I simply take cuttings from randomly each fall and spring, which has grown my collection exponentially. I will admit that I grow some serious succulents and cacti - meaning that there are some which I bother to label, breed and organize by genus (such as Rebutia and Haworthia), but there are many which I simply grow for their appearance.

Last year on the lower deck, I used many succulent plants in decorative containers ( wait until what you see
what I am going to plant in this giant strawberry planter this year!).

Succulents are addictive, and relatively easy-to-grow, as long as you don't allow them to stay too wet while in pots. Each year I add more and more to my collection of decorative forms, often even forgetting their names, as I really dont' care since remember, I really don't like them.

Sedum nussbaumerianum (the golden green form) can turn brilliant yellow gold in the hot sun of summer. Along with other
Sedums and Graptoveria, these will grow on for much of the winter until March, when I again take cuttings for
decorative containers that will spend the summer outdoors.

I recycle most of my succulents each spring and autumn with cuttings, at least with my sedum and graptoveria species, as they root easily. These are succulents that can take much abuse, and when I take cuttings, I place them close together in pots, almost touching. This allows me to make geometric patterns or decorative displays. Last year I planted my most colorful succulents in concentric rings in one of our tall urns. This year, I am using some trendy green wall planters that Joe bought last year on sale. These will allow be to plant colorful blocks of color with various species and selections.

Sedums, including three cultivars of Sedum rubrotinctum (often called the jelly bean plant) root easily from cuttings. I
take a set of cuttings every autumn from my planters, and then grow them on in the greenhouse all winter long. By spring,
the plants are long in the tooth, so I take another set of cuttings which I use for spring containers.

A cleaned cutting of Sedum rubrotinctum 'aurora' ready for placing into another container. No need for
rooting hormone, these are cuttings anyone can root.

In October, newly potted cuttings from summer containers are placed on a high bench in the greenhouse where
they will spend the winter in full sun.

These wall planters are like giant tiles with angles compartments, that will keep the soil from falling out.
I am planting many succulents close together, by color and species. These unrooted cuttings will root in a few weeks, just about the time when I will be taking these containers outside to hang on a wall.

Sedum rubrotinctum, the Jelly Bean plant also drops it's fragile "jelly beans", each can root in the stem end is placed in damp sand or vermiculite.

I really have no idea what these will look like once they start growing, but for now, they remain flat and horizontal
in the greenhouse. I am trying some more interesting succulents in these containers, including Aloes.

Other ideas I might try this year include this one which I saw on a garden tour in Rhode Island. It's an upside-down hanging
basket form on a stone wall column. Lined with sphagnum and filled with soil, it was planted with hens and chicks.

In my more decorative plantings, last year I tried using more unusual colors of succulents. Red, gold and yellow, for
example, or, if you can remember, my collection of those that are grey or galvanized metal in color.

Concrete, galvanized metal and steel became a color theme in my outdoor gym.

I also like to display many species on the steps of the deck, in Guy Wolff pots. These include gasteria species,
haworthia ( like these) and other collectible species where I can grow many within a single genus.

Spring in and out of the Pit House

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 02:40:00 +0000

In the hundred year old pit house at Logee's Greenhouses in CT, a pink rabbit-eared lavender, or Lavendera stoechas from Spain blooms in the cold, fresh air that makes a pit house so hospitable for such plants.

Last weekend Joe and I drove down to Logee's Greenhouses, and I was thrilled to see that their pit house was open to the public again. I have such memories of this old fashioned style of greenhouse once common in the 18th century here in New England. My mother used to take me here in the 1960's and 70's, and I can still flash back to those moments every time I set foot into this almost completely underground pit house. Fortunately, this old pit house has not lost its charm, and even better, it held some new surprises...

The Logee's pit house in April, with roses, fragrant lavender and mints.

Mrs. Martin Logee used to chat with my mom ( they were about the same age then) about how her father in law used to grow wedding flowers ( mostly Buddeia asiatica, the winter blooming version of the more common Butterfly Bush) and jasmine in the cold house. The pit house always held herbs and Mediterranean plants that appreciate the near freezing temperatures. Pit houses are some of the earliest style of greenhouses in America, with some dating back to the 1700's near Boston. I love that this one is still functioning, and, a visit on any day will transport you to the past with it's scents of violet, lavender and rosemary.

The rare blue-flowered coleus, Coleus thrysoides from South Africa but a plant that once was found only in
pit houses and cold greenhouses. Today, it is rarely seen in any collection.

