The Yellow Farmhouse Garden

April 30, 2007

What To Do For Great Tulips

Filed under: Flowers — bob @ 2:48 am

You may have heard the advice that tulips need to be re-planted every couple of years because they will eventually die out. That doesn’t necessarily have to be the case.

Tulips are “heavy feeders”, which means they require a lot of food to stay alive and flourish.

Give your Tulips a sprinkling of garden fertilizer just as they are opening and again just after they have stopped flowering. Then cut off the flower stems and allow the leaves to die back naturally. This will insure that the most energy possible will be stored in the bulb for flowering next spring.

Speaking of Tulips, remember that long flower bed I showed you a while back that had the Crocus coming up ? (“What’s up in the Garden”) Here’s how that same bed looked on Friday with a crop of Tulips blooming like crazy:

Tulips

Just about any ol’ kind of garden fertilizer will do, just feed your tulips…they’re hungry!

Bob

March 31, 2007

Canna From Seed

Filed under: Flowers,Seed Starting — bob @ 1:03 pm

Most seasoned gardeners know that generally  Cannas are grown from roots that are stored from one year to the next, much like potatoes.

Cannas can also be grown from seed, just like a Marigold or any other type of flower. We have grown Cannas from seed for the past four or five years, always sowing a couple dozen or so. This year I decided to do a large planting of these flowers. So I ordered several packets of the variety; ‘Indian Shot’ from Thompson & Morgan Seed Company. ‘Indian Shot’ has various colored blooms ranging from yellow to red, set on green or bronze foliage.

We sowed the seeds back in late January into one of our greenhouse flats. They germinated in about 2-1/2 weeks with about a 60% germination rate, which is typical for this species. The seedlings were moved into 1-1/2″ cells about a month later. In early March they were transplanted into 4″ round pots.

Here is the stage at which our Cannas are now:

Canna seedlings.

After Memorial Day, when then soil has warmed up, they will go into the long flower bed that is located next to a driveway. The same 90′ long bed that has crocus flowering in it right now.

Often Cannas from seed will make a first flush of blossoms after reaching a height of about 3′. As the season progresses, they will continue to grow and bloom again at their final height of around 4 to 5 feet.

After the growing season has ended, these Cannas can be dug up and stored just like any other Canna and replanted next spring.

The seeds sure take up a lot less space than the roots!

Bob

March 8, 2007

Phyllis, Don’t Toss Out That Amaryllis !

Filed under: Flowers — bob @ 5:18 pm

We are well into the Amaryllis bloom season at this point in time. Some of our Amaryllis bulbs began blooming between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We have had continuous blossoms since then and the last of our Amaryllis are beginning to bloom right now. It won’t be long until they are completely done.

So, now what? What do you do with an Amaryllis once it’s done blooming?

There is no state law requiring you to keep it. Many people simply toss them out once they’re finished. However, if you follow just a few simple steps, your Amaryllis can be coaxed into blooming again next year. A lot of the bulbs we gave away during the Christmas season are now being returned to us for re-blooming.

The first step is to cut off the flower stalk after the flowers have withered. Then just simply treat the remaining plant just like a houseplant. Keep the soil somewhat moist and fertilize it once a month with soluble house plant fertilizer. The main idea is to keep it growing, the more vigorous the growth, the more spectacular the subsequent flowering.

Over Memorial Day weekend, (mark it on your calender) set the plant outside in a brightly lit spot. Dappled shade will do nicely. Don’t let it get sunburned . You can leave it right in its pot if you like and re-pot every three years or so. Or you can do as we do and plant the bulb into a garden bed. Keep up the fertilizing and watering regimen.

Some time around Labor Day, your Amaryllis will start to turn yellow. This is normal. The yellowing is an indication the the plant wants to rest and go into a dormant period. Stop watering it at that point and let the leaves die back. Cut the withered leaves to about an inch above the bulb in the neck region.

The dormant bulb needs to be placed in a dry area (no water at all) for about 8-10 weeks. Be sure they don’t freeze.

Sometime around Thanksgiving you can wake up your Amaryllis bulb by placing them into a bright spot and giving it some water. It will re-sprout its leaves and bloom again.

With all that being said, I have seen Amaryllis re-bloom again without all of these steps being adhered to exactly. I have found that as long as the bulb has made some growth (or at least has not lost size) it will more than likely blossom again.

