A Guide for Gardening Novices, Part 2

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.

Roses - loved by many, successfully grown by a lot fewer. They like their rich, moist soil, their food, their sun and a gentle breeze. If you can meet these demands, you will be fine – they’re not as bad as some people like to believe. Make sure to do your homework before you buy roses and buy the more disease-resistant varieties.
Delphiniums - if you are into building scaffolding in your garden, this is the plant for you! Personally, I am a great fan of Delphiniums; however, because of the sheer size and weight of their flower spikes you will need to give them the support they require. Always start early in the season – before the flowers appear – and keep adding as the plant grows.
Tomatoes - growing fresh tomatoes is one of the true joys of the vegetable gardener, but tomatoes can suffer from all kinds of diseases and pests. These problems are often the result of weather conditions and unfortunately, this is something that is out of the gardeners’ control. There are disease-resistant varieties available but – as is the case with roses – you will have to do some research before you buy.
Peonies – see Delphiniums. Great to have in the garden, but rather sad-looking when in full bloom after a shower – without the proper support they will look like ground-covering plants.
Cedars – in my humble opinion, cedars should be re-named “greed-ers”. Many a gardener, in an attempt to screen off their green space, plants a cedar hedge and thinks Mother Nature will take care of the rest. In reality, Mother Nature is very busy and as a result, cedar hedges tend to get out of control after a while. Too tall, too sparse looking; well, suffice it to say that in all my years as a professional gardener I have taken out more cedars than I have planted. Cedars need to be properly pruned – as well as properly fed - from a very early stage in order to keep them dense. When you prune, make sure to always maintain a triangular shape with the widest part at the bottom of the hedge so sunlight can reach the entire plant. Failing to do so will cause the plants to lose their needles at the lower part of the hedge due to lack of light.

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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