Speaking of vintage greenhouse and pit house plants, I thought that I would share this rare coleus, a blue flowered form which was also treasured in turn of the century greenhouses. Coleus thyrsoides 'The Blue Coleus" which has striking sky blue flowers in late winter. This is a plant that can be a little fussy, as it is a tender South African shrub, I find that it like lots of fertilizer and warmer temperatures once it starts growing. This is another old Logee's plant, one that roots easily, which is helpful because it is also terrible brittle. Just moving a pot will cause branches to snap off. To make matters worse, it has the most horrible scent. Something like herring and cod-liver oil which remains on ones fingers as the foliage itself is sticky. Still - I will repeat - blue flowers. True, blue flowers. Nice.

I scene which I rarely share - our front yard, looking down our road. These crocus came from Home Depot
in December when their mesh bags were marked down to $2.00!

As the snow just melted, the true alpine are coming up just as they are in the alps. This Pasque flower, or Pulsatilla vulgaris likes to show off it's bunny-fur like protective covering as it emerges from one of the alpine troughs.

From Japan, the Japanese butterbur is beginning to bloom. I have 5 species or selections, but this variegated form
has what I feel are the nicest cobs, or flower buds - which emerge early in the garden, sometimes as early as January, but
as you can see, this year, we have them in April. Typically, these are our first official cut flowers in mid-winter, but
not this year. Maybe I will cook some this weekend, as these petasites buds are a delicacy in Japan.

A Colder than Normal Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:35:00 +0000

Clean-up tasks abound in my garden. Like many of you, this weekend marked the first weekend of garden clean-up.

Just in case you haven't noticed, spring is late this year. I traveled this week to Savannah, GA for work, and when I landed in Atlanta, it was 45º F. - ten degrees colder even than Providence, RI, when I left! So spring seems like it's a long way off. While flying over the eastern US, I could see that spring seems to be late most everywhere as everything seemed brown, which is fine news for us gardening types - as an early, or unseasonably warm spring such as last year, can be more damaging to plants, than a slow, gradual warm-up, as we are experiencing this year. But this cool weather should not hold us back from the necessary chores that need to be done, and I, in typical 'Matt mode' undertook far too many this weekend.

Even though spring is arriving a few weeks late, there is much to do around the garden. This weekend I struggled with tasks ( there were so many!), and I could not seem to focus on any one thing - trying to take advantage of this late season opportunity to spread mulch, rake, prune and pick-up trash before things really start growing. My much arrived Saturday morning, bright and early - 8 yards of dark, one-year old composted hemlock which is what I prefer over the dyed red form, or even the un-dyed mixes. I hate using mulch, but it's just something that I have learned to appreciate, as I hate weeding, and can't afford a full time gardener.

The sun is now so strong, that it is time to put up the shade cloth on the greenhouse as many plants are already
getting burned foliage.

To-do lists included sowing poppy seeds (finally did it today!), sowing green onions ( I planted a red-stemmed variety), and mulching between the raised beds and boxwoods. The biggest task was trying to add wire fences to the beds and around plants-at-risk so that the puppies won't dig or chew them. The alpine bed above has bee almost destroyed (after a fight over a bone). The dwarf iris have all been broken, and most of the small bulbs have been crushed. If you have dogs, you know what I mean, there just isn't much I can do, as this is the side of the yard that is fenced in for the dogs. I don't even know if I will be able to have a vegetable garden this year.

Mulch have been spread between the boxwoods and around some of the raised beds. Since the mulch pile is far away, I only brought over about 5 loads. I felt lazy, and I just didn't want to get too sore before the real heavy work begins.

The yard is a mess, especially with two puppies who can't keep out of the garden. So far I have lost
most of my iris in the alpine garden, many spring bulbs and two tree peonies. Since the snow just melted,
trash seems to have accumulated everywhere ( I don't know how!).

I never have enough time to clean up the garden in time before everything begins to grow, so I just try to be realistic, and focus on smaller portions of the garden ( generally, the parts you see here on this blog - I rarely show the other 75% of the garden! - It's pretty dumpy.).

I should have taken an image before, but this knee wall at the front of the greenhouse was covered with creeping
fig, and it had to go. This was the perfect time to wash the glass, and to spray the surfaces with
Physan to disinfect everything. A tidy greenhouse is essential if you are serious about growing plants, as dead blossoms and foliage on the ground will only encourage disease, bacteria and fungal spores.

In the greenhouse, there is always a lot to do this time of year. Each week, seeds need to be sown- this week, some late parsley ( I pour boiling water over them to speed-up germination), plus some peppers, both hot ones and of course, some black pearl. These have been placed under light, and on a heating mat to encourage good germination. Peppers require soil temperatures near 80º for proper germination.

