Spring Gardening - Hosta Plants

After the spring rain and a few warm days, I noticed that my hosta plants were coming up. There are quite a few plants that have green leaves and seem to be growing fast. Since the plants have new growth I knew it was time to work in the garden.

Here is a photograph of my spring Hosta Garden.  It was taken after I completed my garden maintenance.

Spring Hosta Garden, with daffodils leaves, and mulch

Today I did a hand pulling of the weeds and grasses that were growing in the hosta garden. There were also lilies that had spread into this garden. I dug them up and transplanted them into another garden.  Since it is early spring the daffodils plants have green leaves.  I did not cut them back, they will die back naturally.

When the garden maintenance was completed I added some compost that was amended with topsoil and mixed well before adding it to the hosta garden. This compost and soil mixture is a good way to feed the plants naturally.

Where I reside we do get a lot of rain in the spring and this rain can cause soil erosion. I decided to add a two-inch layer of cypress mulch around the plants to prevent the compost from washing away. Garden plants do benefit from a mulch application because it helps to deter the growth of weeds, keeps the plant roots cooler in summer, and aids in retaining moisture.

Here is a photo of one of my Hosta gardens

Love Butterflies Then Grow Echinacea

If you love butterflies, honeybees, and hummingbirds then grow Echinacea flowers. This daisy-like wildflower is actually a herb that has a pinkish-purple flower. Commonly called coneflowers this plant is easy to grow from seed in a sunny garden with well-drained soil.

I grow echinacea in my herb garden and in my wildflower garden. If you have a large area then growing this flower in masses is wonderful especially if you grow with white Shasta Daisies and yellow Black-eyed Susan flowers. Echinacea is also will grow to the height of 3 feet and it is best to grow it in the back with other flowers and grasses in front of it. 

Here is a photograph of Echinacea being grown with black-eyed Susan’s and ornamental grasses.

How to Grow

Plant your seeds indoors 6 weeks prior to last spring's frost. I find the best way to plant the seed is in starter kits. You can shop for grow kits at Walmart.com in the garden center or make your own. A Small container with good drainage is needed to hold the potting soil or peat pellet. Then use a pencil with an eraser to press the seed into the center of the soil. Do not plant too deep, a half-inch is fine. Cover the seed with soil and water.

Grow the seeds next to a sunny window or under an artificial grow light. Check the soil daily to make sure it is evenly moist but not wet. Never let the soil dry out as it is hard on the seedlings. Germination should occur in 7-10 days.

Transplanting Outdoors

When the seedling's stems are 6 inches in height with leaves and the threat of spring frost has passed you would transplant Echinacea to an outdoor garden.

Plant in a garden that has full sun and well-drained soil. Space the plants 18 inches apart to prevent overcrowding.

Maintain your echinacea by watering daily with a dripline soaker hose in the morning.

The flowers will bloom in the summer and continue to bloom throughout the warm months in the fall. I recommend feeding them monthly with Miracle-Gro Liquafeed bloom booster flower food.

Remove spent blooms to encourage new flower buds.

Other garden articles that you may like

Cottage Flower Garden Tips

Wildflower Garden Ideas

Outdoor Decor for Your Deck

Decks come in a variety of sizes and people will decorate them with mix-and-match patio furniture, or they will use their deck as an outdoor living room and decorate with patio furniture and outdoor accessories.

There are many ways to add decor to your decks. Simple modifications can be added to improve the ambiance or you can go all out with an outdoor fireplace. When you add decor to your deck you will see it come alive. This area will be appealing to the eye and welcoming to your family and friends.

Lovely Rattan table but this deck needs some decor

Decorate the seating area on the deck with outdoor pillows. Throw pillows with a color pattern that will complement the cushions on my patio set. These pillows will make the outdoor space more comfortable and eye appealing.

Another way to decorate your deck is to set up a freestanding or tabletop fountain (with or without lights) 

Adding an outdoor throw pillow makes the chair more inviting

The background sound of water cascading down the rocks will help you to relax. When the nights are cool you may want to warm up next to an outdoor fireplace. I found an Outdoor Sonoma Gas Fireplace Surround at Walmart.com and it would look fantastic on a deck with a cozy seating area close by.  

