Sunday, February 06, 2005
Oenothera/Evening Primrose
Oenothera
Evening Primrose, Onagraceae
How to say:ee-no-THEE-ruh
Description:
Evening primroses are plants of meadows,roadsides and prairies.They have lovely saucer-shaped flowers with 4 wide,overlapping petals and a prominent stigma(female reproductive structure).The weakly upright, often succulent stems bear lance-shaped,foilage and elongated terminal clusters of flowers.Plants grow from a thick taproot or fibrous roots.
Types:
Oenothera caespitosa-Tufted Evening Primrose
O. fruticosa-Sundrops
O.missouriesis-Ozark Sundrops
O.speciosa-Showy Evening Primrose
O.teragona-Common Sundrops
How to
drought tolerant plants in average to rich,well drained soil in full sun or light shade.Most species spread by low creeping roots to form dense clumps.O.speciosa spreads rapidly in rich soil and may need to bedivided or thinned out each season.Divide out rosettes in early spring or after flowering in late summer.
How to grow by seed:
Type Hardy perennial
Temp should be 15-20°C
Sowing:Average layer vermiculite
Sow spring and summer
Pre chill @ 4°C 4 weeks then 15-20 may aid germination.Should bloom within the first year.
Landscape Uses:
Plant smaller species with catmints and irises.Try in sunny rock garden.
Evening Primrose, Onagraceae
How to say:ee-no-THEE-ruh
Description:
Evening primroses are plants of meadows,roadsides and prairies.They have lovely saucer-shaped flowers with 4 wide,overlapping petals and a prominent stigma(female reproductive structure).The weakly upright, often succulent stems bear lance-shaped,foilage and elongated terminal clusters of flowers.Plants grow from a thick taproot or fibrous roots.
Types:
Oenothera caespitosa-Tufted Evening Primrose
O. fruticosa-Sundrops
O.missouriesis-Ozark Sundrops
O.speciosa-Showy Evening Primrose
O.teragona-Common Sundrops
How to
drought tolerant plants in average to rich,well drained soil in full sun or light shade.Most species spread by low creeping roots to form dense clumps.O.speciosa spreads rapidly in rich soil and may need to bedivided or thinned out each season.Divide out rosettes in early spring or after flowering in late summer.
How to grow by seed:
Type Hardy perennial
Temp should be 15-20°C
Sowing:Average layer vermiculite
Sow spring and summer
Pre chill @ 4°C 4 weeks then 15-20 may aid germination.Should bloom within the first year.
Landscape Uses:
Plant smaller species with catmints and irises.Try in sunny rock garden.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Hardy Pansies
Pansy
Violet family
How to say: Pan-cee
Description:
Pansies are among the most popular garden flowers today. They exhibit a wide
range of colors, markings, and sizes. Although pansies are hardy biennials,
they are also grown as annuals. The ideal temperature range for growing
pansies is from about 40 degrees F. at night to 60 degees F. during the day.
They will grow in all parts of the United States. They produce their best
flowers in the spring when the weather is mild, then fade and are usually
discarded when really hot weather arrives. In areas where long periods without
frost are common, strong pansy plants will bloom in the fall and even in the
winter.
Pansies come in named varieties of pure colors and mixtures, as well as first
generation hybrids that are becoming increasingly popular because of plant
vigor, uniform color and a wider color range, increased flower size, and
greater heat resistance. Pansies nowadays display scores of hues. They range
in color from white and pastel shades, rich gold and burnished orange, to deep
rose, violet and blue, and even deeper maroons and browns. They may be
single-colored, streaked, or blotched. Certain types have petals with
crinkled fluffy edges; others do not. Flower size may range from about 1 to 3
inches in diameter, depending on culture.
Planting
How to Grow:
Place pansies where they will receive the full sun or partial shade.
The new types thrive in full sun. Too much shade reduces the number of flowers
and flower size, and makes pansies spindly. Space plants for bedding about 7
to 12 inches apart. Do not plant pansies more than 3 years in a row in the
same location, because a fungus disease (Pythium) builds up in the soil.
