Focus on Flowers

Although non-native, lilacs are a much-loved and well-behaved import to North America.

There are about 70 different types of phlox, both short and tall. The short ones are used as groundcovers, and their palette is made up of the cool colors.

Most of us, including those who are not space challenged, like to experiment with plants in containers. It is like playing at micro gardening.The drawback of containers, though, is that as we water them the nutrients in the soil leach out. Therefore, we need to start by filling our pots each season with a rich growing medium and follow through with regular feedings during the summer.Slow-release granules are often used for this purpose.  Also some gardeners say it is good to mix a little compost with the potting soil to aid water retention and to put a layer of bark chip mulch on the surface of each pot to lessen evaporation of moisture.Water-retaining granules can also be added to the upper third of the soil mixture in the pot. Always make sure that pots have good drainage holes, as if a pot has no holes or clogged holes, the plants will rot, and the soil will start to smell unpleasant. To prevent the holes becoming clogged, many gardeners use pieces of old clay pots or styrofoam peanuts, which are not as heavy when the pots need to be moved around to follow the sun.However, another solution is to recycle old pantyhose by putting them over the drainage holes or lining the bottom of the pot with about 10 layers of newspaper. This retains moisture and soil while the water drains.The smaller the pots the more frequently they must be watered as small amounts of soil dry out quickly. Especially in hot weather, most containers outdoors need daily watering.

Amy Stewart, in her book Flower Confidential, says that florists practically invented Mother's Day. It was actually invented in 1908 by a woman named Anna Jarvis who wanted the celebration to be on the second Sunday in May because it was the anniversary of the death of her own mother. “Crowd it and push it,” she urged florists, noting that May was a month when flowers are plentiful and therefore cheaper. Florists jumped on board, and Jarvis's idea worked as people saw it as a chance to honor their mothers, as well as daughters, wives, grandmothers, and friends who were mothers. Jarvis, however, became upset with the floral industry because she wanted white carnations to be the exclusive flower of Mother's Day. This was because the holiday actually began as a day when children (both boys and girls) would honor their mothers by wearing a white carnation in their buttonhole. Florists, understandably, were in favor of using a wider variety of flowers, partly because their suppliers couldn't supply sufficient quantities of white carnations.Mother's Day is now a truly floral holiday, and flowers can even be wired world-wide.

Many of us who love to grow tulips in our gardens have visiting deer who love to eat them. It seems to be such a violent death for a bud or flower.  The poet E. J. Scovell, when she wrote the following poem in 1991, must not have had deer in her garden because she describes a more gradual demise. Here are some excerpts of her poem: I would, if I could, choose Age, and die outwards as a tulip does; Not as this iris drawing in, in-coiling Its complex strange taut inflorescence, willing Itself a bud again—though all achieved is No more than a clenched sadness, The tears of gum not flowing. I would choose the tulip's reckless way of going; Whose petals answer light, altering by fractions From closed to wide, from one through many perfections, Till wrecked, flamboyant, strayed beyond recall, Like flakes of fire they piecemeal fall.Most of us prefer tulips in a vase when they are closed or just partly open, rather than splayed outwards, wide open, just before the petals fall. Though perhaps, opening wide, is their last defiant gesture of farewell.This is Moya Andrews, and today we focused on the death of a flower.

Deadheading spent booms on plants is important, especially with perennials.  Many modern annuals have been bred so that the plant will keep blooming without deadheading. Wave petunia was the first annual where breeders managed to achieve this, but now it is rare for any type of petunias to need deadheading.  However, this is not the case with perennials, where deadheading makes the plants bloom longer. Otherwise, many perennials will waste their energy producing seeds. After a main stem has finished flowering, cut it down to the base. Many plants will then send up a second smaller set of flower stems.  With plants that have many flowers on one stem, pinch off individual flowers as they fade.  With fall flowers, such as asters, you can cut off clusters of the faded flowers so that the plant can produce more.  With plants that produce just one plume per stem, such as Shasta daisies, cut off each spent flower stem at ground level. With flowers that produce large numbers of tiny flowers, such as wood asters, shear off all spent blooms with shears or scissors after the main flush of flowers is spent. Dead flowers turn into seeds, and unless you are collecting seeds, don't allow your perennials to waste their energy producing them.  This is Moya Andrews and today we focused on deadheading.  

