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Contents |
PDN NewsletterMay 31, 2008Dear PDN'ers:Greetings from Plant Delights, we hope your spring has been as beautiful as ours ... realizing, of course, that some of you in the colder climates are just starting the spring season. We have had wonderful rains and no temperatures in the 90's yet ... unlike the folks in Phoenix who have already seen 109 degrees F ... geez. It's been a short week because of the Memorial Day holiday, but despite overdoing it in the garden last weekend, I'm ready to start again. It's only Friday, but I can already feel a weekend of binge planting coming on ... how about you? New crops and sold out items are continually becoming ready. For the latest additions just added to the website, click here. Remember some are only available in limited quantities, so if you see something that strikes your fancy, don't hesitate too long. Many gardeners are still dealing with the drought of last summer and hostas are some of the plants most affected. We've had many folks asking why their hostas are so much smaller than in previous years, and the answer is probably drought. While hostas are very tolerant of short-term droughts, long-term droughts are another matter. As the hosta clumps age, the center of the clump begins to die out. This, combined with the umbrella-shape of many hostas, causes them to naturally shed water. The only remaining living parts are new buds which break on the outer edges of the clump. These newly formed plants become naturally smaller and smaller. When water is scarce, this problem is further exacerbated. The solution is to dig up hostas that have gone backward and choose 3-5 healthy divisions. Bareroot these removing dead root pieces, and replant them into a new hole. The unviable parts of the original clump can be discarded. It is always helpful to add more compost when replanting the new divisions and if possible, find a spot that holds more moisture. We have hostas thriving in a bog with pitcher plants, so anything short of growing them as an aquatic in the winter is fine.
At our Spring Open House, visitors were dazzled by our 2-year old clumps of
Paeonia 'Bartzella', which were in full-flower with 11 huge bright yellow
flowers. If you haven't tried this yet, put one on your wish list. There are
a couple of nurseries selling smaller tissue-cultured plants, which are
probably many years from flowering, but these are an option if you can't
afford our huge flowering-sized plants. P. 'Bartzella' is but one of a
series of intersectional peonies (herbaceous peonies crossed with tree
peonies). Keep watching as more and more of these gems become available.
Another of the plant groups we have really enjoyed are the hardy orchids.
If you're just getting started, bletillas are a great place to begin.
Although they prefer moist to boggy soils, they are thoroughly drought
tolerant. If you feel comfortable with bletillas, the next genera to try
is calanthe. These early spring-blooming orchids are quite easy to grow and
very tolerant of low-light situations. Once you master calanthes,
cypripediums are next on the list. Cypripediums or lady slippers are easy
when grown in the right situation: moist, well-drained soils and cool
climates. When we started trialing these, everyone told us they would not
tolerate our hot humid summers. After several years of trialing them, we
have had very good success.
The summer-flowering salvias are just starting to strut their stuff. These include the wonderful but underappreciated US native Salvia farinacea, which flowers non-stop from now until fall and is obscenely drought tolerant. Another favorite of mine is Salvia gregii from Texas and across the border in Mexico. Last year, we introduced the Stampede series, but as we mentioned in the catalog, the breeder was unwilling to share the parentage so we could adequately predict hardiness. Salvia gregii has a huge range and an accompanying difference in winter hardiness. This unwillingness to share plant background information is unfortunately common with annual breeders, who really don't give a damn if a plant is winter hardy or not. As always, we thank you for your continued support and patronage. Please direct all replies and questions to office@plantdelights.com. Thanks and enjoy -tony
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