Thursday, September 02, 2010 01:01 pm
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Summary: More tips, hints and tricks for those of you who are new to gardening and can’t see the forest for the trees (or the border for the plants).
Our
gardening column is published every Tuesday on OttawaStart.
Read previous columns here.
By popular demand – mainly mine; I wasn’t done yet –
here are more tips, hints and tricks for those of you who are new to
gardening and can’t see the forest for the trees (or the border
for the plants). Last week, I mentioned some
common gardening misconceptions but because I think a lot faster
than I type, I skipped one that I feel should have been included.
Misconception #4: “Fertilizer is good, more
fertilizer is better.”
No, it’s not! Stating this is similar to saying that eating ten
meals a day is better than eating three. Just as is the case with humans,
a plant can only “stomach” a certain quantity of food (how
much depends in part on the plant itself, and in part on the time of
year). Any excess fertilizer will be washed out by the rain and eventually
end up in Lake Ontario (or thereabouts). Always make sure to follow
the instructions when you use a chemical fertilizer and don’t
overfeed.
Last week, I listed 5 plants that are very easy to grow in the garden; this week it is time for my personal “Top 5 of Prima Donna Plants”, the ones that require a lot of attention and/or care. Don’t get me wrong; I am not suggesting you should not purchase these plants, just be aware of their needs before you buy them.
Here are a few pointers on how to recognize plants for a specific situation in the garden even without reading their tag. This knowledge will enable you to impress your friends while overlooking their garden at a barbeque - as long as you remember not to go overboard; they ARE just general rules of thumb. Here we go:
Silver
or grey foliage on a plant indicates it is a sun-lover that can tolerate
heat and drought like no other. Plants such as the perennial Artemisia
(picture) or the annual Dusty Miller thrive in the hottest of conditions
so give them the sunniest spot you have to offer in your garden.
Pretty
much the same goes for plants with thick, leathery leaves. Think of
them as the “camels” in your garden that store any moisture
they can get in their leaves and use it whenever times are hard. Sempervivum
(“Hens and Chicks” – picture) and Yucca are good
examples of perennial “camels”.
Big
leaves equal a preference for shady conditions. Be a bit cautious
when using this one, although very often it is true. Shade loving
perennials such as Hosta, Bergenia and Ligularia (picture) can tolerate
sunny conditions, provided there is enough moisture in the soil. In
hot, sunny conditions, the soil dries out too “fast and furiously”
and as a result these plants will look limp and quite unhappy for
most of the day. To conclude this week’s column, here are a few chores you will need to take care of before taking off on your well-earned holiday.
If you have Iris growing in your garden that has finished flowering, this is a good time to lift and divide them. You can tell when it is time to do this if the leaves - that tend to grow around the rhizome (the “bulb”) - have formed a full circle.
What you need to do is dig up the entire clump and cut the rhizome into smaller pieces – each piece with at least one or two leaves on it. Cut the leaves back to about half their size and plant the rhizome either somewhere else in your garden or in the same spot. If you opt for the same spot, be sure to enrich the soil with some compost or organic fertilizer before planting.
Most Lilac varieties are finished flowering right around now and this is the time to prune them. Lilacs have a tendency to keep growing upright and if you don’t intervene you will end up with 12 foot or so high shrubs that bear flowers somewhere around your eaves. Cut back any dead or semi-dead branches (the ones that have no leaves close to the stems of the shrub) down to the lowest pair of leaves and (very important!) remove any so-called “suckers”; these are new shoots that appear from the bottom of the shrub outside of the perimeter of the original plant. Lilacs tend to “walk” through the garden by sending out new shoots, thus enlarging their territory and invading other plants’ spaces.
Well, that’s it for this week. Next week, we will take an “up-close and personal” look at the cottage garden; one of the most popular and desired garden styles.
Until then, happy gardening!
René Trim
Do you have a gardening question for René?
Send it to us, and he'll try to answer it in his next column.
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About René
René Trim was educated and trained in The Netherlands, before moving
to Canada in 2000. After studying the differences in climate and season
faced by Ontario gardeners he established Trim Garden Design and Rescue
in May 2002. A gardener since the 1980’s, he has a wealth of knowledge
and experience, a vast library of reference materials from which to
draw answers to various garden situations as well as an enthusiastic
and professional staff.
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