June Jobs for the Garden

Regarding that step about feeding your plants, below are the plant foods that I always keep in my wheelhouse.*

I use Plantone at my initial planting as a general fertilizer, Triple Phosphate on perennials dahlias once they really start to take off (it really does promote extra flowering in my experience), and Fish Oil is applied through watering 1x week on most annuals.

Triple Phosphate

Fish Oil

Plantone

Moody Flowering Planter Recipe

As much as I love colorful flowers, there’s something about one with a dark and moody edge that always draws me in. 

So when I found this beautiful Surfina variety called Heavenly Blackberries & Cream while browsing in Milmont Greenhouses (my favorite go to spot), I snatched it up and began searching for complimentary plants to create a sophisticated porch display.

Because Surfina is what I consider to be a “spiller,” (i.e. it will trail down the side of the pot), I knew I wanted to find a couple of taller plants for the middle of the pot, as well as a dramatically taller variety for a corner. I also wanted to find more spillers to make sure all sides had something spilling from it without it looking too uniform by getting all Surfina.

Here’s the plant list I came up with and how I chose it:

Ipomoea batatas, also known as Sweet Potato Vine, ‘Sweet Caroline Upside Black Coffee”

-this felt perfect as a complimentary spiller to the Surfine because it has a different texture and shape, but the tones were almost identical given that it has both green and dark maroon leaves

Coleus in ‘Wizard Mosaic’ and ‘Black Dragon’

-just as with the Sweet Potato Vine, these offered a nice mix of darks and greens, and their fluffy nature made it perfect for the back of the planter to add a soft wall for others to shine off of

Salvia in “Purple Volcano’ and ‘New Dimension Rose’

Salvias and have a nice fluffy leafed bottom that lovely spikes of flowers shoot out of all season long. The ‘Purple Volcano’ variety offers a beautiful dark foliage and deep purple flowers, whereas the ‘New Dimension Rose’ offers traditional green foliage with deep pink and purple spikes. The latter variety was a bit of a chance, given that sometimes pictures can be deceiving and the pink may be brighter than I want for the planter. The good news is that Salvias are perennials, so if I don’t like it in this planter, I can simply take it out and put it somewhere in the landscape to live and flourish for years to come.

Cordyline (Dracaena) Indivisa

This is what I call the thriller plant, aka something that stands out and makes you take notice. I like to off center taller flowers in arrangements and pots, so I naturally gravitated towards putting this in a corner. However, if I wanted more of a symmetrical look, I could have put this in the corner.

Nasturtium ‘Purple Emperor’

I was growing this from seed already, and it felt like the perfect ingredient to pop into the arrangement as another purple toned flower and spiller, given that it’s a longer/taller variety of nasturtium.

Here’s the final result! I can’t wait to see it really fill out and take shape this season.

May Flower Focus: Peonies

Peonies are an all time favorite flower: from their appearance to their scent to the fact that they are almost effortless to grow, what’s not to love?!

There are three types of peonies: tree peonies, herbaceous peonies, and itoh peonies (a hybrid of tree and herbaceous peonies).

The most common form of peony grown and found in nurseries and home gardens are the herbaceous peony. They get cut back every winter so you almost forget they were ever there. Then, in late March, you’ll begin to see tiny pink shoots appear above ground. These are the eyes of the tuber which the peony grows from, and year by year those eyes multiple. Meaning that every year your peony plant becomes larger!

Planting a peony is super easy because the tuber should be planted shallowly, only about 2 inches deep. That means that if you purchase a tuber, you barely have to dig a hole to place it into. Simply dig about 3 inches down and wide enough to fit the tuber (they come in many shapes and sizes, and some can be quite long).  Then, lay the tuber longways in the hole with the old stem stub facing up. If purchased from a nursery, you’ll want to remove the plant from the pot and place in a hole where the top of potted plant soil line is even with the ground.