How To Grow Seed:
Pansies thrive in rich, well-drained soil. So before you plant seeds, add
manure, peat moss, or a 5-10-5 commercial fertilizer to the soil. If the soil
is heavy, dig in some sand. Spade the soil to a depth of 6 to 8 inches. Make
sure it is fine, and free of lumps, stones, and other coarse materials. If
you plant seed in boxes or frames, you can broadcast the seed or plant it in
rows. Select boxes 9 to 12 inches deep, and fill them with rich sandy loam
soil.
If you plant in open beds it is always better to sow seeds in rows about 4 to
6 inches apart, instead of broadcast. This makes it easier for you to identify
the seedlings when they emerge, and permits you to cultivate and weed more
readily.
Whether you plant indoors or out, in frames or in open beds, water the seedbed
first. Then when the water has drained away, sow the seeds thinly. Cover the
seeds with only an eighth of an inch of soil, or coarse washed sand, and press
down with a flat board. Water the bed again, but not so much as to wash the
seeds away. White plastic film, aluminum foil, or a piece of moist burlap
placed on the seed bed will help keep moisture in. This should be removed as
soon as the seeds begin to sprout, in about 5 to 8 days. Shade the seedlings
with a canopy for a few days until they have developed their first leaves.
They can usually stand direct sunlight by that time. The canopy (and it can be
a makeshift one) should be a foot or more above the bed to let air circulate.
Water frequently but lightly, in the morning. Seedlings should be neither too
dry nor too wet. If seed dries out after it begins to sprout, it will die. But
if you keep it too moist, it may rot. Raise the level of bedded soil 2 to 4
inches if necessary to keep water from standing in puddles.
Planting Seedlings
Landscape Uses:
Pansies are excellent choices for low borders and for bedding. You may place
them between other flowers too, especially tulips and other spring bulbs. They
will start to bloom soon after the earliest bulbs and will continue until
summer flowers take over. Pansies are also colorful in planters and window
boxes.
Violet family
How to say: Pan-cee
Description:
Pansies are among the most popular garden flowers today. They exhibit a wide
range of colors, markings, and sizes. Although pansies are hardy biennials,
they are also grown as annuals. The ideal temperature range for growing
pansies is from about 40 degrees F. at night to 60 degees F. during the day.
They will grow in all parts of the United States. They produce their best
flowers in the spring when the weather is mild, then fade and are usually
discarded when really hot weather arrives. In areas where long periods without
frost are common, strong pansy plants will bloom in the fall and even in the
winter.
Pansies come in named varieties of pure colors and mixtures, as well as first
generation hybrids that are becoming increasingly popular because of plant
vigor, uniform color and a wider color range, increased flower size, and
greater heat resistance. Pansies nowadays display scores of hues. They range
in color from white and pastel shades, rich gold and burnished orange, to deep
rose, violet and blue, and even deeper maroons and browns. They may be
single-colored, streaked, or blotched. Certain types have petals with
crinkled fluffy edges; others do not. Flower size may range from about 1 to 3
inches in diameter, depending on culture.
Planting
How to Grow:
Place pansies where they will receive the full sun or partial shade.
The new types thrive in full sun. Too much shade reduces the number of flowers
and flower size, and makes pansies spindly. Space plants for bedding about 7
to 12 inches apart. Do not plant pansies more than 3 years in a row in the
same location, because a fungus disease (Pythium) builds up in the soil.
How To Grow Seed:
Pansies thrive in rich, well-drained soil. So before you plant seeds, add
manure, peat moss, or a 5-10-5 commercial fertilizer to the soil. If the soil
is heavy, dig in some sand. Spade the soil to a depth of 6 to 8 inches. Make
sure it is fine, and free of lumps, stones, and other coarse materials. If
you plant seed in boxes or frames, you can broadcast the seed or plant it in
rows. Select boxes 9 to 12 inches deep, and fill them with rich sandy loam
soil.
If you plant in open beds it is always better to sow seeds in rows about 4 to
6 inches apart, instead of broadcast. This makes it easier for you to identify
the seedlings when they emerge, and permits you to cultivate and weed more
readily.