I repotted many of the pelargonium in my collection ( geranium), and took cuttings for summer displays and for containers. Pelargonium prefer to be under-potted, liking tight feet rather than extra space. Since they like dense, sandy soil, I use a loam-based soil with sand. They need lots of fertilizer this time of year, as they are heavy feeders, I use one high in phosphorus and Potash similar to what the pro's use, and never use 10-10-10.

Pelargoniums ( Geraniums) all start to grow with force in early spring. I keep many miniature and dwarf forms, scented geranium ( ahh, lemon!) and many rare species - most want to bloom in April, May and June, so this is the time to repot and refresh their soil. Geraniums are heavy feeders, and the best results will come with weekly drenches with a water soluble fertilizer. The professionals use Peter's 15-16-17 Peat Lite, which is what I use. The problem is all geraniums are sensitive to salts and salt buildup in container grown plants is always a problem with commercial crops. One can avoid this buildup with a bi weekly flush of fresh water. I use trace elements, as geraniums are susceptible to boron deficiency and I must be careful to not use the same fertilizer that I use for snapdragons, our citrus trees or petunias, which I augment with iron - all geraniums are susceptible to iron and manganese toxicity.

Lemon scented geraniums are a fav of mine, these two rooted cuttings are just beginning to grow with vigor.
The one on the left I will train as a standard topiary, and the one on the right, as a long, thin conical form.

Zonal types, which includes many of the types I grow, as I can't help but collect the colored-leaf forms, all require a tight pH zone of 5.5 to 6.5,, and anything lower will affect blooming. Careful pinching is all that is needed from April on, as one wants dense, lush growth, especially with the more difficult types such as the lemon-scented geraniums, which I like to train into topiary forms. The trick here is a loamy, sandy soil, a pot three sizes too small, warm temperatures and weekly feeding.

A tender fragrant shrub such as Cystus multiflorus must be grown in a cool greenhouse in New England, but if you live
in northern California, you are in luck - there, it is a common landscape plant. I love it's scent on these early spring days.
I keep this small shrub in a clay tub, which I bring outdoors after frost danger has passed. It usually blooms before that.

Cyrtanthus mackenii 'Hobgoblin', is an heirloom South African bulb for cold greenhouses and pit houses. But like many plants, it can be grown outdoors in California.

Outside everything is late, but starting to open. This Daphne mezereum var. alba typically blooms in January or February, but with out deep snow fall this year, it is now sharing its fragrant blossoms with us.

Outside things, as I said, are slow, but I am not complaining, and a long, slow spring is far better for plants, than one where hot days arrive quickly. This is one of those years in which there is a lot of cross-over. Late winter blooming shrubs, bloom at the same time as mid-spring blooming shrubs. Daphne and cornel's blooming together, oh my! Many plants are emerging quickly, where there was snow last weekend, now stands clumps of helleborus with their nodding, globular flower heads just emerging in the ever-strengthenin spring sunshine.

Cornus mas, or Cornelian Cherry offers an option for forsythia. This early-blooming shrub is often the first shrub ( or more like a small tree) to bloom with force. A dogwood, this is about as un-dogwoody looking as a cornus can get.

I've been concerned about my Hellebores this year, as the puppies are tearing up the garden. I've decided to use my
tomato cages as protective barriers.

Bean cages double as Hellebore guards - anything to keep the puppies out of the beds.

Look what arrived today! There may be no better sign of spring than the arrival of baby chicks.
Tonight the nap under a heat lamp as it is still too cold outside to place them in the coop.

Planning a Cut Flower Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 23:14:00 +0000

A garden dedicated to just cut flowers, is a luxury any of us can have. All it takes is
some space, some planning and a little restraint and some knowledge about what is growable, and what isn't.

Planning the Ultimate Cut Flower Garden

I've been wanting to write a post about planning a cut-flower garden for such a long time, that whenever I start thinking about it, the subject becomes over-whelming, so I've decided to break up the subject into a few posts, starting with this one - on planning your cut-flower garden. Later this month, I will expand this into posts that cover the annual cut flower garden ( the best annuals for cut flowers), the perennial cut-flower garden (with peonies and incredible blooming perennials), and the shrub cut flower garden ( for winter branches for forcing like quince, hydrangeas and flowering shrubs such as lilacs). Each will suggest ideas for foliage, color inspiration and some style boards. Please me know what you like ( or don't like!) about each of these few posts, and please share your ideas for what you imagine could be in your ultimate cut-flower garden.

