A Silene is a genus of plants still in existence today and found mostly as wildflowers in Europe, Asia and the Arctic. There are numerous, numerous species. Most familiar to the home gardener would be the Rose Campion (Silene coronaria).
How about a little inspiration for planning your garden this year from Travelers Press. Gorgeous photos of some of the world’s most amazing gardens.
15 of the World’s Most Amazing Gardens | TravelersPress.
I can’t believe they left out my garden!
I am a big fan of county Soil and Water Conservation Districts. One of their activities I like the most is their annual spring Tree and Shrub Sale. Keep in mind, these a bare root starter trees and shrubs so you have to be a bit patient and be in need of a quantity of usually 10 or so plants. They also have a hodgepodge of other items to offer as well like birdhouses, groundcovers, fertilizer, etc. Here are links for two area sales that are now taking orders.
Monroe CSWD Tree, Shrub and Plant Sale: Orders due by March 18; Pick-up April 19 & 20
New this year: American Cranberry, White Oak. They also have bat houses and a rain barrel kit!
Ontario CSWD Tree and Shrub Sale: Orders due by March 16; Pick-up April 20 & 21
New this year: Pond habitat plant packet. They also have Bluebird houses!
I was surprised today to see my Chinese Witch Hazel blooming although I guess I shouldn’t be considering the weather this winter. In previous years it blooms the beginning of March.
These shrubs bloom in winter (as opposed to the native ones that bloom in the fall). I purchased this one in 2008 and it has shown slow but steady growth.
To read more about Chinese Witch Hazel, see this Penn State Extension write-up.
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pallida’ / Chinese Witch Hazel
The days are getting longer! Here’s a simple, great website that calculates length of day as well as other time and date variables.
Winter Pruning: Here is a great resource on this topic from the University of Minnesota / Extension
Refreshing my houseplants: I’m sorry, but houseplants do age out in my opinion. This is a great time of year to say out with the straggly, overgrown and ugly (you know the ones I’m talking about) to make room for some new ones in the coming months. I assess if plants need to be moved around to a better location, inspect them for any pest problems, refresh the soil as needed or re-pot entirely if necessary, and add some slow release fertilizer to my foliage plants. Here is an absolutely terrific online resource on houseplants from the University of Illinois / Extension.
Seeds arrive! My seed orders start to trickle in so it is time to clean up my grow station in the basement. I make a calendar list of when to start which seeds. I clean the grow station, pots, trays, tools, etc. and make a list of new supplies needed: pots, seed starting mix, tongue depressors, etc. Since I share this station with my husband (the vegetable farmer) space is limited and I have to select just how many I think I want of each seed which requires a lot of thought and strategy. Here is another great extension source on Starting Seeds Indoors from Purdue University / Extension.
Plant Tags and Binders: This is also the month I sort out all the plant tags from last year. Yes, I have a weird obsession of keeping plant tags. I have plants tags from 1999 when I started gardening at my first home! I organize them into binders and I am up to about 15 binders. I guess that would make me a tag horder. I also keep an excel spreadsheet of all the plants I have purchased. I dont’ know why I do this, but I just can’t help myself. And yes, I have plant labels for everything in my yard.
So see, there are garden related things to do in February!
The American Garden Award announces their 2012 entries for most popular new flower variety voted on by you! The award, administered by the All-America Selections Display Garden program, selects the contestants from submissions received by breeders all over the world. Then a network of public display gardens across the U.S. grows these entries so that they may be viewed and voted on by the general public.
Can’t make it to a display garden on the list, you can also view the entries and vote online. Voting begins June 1 and winners announced in the fall.
This years contestants are:
Angelonia angustfolia ‘Serena Blue’
Begonia Boliviensis ‘Santa Cruz Sunset’
Gazania ‘Big Kiss™ White Flame’
Petchoa x Hybrida ‘SuperCal Pink Ice PPAF’
Petunia ‘Surfinia® Deep Red’
Sunflower ‘Goldie’ F1
My personal vote would be for Angelonia as I have grown this annual for several years now and just rave about it to everyone that will listen.
YNN did a great video feature story on local seed catalog company, Harris Seeds!
Did you know, while the don’t have a retail shop at their Rochester wholesale operation, you can order your seeds online or via the phone and drive across town to pick them up? Or even easier, Harris Seeds are sold at three area retail locations: Harris Garden Center, Gro-Moore, and The Garden Factory.
For more information or to request a catalog go to: www.harrisseeds.com
I’m really excited about a new variety of pansy introduced last fall (2011) called Cool Wave Pansies. I bought a hanging basket of these last fall while I was in southern Illinois for my mom’s birthday. I bought the all yellow variety and it was beautifully cascading over the basket. When I went back in December, it was still flowering. I love the cascading, flowing appearance and will be using them in hanging baskets and containers on my deck this Spring. Pansies are my favorite flower! It has been my experience here in Fairport (NY) that I can keep pansies going sometimes all the way until July and even beyond (depending on location and weather). So look for them this Spring at your local garden center. (You can order the seed too for those do it yourselfers). Cool Wave Pansy video
Saturday, January 28, 2012; 9:30 am-12:45 pm
I have attended this event before and the variety of seed is amazing. This is a don’t miss event for the seasoned seed starting enthusiast and the beginner closet (or bathroom) seed starter.
Organic Gardening magazine has partnered with Seed Savers Exchange to offer seeds of 70 outstanding heirloom vegetable and flower varieties all organically produced. http://www.seedsavers.org/Items.aspx?hierId=OGA
The Sweet Chocolate Bell Pepper looks especially tasty to me. http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=1216OGA
Organic seeds are not easy to come by and this list is really great.