The biggest thing to note about peonies is that they do require patience to enjoy. They may not flower the first year, will have a few flowers the second, and then it’s the third year where you should really enjoy a harvest.  The patience is definitely worth it, as they will continue to give you more and more blooms each year after that, and peony plants can last up to 100 years! One of my favorite peony gardens is owned by a 98 year old woman who has the most beautiful plants installed for her by her husband as an anniversary gift 70 some years ago (a thought for if you’re looking for a romantic yet practical gift for someone you love…)

When it comes to harvesting peonies, the best time to do so is when they’re at the marshmallow stage, meaning the bud is fully closed yet squishy like a marshmallow. Not only will that give you the longest vase life, but it will also keep the ants out of the flower. You’ll notice that peony buds are often covered in ants as soon as they appear. This is because the buds emit a sap that the ants love, and they’re doing no harm! Allow them to enjoy the sweet treat out in the field, but simply give the buds a little flick before bringing them indoors so as to avoid bringing the ants along with you.

Around September, you may find that the peony foliage has become brittle, at which point it’s okay to cut it back. Then, add a small layer of mulch for the tuber to rest underground for the fall/winter…and the following spring, the new plant will emerge and you’ll once again have magnificent blooms to enjoy indoors and out.

Circling back to the fact that peonies take a few years to mature, I thought it would be fun to share photos of a 6 month old peony field, planted last October and now enjoying its first spring.

Austen and Katie, friends and farm neighbors, asked me to design and guide the installation of a field that would bloom from early to mid spring with the best peony varieties around - and this field would serve as a focal point of their lovely. new AirBNB, The Peony Preserve and Cottage. Hundreds of peony roots were planted, and it’s been so exciting to see them all pop up this first year!

Because peony plants are so small the first year and won’t produce many blooms, we added in crimson clover between the rows to give the field a full appearance this first year. The clover will eventually be mowed back, and in the following years, the shrubs will become so full that you’ll barely notice the grass.

Take a peek at how the field looks today, and just imagine how insanely gorgeous this is going to be in just a couple of years! And be sure to click on the link to check out the lovely cottage that’s perfectly located to enjoy all Crozet and Charlottesville has to offer.

Click here to view The Peony Cottage on AirBNB

The sweeping hill of peonies at The Peony Cottage

Peony plant, year one

April Flower Focus: Ranunculus

Ranunculus: the gorgeous rose like flowers that appear in spring flower markets and are wildly coveted by floral designers and flower enthusiasts. 

But can you believe that those same gorgeous non-native varieties that most likely come to mind are in the same family as the native adorable little buttercups that pop up everywhere here in Virginia during the spring? 

It’s true! Ranunculus of all varieties are part of the buttercup family!

The fancy variety, Ranunculus Asiaticus, is a native of Asia, and is often referred to as the Persian Buttercup (pictured above).

Our native varieties, Ranunculus Acris or Ranunculus Balbosus (pictured below), are much shorter and unassuming, but fun fact: they work beautifully as a (short lived) cut flower for bud vases (and for checking to see if you love butter of course….or was that just my childhood?!)

In Victorian times, to give someone a ranunculus meant that you found them to be charming and/or attractive. That could mean in just a friendly way, but if you want to make sure the message is received that you are physically attracted to that charm, then be sure the ranunculus bouquet is red.

For flower growers who wish to include ranunculus in your gardens, please be advised that here in central Virginia, they only do well when planted in the fall and overwintered. That’s because they really hate heat and frost, so if you plant them after the last frost, unfortunately our short springs mean that they’ll start blooming just when the heat really begins…which will quickly make them start to wither away, even if you keep them watered. 

So, if you see a potted ranunculus plant at a big box store or nursery, please note that it’s best to keep it in a pot to be enjoyed for a few weeks. If you put it in your landscape, unfortunately it won’t be beautiful there for very long and most likely won’t come back the following year.

This month they’re readily available from local flower growers, and they do last forever in the vase (sometimes up to two weeks!), so I do hope you’re able to get your hands on some!

Planting dahlia tubers indoors

Dahlias are the most gorgeous flowers that really hit their stride in late summer, making them the queen of early autumn, when most other flowers are beginning to pitter out.

If you haven’t done so already, there’s still time to purchase tubers (the thing dahlias are most commonly grown from)! And if you ordered them over the winter, you should start receiving them in the mail right around now. However….

don’t be tempted to plant them outdoors just yet!