It's easy to be tempted by planting the rainbow, but an un-thoughtful color palette can
end up like this ( my dahlia's from last year). Just 'ho-hum' colors, and a bit of a mess
when combined. With just a little planning, I could have had a much nicer selection.

Until recently, fresh cut flowers were considered a luxury, a very 'Downton Abbey' practice, only planted on the great estates and private homes of the wealthy who could afford greenhouses and long rows of garden space just for product and cut fresh flowers. When I worked at an estate, we grew long rows of summer annuals just for cut flowers. Snapdragons, tall marigolds, gladiolus, scabiosa, tall, wiry cosmos in white and pink, and late blooming dahlias. These were all planted in a large vegetable garden where they could be grown and stalked tall, with no fear of the plants looking ugly after being cut for their flowers. On Fridays it was my job to pick the string beans and zucchini, and then to cut baskets of flowers in the early morning, arranging then long stems in buckets of cool water to harden them off, before carting them down to the potting shed where they would be arranged for weekend use throughout the home. The home owners wanted very summery-feeling flowers, those mostly not available from commercial florists, but I learned alot those summers, about the realities of what grew well in gardens as cut flowers, and what didn't.

The top image shows one of my inspiration boards, and below is how I create a color palette which uses more growable
plant material for my own garden. Sure, Dutch bulb flowers such as French tulips and ranunculus provide a more
tender and fresh form, but I want to be able to cut flowers for most of the summer. Using these arrangements as
inspiration can still help you get more interesting flower arrangements this summer.

Last year, my coral and salmon flowers allowed me to create arrangements like thin. Poppies, sweet peas and
Godetia combine with green hydrangea to make a stylish composition.

Learning how to be realistic about what you can, and cannot grow.

First, the bad news: Most likely, the images you are saving use flowers not from someones garden, but from a florist. This means that if you want to be able to go out into your garden to cut peach colored ranunculus, French Tulips, Anemones with black centers, gold Billy Buttons, Gerbera Daisies, and 'green trick' Dianthus - you are out of luck. There are many practical reasons why you cannot grow these flowers ranging from timing, to environment, copyright issues and growability, but yeah, you can't grow them.

Yes, I know that you can find 4 inch pots of gerbera at The Home Depot right now, and beautiful forced pots of Ranunculus but it's just horticulturally impossible to grow these in most gardens throughout North America. These are intended for use only as temporary ( i.e. disposable) color and should be used only for short-term containers. If you live in southern California, or even in Oregon, you may be able to grow a broader range of these bulbous or South African winter or late spring blooming plants in your gardens, but as a cut flower crop, these are intended as greenhouse crops, and not as garden flowers, especially as cut flower garden flowers.

But here is the good news: You can use images of lovely arrangements from magazines, blogs and websites as inspiration. I do it all the time. It does take some knowledge and experience, as many photos of flowers, even in seed catalogs, can be misleading, resulting in you becoming extremely disappointed in the results, but I will try to share as much information here to help you overcome many of these un-truths.

Ombre Sweet Peas from last years' garden.

Here are three handy tips that will help you get that awesome cutting garden this spring.

1. Choose your Color Palette. Think: Ombre first, and then Complimentary colors.

This is the fun part. Make style boards with you favorite images based on color only. Pin images on Pinterest or bookmark ideas that make you swoon - but a word of caution - most likely, you will not be able to grow the same flowers in your own garden. Some advice here - commercial florist flowers are different than garden flowers, so pass on the Gerbera Daisies and Ranunculus that you will see available at your home center, these are not flowers that will live long in a home garden.

Beautiful color palettes are so important, since you most likely won't have alot of room. Your cutting garden should be separate from your flower gardens, many of us just use a raised bed or two in the vegetable garden, where we plant a few rows of dahlias, zinnias and other flowers like Cosmos. Plan on a good selection of textures and tints so that you can make professional-looking arrangements. Wiry stems, bright colors and pale tints. You are essentially creating an artists palette in your garden. You may not be growing them in color order ( actually, I strongly suggest that you don't, rather you should grow your plants by height and environmental conditions), but you will be picking flowers, and assembling them in some order.

Each year I try to limit myself to two or three color palettes. Purples and magenta with lime green, orange, coral, tangerine and lime, black and white, smokey mauve's and dark violets - this is up to you, and this is the fun part. But again, you need to be realistic, and there will be limitations. The easiest colors to time are magenta and pinks, as there are more flowers that bloom in these tints than any other color. Yellow is a close second. Many grow all white flowers, and others focus on elaborate color schemes - choose what you are most comfortable with.

If you have any questions, just drop me a line, and I will be more than happy to advise you ( I could even share your questions or concerns in another post if you want!).

