Phlox paniculata ‘David’s Lavender’

Phlox is one of those old fashioned garden plants that are always in demand and it’s understandable why.  They are tough, reliable plants that cover themselves in blooms from mid to late summer.  The one problem they can have is powdery mildew.  However that problem seemed to be rectified by the cultivar ‘David’.  It is a white flowering phlox with great disease resistance especially to powdery mildew.  What’s so exciting about ‘David’s Lavender’ is that it is a sport of Phlox ‘David’ and has maintained the disease resistance and hardiness.  The bonus is that it has large heads of lavender flowers.  In addition the bright green foliage and its hardiness make it a beautiful plant in the garden even when it is not in bloom.  David’s Lavender grows well in full sun to part shade and in moist but well drained soil.  Once it is established it is also quite drought tolerant.  Keep an eye out here at the nursery for Phlox ‘David’s Lavender’.  It should be arriving around April.

Helleborus niger "Double Fashion"

In the last few years Hellebores have become immensely popular for the winter/early spring garden and quite rightly so.  Who couldn’t appreciate the attractive foliage and the stunning flowers.  The flowers appear in a wide range of colours from almost black to pink to red to spotted to white.  They also appear as singles, anemone flowered or, and this is the one I like best, double flowering.  Just a few years ago double flowered hellebores would cost up to $50.00 for a small pot of them but now, thanks to selective breeding and tissue culture, the cost for them is much more affordable.  Helleborus niger “Double Fashion” is one of the newest and most attractive of the white, double flowering hellebores.  This is a new introduction from Holland that forms a sturdy clump of leathery, evergreen leaves and reddish stems that hold fluffy, double, pure white flowers with striking yellow stamens.  The flowers will appear in mid winter to early spring sometimes even appearing around Christmas.  Like all hellebores it does well in part shade although it will do fine in full sun as long as it isn’t too dry.  It prefers well-drained but moist soil and like all hellebores resent being moved or re-potted so make sure you plant it in an area where you want it to stay.  We will be carrying Helleborus niger “Double Fashion” in January and the cost will be $19.00 each, much better than the $50.00 double flowered hellebores used to be.

Zone: 4
Light: Shade to part shade but will take sun if it isn’t too dry.
Soil: Moist, well-drained
Height: 16 inches (40cm)
Spread: 16 inches (40cm)

Growing Poinsettia

The Poinsettia, which belongs to the Euphorbia family, has become almost synonymous with Christmas and brings colour and joy to households all over Canada.  It was first introduced to North America by the American ambassador to Mexico, Robert Poinsett. 

The poinsettia does well in an indoor environment and if a few simple guidelines are followed will bloom well into Spring.

Watering is one of the most important factors in maintaining a healthy poinsettia.  Check the soil daily and when the surface starts to feel dry its time to water.  Water until it runs freely out of the drainage hole.  Never let water remain in the saucer, as the poinsettia does not tolerate sitting in water. 

Poinsettias like lots of light so placing it near a south window is the best place for it. Lacking that option an east or west window will do.  Never allow the leaves to touch the glass, as the cold will damage them.

One of the reasons Poinsettia’s do so well inside is that they like the same kind of temperatures we do.  So during the day a temperature of 20 – 22 degrees Celsius is ideal and in the evening a temperature a couple of degrees cooler is preferable.

Every year after Christmas I am determined to keep my Poinsettia over the year and have it bloom beautifully just in time for Christmas.  And every year it doesn’t happen.  Well, this year I think I’ve finally found the right formula to produce a beautiful plant for next Christmas.  You can too just by following these simple ( well, not too hard) guidelines:
•    Continue watering normally until April 1st then let it dry out gradually.  Note that you don’t want it to dry out so much that the stems shrivel.  After drying keep in a cool room until the middle of May.
•    In the middle of May prune the poinsettia back to about 4 inches above the soil and re-pot in a new pot 1 – 2 inches bigger than the old pot.  Put it in a sunny window and water when the soil starts to feel dry.  As the new growth starts you can begin fertilizing every two weeks.
•    In early June you can move it outside in a lightly shaded area.  Continue to water and fertilize while it is outside.
•    In early July pinch out 1 inch of the terminal stems.
•    Between the middle of August and September 1st prune the plant back so that each stem has three or four leaves on it, bring it back inside and place in a sunny location.
•    From the beginning of October until the last week in November keep the plant in total darkness from 5PM until 8AM.  This is the important part.  There has to be total darkness.  Any stray light will delay the blooming cycle.  During the day it still needs to be in a sunny window and don’t forget to water and fertilize regularly.
If you follow these guidelines you should have a beautiful Poinsettia blooming just in time for Christmas.