Another way to decorate your deck and add ambiance is to grow aromatic herbs in containers. A container garden on the deck is appealing and fragrant with pretty flowers. Choose a variety of aromatic herbs and also grow herbs that repel mosquitoes and other insects.

You do not have to spend a lot of money to change the look of your deck. Here is a deck that I designed for a customer. I hope that the blue outdoor decorations inspire you to decorate.

Early Spring Garden Activities

Winter is almost over and I find that I am thinking about the spring and summer season. There are many seasons in the year and I like them all, but spring is my favorite time of the year because of the yard and garden activities.

When the spring flowers break ground I know it is time to start getting my planters ready for growing flowers, and vegetables. I generally plant seeds and grow everything in my greenhouse. Then transplant outdoors after the threat of spring frost has passed.

Garden Activities

This week my husband is helping me to remove late fallen leaves from the garden beds. We are using the rakes and find it is a good way to work the soil for upcoming planting. I will also cut back the ornamental grasses, as the days getting warmer and this will encourage new growth.

When the garden cleanup is completed we will start new projects. My husband will make some raised garden beds for my strawberries and I will start working on garden plans. I like to draw out a diagram every year for my annual gardens. 

I am glad my husband is helping me to work in the gardens and do appreciate him making the raised garden beds.  

Here are a few articles that I published about spring gardening and plants that I grow in my gardens.
1. Growing Carrots in a Home Garden
2. Signs of Spring
3. Growing Lettuce from Seed
4.   Window Box Garden Tips

Working in your yard and garden is a great way to relieve stress. It is always fun to take before and after photographs of your garden. Then you will really know what you accomplished.

Retaining wall and privacy fence, garden by the driveway 

 

Cover Ground with Evergreen Vines

For yards that have a woodland setting or area where nothing else will grow, then I would recommend covering the ground with evergreen vines. When the vines grow in the erosion will be controlled, the area will look eye appealing and your husband will no longer have to cut back the brush or mow the lawn. All of your landscape problems will be solved.

My garden photo of spring blooming vinca minor vine

Baltic Ivy grew on the rock wall 

Evergreen vines that are grown as ground cover

Vines are good for large areas where you plant and forget them. When they grow in you can use a grass trimmer to manicure them. This is a good way to keep the vines controlled. Vines are a low-maintenance plant. 

My side yard backs up the woods and I have planted periwinkle a common name for Vinca Minor along my garden path. This vine filled in quickly and I like it because it is evergreen and has a pretty purple flower in the spring.

Another vine that I like is Baltic ivy. Baltic is evergreen and does grow in quickly. Of course, it will also grow up trees and choke out weeds. The periwinkle is less invasive, in fact, I grow daffodils and other spring bulbs among the periwinkle vines.


Here is a video that will tell you more about vinca minor.

Wildflower Garden Ideas

There is a meadow located on the south side of my home and wildflowers and switchgrass grows there. In the spring I will plant red clover and zinnias so that the wildlife will have food and flowers will bloom in late summer. 

I love this wildflower garden but would like to update it with a rock wall and garden gate. I like the idea of creating a space that is secret or private as if it was a sanctuary for animals and people to rest and relax.

Garden Ideas

Growing wildflowers in the garden is not difficult. You would plan the location for wildflowers. Then turn over the soil with a tiller or shovel and plant your wildflower plants or seeds in a garden that provides the plants with proper growing recommendations. The wildflowers that I grow need full to-part sun and well-drained soil. 

Before you buy flower seeds read the growing requirements, then you will know what part of your yard is best for growing wildflowers.

Coneflowers and Daises a photo of my garden

A garden path was created by cutting this area low to the ground with a grass trimmer.

Transplants growing nicely in the garden

Amend the soil if needed I always like to mix compost because it will enrich the soil with nutrients. Plant seeds or seedlings then add a thin layer of straw.

Then create a garden path. One way to create a path is to use your grass trimmer or lawnmower to cut down the grass low to the ground. Then cover this area with landscape weed control fabric. Top this with mulch, or gravel.