Here in central Virginia, the rule of thumb for planting dahlia tubers outdoors is to wait until the last frost - or, if you want to go old school, until the tops of the mountains are green. So that typically means the last week of April. Or, the first week of May if you want to be extra careful.

That’s because dahlias are fairly quick to sprout once planted out, and they’re also very sensitive to cold weather. So, if you were to get the early spring bug and put them outdoors too soon, it’s very possible that a random cold night could kill the baby sprout and leave you without a dahlia.

That being said, just because you can’t put them outdoors just yet doesn’t mean you can’t start them indoors! Tubers are no different than seeds in that way: giving them warmth and sunlight (window light or artificial grow lights) indoors is a great way to give them a head start, so you’ll have a baby plant to put outdoors when all risk of frost has passed, instead of putting the tuber directly into the ground and waiting for it grow there.

All you’ll need is a 1-2 gallon pot, potting mix, a little bit of grit to help with drainage (which dahlias appreciate), and the tuber!

In case you’ve never grown a dahlia before, below is a picture of a tuber. Sometimes you’ll receive only have one little potato looking thing (dahlia speciality shops such as Swan Dahlias and other small farms will most likely send them this way), and other times you’ll have many small potato like things all connected together (most likely found in garden shops). The tuber pictured below is one I received that had even more pieces than shown here, but many were dangling by a thread. So, I cut those off and only left the strongest ones.

If you look extra closely on the left side of the tuber, you’ll see two tiny white dots. Those are called eyes, and it’s what is proof that this tuber is viable and will grow into a baby plant (or two in this case, as there are two eyes). If I wanted to take the time to carefully cut those two tubers apart, I could separate them and plant in different pots (or holes outdoors). For the sake of time, I’m okay with just putting this size of tuber into the ground and receiving two plants in one spot.

Now, to start this tuber early indoors, you’ll simply fill the pot up with compost about 3/4 of the way up, place the tuber on top, and put only about 1-2 inches of compost on top. Dahlias like to be planted shallowly! If your tuber has the leftover stem from the previous plant still on it (like that one does above : it’s the upright piece), then it should be sticking out of the compost a bit, as pictured below.

If you’re putting your pots in an unheated greenhouse outdoors like I do, and slugs have the potential to show up (which they always seem to do when they sense dahlias are nearby), adding crushed seashells or grit at the top can deter them from getting to the baby sprout once it arrives.

One more important thing to note: though a little misting won’t hurt, it’s best to not fully water the tuber until you see a sprout appear. This helps avoid potential tuber rot, and I promise that the sun and warmth will trigger the growth! However, once your baby plant appears, keep the soil moist (but not too wet).

Then, when the last frost has come and gone, find a sunny, weed free spot in your garden to plant it out! Or, an extra large pot on a sunny patio can suffice for its home too. All you’ll need to do is carefully lift the tuber with the baby plant on it and shallowly plant it into its new home.

Hope that’s helpful! I’ll be sure to share more on caring for your dahlia in future posts this summer.

March Flower Focus: Anemones

Anemone

Spring blooming anemones (not be confused with late summer blooming anemones I’ll tell you about later) are one of the first flowers of spring here in Virginia, given that most flower farms plant the corms in fall and overwinter them in unheated tunnels.

The eye of the anemones is what make them a stand out, especially the varieties with dark centers that add a stunning level of dimension. They last for over a week in the vase, and they are easy to arrange with given their sturdy stems.

Fun fact and quick warning to keep you from panicking if you see this happen: anemones are nyctinastic, meaning the flowers close up at night and open again in the morning.  So though your flower arrangement may begin to look different at sunset, it will regain its full faced look by morning light.

Anemone symbolism: In Victorian times, anemones represented forsaken love. Today it seems that symbolism is based more around the color of the anemone.

Red represents the traditional Victorian symbolism, whereas white symbolizes purity/new beginnings, pink symbolizes platonic love/friendship, and purple symbolizes protection from evil. 

