If you are a serious gardener, you spend lots of time outdoors. And, for sure, you would rather be tending your plants than swatting mosquitoes.
In the past few years I’ve read about, and have seen more interest in wildflowers, so I figure it’s about time I jump in and add my two cents.
I have watched in despair as some of my friends have created a wildflower bed in their yard, and have ended with the biggest, ugliest patch of weeds I have ever seen. Why did they get weeds instead of wildflowers?
Two reasons.
One they were armed with a lack of good information, and two, they were lead to believe that planting a beautiful bed of wildflowers is so easy that a child could do it. Actually, a child could do it, and with great success. But only if that child were extremely lucky, or had a basic understanding of exactly how to plant a bed of wildflowers and achieve incredible success.
In the next few minutes I intend to arm you with enough good information so you can successfully plant a beautiful bed of wildflowers, and have your neighbors hanging over the fence asking you how ya did it.
First of all, you’ve got to understand what kind of a neighborhood wildflowers like to live in. They tend to prefer wide open spaces with at least 8 hours of sunshine each day. It’s true, they are sun worshipers. They also like the soil to be rich in nutrients, and well drained. They don’t like hard packed soil, and they don’t like to get their sneakers wet, only for short periods of time.
If you have an area that tends to be wet, wildflowers are not the answer.
Wildflowers can be used for weed control, and with a great deal of success. But you have to give the wildflowers a running start, or the weeds will keep the area “Wildflower Free”. Weeds and wildflowers are both sun worshipers, so who ever reaches the top first wins. Neither will grow well without adequate sunlight. If you use this to your advantage you can have a beautiful bed of wildflowers that requires little maintenance.
The secret is proper bed preparation. You must create a bed that is as weed free as possible. You can do this by removing all the vegetation from the area you intend to plant in, and then prepare the soil for planting by tilling or raking to a depth of just one inch or less. Do not disturb the soil any deeper than that, or you will just disturb dormant weed seeds that are just waiting to be brought back to the surface so they can grow. You should consider spraying the existing vegetation with Roudup before you remove it. This will kill all the roots that might still be in the soil.
Keep in mind that you need to spray the weeds or grass with Roundup at least three days before you disturb them. If you feel that the area you have chosen has significant amount of weed seed near the surface, you might consider letting the soil sit for about six days after you work it, then work it again. Do this over and over, but don’t work the soil more than one inch deep. The longer you continue this process the more apt you are to get the bed as weed free as possible.
Most weed seeds germinate rather quickly, so when you bring them to the surface through your cultivation efforts, you are giving them a chance to germinate. But then when you work the soil again in six days, you will actually interrupt the germination process and the seed will be spent. The longer you continue the process, the fewer viable weed seeds you will have to contend with. Of course additional seeds are blowing in all the time, so it’s unrealistic to think that you can create a planting bed that is free of weed seed.
The most important aspect of this process is to have your bed as ready as possible, at the ideal time for planting wildflower seeds. The secret of success is to plant the wildflower seeds at the ideal time so they take off growing immediately, and beat the weeds at their own game.
The ideal time? Depends on where you live. If you’re in zones one through six, you should plant in the spring. If you’re in zones seven through 11, you should probably plant in the fall.
Wildflower seeds like warm soil. They will germinate best with a soil temperature of 68 to 70 degrees F. So if you live in a cooler region, you should wait until later in the spring to plant. There’s no point planting when the soil temperature is 45 degrees and have the seeds just lay there while some of the weeds seeds germinate. You’d be much better off to continue working the soil as described above until the soil temperature is up to 68 degrees.
I’ll say it again, just in case you missed it earlier. Don’t work the soil any deeper than one inch.
Now for planting the wildflower seeds.
The best way to plant your wildflower seeds is to distribute them with a small hand held broadcast spreader, or to apply them in a manor that mimics that technique. In order to get the best coverage you should thoroughly mix the seeds with dry sand, vermiculite, or potting soil to increase the volume before you spread them. It’s a lot easier to evenly distribute five pounds of granular material over an area than it is 8 ounces.
As you spread the seeds walk in straight lines from one end of the bed to the other. Then do the same thing from the side of the bed in a criss cross pattern to the first set of footsteps you made. This will give you thorough and even distribution. This is why you should mix the seeds with some sort of filler material before you start, so you have plenty of volume to work with, and will be able to cover the area completely and evenly.