Just a note.  For years various reports have led the general public to believe poinsettias are toxic to humans; however, this has not been authenticated. Research conducted at The Ohio State University and other institutions has proved the old wives' tale that poinsettias are poisonous to be false.

Amaryllis 'Minerva'

Non-floppy Paperwhites

Paperwhites are one of the most popular bulbs for forcing during the gloomy winter months but the one problem there has been with them is that they flop over once they start blooming.  Well, now there is a solution to the problem.  A study done by the Flowerbulb Research Council at Cornell University has discovered that a dilute solution of alcohol instead of regular water shortens the paperwhites by about 1/3 but the flowers stay their usual size.

What to do
We suggest planting your paperwhite bulbs in stones, gravel, marbles, glass beads, etc. as usual. Add water as you normally would, then wait about 1 week until roots are growing, and the shoot is green and growing about 1-2" above the top of the bulb. At this point, pour off the water and replace it with a solution of 4 to 6% alcohol, made from just about any "hard" liquor.  That means, to get a 5% solution from a 40% distilled spirit (e.g., gin, vodka, whiskey, rum, tequila), you add 1 part alcohol to 7 parts of water. This is an 8-fold dilution yielding 5% alcohol.

Then, simply use this solution, instead of water, for further watering of your bulbs. It's as simple as that.  The result will be a plant that is 1/3 shorter, but with flowers just as large, fragrant, and long-lasting as usual. The plant will be nicely proportioned and won't need support stakes, wires, or other gizmos to keep it upright. You will see results within just a few days.

A few other thoughts
•    Do not use beer or wine, as the sugars in them will cause major problems with the plants
•    As with humans, paperwhites can also suffer alcohol overdoses!  We suggest 4-6% alcohol as a normal and safe range. If plants are given much more than 10% alcohol, growth problems will start, and 25% alcohol is dramatically toxic. So, moderation is the key!
•    It is not strictly necessary to pour off the water after the plants are rooted (as we suggest above). You can just as well add your 5% alcohol without pouring the water off. The result, though, will be a lower than optimal alcohol concentration around the roots, and, ultimately, growth will not be reduced as much as you expect. The reason to pour off the water is to simply maximize the alcohol level around the roots.
•    Basically, the higher the alcohol concentration (within reason), the shorter the plants. So it is not critical whether you use 4, 5, or 6% alcohol. Just stay well below 10%, where growth problems become noticeable.
•    If you do not have alcohol for consumption in your household, rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) works just as well. Since this is usually 70% alcohol when purchased, a dilution of 1 part rubbing alcohol to 10 or 11 parts water is appropriate.
•    Why does this happen? It is believed that it is simply "water stress", where the alcohol makes it more difficult for the plant to absorb water. The plant suffers a slight lack of water, enough to reduce leaf and stem growth, but not enough to affect flower size or flower longevity. 

Arum italicum ssp. italicum 'Marmoratum'

Once winter arrives and nearly all your plants are asleep there isn’t much of interest out in the garden.  There are of course the lovely hellebores who begin blooming in January and who doesn’t love them and there are also the epimediums, heuchera and a few ferns.  But other than that there isn’t much to see.  However, there is another wonderful winter foliage plant that needs to be planted more often and that is Arum italicum and in particular Arum italicum ssp. Italicum ‘Marmoratum’.