2. Timing is key - be sure to grow flowers that will bloom at the same time.

It's kind of a no brainer for experienced gardeners, but if you are new, this is one of the hardest things to learn - selecting your flowers to those that will bloom at the same time may seem obvious, but it is often the last thing one thinks about when choosing colors.Imagine that you bookmarked and then ordered the perfectly coral peony imagining that you will combine it with a fuchsia Phlox and a peach tinted rose, you will be disappointed with the results ( mainly the fact that the peony will bloom for only 5 days out of the entire year, that the rose will bloom twice this summer in June, and that the Phlox will bloom for 3 weeks in late August). Timing plants that will bloom together will allow you to actually assemble a bouquet on the same day. Simple.

This fact should make no difference what so ever for flowers being grown in a cut-flower garden, but I am mentioning this fact anyway, because it's one of the most common mistakes new gardeners make when choosing flowers - most flowering annuals and perennials are comprised of green leaves. You may have dreams of garden with lovely coral peonies and coral zinnia's, but the truth is that the coral peony will only bloom for about a week out of the entire year, and the zinnia plant may product a perfectly coral blossom on the end of a very green 2 foot long stem, with leaves that are wide and green - the over-all effect being a green, loose weedy shrub with dabs of salmon colored blossoms here and there, maybe 3 flowers open at the same time.

3. Don't forget Foliage

Tasteful and textural foliage separates the real talented floral stylist from the amateur flower arranger. The secret is this - never use the foliage from your garden flowers, instead, grow the foliage that fits your color scheme - Look, the first thing interns do at florists, is the dirty work. Early every morning they must unload the trucks, open the boxes of flowers, unwrap them, and then remove all of the foliage. Stripping the leaves off of the French Tulips, roses, ranunculus and Alstroemeria is a nasty task, but the senior floral designers and stylists don't care. They are only concerned with color and texture, and you should be too.

In your home cutting garden, you don't need to worry about the fact that a coral zinnia plant will look mostly green from a distance, as you will be removing all of the foliage from the stems once you cut them. Instead, you will be growing some plants just for their foliage. I will share with you the best home-grown foliage plants that you can grow as annuals, perennials, shrubs and even bulbs.

4. Location- Full Sun.

Position your cut flower garden away from the house, where you can't see it.
In this way, you won't feel bad about cutting flowers. Sure, you can integrate plants into your flower beds, but you will have more freedom to cut what you want if you plan to have a few rows in the vegetable garden, or in a separate cutting garden.

5. Don't limit yourself to annuals.

Annuals are easy and fast, and they will bloom for most of the summer, but don't limit yourself to annuals, there are many perennials, biennial, even shrubs and tropicals that can, and should be planted in the cutting garden. Don't forget about bulbs, in fact, bulbs are some of the most commonly grown florist flowers, so it makes sense to grow them in the cutting garden too.

Planting shrubs will provide you with long, cut branched just for winter forcing. A row of tall-growing quince will provide you with a lifetime of long stemps which you can force into bloom starting in January, and if planted in a cutting garden, you can cut them to the ground every other winter as you harvest branches, without fear of ruining your landscape. Don't forget about berried shrubs if you have the room. Some of these best are Viburnum species and Ilex verticilata for the Holiday's.

Bulbs like parrot tulips and those available as color-blends make great cutting garden material. Expensive, yes, but if you plant value packs you won't feel as bad when you pick them all for a massive arrangement. Don't forget summer bulbs like gladiolus, lilies and of course, dahlia's, which come in a rainbow of colors. These are some of the nicest cut flowers.

Perennials like Delphinium might be unrealistic for cut flower gardens, but I like to keep a few rows of daylilies, which I always have extra after dividing. Rudbeckia, Echinacea, Liatris, Helenium, Echinops and many many other perennials make terrific summer cut flowers. I like phlox, but many people don't since they drop their flowers and can stain linens.

Foliage plants include grasses of all sorts, even corn can be used for it's long, green leaves which can be wrapped inside glass containers to hide stems. The same can be said for canna foliage, especially the colored type. Lime green is the floral stylist's first choice for foliage, so back to the shrubs again for a moment, you may want to plant some green-flowering hydrangea and viburnum, just for summer cutting. Lime green coleus, euphorbia 'summer snow' also can be planted.

Annuals which are good for cutflowers include, aster, cosmo, snapdragon, scabiosa (very long lasting), Lisianthus, strawflower and Zinnia.

Easter Moments

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 23:52:00 +0000

A mature clump of Crocus tommasinianus blooms near the studio entrance.