Whether you plant indoors or out, in frames or in open beds, water the seedbed
first. Then when the water has drained away, sow the seeds thinly. Cover the
seeds with only an eighth of an inch of soil, or coarse washed sand, and press
down with a flat board. Water the bed again, but not so much as to wash the
seeds away. White plastic film, aluminum foil, or a piece of moist burlap
placed on the seed bed will help keep moisture in. This should be removed as
soon as the seeds begin to sprout, in about 5 to 8 days. Shade the seedlings
with a canopy for a few days until they have developed their first leaves.
They can usually stand direct sunlight by that time. The canopy (and it can be
a makeshift one) should be a foot or more above the bed to let air circulate.
Water frequently but lightly, in the morning. Seedlings should be neither too
dry nor too wet. If seed dries out after it begins to sprout, it will die. But
if you keep it too moist, it may rot. Raise the level of bedded soil 2 to 4
inches if necessary to keep water from standing in puddles.
Planting Seedlings
Landscape Uses:
Pansies are excellent choices for low borders and for bedding. You may place
them between other flowers too, especially tulips and other spring bulbs. They
will start to bloom soon after the earliest bulbs and will continue until
summer flowers take over. Pansies are also colorful in planters and window
boxes.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Paeonia
Paeonia
Peony, Ranunculaceae, Buttercup Family
How To Say: pay-OHN-ee-uh
Description:
Peonies are prized for their variety of form and color, their exceptional hardiness and their ease of culture.Peonies have been in cultivation in China and Japan for centuries.Individual plants may live 100 years or longer.A few species are grown but most garden peonies are hybrids of Paeonia officialis and P.lactiflora. Colors range from white,cream,yellow to pink and rose to scarlet.
Plants are often classified by bloom time as early-May(April in the South)blooming,mid-May and late-May blooming.Plants can be grouped into 4 categories by the shape of their flowers.Single Peonies have a ring of 5 or more petals with a central ring of stamens (male reproductive structures).Japanese peonies have a ring of petals around a central cluster of modified stamens that are narrow and flat and bear no pollen. (Anemone flowered peonies also fall into this group, but thier modified stamens are more petal like.) Semidouble peonies have several rings of petals around visiable stems.Double peonies have many concentric rings of petals and no visable stamens.
Types of Peonies:
P.lactiflora-Common garden Peony-Chinese Peony
P.offinalis-Common Peony
P.suffruticosa-Tree Peony
P.tenuifolia-Fernleaf Peony
How to Grow:
Peonies require moist loamy,humas-rich soil in full sun or light shade.Plant the thick fleshy roots of herbaceous peonies in September or October.Excavate hole 8-10 inches deep in a well prepared soil.Plce the eyes (buds) no more than 2 inches below the soil surface.Plant each clump at least 3 feet from other plants to allow their mature spread.Mulch the first winter to protect from frost heaving.Protect plants with annual winter mulch in areas where temperatures dip consistently below 0 and snow cover in unpredictable.
Taller selections and most doubles usually need staking to keep their flowers out of the mud.In warmer regions provide shade from the afternoon sun to prolong flowering and to help keep colors from fading. In fall cut the stems to the ground.
Plants may grow undisturbed for years but if its roots get overcrowded or the soil gets impoverished,blooms may be sparse.Lift plants in late summer, wash off the soil and cut the roots into sections with 4-5 eyes each.Use a sharp knife to make clean cuts.Replant divisions into enriched soil.
There are some reasons why peonies fail to bloom occasionally.
-Plants are to small.Peonies may take up to several years to reach blooming size.
-Buds are more then 1-2 inches deep.Lift the clump and replant at correct level.
-Clump is crowded.Lift,divide and replant.
-Buds were killed by winter cold.Provide winter mulch to prevent damage next year.
-Buds were killed by disease.Botrytis, a fungal disease,may cause buds to abort.It can kill stems or may even rot the roots. Destoy badly infected plants or spray leaves and stems with fungicide.
-Buds were killed by insects.Thrips, tiny insects that hide under the leaves and in bud scales, may cause deformed stems and buds. As soon as you see signs of damage,spray with insecticidal soap every 3 days for 2 weeks.
-Plants need fertilizer.Apply composted manure.
-The soil is to dry.Irrigate plants to supply evenly moist soil.
