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Around Your Garden

Southern Living, Mar 2008 by Bussell, Gene B

For March ... Our Garden Editor offers tips and ideas for you.

Quick Spring Arrangements Daffodils are the best flowers of the season. If you do not have any growing in your yard, you can purchase bunches at the grocery store or florist. Select stems with buds that are just beginning to open. Wash a vase with soapy water, and rinse it clean. Fill it with lukewarm water, and add a floral preservative. Cut stems at an angle underwater to improve water uptake. Daffodils secrete a substance that prevents other flowers from taking in water, so mix them only with other daffodils. Arrange your blooms as you like in the vase, and use the leaves as part of the design. Place the arrangement in a cool area away from vents and direct sunlight, and be sure to change the water every couple of days. Enjoy!

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Flowers Up High Vines offer great solutions for color, fragrance, and shade in tight spots. Good choices include 'Tangerine Beauty' crossvine with orange-red flowers; Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) with fragrant, yellow blooms; and trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) with red or yellow flowers.

Spring Equinox The first day of spring arrives on March 20. If you have not started a garden journal, begin one now. Note the weather, plants in bloom, tasks completed, and plants you added to your garden (save the plant tags in your journal). Over time recording these observations will improve your gardening skills.

Feed As the days become warmer and leaves begin to appear on your roses, fertilize with Schultz Liquid Rose Food 10-12-12 or a granular feed such as Vigoro Rose Plant Food 12-6-10. Amend the soil around the bases of your plants by adding mushroom compost or composted manure, such as Black Kow.

Pruning

Azaleas, forsythias, spiraeas, and quince can be trimmed once they have completed blooming. If you wait until summer to cut back, you will remove next year's flowers.

Cool Weather Color

There is still a chance of frost in most areas of the South. A few warm, sunny days are all it takes to make you want to get out and plant some blooms. If you just cannot wait till the last frost, you do have some choices. The blooms of snapdragons, petunias, violas, pansies, nasturtiums, and sweet William can handle cool weather. Just wait a little longer before planting impatiens, torenias, and caladiums. To learn about when the last frost date in your area should occur, visit www.victoryseeds. com/frost.

Container Recipe

Create a salad bowl, and enjoy fresh greens light at your fingertips. Use a 14-inch-diameter (or larger) terra-cotta bowl. Purchase lettuce transplants at nurseries and garden centers. (Choose several types for a mixture of greens.) Fill container with moist potting soil, and add plants. Water and place pot in a location that receives at least four hours of sun a day.

Online "Around Your Garden" Archive: southernliving.com/ march2008

Around Your Garden

Southern Living, Mar 2008 by Bussell, Gene B

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