The genus Sidalcea is made up of species from western North America, and the best of the species is Sidalcea malviflora, so named because the flowers resemble mallows. The scientific name is actually a combination of two related plant forms, “sida” and “alcea,” because it resembled both the mallow and the hollyhock. The most used common names recently are miniature hollyhock and prairie mallow. Other common names in the past were checkers and checkerbloom because of the alternate placement of the flowers on the stem. The flowers are cup-shaped and grow on spikes and have five pink petals. The plant adapts well, though it prefers afternoon shade in warm climates, and tolerates most types of soil as long as it is well watered. More flowers are produced if the dead flower stems are cut back. 

The scientific name Sidalcea is actually a combination of two related plant forms, “sida” and “alcea,” because it resembled both the mallow and the hollyhock. Common names are miniature hollyhock and prairie mallow. Other common names in the past were checkers and checkerbloom because of the alternate placement of the flowers on the stem.

Globe amaranth has the botanical name Gomphrena globosa and adult butterflies love this pretty annual. The little round flower heads bloom for a long time in the sunny summer garden and into early fall and dry beautifully for winter bouquets. The pink and orange varieties are especially striking and hold up well in a vase, especially if only one bloom is cut per stem. Fortunately, they have long stems so that is useful for many types of flower arrangements. 

Cimicifuga racemosa, commonly called bugbane, black snakeroot, or black cohosh, growing wild and planted it in his Pennsylvania garden. He then sent seeds to his friend Peter Collinson in England.  The Native Americans told the colonists to use it to treat fevers, lumbago, rheumatism, and snake bites with a medicine made from the roots. Its common names became bugbane and squawroot. The leaves are coarse and toothed, and the plant produces clumps of leaves, as well as tall, slender racemes of delicate white flowers that can grow up to six feet in midsummer.  The plant likes light shade, rich soil, and frequent water. The flowers are not available commercially but are used as cut flowers from the garden where they can be striking in arrangements. The spires have also given rise to the folk name of fairy candles.  Note: Cimicifuga racemosa has been reclassified as Actaea racemosa. Additional common names for this plant are black cohosh and black snakeroot.

The plant variety that produces double flowers is Saponaria ‘Flora Pleno', which is pale pink and white with a delicate scent. Common names are soapwort and “bouncing bet.” The plant spreads a lot, as it will grow almost anywhere and is often found along railroad tracks and even in dust heaps. In gardens, it is best confined to the outskirts not the main flower borders. My advice is that it is best grown only in pots.

Sara Coleridge wrote this poem in the 1800s."January brings snow, and makes our feet and fingers glow.February brings the rain and thaws the frozen lake again.March brings breezes loud and shrill, stirs the dancing daffodil....

If you have a garden, you probably enjoy displaying your flowers in your home. I have many small vases and bottles with narrow necks, so that I can pop just one or two flowers into them. When I come indoors after my morning walk, I usually bring what I call my "Flower of the Day." It is the flower that has really caught my eye that I want to look at close-up. 

You may like to try drying your end of summer flowers in your microwave. 

The best way to air-dry most flowers is to hang them upside down in bunches in a dry dark place for 1-3 weeks. Take the leaves off the stems and bind 6-10 stems together tightly with rubber bands.

n 1906, Beatrix Potter acquired a farmhouse in the Lake District of England. Her new house and garden became incorporated into her stories about the famous characters in her books, such as Peter Rabbit and Mrs. Tabitha Twitchet, that still delight children today. She delighted in the plants that her neighbors gave to her: roses, hollyhocks, and phlox, and the fruit trees and vegetables growing in an informal way among the flowers. She blended the practical with the beautiful. There was a long flower-edged path leading up to the house, and she described her gardening style as higgledy-piggledy. Both Beatrix and her garden were utterly unpretentious.

