Black is beautiful. Black is slimming. Black is the epitome of elegance and sophistication. Streamline your garden with the mystique of timeless style by adding these enchanting beauties. Black plants from the dark side of Wayside Gardens will draw attention to your garden. How else can one sing the praises of springtime and be noticeably and utterly forlorn if not by growing a black Iris?
If you want intrigue in your garden, grow the dark flowers. Grow something completely foreign and unexpected. Maybe plant just one of these strange varieties, as a focal point, for novelty, or maybe plant a whole garden of nothing but black plants ( a little too ‘Edgar Allen Poe’ for me, but hey, do what you must). BTW, The black calla lily is my favorite.
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Wayside Gardens horts say February is the month for pruning your roses. Some hybrid Teas need drastic pruning every year, the severity of which depends on what your intentions are for your roses. If you are pruning for professional exhibition and are looking to get nice big blooms, but maybe only a few, then you would need to prune within 3 to 4 inches of the ground. For normal garden display, 8 to10 inches will give the best results.
When pruning your roses, start by removing diseased or weak canes, cutting back to healthy wood. Next, if you have any canes that cross too closely, cut one of them back. Finally, cut back the rest of the canes to about 8 to 10 inches above the ground, pruning stronger canes less and weaker canes a little more. Of course, before you start any of this, please research your particular Tea variety, and be sure that there is no special treatment required. Some varieties do not respond well to strong pruning.
For more information you could check out this article on pruning roses from GardenerHelp.org.
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Curled up on your couch, sharing a blanket with Fluffy, and nursing a sweet warm tankard of cocoa, you look up from your book to notice that something has gone notably awry. Your jade plant has sprouted new jewels and your spider plant is crawling all over the floor. They are serenading you with the songs of spring, no matter how wildly you gesture towards the thermometer and shiver. The days are longer and your house plants are looking to stretch their legs. Spring cannot come soon enough.
If your babies have gotten much larger than they were last season, it may be time to re-pot. Just remember, don’t upgrade the container’s size too much. Allowing too much soil beyond the root ball will allow moisture to stand in the soil, possibly causing root-rot. Never increase pot diameter more than an inch or two, to ensure your roots will effectively pull the moisture from the soil.
Make sure your re-potted plant has good drainage, which means a deep pot with drain holes in the bottom. Do not put rocks in the bottom of your pot because that will just bring the wettest part of your soil right up to the tenderest of your roots which will cause root-rot.
With a new slightly wider, deeper home with good drainage, your growing house plants will do great this spring.
For more information, here is the Container Gardening Culture File from GardenerHelp.org.
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Winter’s icy mitts still have a stranglehold on most of the country, and countless gardeners are tapping their feet and wearing out their gardening catalogs. So, for those of you itching to get some green on your hands, here’s a little late-winter project that will brighten your home!
You are going to have to prune your trees anyway, so why not clip off a few nice branches with some plump buds and bring them in the house. You can force these branches to bloom and bring a little springtime ambiance into the abysmal botanical breach of winter.
This is a simple little project that anyone can do, at least that’s what the Wayside Gardens Horticulturist said. After your blooming trees have had time to overcome dormancy, usually around 8 weeks of winter weather, cut off a few branches that are a good length for displaying indoors, a foot or more. Make sure you get pieces with plenty of buds, and you will know when it’s time to cut them because the buds will have started to swell. Make sure you cut the ends at a slight angle to ensure your branches will take up water.
As soon as you get them inside, put the ends in some water, and, if possible, submerge the whole branches overnight in a tub or sink to further force them out of dormancy. For the first few days keep the ends in a bucket of water in a cool place like a garage and make sure to keep misting the branches, keeping them covered with light plastic or burlap to maintain high levels of moisture. Change your water if it starts to look cloudy to prevent your branches from rotting.
After a week or so, when your flower buds are starting to bloom and show color, you should go ahead and set them out for display. Do not put them in full sunlight or a really warm area because they may dry up and you will lose your blossoms. Put them in a bright area and make sure they stay in a container with clean water, and they should last for a while. Moving them to a cooler place at night will also prolong their lifespan.
A list of shrubs and trees that you might want to try this with:
- Magnolia
- Hazel
- Apple
- Cherry
- Pear
- Wisteria
- Puince
- Forsythia
- mockorange
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Fruit trees can be a fun addition to your home, whether you are adding them to your garden outside or growing them in containers. Having a gorgeous citrus tree full of fruit on your patio or a cute blueberry bush in your garden full of colorful berries is really rewarding. However, many people forget to consider amount of time it takes for a young plant to produce fruit.
In truth, you must wait patiently. Most fruit trees will not fruit until they mature, which usually takes about three years. Fortunately, many of the trees we sell have grafted rootstock that decreases this time somewhat. But the key is patience and to take proper care of your tree while you wait.
If you are desperate, and your tree has long matured but is still not producing fruit, here is one way that you can force a tree to fruit. We do not recommend this method to the novice gardener because there is a very strong possibility that the tree will die. So, try this method at your own risk.
In spring, after the tree has budded, tie a wire tightly around the trunk. This will trap the sugars in the tree and force them into the buds. You will start to see a bulge above the wire in the tree. If it works, there will be fruit. If not, you might have to call someone to remove a stump. Like we said, it is quite the risk and should only be used as a last resort. As they say, ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained!’
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