The arums are a striking, almost tropical looking plant for the shady winter garden and especially the silvery veined ones like ‘Marmoratum’.  The leaves are arrow shaped and heavily marbled with silver.  On the West Coast they start emerging from the soil in late September or early October and by mid to late October are out in full leaf.  Then, there they are through rain and sleet and snow.  It is quite something to see them buried in snow and then emerging unscathed as the snow melts.  The two cultivars I grow have been completely flattened by the snow but as soon as it melts they spring back up like nothing has happened.  About mid-spring a cream coloured, spathe-like flower emerges for a couple of weeks.  Once pollinated, usually by flies, the flower falls off and you are left with a seed stalk that gradually turns bright red by the end of the summer.  Shortly after the flower fades the leaves disappear only to emerge again a few months later to start the cycle all over again.  It is hardy down to Zone 4, prefers shade to part shade in moist but well-drained soil.  It reaches a height of 18 inches, 45cm and a spread of 15 inches, 38cm.

I highly recommend Arum italicum ‘Marmoratum’.  I hope you will give it a try.

Arum italicum ssp. italicum 'Marmoratum'

Hydrangea quercifolia 'Alice'

When it comes to gardening one of the things that makes the fall bearable is the fall colour that occurs on a variety of trees and shrubs.  One of those shrubs, that isn't used as much as it should be, is the Oak Leaf Hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia.  The Natural Gardener carries the cultivar 'Alice' and it is a lovely shrub for the garden.  While the white, cone shaped flowers are lovely in June, it is the fall colour on the large, oak leaf shaped leaves that I like the most.  In a fairly sunny, well-drained spot you will be rewarded with leaf colours of red, orange, yellow and burgundy.  After the leaves fall mature stems exfoliate to reveal a rich brown inner bark that gives winter interest. 

'Alice' is hardy to zone 5 and is able to thrive in much drier, warmer areas than regular hydrangeas.  One important cultural requirement for the Oak Leaf Hydrangea is that it must have well-drained soil.  It will not tolerate wet soils and gets root rot very easily in soggy ground.  There is not much pruning that needs to be done with this shrub but in early spring you can remove any weak or winter-damaged stems.  Because this hydrangea blooms on old wood any hard pruning must be done right after flowering to ensure you get a good show of flowers for next year.

This is a lovely hydrangea.  I hope you will consider adding it to your garden at some point.

Hydrangea quercifolia 'Alice' just starting to come into fall colour

Perennial Plants to Prune in Fall

Now that October is here it's time to do some cleanup in the garden.  One of the big jobs is pruning your perennials.  So......To prune or not to prune that is the question.  And if I do prune what exactly am I going to prune.  I know that some plants need to be pruned and others don’t, but which ones.  Hopefully I can answer those questions for you.  I am a bit lazy at this time of the year and the less I need to do in the garden the better.  Not to mention the birds appreciate the seed heads of Echinacea, Gaillardia, Monarda & Rudbeckia.  Plants like Heuchera, Asclepias and Chrysanthemums need the old foliage to protect their crowns otherwise they can rot.  It is best to leave them until spring.  Most sedums add great winter interest as the frost and snow sparkles on their seed heads.  Warm weather grasses like Miscanthus & Pennisetum definitely don’t need pruning until the new growth appears in the spring.  Their stately stems look wonderful limed with frost and snow.  If any of the plants you are pruning are diseased don’t put them in the compost, discard in the city’s green waste.  Here is a list of plants that it is best to prune in the fall:

•    Bearded Iris.  Cut back and discard foliage after the first hard frost
•    Gaillardia
•    Nepeta
•    Columbine
•    Corydalis.  Cut back after the first hard frost
•    Crocosmia.  Cut back after the first hard frost
•    Helianthus
•    Clematis recta.  It blooms on new growth so don’t be afraid to cut it back hard
•    Begonia grandis.  Cut back just before the first hard frost to prevent crown rot
•    Japanese anemone
•    Hollyhocks
•    Ligularia
•    Thalictrum species
•    Centaurea montana
•    Penstemon.  Trim back in late summer, early fall to encourage basal growth that will protect the crown of the plant
•    Peony.  Remove any diseased foliage in late summer and the rest after the first hard frost.
•    Phlox
•    Salvia
•    Brunnera macrophyla
•    Polygonatum odoratum
•    Veronica spicata
•    Baptisia australis
•    Achillea.  Cut back in late summer to encourage new basal growth that will protect the crown of the plant