Even as early as the 15th century in England, a time when gardens focused mainly on plants used in medicines and for cooking, there were a few plants grown because they produced beautiful flowers. 

The poem "Glory of the Garden" by  Rudyard Kipling.

Daphne, a shrub with tiny clusters of fragrant flowers, is poisonous as well as having sap that is a skin irritant. Just a few of Daphne's brightly colored berries could kill a child.

I have avoided dealing with some pressing but boring tasks today by reading some amusing quotations about gardens and gardening. Here are some you may enjoy: Barbara Spindel wrote recently, "Gardens have been sites of transgression ever since Eve and the serpent." 

Nicholas Culpeper was the son of an English clergyman, and he studied medicine at Cambridge University in the 17th century. When he began to practice, he gave plant medicines at minimal cost to his impoverished patients. 

In the 1960s, Beth Chatto started her garden on an unwanted wasteland in Essex, England. She was an ecologist and knew how to select plants that are adaptable to any conditions.

During the holidays, it is satisfying to be able to pick a vase of holly with bright red berries to decorate our homes. It is also a welcome gift to present to neighbors and friends. 

Stripped of its lush spring and summer growth, the winter garden nonetheless has a charm of its own. It is all about contours and shapes and the way the ice and snow transform items and add sparkle.

If you are wondering what to buy as a holiday gift for a gardening friend, you can order a shrub now to be delivered next spring. There is a wonderful, scented viburnum that I have in my garden...

If you are looking for a holiday gift for a gardener, now is the time to order online. You will, of course, have a delivery date of next spring when it is safe to plant, but a notification of the spring delivery will be sent to your lucky recipient before the holidays. 

There are so many new varieties of hellebores now available, and these plants make perfect gifts for gardeners. In early spring when there are no garden flowers available, I am so grateful when I look under the leathery leaves of my hellebores and find flowers to pick for the house. It is a wonderful joy. 

If you prefer not to use strong pesticides, there are other ways to get rid of unwanted aggressive and invasive plants.

Many perennials like to be divided in the fall, especially if they have outgrown their space or have ceased blooming well. 

Making potpourri from flowers is an easy dried-flower craft. It smells lovely and makes a great gift and looks pretty in bowls, baskets, and jars, reminding us of summer. 

The Aztecs who first inhabited South America domesticated the plant that we now call marigold many years before any Europeans ever set foot in the area that we now call Mexico.

Since the beginning of time, it seems that humans have ascribed magical powers to flowers. 

Rudbeckia hirta is the botanical name for our bright yellow black-eyed Susans that light up our gardens in late summer and fall. 

One of our native lilies is the spectacular Lilium superb, spelled “superbum,” (but it is not pronounced as it is spelt). Its petals recurve, so a common name is Turk's cap. 

The Latin name “Physostegia” refers to the calyx, which covers their seed pods. “Physa” means bladder and “stege” means a covering. Common names are false dragonhead and obedience part because the stems can be bent up and down and sideways without breaking.  

When goldenrod is in bloom, it indicates that fall is in the air. It does not cause hay fever (That is ragweed!), as the pollen of goldenrod is too heavy to be dispersed by the wind.

The lobelia family is extremely diverse but there are two American natives that are hardy perennials: Lobelia cardinalis and Lobelia siphilitica. 

Many years ago, I bought a perennial plant at a nursery, and after I planted it, found that there was a ride-along plant in the pot.

There are few flowers like liatris in the flower world, as the blooms open on top of the stalks first, and the ones on the bottom open last.

Heuchera is the botanical name for coral bells.The one that is most frequently found in our gardens is Heuchera sanguinea -- tiny bell-shaped flowers on 15-inch stems dangle above mounds of deep green leaves. The flowers are bright red, which explains why “sanguinea,” which means blood red, is in the name.

Our native Eupatorium purpureum, commonly known as Joe Pye weed, flowers in late summer and fall, producing tall clusters of fluffy purple flowers. 

Ground cover plants are a bit like area rugs in our homes, as we can mix and match them or plant many of the same type of plant to cover bare patches.