Plants are not getting enough sun. Move them to a site where they get at least 6 hours of full sun per day.
Tree peonies are equally easy to grow. Plant potted divisions in a well prepared, nuetral to slightly acidic soil in full sun or partial shade. Plants are often grafted.Plant them with the graft union 6- 12 inches below the soil, especially in cooler zones where plants should be encouraged to form their own roots. Winter protection is very important North of zone 6 to ensure that the stems are not damaged.Prune plants as needed to encourage good form.
How to grow by seed:
Best results are by germinating indoors.Poeny seeds are ready to collect when they turn intense in color.When pods looks ready to open usually in August or September,harvest the seeds before they scatter on the ground.
You can usually start germinating seeds immediately before they dry out.If they dry out, they will need to go through a simulated winter to break dormancy, spending three months in your refrigerator before you can germinate them successfully.
To germinate a peony seed, place several handfuls of vermiculite in a plastic freezer bag with a ziplock top. Add enough water to make the mixture damp, but not wet. Add 3 or 4 peony seeds. After getting all the air out of the bag, lock it tight. Then leave the bag at room temperature (70 degrees F.) for 3 months to let the seed mature. Then move it to a cooler area, about 50 degrees F. for the new root to develop. In about a week to 10 days you should see the white root developing.
Note that you will get a root only, not a leaf.
Enable a peony seed to grow its first leaf
When the root reaches an inch long or longer, plant the seed and root in a 4" or larger plastic pot in good moist garden soil. The top of the seed should be about 1" below the soil surface. It helps to set the seed in a slanted or horizontal position, so that the root can go down, while the leaf stem can rise up from the same area on the seed.
Lightly wrap the pot in saran wrap to help keep the moisture in without shutting off its air supply. The soil should stay moist, but never wet. Place the pot in the refrigerator for 3 months. Then remove and place in a saucer on a sunny window sill. Remove the saran wrap. Once the pot is warm again, the leaf should come up in about a week to 10 days.
Landscape Uses: For early spring color,combine their red ruby shoots with minor bulbs and forget-me-nots.The expanding peony foilage will shroud declining bulb foilage.Plany peonies with spring and early summer perennials such as Siberian Iris and Foxgloves.Choose tree peonies for a shrub border or plant them with fine textured and small flowered plants.
Peony, Ranunculaceae, Buttercup Family
How To Say: pay-OHN-ee-uh
Description:
Peonies are prized for their variety of form and color, their exceptional hardiness and their ease of culture.Peonies have been in cultivation in China and Japan for centuries.Individual plants may live 100 years or longer.A few species are grown but most garden peonies are hybrids of Paeonia officialis and P.lactiflora. Colors range from white,cream,yellow to pink and rose to scarlet.
Plants are often classified by bloom time as early-May(April in the South)blooming,mid-May and late-May blooming.Plants can be grouped into 4 categories by the shape of their flowers.Single Peonies have a ring of 5 or more petals with a central ring of stamens (male reproductive structures).Japanese peonies have a ring of petals around a central cluster of modified stamens that are narrow and flat and bear no pollen. (Anemone flowered peonies also fall into this group, but thier modified stamens are more petal like.) Semidouble peonies have several rings of petals around visiable stems.Double peonies have many concentric rings of petals and no visable stamens.
Types of Peonies:
P.lactiflora-Common garden Peony-Chinese Peony
P.offinalis-Common Peony
P.suffruticosa-Tree Peony
P.tenuifolia-Fernleaf Peony
How to Grow:
Peonies require moist loamy,humas-rich soil in full sun or light shade.Plant the thick fleshy roots of herbaceous peonies in September or October.Excavate hole 8-10 inches deep in a well prepared soil.Plce the eyes (buds) no more than 2 inches below the soil surface.Plant each clump at least 3 feet from other plants to allow their mature spread.Mulch the first winter to protect from frost heaving.Protect plants with annual winter mulch in areas where temperatures dip consistently below 0 and snow cover in unpredictable.
Taller selections and most doubles usually need staking to keep their flowers out of the mud.In warmer regions provide shade from the afternoon sun to prolong flowering and to help keep colors from fading. In fall cut the stems to the ground.