So Phyllis, why not keep that Amaryllis? It really will make a nice houseplant.

Bob

January 14, 2007

How Are Things In Gloccamora?

Filed under: Flowers,Houseplants,Indoor Gardening — Tags: , , , , , — bob @ 10:36 am

The reason I ask is, begosh an’ begora, our “Shamrocks” arrived Friday! Every year we grow potted plants to give away on St. Patrick’s Day. As you know Shamrocks are the traditional plants, however, Oxalis is more commonly grown these days because they are much more showy and reliable than the originals.

I’ve grown real Shamrocks in the past and they are rather plain compared to our newer varieties. There is still a small patch of them growing against the west side of the greenhouse.

Normally, Oxalis is grown from small roots or tubers. A few are placed in the bottom of a pot and the plants grow from there. This year we decided to try something different, we ordered tissue culture produced starter plants from EuroAmerican, a large plant propagator out in California. They have developed a method of growing Oxalis from tissue culture which is a way of growing Oxalis without seeds or tuber by using nearly microscopic pieces of the plant.

This method has been around for quite a few years. I actually worked on tissue culture back in the late ’70′s when it first got started… but I digress. Some plants are easier to propagate this way than others. For example, nearly all Hostas are now grown by tissue culture. EuroAmerican has the size and budget to develop these types of products. As a result they have come up with six different varieties of Oxalis, three of which are new this year. We opted for the more traditional looking ‘Charmed Jade’ variety which has green leaves and white flowers. Others have yellow flowers and or reddish or purple leaves.

This line of plants from EuroAmerican are sold around the country and locally under the PW or ” Proven Winners” brand.

Time will tell whether or not we will abandon the old method of growing Oxalis and continue with the new after this season, but I’m excited by the possibilities of the new method. The tissue cultured varieties are only hardy to zone 8 so they will not survive a Michigan winter. The older varieties are hardly to zone 5 which makes them a perfect addition to our perennial gardens.

Top O’ the Mornin’ to Ya!

Bob

December 19, 2006

Jingle Bells, Plum Pudding, Cranberry Punch all the way…Poinsettias

Filed under: Flowers,Potted Plants — bob @ 1:52 pm

In case you haven’t noticed, Christmas is almost here ;). There is something about warm days in the 50′s in Michigan that just doesn’t feel like Christmas. Despite the weather, this is the week we deliver poinsettias as gifts from the greenhouse.

The warm days are actually good for our deliveries; poinsettias can get chilled and damaged if they are exposed to temperatures below 50 degrees for any length of time. We wrap them up in foil pot covers and clear plastic sleeves so that even if it is cold outside, they have their own little “greenhouse” to keep them warm as we move them from car to house.

We grew 5 varieties this year: Freedom Red, Prestige, Winter Rose Red, Jingle Bells, Cranberry Punch, and Plum Pudding. These plants are not grown from seed but from cuttings. Poinsettia breeding and variety development is a huge industry these days. We get our stock as started cuttings, that is to say, they are rooted and have a few leaves on them.

Freedom Red is the most commonly grown poinsettia in the country. This is the red variety that is offered for sale in most stores and shops and is the red poinsettia everyone thinks of whenever poinsettias are mentioned. They are available in other colors as well.

Prestige looks a lot like Freedom but grows a little more upright, that is, their branches hold the leaves up higher. Prestige also blooms a little later than Freedom. We grew red but, again, other colors are out there.

Winter Rose Red has unusual bracts because they are curled and hardly look like a poinsettia at all. I was wondering how these would go over, so I just grew a couple dozen or so. Turns out they are the favorite this year. I have seen these at the stores too.

Jingle Bells you may have seen before, it is red with festive pink spots. These were also very popular with our folks this year.

Cranberry Punch has a very striking color – red with a background of almost florescent pink. You would almost say it glows!

No one really knew what to think about Plum Pudding. This variety grows very upright and has destinctive purple bracts. Even so, some rebels out there chose those over the more common red ones.

Every year someone asks if poinsettias are poisonous. The answer would be, no, they are quite harmless. However, despite the tasty sounding names some of them have, they are not something you would want to put into your salad.

I hope you enjoy your poinsettia this year too.

No dashing through the snow this time.
Bob

here’s a great shot of Jingle Bells poinsettia : http://londonderry.smugmug.com/keyword/poinsettia/427606838_tVx63nh#!i=427606838&k=tVx63nh

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