When Easter arrives in March rather than April, there can be snow, or at least, very little in bloom out in the garden. Crocus, snowdrops and maybe some witch hazel is often all that there is, but in the greenhouse we were able to grab a mish mash, albeit it nice mish mash, of flowers to use in 8 little Weck canning jars which we ran down the center of our table along with a pile of fresh straw from the chicken coop. We dyed our own duck eggs and chicken eggs, except for a few duck eggs which I kept natural, as the olive green is nice enough. With 14 people for dinner today, we needed twice that amount for our annual egg fight. I was raised Lithuanian, as both of my parents are Lithuanian, so Easter is a big Holiday around here, with lots of tradition including my grandfathers Easter egg bread, leg of lamb with fresh herbs and of course - lots of Easter eggs.

The two Khaki colored eggs are from our Mallard-colored Indian Runner Ducks ( so delicious in pastry), the
other eggs are from our Bantam hens, and larger breed chickens. All dyed with onion skins, berries and beet root.

I never get sick of dying Easter eggs, I guess it's a color thing. My mom would start saving onion skins around the new year, keeping the red ones separated from the brown ones, just so that we could have another color of dye. Red cabbage, beets and blueberries were also used, always on our own free range eggs. If Easter came in April, we would have had pigeon and pheasant eggs too, which always adds some scale to the baskets. An April Easter would also mean green grass, and lots and lots of spring bulbs to pick, but this year, as the snow is still melting, there is nothing much in the garden, as the ground is still frozen.

There is still snow on the north side of the house, and most of the ground is still frozen, so there is little garden clean up
but we are getting ready, as there is much to be done.

The chickens go out for a stroll, as we used the chicken yard for an egg hunt for the kids. Of course, the roosters and turkey toms attack them, but then, that's part of the fun! These city kids needed to learn a thing or two about poultry anyway. No one was hurt, and later, although the kids insisted that they didn't eat lamb, we just told them that it was chicken, and they ate it.

Every year, as my sister and brothers come for the holiday, I make Lithuanian Easter bread, a typical Eastern European egg bread with far too many eggs and even more butter. I alternate between my grandfather's recipe, or our late neighbor Mrs. Putis. This year, I made Mrs. Putis's recipe, which called for a little almond extract along with the vanilla, but then the lady across the street - an 85 year old Lithuanian, insisted that I should have used whiskey, as that's what her father used. So next year - whiskey it is, as I am always up for any excuse for decent whiskey use in a recipe.

I even braided one with the traditional three red eggs to represent the Holy Trinity. We aren't religious, but tradition is tradition, and it must be done.

Weasley, the Easter Terrier, could not keep his snout off of the Rosemary shrubs once I brought them out from the greenhouse. Even the Prostanthera ( Australian Mint Shrub) was lunch for him.

Rosemary is the herb of choice around here when Easter comes around. With Lamb on the menu, I needed a cup of Rosemary needles, and another cup for the roasted potatoes. You Californians will think we are crazy here in New England, but we cannot grow Rosemary outdoors, so I keep a few large tubs in the greenhouse where it grows perfectly in the cold, moist air. In the spring ( this week, actually), the tubs are brought outdoors where they can handle light frosts, even heavy freezes as long as the mercury doesn't drop below 20º F.

In the greenhouse, the Clivia are beginning to blossom. This one is a variegated one.

This prostrate rosemary is blooming already. I am bringing it outside for the season, as long as the temperatures stay above 20º. This one is my favorite for cooking because of it's dense growth.

Joes grand nephews hunt for eggs

The days are getting longer with the passing of each day. This afternoon, the setting sun illuminated the shrubs in such a way that I could appreciate their texture. In the foreground, the vertical growth habit of an Enkianthus, just behind that, the brown leaves on the English Hornbeam hedge have yet to fall, staying on for most of the winter.

Our harsh winter has taken it's toll on the Japanese forest bamboo ( Sasa vietchii) but it still doesn't look that bad. The robins are singing, the birds are starting to gather nesting material, and perhaps, spring has begun to arrive.

My Tips on Starting Seeds

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Mattus) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 18:54:00 +0000

Celery seedlings must be started early, these were planted on February 1st, and are now ready for transplanting
into individual pots before being hardened off and set out into the garden.

Fair Warning - These tips for starting seeds which I am about to share are different than many which you will see from other garden bloggers. - growing plants is a science and seed starting in particular, can be complex, as much as it can be simple. I want to share my most helpful tips with those of you who might be planning your vegetable gardens. In our world of Pinterest and pretty pictures of egg shell pots with mini moss gardens, when it comes to seed starting, there are no guarantees - seeds cane be fussy, young plants can die practically overnight from fungus, and even malnutrition. When it comes to starting your own food crops or even flowers - please, don't mess around - seed starting is serious business, and I am about to share with you my best hints and tips to help you achieve greater success.