Plants may grow undisturbed for years but if its roots get overcrowded or the soil gets impoverished,blooms may be sparse.Lift plants in late summer, wash off the soil and cut the roots into sections with 4-5 eyes each.Use a sharp knife to make clean cuts.Replant divisions into enriched soil.
There are some reasons why peonies fail to bloom occasionally.
-Plants are to small.Peonies may take up to several years to reach blooming size.
-Buds are more then 1-2 inches deep.Lift the clump and replant at correct level.
-Clump is crowded.Lift,divide and replant.
-Buds were killed by winter cold.Provide winter mulch to prevent damage next year.
-Buds were killed by disease.Botrytis, a fungal disease,may cause buds to abort.It can kill stems or may even rot the roots. Destoy badly infected plants or spray leaves and stems with fungicide.
-Buds were killed by insects.Thrips, tiny insects that hide under the leaves and in bud scales, may cause deformed stems and buds. As soon as you see signs of damage,spray with insecticidal soap every 3 days for 2 weeks.
-Plants need fertilizer.Apply composted manure.
-The soil is to dry.Irrigate plants to supply evenly moist soil.
Plants are not getting enough sun. Move them to a site where they get at least 6 hours of full sun per day.
Tree peonies are equally easy to grow. Plant potted divisions in a well prepared, nuetral to slightly acidic soil in full sun or partial shade. Plants are often grafted.Plant them with the graft union 6- 12 inches below the soil, especially in cooler zones where plants should be encouraged to form their own roots. Winter protection is very important North of zone 6 to ensure that the stems are not damaged.Prune plants as needed to encourage good form.
How to grow by seed:
Best results are by germinating indoors.Poeny seeds are ready to collect when they turn intense in color.When pods looks ready to open usually in August or September,harvest the seeds before they scatter on the ground.
You can usually start germinating seeds immediately before they dry out.If they dry out, they will need to go through a simulated winter to break dormancy, spending three months in your refrigerator before you can germinate them successfully.
To germinate a peony seed, place several handfuls of vermiculite in a plastic freezer bag with a ziplock top. Add enough water to make the mixture damp, but not wet. Add 3 or 4 peony seeds. After getting all the air out of the bag, lock it tight. Then leave the bag at room temperature (70 degrees F.) for 3 months to let the seed mature. Then move it to a cooler area, about 50 degrees F. for the new root to develop. In about a week to 10 days you should see the white root developing.
Note that you will get a root only, not a leaf.
Enable a peony seed to grow its first leaf
When the root reaches an inch long or longer, plant the seed and root in a 4" or larger plastic pot in good moist garden soil. The top of the seed should be about 1" below the soil surface. It helps to set the seed in a slanted or horizontal position, so that the root can go down, while the leaf stem can rise up from the same area on the seed.
Lightly wrap the pot in saran wrap to help keep the moisture in without shutting off its air supply. The soil should stay moist, but never wet. Place the pot in the refrigerator for 3 months. Then remove and place in a saucer on a sunny window sill. Remove the saran wrap. Once the pot is warm again, the leaf should come up in about a week to 10 days.
Landscape Uses: For early spring color,combine their red ruby shoots with minor bulbs and forget-me-nots.The expanding peony foilage will shroud declining bulb foilage.Plany peonies with spring and early summer perennials such as Siberian Iris and Foxgloves.Choose tree peonies for a shrub border or plant them with fine textured and small flowered plants.
Polemonium
Polemonium
Jacob's Ladder,Polemoniacea,Phlox Family
How to say: po-leh-MOW-nee-um
Description:
Jacob's ladders are noted for their distinctive leaves.Clusters of cup-or saucer-shaped flowers bloom atop succulent stems that emerge from fibrous rooted crowns.
Types Of Polemonium:
Polemonium caeruleum- Jacob's Ladder
P.reptans-Creeping Jacob's Ladder
How To Grow:
Plant in evenly moist,humus-rich soil in full sun or partial shade (especially in warm regions). Plants seldom need division.
How to Grow From Seed:
Type hardy perennials
Temp should be 16- 25
Sow seed outside Fall
Sow January onwards.
Landscape Uses:
Plant is masses under shrubs or airy flowering trees.
