Monthly Archives: February 2012

color in the garden, cool season flowers, flowering shrubs, Flowering trees, fragrant plants

Early Spring Flowering Plants

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 I look out my window and see deep pink ruffled flowers covering my Blireiana flowering plum.   It's one of my favorite early spring blooming plants and those fragrant blossoms are strong enough to scent my garden. It grows next to an Autumnalis flowering cherry that blooms nearly every month of the year. I'm not kidding. It's the energizer bunny of the flowering tree world.  We all look forward to the earliest flowers of the new season.  What else blooms in winter that you might want to have in your garden? Here are just a few suggestions.

One old fashioned shrub that figured prominently in many old gardens is forsythia. Deep golden-yellow flowers completely cover the bare stems in late winter and become the focal point of the landscape when in full bloom. The showy stems of this easy care shrub are great for cutting. Forsythias are native to eastern Asia but a chance discovery in Germany by a grower who specialized in breeding for the cut flower industry led to the especially vivid variety Kolgold in the 1800's. Forsythia has long been used in Chinese medicine. The flower petals contain powerful bacteria-fighting properties which make it an important dressing.

Hellebores are another winter blooming plant that with foliage that looks great, too. My double purple one has been blooming for well over a month now. I've got my eye on a variety called Golden Sunrise. Each plant is  different with variations of large, canary yellow flowers. Some are solid yellow but most have some degree of red veining and a red picotee edge. Some have a red starburst in the center. Hellebores bloom for six weeks or more and are deer and rabbit resistant. They are often flowering during the Christian season of Lent from which they get their common name, Lenten Rose. Use them for naturalizing in woodland areas. They are a low maintenance plant, will survive with little water and are disease and pest free.

What would a shade garden be without a bright orange clivia? Every year I look forward to their huge flower clusters to emerge from the dark green strappy leaves. Even in dark shade they will bloom and brighten the winter garden although they would do fine in morning sun. If you have a north facing window you can grow them as houseplants. Clivias are hardy to several degrees below freezing but mine, under an overhang, have survived temps of 23 degrees without damage.

Clivia breeders have produced gold and peach colored flowers also but I still like the standard orange and they didn't cost $599 like the plants I saw offered on the internet. I thought this price might have been a misprint but on further investigation I found another site offering the yellow Gloria clivia for a mere $950. I'll stick with my orange ones.

A beautiful vine that blooms in winter is Hardenbergia 'Happy Wanderer'. In the pea family, this evergreen vine looks like a small wisteria when in bloom.  Pinkish purple flowers cascade in clusters on twining stems that reach 12-16 feet long. It requires little water once established and is hardy to about 23 degrees. If you have an older, tangled plant you can rejuvenate it with hard pruning in early spring after flowering. Never prune in late summer or fall because you will cut off the wood that is going to bloom the following winter.

The last plant I couldn't live without is Fragrant Sarcococca.   The tiny flowers of this plant are easily overlooked but you can't miss their scent. If you have a problem spot in dry, deep shade give this plant a try. It's easy to grow, deer resistant and trouble free.

edibles, fertilizing, flowering shrubs, Flowering trees, fruit trees, gardening tips, organic fertilizers, perennials, pruning tips, trees,shrubs,vines,perennials

February To-Do’s for the Santa Cruz Mountains

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Seems to me that I'm still waiting for winter to start. I look hopefully each week at the weather forecast hoping to see a storm developing. The birds in my garden are already starting to pair up, however, and call to each other. They know  a new season has begun. So, as promised, at the beginning of each month, here's your to-do list of what you should be doing in the garden.

Each year the weather is a little different requiring some tasks to be done earlier in the month when it's been a warm winter while giving you a little extra time when it's been cold. This year we've experienced very cold nights since December so plants are still mostly dormant but spring is coming. Be prepared.

Cut back woody shrubs. To stimulate lush new growth on plants like Mexican bush sage, artemisia and butterfly bush cut back to within a few inches of the ground. Don't use this approach on lavender or ceanothus – only lightly prune them after blooming. Prune frost  damaged shrubs if you can tell how far down the die back goes otherwise wait until growth starts in the spring. Prune fuchsias back by a third and remove dead, crossing branches and interior twiggy growth. Container fuchsias can be cut back to the pot rim. Revitalize overgrown or leggy hedges by cutting back plants just before the flush of new spring growth.

Cut back ornamental grasses to within 3-6" of the ground. If  you get very heavy frost in your yard wait until the end of the month. Grass-like plants like Japanese forest grass should have all the old blades pruned off, too. You can divide them, if needed, after pruning to increase the number of plants you have.

Divide perennials before new growth starts. Agapanthus, asters, coreopsis, daylilies, shasta daisy and liriope are plants that tend to become overcrowded and benefit from dividing.

Prune established perennials later in the month if you get frost that may damage new foliage. Giving your maiden hair ferns a haircut now allows the new growth to come out fresh. Prune winter damaged fronds from your other ferns.

Begin sowing seeds of cool season vegetables outdoors. If it's been raining, allow the ground to dry out for several days before working the soil. Plant seeds of beets, carrots, chard, lettuce, peas, spinach, arugula, chives kale and parley directly in the ground. Later in the month start broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. You can also plant starts of many of these vegetables and that stir fry will be on your table even sooner. Indoors, start seeds of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant so they will be ready to transplant outdoors in 8 weeks when danger of frost is past and the soil has started to warm up.

Fertilize perennials, shrubs and trees their first dose of organic all-purpose fertilizer for the season. Wait to feed azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons until the last flower buds start to open. Roses will get a high nitrogen fertilizer to give foliage a boost and later next month, I'll feed with a high phosphorus fertilizer to encourage blooms.

Feed chelated iron to azaleas, citrus and gardenias to green up their leaves. Cool soil makes the leaves of these plants yellow this time of year.  

Apply the last application of dormant spray. Spray with horticultural oil, lime sulfur, liquid sulfur or copper dormant spray. Do not spray 36 hours before rain is predicted. Be sure to spray the ground around each tree.