Seed starting can be fun - especially if you are a new gardener, and even more so if you have your kids helping you. I know many moms treat seed starting as a craft, but rather than make it an art projet, seed starting can also be an opportunity to teach science, or, a valuable lesson on 'how-to-do-things-right' – a skill we often forget in our disposable, DIY culture of superficiality and sound-byte practices. One cannot rush seed starting, one cannot cheat, since seed starting IS science - it's a biology lesson waiting to happen.

To make things easier for you, I designed this poster showing the basic seed-starting facts for a few of the most common vegetables. Save in, pin it, or print it out to use as a guide.

Before I start, I like to do a little ( or a lot!) of research about what conditions the seeds which I am to sow, may require. Even for experienced gardeners, starting seeds successfully and growing them on requires some do- diligence. Search on-line, and use the most informative sites such as your local county extension service, plant society forums and university sites rather than most blogs, at least at first. Later, you may want to visit a few of your most favorite and trusted blogs to see if there might be something that was left out of the techy information.

What I am trying to help you avoid, is something that we all do when given a stack of seeds - that is, to in the interest of time, just tear them all open, and sow them in any old soil, and water them. This may work for the easiest of seeds such as beans and tomatoes, but we all learn as gardeners, that even the most challenging seed can be germinated - all you need to know, is what the particular species which you are sowing, requires - environmentally ( temperature, moisture, soil).

I will admit to you all, that even I with over 40 years of gardening experience, find seed starting as perhaps the single most challenging skill when it comes to gardening - it's where I still have much to learn ( that is, until I try grafting!).

I say this all because I see many phrases advice being shared on-line such as like "just plant the seeds in dirt and water, and stand back".These broad statement are generalized, and they are not only misleading, they are often wrong. The entire plant world grows from seeds, and almost each one requires something different culturally. The goal here is to achieve optimum results - not just a few seeds germinating. Often, a shift in soil temperature just while germinating may make all the difference in the world.

This snapdragon seedling not only needs clean soil, and cool temperatures while it is growing if it is even going to compete with the ones found at nurseries in the spring with thick stems and dense growth due to rooting
hormones and plant growth regulators, it will also need a good dose of iron - something petunias also need.

Some seeds come from plants that grow in tropical climates in South Africa or South America (melons and cucumbers) demand soil temperatures near 80º F, but then again, so do many cold weather crops that you may think need cold soil in which to germinate - cabbage and broccoli come to mind. Other plants such as those from central America (tomatoes, zinnias and Dahlias), benefit from light, or surface sown, yet need to be covered with cardboard to block out any light 0 such as Scabiosa. With your garden hosting plants from all over our planet, from South East Asia, China or even from the dry mountainous areas of Turkey. I like to think of seed starting as managing a zoo - where every animal comes from a different environment, penguins to jungle cats, and each need different stimuli and environmental conditions in which to grow properly.

I know, I know - I need to order new labels! I can now master many hard-to-grow seeds, such as these Primula
sikkimensis, but I am not above cheating when it comes to my perennial seeds - see that packet on the right? It's
from Jelitto seeds, and one of their pre-chilled Gold Nugget Seed collection. No need to refrigerate,
just sow and grow - and in no time, one can have hundreds of fall-blooming anemone plants.

My 10 tips for starting seeds.

1. Use proper containers for optimum results. Use deep seed pots for tap-rooted veggies like Artichokes, or wide pots for fibrous rooted veggies like celery. People - Enough with the up cycling when it comes to producing the finest vegetable seedlings.

It may make you feel good to recycle white plastic yogurt containers, toilet paper tubes, egg shells etc. ( and I'll admit that it might be a pet peeve of mine and that there may be nothing wring with using yogurt cups or egg shells to start seeds)- but there are other things to consider - mainly, excellent root growth ( sometimes difficult in white or transparent plastic pots without the use of root hormones) and what about plants that need deep root runs?

2. Find out what the optimum soil temperature should be for your seeds to germinate - remember, it's different for each type of plant that you grow.