I urge you to visit www.wildseedfarms.com and ask for a catalog, or call their toll free number. 1-800-848-0078 This company publishes one of the most complete and informative catalogs I’ve ever seen. They have a color photo of each variety, along with a good description. They even tell you what percentage of seeds you can expect to germinate, and this varies from variety to variety, so they list this information for each variety.
They also tell you how long each variety takes to germinate, and what the ideal soil temperature is. They also tell you how many seeds are in each pack, how many seeds in a pound, and how much seed you need to cover a given area. Wildflower seeds have germination periods of 6 to 28 days, so you have to keep this in mind as you plan your garden. If you select a variety that has a 28 day germination period, you should select a second variety with a much quicker germination period and mix them together before sowing.
If you were to sow only seeds with a 28 day germination period the weeds would get a jump on the wildflowers, and you would likely end up with a weed garden. When you mix seeds with different germination periods, the faster germinating seeds will come up very quick, and act as a nurse crop for the seeds that need more time, keeping the weeds and birds at bay until all the seeds can germinate.
Good luck with your wildflower garden! Have fun, and enjoy.
Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his most
interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for his
excellent gardening newsletter, and grab a FREE copy of his
E-book, “Easy Plant Propagation”.
Putting flowers in your candle will add a unique look, while preserving your favorite flower. We have been asked many times, how to put flowers and other objects on the outside of a candle. So, we’ll be showing you how it is done. The most important thing to remember is to be safe. Putting anything on your candle such as paint, dried flowers, ribbon and other objects, pose a fire risk.
While this is unlikely to happen with this project, we need to warn you before hand. We do not recommend burning any candle that has flammable material on it.
To start with, you will need a few supplies. First and the most important is a big pillar candle, at least 3″ in diameter. This will help keep the flame out of reach of anything you put on the candle. You will also need to have a small white votive, or the same color votive as your pillar, an old pan to melt wax in, a paint brush, dried flowers or herbs and ribbon.
Candle making is an art, and requires exact precision in the melting process of the wax. Luckily you do not have to be exact in this project. Place the votive in your old pot; you will not be able to use this pot for food ever again. Next place the heat on Low Medium to Medium heat, DO NOT HEAT on HIGH. The only thing we want to accomplish here is to melt the wax down to a liquid. As soon as the last solid piece melts, is when you turn the heat down to low.
Next, select what you will want to put on your candle. If you are using flowers and leaves, make sure they have been pressed. Take the paint brush and paint some melted wax onto the candle where you wish to place the flower. Place the flower on the wax before it hardens. The wax will harden quickly, securing the flower in place. Repeat this step for the leaves as well.
Another great idea is to place a picture on the candle using the method of painting the wax onto the candle. You can use many different things, but they must be flat.
After placing all your flowers and leaves onto the candle, we will need to seal the. The wax in your pot may have hardened some, so heat it on Medium Low to get the wax melted again. Brush the entire candle with wax. This will seal the flowers in place and give it a smooth finish. You might have to apply several coats. But if you use a picture, do not brush over it, this will ruin the picture and you will not be able to see the picture clearly.
Last you can tie a ribbon around your candle to top it off. Another idea is to use the melted wax and paint small metal beads onto the candle for further embellishment.
This project can be done in many different ways, using anything from flowers, herbs, pictures to beads and glitter. But keep in mind the safety of your candle. We recommend not burning candles with flammable materials on them. If you do decide to burn these candles, use large pillars, as the sides of the candle tend not to burn down. Have fun and Enjoy.
Azaleas can be either evergreen or deciduous. Deciduous Azaleas are known as Mollis or Exbury Azaleas. They bloom in the early spring with vivid orange and yellow colors. They can be grown from seed if the seeds are collected in the fall and sown on top of moist peat at about 70 degrees F.
Evergreen Azaleas are known as broad leaf evergreens because they are do not have needles. They bloom later in the spring, and are usually propagated in the fall over bottom heat, discussed in detail at Rhododendrons are also broad leaf evergreens and are also propagated over bottom heat in early winter.
The best time to prune Rhododendrons and Azaleas is in the spring right after they bloom. These plants start setting next years flower buds over the summer, so late pruning will cost you some blooms next year, so get them pruned as soon as they finish blooming. It’s also a good idea to pick off the spent blooms so the plants don’t expel a lot of energy making seeds, unless of course you’d like to grow them from seed. But keep in mind that they don’t come true from seed.