I recommend a spring planting of flower seeds because of the rains that come during this season. Seedlings need to be watered and ground evenly moist but not wet. The rain will provide the wildflower plants with ample hydration and a good start at being healthy.

Buy wildflower seeds in bulk, and shop for the flowers that will grow best in your growing zone. 

Learn more about wildflowers and attracting wildlife by reading these articles.

Garden Accessories that Hide Your Spare Key

Garden accessories may add interest to your garden, however, some accessories have another benefit because they conceal your house key. These useful accessories are eye appealing and will save you money because if you become locked out of your house you will not have to call a locksmith.

Hide key here, learn how to bellow

Many people have gone outdoors to get the newspaper in their robe and slippers then find that the door closed behind them and they are locked out. If somebody is home then there is no problem but what if you are home alone?



This morning when I went out to walk the dog I purposely left the side door open because I had no intention of leaving the yard. Yet when I returned I found the door locked. While I was on the other side of the house my husband locked the door and went to work. I was locked out without my phone or a spare key. What a situation I was in, my phone inside, my neighbor with the spare key out of town. I had two choices; break into the house or walk a mile in my pajamas to the next neighbor's house.



Had I bought the discrete garden accessories that had a secret compartment
for my house key, I would be able to get back inside easily.



I shopped online at Wallmart.com and found just what I needed. I like synthetic rocks and other garden accessories for concealing your spare key. But think if I had a waterproof key box I could hide it anywhere outdoors.



How to Hide Your Outdoor Spare Key

Conceal the key in a sprinkler head.  Learn more at step 5 bellow

1. Shop for an outdoor box for your key.  Insert the key in the box.  Make sure it is sealed before hiding the key box in the garden.  Choose a planter then dig a shallow hole, set the key box flush with the soil, and cover it with mulch.
   
2. Hide the key box in the patio furniture. Unzip a seat cushion or pillow and put the key box inside.
   
3. Buy landscape rocks that are made to conceal keys. Hide the key underneath the rock in the special compartment. Then set rock around flower or other plant containers. Create a rock display on your porch, patio, or garden.
   
4. Use gorilla brand tape to adhere the key box to the backside or bottom of the patio furniture. Make sure this furniture is flush with the wall.
   
5. Hide your key in a sprinkler head, Trademark Global makes this discrete product for your spare key and you can shop for it at Walmart.com
   

Hide a spare key in planters

Hope these ideas are helpful to you. My husband says the best way to not get locked out is to check the door before going outdoors. But you know as well as I do accidents do happen.

Gardening in November

The fall season has been unseasonably warm and many of my flowers, zinnias, chrysanthemums, and black-eyed Susans are still blooming. I am thankful that the weather is mild as I enjoy gardening in November.

Here are photographs of late-blooming flowers in autumn gardens.

My neighbor today visited me in the gardens and could not believe that my flowers had many blooms and buds. He told me that he cut back all of his flowers the first week of September because he thought it would be a cold season.

Know that most people stop tending to their gardens in September but I am not one of those people. If the weather is warm then I continue to tend to my flower and tomato gardens. This year I planted tomatoes in self-watering containers and thought instead of cutting them back I would move them to the mini walk-in greenhouse. If the weather should turn cold the greenhouse will protect the plants from frost and I may be able to harvest cherry tomatoes in January.

When I looked at the weather for my area I saw that it is not supposed to get cold until January so I will continue to tend to the flowers that are blooming in the garden. After a hard frost, I will gather seeds for next year and cut the flowers back to the soil then cover them with a layer of mulch.

By extending my growing season into November I was able to make fresh herb wreaths with cut zinnia and mum flowers for my home's décor. On Thanksgiving, I will cut flowers for bouquets for my elderly neighbors.

Know that I reseeded my zinnia gardens in August for late summer blooms and also deadheaded the chrysanthemums and fertilized them with bloom booster by miracle-gro. This is why I have so many flowers blooming in November.

Keep Watering Gardens in Fall

Many people ask me if they should keep watering their gardens during the fall season and I reply yes especially if you season is dry with no rain in the forecast. Several flowering plants will continue to flourish in the garden until there is a hard frost.

