How’s Your Garden?

BY LOIS TRIGG CHAPLIN

PLANT SNAPDRAGONS NOW

If you haven’t grown snapdragons in a while, the much improved hybrids of this annual may surprise you with how well they perform through winter and into next summer. The main flower show is not until spring, but now is the time to set out transplants to give plants a head start. The main concern is to avoid wet spots during winter’s rainy weather. Be sure that they have a place with good drainage. Plants may be dwarf, upright and trailing. Trailing ones like 'Candy Showers' are great for pots and baskets. Dwarfs such as 'Magic Carpet' are good for bedding and containers, growing from 4 to 10 inches high and wide. Upright types grow straight up with a central flower spike. These can be encouraged to branch by snipping back the center of the plants when setting them out. Flower spikes will be slightly smaller, but more numerous.

If you want extra-long flower stems for flower arrangements look for the Rocket series which can grow to four feet tall; staking helps them in case of heavy wind and rain.

Plant in a sunny spot with excellent drainage and choose a fertilizer that contains a nitrate form of nitrogen, as it is the most readily available in cool soil.

AMSONIA FOR FALL, TOO

Perennials are usually planted for their blooms, but Bluestar (Amsonia species) is just as worthy for the outstanding foliage color in the fall. Bluestar is named for its delicate, star-shaped, blue flowers that appear at the end of its stems in the spring. There are many species of Amsonia. By selecting carefully, you can choose the ones with leaves that make a brilliant second show of gold to orange fall color as the weather cools down in autumn. There are several species and selected cultivars of amsonia, some native to Alabama and other parts of the U.S. All are tough plants that do well in sun to part shade and in moist, but not soggy garden soil.For good fall color check plant tags for species and cultivars of Amsonia huebrichtii, Amsonia ciliata and Amsonia tabernaemontana. These include selections such as Storm Cloud and Blue Ice.

Amsonia

PLANT HERBS FOR WINTER

With grocery prices continuing to rise, there is certainly no need to buy fresh or dried herbs when herb plants could yield more plenty of flavorful leaves in our gardens through winter.The most cold-hardy perennial herbs include rosemary, oregano, thyme, chives,

Rosemary and oregano

garlic chives, sage, mint, lemon balm and horseradish. Bonnie Plants sells many of these as transplants in the fall for planting now. Once planted, these herbs will live for several years in a well-drained soil or in containers. In fact, mint sends out aggressive runners that can become weedy, so many folks plant it in a pot to keep it under control. Lemon balm is also a member of the mint family which spreads by roots or seeds, but it is not quite as aggressive as mint. Garlic chives will spread by reseeding but is easy to control by cutting off the pretty, white blooms in summer after they fade. Grow parsley and cilantro as winter annuals. When they flower in the spring, their blossoms attract beneficial insects that prey on aphids and other pests. At the end of its life in summer, cilantro produces round seeds that are also known as coriander. Gather these into a jar for the spice cabinet, too. Another herb, dill, will grow through winter if protected from frost in a cold frame or under a frost cover. Chives will grow more vigorously undercover through winter too, although it’s not killed by frost. So, save money by growing your own herbs and to share with others.

SPLENDID DAWN REDWOOD

The dawn redwood tree (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) is a living fossil. Today it still grows wild in a small region in China where seed was collected in 1947 by the Arnold Arboretum and distributed to botanical gardens and arboretums. Since then, it has become prized among horticulturists around the world, but is not well known to most gardeners. Related to bald cypress and California redwood trees, one look at the needle-leaved foliage, the shape of the tree, the small cone fruit, and the color of the bark reveals the connection. It is one of the few deciduous conifers. As a landscape tree, it is long lived and dependable, but needs height clearance and space. A perfect choice for big properties, this is a beautiful specimen tree that is worth planting for posterity. The landmark specimen in my neighborhood pictured here stands at least 100 feet tall and about 40 feet wide. It grows fast, too (at least 2 feet per year), so gardeners can begin enjoying its beauty without a long wait. But it needs a well-planned location because the trees are thought to live for hundreds of years. If you enjoy a garden conversation piece, dawn redwood might be it. Although it is not generally available in the nursery trade, gardeners may order seedlings from the Arbor Day Foundation at arborday.org.

Dawn Redwood

CITIZEN SCIENCE

The website sums it up: put up a feeder, count birds, enter your data. That and an $18 fee are the basics for participating in Project Feederwatch, a project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that invites folks from around the country to report what birds are sighted at their feeders in November through April. Actually, a feeder is not required, just plants and water that provide a habitat for birds to visit in winter. This observational data helps ornithologists learn about bird distribution patterns that would not be possible without the thousands of participants throughout the U.S. This makes a great project for students, and also good entertainment for folks who might be housebound as long as the feeders are refilled. For more information visit their website at feederwatch.org.