Know what temperature you seed germinates best at is crucial. Blindly opening a packet of seeds, and then sowing seed before knowing what it needs is perhaps the greatest error any gardener can make. Lettuce seed germinates best at 40º and poorly at 73º, cabbage seed germinates best at 85º, but then requires bright light a cold temperatures in order to grow well – difficult to do under artificial light systems. Some seeds require stratification ( a cold period), some seeds need boiling water poured over them. Learn first, and then practice.Cabbage may need to germinate hot, but then stay cool, only to be set out into the garden near your frost free date, but something like lettuce not only prefers to germinate near freezing, the seed will often go dormant once the temperatures rise into the 70ºs, which may simply mean that you will need to sow lettuce straight into the garden, but not ever under lights in the house.

3. Once your seeds have sprouted, then find out what temperature your seedlings need to grow at - as this is often different than the germination temperature.

Broccoli may like cool growing temps in the spring, but few people know that need to germinate in hot soil, but then it needs to grow-on in cool conditions, eventually the strong seedlings can be set out into the garden near your frost free date. Yet lettuce germinates best when temperatures are near freezing, the seed hates warmth so much, that it will actually go dormant once the temperatures rise into the 70ºs, so sowing lettuce straight into the garden in March will ensure that you achieve the maximum germination rate.

4. Use sterile soilless growing media, and yes, I advise not using coir for seed sowing.

Seedlings are like premature babies, and they need clean, sterile bedding and spotlessly clean diapers or they will get sick. Be a good parent, and you won't get fungus gnats, green algae or insects because poor cultural conditions will encourage all of these things. Start with sterile soil-less mix, which means that it’s been pasturized or heated, to kill all of the nasty stuff, and the good stuff will them be added if you can find an excellent mix. While on the subject of soil – perhaps the most controversial subject that there is in gardening today next to fertilizer and insecticide - all I can tell you is what I use – Pro Mix BX with mycorrhizae. Yeah, it’s a peat based mix, and yes, it is commercial ( but I have yet to find a mix at a Home Depot or Lowes that doesn't look like it was made with pine bark, black hair dye and garbage.

So proceed carefully here. There are many Pro Mix blends, and the one generally available at retail in small bags is also not the same mixture, so you might be on your own here. I stay far, far away from coir products ( I just think that they are bad for plants in my opinion – I’ve killed more plants with coir than any other soiless product, and the way it is produced in India isn't all that good for the environment either ( let alone it's carbon footprint). In a year I will be creating all of my own soil mixes without peat, but for now, I still use peat. My two bales are my contribution to global warming.
The ideal mix is generally impossible for most people to create - garden soil baked or steamed to kill the nasties, mixed with composted Beech leaves, sharp sand and you could end up with the finest seedlings of all, but the professionals use a virtually clean peat mix, drenched with fungicides, starting with chemicals to stimulate first root growth, and then chemicals to shorten the cell growth so that stems become thick, and leaves dense ( think of those awesome, "healthy looking" tomato plants you will soon see at the big box store). There are chem's to stimulate flower growth so that the flats will sell in full bloom, and you know the results. My use of peat based mix and some water soluble professional fertilizer may be frowned upon by some, but it doesn't come close to what commercial growers use. Be realistic, be responsible, be serious about what you grow, and I believe that there is a middle ground.

5. Fertilize often ( weekly) and use the right formula for the right plant.

And here is another touchy subject with those who are not serious gardeners. Just don't use 10-10-10. Read-up on what the professionals use, and be careful with those home remedies!!! Look. Save your chamomile tea spray for your evening tea and not to spritz on your seedlings to discourage fungus gnats – these nasty while lies are being spread on social media sites faster than Justin Bieber comments. The real reason why you have fungus gnats is because your soil is too wet, and you are just making it worse by wetting it more. Forget completely about molasses fertilizer, Epsom Salt fertilizer ( it's just magnesium, and most likely, your seedlings don't need just magnesium), - I will say it again – GARDENING IS SCIENCE, and thus, plant nutrition is far too great a subject for me to cover in this post - all I will say is my life changed once I took the time to reseach exactly what formula my pansies, tomatoes or celery needed, and pay attention to what stage of growth they will need a certain formula. No tea bags, no crushed egg shells, no beer.

Gardening is a science, not a craft.

Baby Snapdragons ready to be transplanted into flats. These were sown in February, and now they have deep, strong roots due to a fertilizer formula that is 5.17.24, high phosphorus, low nitrogen.

I’d love to hear from you, if there is one that you love- I have heard that the Lobster compost is good, and Oh yes, I like the composted peanut hull mixes, but again, I am sticking with ProMix for now, black plastic containers, or dark green Kord pots. The only recycled pot I do use are some black plastic take-out containers from our local Chinese delivery, they work well for seedlings, but beyond that, I use clean, new pots.

Yes, I an still growing crazy rare things too! Two years after sowing, this wild collected
Narcissus is just germinating! Yay!