Know that I do not water daily but I do not let my gardens and spring-blooming shrubs dry out. I generally stop watering when there is a hard frost and plants go into a dormant state.

Fall is the season when the weather can be hot, cool, and cold all on the same day. This fluctuation in temperature is hard on plants and generally, they will start to die back. When a plant begins to die back I will clean up the flower bed by cutting the perennial down to the soil or removing the annual. Then add a layer of much to the garden bed.

it is okay to cut back flowers that have been spent. I cut back my Shasta daisies and my Asiatic lilies as soon as the weather changed and nights got cool, the mid-40s.=[ However the days are warm and some days are hot which means my zinnias, at 4 o’clock, black-eyed Susan’s, and Sunflowers still have blooms.

I water my garden plants, and container gardens and also water the spring bulb beds until there is a hard frost. Here are some photographs of late summer and early fall blooming flowers
. 

Zinnia Flowers will bloom until the weather changes; cold/ frost.

Chrysanthemums will continue to bloom until hard  frost 

Black-eyed Susan's keep feeding and watering and they will bloom until fall frost.

Sunflower is hardy, water with bloom booster and they will put out flower buds.

Plant Food Plot Seeds and Deer Will Come

This morning a doe deer brought her fawn to my yard. I could view them from my picture window and noted that their winter coat had grown in. There were three deer in my yard when I went to get my camera when I returned to the window I found more deer grazing at the food plot that I grew from seed.

There was movement from behind the oak trees and I assumed it was another doe, but to my surprise, it was a young buck with antlers. I was so excited to see the buck in my yard and was certain that this was his herd. 

Here's a photo of fawn in my yard. The deer come to my main yard to drink from our pond.

photo of fawn in my side yard 

The young buck was six feet from my window and was aware of my presence because he snorted and stomped his hooves. My husband told me to step away from the window slowly because a territorial buck could come through the window. Granted I was too close for comfort and did step back. I took some photographs from the window.  

View this video to learn more about deer food plots

The deer food plot seeds that I planted were easy to do I bought a product at Walmart.com that required little work, it was thrown and grown. (see photo above) You plant in the spring and in the fall and this will enable you to view deer in your yard all year. 

When to Plant Chrysanthemum

Summer is almost over and I find that I am thinking about the fall season. Fall is my favorite time of the year because of the garden activities. When it comes to working in the yard and garden there are many things to do, planting chrysanthemum is one of my favorite activities in fall.  

Do you plant mums in fall? 

In late August to the first week of September, I will plant Chrysanthemums in containers and in feature gardens. Now I live in growing zone 6 and we have a long autumn season. For other growing zones in the USA, I would say plant mums at least six weeks before a hard frost.

Chrysanthemums come in a variety of colors; white, yellow, lilac, purple bronze, cream, orange, pink, green burgundy-red, and bi-colors. There is a color flower for everyone and these long-lived flowers really brighten up the garden.

The mum is a beautiful flower so show it off by planting in your feature garden, or outlining your front walkway. You can also add to wheelbarrow gardens or plant container gardens for your front porch. 

I have planted mums in containers and in the ground. Then after a hard frost, I will cut the plant back into the soil and add a layer of mulch. The mum then returns the following year.

Here are a few photographs of chrysanthemums I hope they will inspire to plant this lovely flower in your fall garden.

All images are from pixabay.com

Rustic Trunk Planter Ideas

Instead of shopping for new clay or plastic planters for your flowers or greenery, go to yard sales, and buy rustic wood trunks for your garden. These rustic trunks will add interest to your garden. A container that is different from the norm will not only enable your plants to grow but will also be a focal area in your yard and garden.

Grow petunia in a rustic trunk planter

Here is a digital design that I created to show one of the clients how she could utilize one of her vintage trunks. In her case, the trunk would be set up on a sunny porch that had rain protection. 

Before planting in a wooden trunk I would recommend that you apply

a water seal to protect the wood. Also, you would not fill the trunk with soil but you would drop in a plastic shelf about 10 inches into the trunk. Then on top, you would add your self-watering planters for your flowers, herbs, or sweet potato vines.

This open trunk planter is unique and adds tremendous interest to your garden.