Seeds from a red Rhododendron are likely to flower pale lavender. Cuttings insure a duplicate of the parent plant. How do you prune Rhododendrons and what does pinching a Rhododendron mean? These are frequently asked questions.
Pinching is a low impact form of pruning that is very effective for creating nice, tight full plants when you are growing small plants from seeds or cuttings. Typically a Rhododendron forms a single new bud at the tip of each branch. This new bud will develop into another new branch, another bud will form and the process will continue. If left alone this will produce a very lanky plant with a lot of space between the branches forming a very unattractive plant.
So if you are starting with a plant that is nothing more than a rooted cutting all you have to do is pinch off this new growth bud as soon as it is about 3/8” long. Just grab it between your fingers and snap it completely off. When you do this the plant usually responds by replacing that single bud with two, three, or even four new buds in a cluster around the bud that you pinched off. Each one of these buds will develop into branches and eventually a single bud will appear at the tip of each of these branches, and of course you should come along and pinch each one of those off forcing the plant to produce multiple buds at the end of each of these branches.
The more often you pinch off these single buds, the more branches the plant will form, making a nice, tight, full plant. This is especially helpful with young plants such as rooted cuttings or young seedlings.
But what about larger plants, how do I prune them? I prune mine with hedge shears!!! I just have at it and trim them like I would a Taxus or a Juniper, and guess what? The result is a very tight compact plant loaded with beautiful flowers. My Rhododendrons are so tightly branched that you can not see through them, and that is the result of vigorous pruning with hedge shears. Sure you can use hand shears, and you’ll have a nicer plant because of it, but I just use the hedge shears because that’s the tool that I happen to have in my hand as I am going by.
Keeping Rhododendrons and Azaleas healthy and happy is a simple as understanding what they like. First of all they like to grow in a climate that suites their tastes. Many varieties of both don’t like it in the north, and to prove the point they will up and die as soon as extreme cold weather hits. Buy plants that are known to be hardy in your area.
Here in zone 5 (northern Ohio) the following Azaleas seem to do well. Hino Crimson (red), Stewartstonia (red), Herbert (lavender), Cascade (white), Delaware Valley (white), and Rosebud (pink). Hardy Rhododendrons include Roseum Elegans (pinkish lavender), English Roseum (pinkish lavender), Nova Zembla (red), Lee’s Dark Purple, Chinoides (white), and Cunningham’s (white).
How should you fertilize Rhododendrons and Azaleas? These broad leaf evergreens are laid back and like to take it slow and easy. Do not fertilize them with quick release nitrogen fertilizers, it could kill them. Instead give them an organic snack, like Millorganite or well rotted cow manure or compost. Millorganite is an organic fertilizer made of granulated sewage sludge.
No it doesn’t smell any worse than other fertilizers, and plants like it because it is plant and soil friendly. It won’t burn the plants, and it actually reactivates the micro-organisms in the soil. That’s a good thing. Most full service garden centers carry Milorganite.
A long time ago somebody let the word out that Rhododendrons are acid loving plants, and people are always asking me if I think their struggling Rhododendron needs more acid. The answer is no. Your struggling Rhododendron probably needs a great big gulp of oxygen around it’s root system.
Rhododendrons do not like wet feet. They don’t even like high humidity let alone wet soil around their roots. They like to be high and dry, and like an unobstructed flow of oxygen to their roots. You can accomplish this by planting them in a bed raised at least 10” with good rich topsoil. They will be smiling from branch to branch.
A few years back my friend Larry and I had several hundred small Rhododendrons that we were going to grow on to larger plants. We planted most of them in Larry’s backyard which is fairly good soil, but a little sticky. We didn’t have room for all of them so we planted the last 105 down the road from my house in a field we were renting. (Never heard of anybody renting a field? You should get out more.)
This location had absolutely no water for irrigating and the soil was very dry and rocky. Other plants at that location often struggled during the dog days of summer due to the lack of water, but those Rhododendrons were as happy as pigs in mud. They out grew the ones at Larry’s house by twice the rate and we sold them years earlier than the others.
My point? Rhododendrons don’t like wet feet. They do well in the shade, but contrary to popular belief they do even better in full sunlight.
Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his most
interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for his
excellent gardening newsletter, and grab a FREE copy of his
E-book, “Easy Plant Propagation”
