A GARDEN VALENTINE

 

 February is for lovers and sending a garden valentine is a great way of showing someone how much you care.  So a bouquet or floral arrangement this Valentine’s Day, or any other day this month will be the perfect gift.

            If you are planning to send the traditional red roses, the sooner you order them, the better.  But be aware; the laws of supply and demand mean they’ll be rather pricey at holiday time.

      Consider some of the alternatives; other cut flowers, flowering potted plants, or tropical houseplants.  A foliage plant which can be dressed up for the occasion with foil, ribbons, and a Valentine ornament, will last for years in a home or office, so long as your choice doesn’t demand terribly bright light.

            If you’re less concerned with the plant’s longevity, you may opt for one with showy flowers instead.  You’ll find azaleas, begonias, chrysanthemums, kalanchoes, Persian violets, and exotic kangaroo pays among those expected to bloom for several weeks.  Hibiscus plants blossom indoors under bright light, then stop until they’re put outside for the summer.  Newer African violet hybrids bloom off and on all year round.

           

     Red roses remain a favorite gift but there are so many other rose colors.  There are also dozens of different cut flowers available, from cheery spring tulips, daffodils, and iris to exotic anthuriums, heliconias, and birds-of paradise.  You’ll find graceful spider mums, stems of sweet-scented lilies, sprays of delicate orchids, and spicy carnations.  Old-fashioned mixed bouquets have become very poplar in recent years.

            If buying cut flowers, buy them just beginning to open and they’ll generally last longest.  Buy flowers or bouquets with good leaves, and flowers without breakage or disease.  Protect from cold on the way home, and use a flower preservative in the water.

     If you receive cut flowers, put in water immediately with flower preservative.  Warm (not hot) water is taken up quicker by the stems.  Replace water every three or four days, and re-cut about a half-inch off of stems each time you change the water. 

  Although a sunny windowsill is an ideal spot for sun-loving houseplants, be sure that the plants aren’t touching the glass or they could be damaged by the cold.  Also, since heating vents are

often located underneath windows, plants are prone to drying out quickly if you have such forced air heat.

            So whatever plants or flowers you choose to share with your loved one this Valentine’s Day, know that with proper care and attention they will be there for you to enjoy long after February 14.

            When all is said and done, remember there’s something very romantic about one perfect rose.  You needn’t spend a fortune to say, “I love you” with flowers.

February Houseplant Tips

•     Check all five growing factors if your house plants are not growing well.  Light, temperature, nutrients, moisture, and humidity must be favorable to provide good growth.

•     Resume a fertilizer schedule for indoor plants, but never fertilize a plant in dry soil.  The fertilizer could burn roots that need water.  It’s better to water plants a couple of hours before fertilizing.

•     When placing plants around the home, remember as a general rule, plants with thick leaves can take lower light levels than those with thin leaves. 

•     House plants with large leaves and smooth foliage (philodendron, dracaena, rubber plant, etc.) benefit if the leaves are washed at intervals to remove dust and grime, and thus keeping the leaf pores open.

•     Good air circulation is absolutely necessary for cacti and succulents.  Avoid placing them in hot, stuffy areas.  Be sure the indoor garden is well ventilated, yet not drafty.

Tom McNutt is a professor emeritus at The Ohio State University and a retired TV garden expert.

PLANTS ARE LIKE PEOPLE

Every year when we put our gardens to bed and get ready for a new year, I think of all the similarities between plants and people.  Both respond to tender loving care.  I wonder if plants make New Year’s Resolutions?  I read somewhere that each American makes 1.9 New Year’s Resolutions.  If that is true around the world, think how many millions of people resolve to improve!  I wonder how many of those resolutions deal with losing weight, exercising more and smoking less.  We all want to be healthy, do things better and become better people.  Plants would probably resolve to produce more and help clean our environment.

People depend on plants for nearly everything, including food, clothing and shelter.  Plants, like people, need nurturing to flourish.  This nurturing requires attention, vision, respect, opportunities and protection.  Nurturing plants requires a good understanding of the nature and potential of different species and the purpose for which a plant is cultivated – for flowers, foliage or fruit.  This aspect of nurturing a garden reminds us of our need to nurture our own bodies by means of good food, reasonable exercise, adequate water, proper rest, cleanliness, and fulfilling our own personal goals and inner nature.  We know we must weed out the influences in our lives that sap our energy and stunt our own growth.  We know we must supply new ideas, knowledge and creative stimulation, to fertilize our minds.  We know we must prune back excessive worries, unneeded products, and old habits so that we might renew ourselves and experience vital rebirth.  We see how a neglected plant withers and dies.  As we become more skilled at nurturing plants, we begin to apply these principles to our own bodies and minds.

Nurturing Is A Year Round Chore

           

            Yes, you can garden in the winter.  Actually, it is the best time for making plans, as well as viewing your landscape and making decisions about what wonderful effects you want to create in your garden next year.  When the leaves fall and the annual flowers are gone, you can see where a nice arbor or water feature might go.

Assess your landscape for winter interest.  Does snow cling to evergreen branches?  Do seed heads from ornamental grasses and last year’s flowers dance in the wind?  Do the birds swoop in for a cocktail of fermented berries from the trees and shrubs?

            When the landscape looks like a black and white movie, count on conifers to colorize your world.  These cone-bearing evergreens have needles and come in all sizes, shapes and colors.  Yes, colors!  Consider the popular Colorado blue spruce, the gold thread-leaf Sawara Cypress, the orange golden eastern arborvitae.  Pines and junipers boast a paint store palette of greens, plus shades of blue, yellow and hints of red.  With some, the color varies by season.  With all, the color lasts year-long.

    Some broadleaf plants also are evergreens.  Boxwoods, Hollies, Rhododendrons and Wintercreeper (Euonymus) are options for color through winter.

   Ornamental grasses provide a terrific vertical element in summer and then take center stage in fall and winter.  Grasses offer structure, style and movement in the landscape.  They also vary in height, color and plume.

     Landscape plants should be pruned to maintain or reduce their size, to remove undesirable growth, to remove dead or damaged branches and to rejuvenate older plants to produce more vigorous foliage, flowers and fruits. In some cases, pruning is necessary to prevent damage to life and property.

     Late winter or early spring, before new growth begins, is generally considered the optimum time to prune most plants.  This is when the plant wounds heal quickly, without threat of insect or disease infection.  However, plants that bloom in early spring (before June 10), such as forsythia, magnolia and crabapples, should be pruned later after their blooms fade.  These early bloomers produce their flower buds on last year’s wood, so pruning early will remove many potential blooms.

           

HAPPY NEW YEAR, HAPPY LIFE AND HAPPY GARDENING!!!

Tom McNutt is a professor emeritus at The Ohio State University. and retired NBC4-TV resident green thumb