Jacob's Ladder,Polemoniacea,Phlox Family
How to say: po-leh-MOW-nee-um
Description:
Jacob's ladders are noted for their distinctive leaves.Clusters of cup-or saucer-shaped flowers bloom atop succulent stems that emerge from fibrous rooted crowns.
Types Of Polemonium:
Polemonium caeruleum- Jacob's Ladder
P.reptans-Creeping Jacob's Ladder
How To Grow:
Plant in evenly moist,humus-rich soil in full sun or partial shade (especially in warm regions). Plants seldom need division.
How to Grow From Seed:
Type hardy perennials
Temp should be 16- 25
Sow seed outside Fall
Sow January onwards.
Landscape Uses:
Plant is masses under shrubs or airy flowering trees.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Primula/Primrose
Primula
Primulacea, Primrose family
How to say: PRIM-you-luh
Description:Primroses are beloved sping flowers that bloo with flowering bulbs when the earth is reawakening.The broad leaves rise directly from the stout crowns with fiberous roots.The flowers are tubular with broad,flattened 5-petaled faces. They are carried in open,branched clusters or on whorled tiers on erect stems.Most are native to cool regions, and some do not preform well in heat and high humidity.
Types Of Primrose:
Primula auricula-Auricula Primrose
P.denticulata-Drumstick Primrose
P.elatior-Oxslip
P.japonica-Japanese Primrose
P x polyantha-Polyanthus Primrose
P.sieboldii-Seibold's Primrose
P.veris-Cowslip Primrose
P.vulgaris-English Primrose
How to Grow:
Primroses are generally easy to grow if you meet thier simple needs.Most grow beast in moist soil in light to partial shade.In northern zones, winter mulch is essential, especially if snowfall is erratic.In the south, provide constistent moisture and shade from hot afternoon sun;when plants get to hot or dry,they go dormant early,although it is usually without adverse results.Divide overgrown clumps after flowering and replant into ammended soil.Sow seed outdoors in fall or early spring.
How to Grow By Seed:
Temp should be 15-20°C
You should not cover when sowing
Sow thinly, cover seed trays with milky polythene, shade from direct sunlight, after most seeds have developed a radical (10-12 days) cover with fine vermiculite.( if there is no radical emergence temp is to high) Sow May to July grow on cool.
Landscape Uses:
Primroses have a place in every garden. Plant them in clumps or drifts with spring bulbs such as Tulips,Snowdrops,Daffodils and Muscari.
Primulacea, Primrose family
How to say: PRIM-you-luh
Description:Primroses are beloved sping flowers that bloo with flowering bulbs when the earth is reawakening.The broad leaves rise directly from the stout crowns with fiberous roots.The flowers are tubular with broad,flattened 5-petaled faces. They are carried in open,branched clusters or on whorled tiers on erect stems.Most are native to cool regions, and some do not preform well in heat and high humidity.
Types Of Primrose:
Primula auricula-Auricula Primrose
P.denticulata-Drumstick Primrose
P.elatior-Oxslip
P.japonica-Japanese Primrose
P x polyantha-Polyanthus Primrose
P.sieboldii-Seibold's Primrose
P.veris-Cowslip Primrose
P.vulgaris-English Primrose
How to Grow:
Primroses are generally easy to grow if you meet thier simple needs.Most grow beast in moist soil in light to partial shade.In northern zones, winter mulch is essential, especially if snowfall is erratic.In the south, provide constistent moisture and shade from hot afternoon sun;when plants get to hot or dry,they go dormant early,although it is usually without adverse results.Divide overgrown clumps after flowering and replant into ammended soil.Sow seed outdoors in fall or early spring.
How to Grow By Seed:
Temp should be 15-20°C
You should not cover when sowing
Sow thinly, cover seed trays with milky polythene, shade from direct sunlight, after most seeds have developed a radical (10-12 days) cover with fine vermiculite.( if there is no radical emergence temp is to high) Sow May to July grow on cool.
Landscape Uses:
Primroses have a place in every garden. Plant them in clumps or drifts with spring bulbs such as Tulips,Snowdrops,Daffodils and Muscari.
Monday, January 24, 2005
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