Month: November 2007

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Hardiness Temperature Zones: What Zone Will Make My Plant Happy?

 

TheGardenLady has been writing about a hardinessTemperature Zone Map for use when planning and planting your gardens. For those readers who wonder what TheGardenLady is writing about, let me explain.

There are a number of factors/needs that are involved in growing plants. For example, each plant has its special water needs, special soil needs or special fertilizer needs, etc. to allow it to grow to its optimum best. One of the important factors in raising plants outdoors is the temperature plants need to allow them to metabolize properly.  Plants grow best within a range of temperatures; for some plants the temperature range will be narrow and for others the range can be wider. Plants also differ in their ability to survive frost.

Continue reading “Hardiness Temperature Zones: What Zone Will Make My Plant Happy?”

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Winter Care of Knock-Out Roses

TheGardenLady received this question from Julia.

How do I prepare my KNOCK-OUT Roses for winter?

KNOCK-OUT Roses were bred to be almost maintenance free. So, if you live in zone 5 or a warmer climate, winter maintenance is minimal.

The KNOCK-OUT rose site says that “Knock-Out Roses were bred with greater cold weather tolerance to relieve the northern gardener of the need to apply and remove winter protection materials and the necessity to replace winter killed plants when protection failed.”

That being said, mulch the roses with leaves or hard wood AFTER the first hard frost – you want the ground to be frozen solid.*   If you want, you can burlap the rose plant. Burlaping will also prevent the deer from eating the rose bushes.  If the roses are in pots, the pots should either be buried in the ground or brought into the garage. The pot does not give adequate protection to the roots during the cold, freezing winter.

Continue reading “Winter Care of Knock-Out Roses”

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How to Deal with a Sick Mother-In-Law Plant

 

TheGardenLady received this question from Dawn:

Someone gave me a mother inlaw plant and said it lives outside and that I couldnt kill it, but it looks like its dying now…will it die in the winter and rebloom in the summer?

Plants that will grow outdoors all year long come from a place that has a similar climate to the one that you live in.  Sansevieria comes from Tropical Africa.

Zone 6, where I live, is too cold for the Sansevieria trifasciata (Latin name) or mother-in-law’s tongue plant (one of the common names for this plant) to leave outdoors in the late fall, winter and spring.  As tough as the plant is, it cannot tolerate very cold or freezing weather and in colder zones is used primarily as an indoor plant.

Since you do not tell me what temperature zone or area of the country/world you live in, I cannot tell you if the plant can be outdoors over winter in your area. Do you live in a tropical zone?

Besides not being able to live outdoors in cold weather where it will die, Sanseviera cannot tolerate overwatering or it will get root rot and also die. See TheGardenLady.org column Mother-in -Law Plant here.

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Growing Plants in Containers

 

TheGardenLady received this question from Yoonsin Park:

I live in a condo with a small patio.  Due to that I can only have container plants.  I don’t want to get larger & larger containers as the plant grows.  I just want to get one container and the plant to retain itself in it.  What is the best way to do that?

Container growing is one of the hottest methods of having an outdoor garden. There are a profusion of books on the subject.  Amazon.com lists 1514 books on container growing. One authority on the subject is Sydney Eddison whom TheGardenLady had the good fortune to hear lecture and see the slide show of her container garden.  Read this article by Eddison.

This summer at the Perennial Plant Conference at Swarthmore College I had the pleasure of hearing, seeing her slide show and meeting, briefly, Rita Randolph of Randolph’s Greenhouses in Jackson, Tennessee. Rita’s canvases are her containers which she sells; some you can  see on her website.

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Making a Garden Bed when there is Sod

 

TheGardenLady received this question from Karen Meadows:

How do you layer over sod to make a garden bed?

To make a garden where one has sod, you must remove all the sod just as you would have to remove any type of grass. This can be back breaking work.  A slow, easier approach would be to layer over the area with several layers of black and white (no color) newspaper that you cover with a deep layer of mulch.  This approach can take up to a year to work. Either way the directions for getting rid of sod are on this DIY website.

When you have finished this task – removing all roots and stones - take a sample of the soil (as one would where ever one is making a garden) and have the soil tested. You can either buy your own soil testing kit or take the kit to your local Master Gardener office or your Agricultural Extension office where they will have it tested.  When the test results are in, follow directions for amending the soil for the type of garden you wish to make. You should also always amend the soil with compost.