Speaking of the color purple, one of my favorite works from Henry Matisse is Purple Robe and Anemones, shown below. I always say that anemones will convince any muted tone lover such as myself to embrace bright colors, and this piece is a perfect example of that.

Favorite Flowering Shrubs

Abelia (Summer/Fall Bloomer)

Abelia is one of the most perfect flowering shrubs, as it checks off all the boxes one is most likely looking to find in a foundational shrub. It is deer resistant, drought + heat tolerant, semi evergreen, and later flowering - meaning that it will give you a beautiful display of blooms when most other flowering shrubs have finished their show.  It’s also a pollinator magnet: I find hummingbirds and hummingbird moths every day on my Abelias when they’re in bloom.

There are several Abelia varieties to choose from, and it’s important to note that they can vary greatly in heights. There are compact varieties, such as Abelia ‘Rose Creek’ and ‘Little Richard’, which grow to about 4’ high. These are perfect if you’re looking for shrubs to be placed near windows or in the middle of a wide border. There are also tall varieties that can be used to create privacy hedges or shrub borders. Abelia ‘Grandiflora’ is the perfect variety for that.

Mock Orange (Spring Bloomer)

Mock Orange (Philadelphus) is the most sweetly scented flowering shrub that is covered in rose like blooms during the early spring.  Though the flowering window is short, the shrub is a wonderful background plant during the whole season, as it’s covered in oval shaped rich green leaves.

Mock Orange is an easy and fairly fast grower, but please note that it has not proven to be deer resistant - at least at my farm. They are commonly nibbled upon and have had their flower show interrupted because of it. Thankfully this doesn’t seem to kill their spirit, as they continue to grow despite the many sporadic prunings. However, their maturity has definitely been stunted because of it.

The main species of Mock Orange (Philadelphus coronarius), one most commonly found in historic gardens, can reach up to 12’ tall at maturity, making it a beautiful hedge if you don’t mind it being bare during the winter months. There are other varieties that are more compact, such as Philadelphus coronarius ‘Aurea’ (5-6 feet tall) and Philadelphus virginalis ‘Snowbelle’.

Spicebush (Early Spring Bloomer)

A native alternative to Forsythia, Spicebush (Lindera binzoin) offers the same lovely yellow blooms in early spring and can be used as a cut flower in arrangements. Glossy berries follow the blooms, and the foliage turns to a beautiful shade of golden yellow in the fall. Spicebush is easy to grow and tolerant of many conditions, and it is deer resistant.

Just as with Forsythia bushes, these are deciduous and are not as dense in foliage as other shrubs. For that reason, I like to plant these alongside evergreens or fuller foliage shrubs such as Mock Orange. Spicebush shrubs grow 6-12 feet all, so they are best at the back of a border or planted within a tall hedge.

Ninebark (Spring/Summer Bloomer)

Ninebark (Physocarpus Opulifolius) is a native, easy to grow shrub that blooms late spring-early summer. Depending on the variety, its flowers are white or light pink, and it also has foliage options of yellow green or dark burgundy. 

Personally I love the dark foliage Ninebark plants (such as the Summer Wine varieties), as they make an incredible statement in the garden, adding a bit of moodiness and depth to a space. I’ve found the dark foliage varieties work best planted amongst neutral tones of whites and beige, or muted tones of yellows, purples, and pinks - though it could also be a nice backdrop for bright reds!  

Virginia Sweetspire (Late Spring/Early Summer Bloomer)

Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica) is a native deciduous shrub that becomes heavy with white flowers in spring and has foliage that becomes a beautiful purply red in autumn. The most commonly found variety of Sweetspire is ‘Henry Garnett’, a variety reaching about 6 feet tall at maturity. Sweetspire works well alongside evergreens and shrubs and perennials with more of an upright habitat to complement its somewhat floppy nature.  It also is beautiful planted en masse. Unlike the other shrubs listed, Sweetspire thrives in dappled sunlight as opposed to direct sun, so it is perfect to planted alongside trees.

*Please note that Itea does spread slowly through suckers to form dense colonies over time. These suckers are easy to pull up to contain its spread, but that does add a level of maintenance to consider if you’re hoping to have a uniform shrub look and/or you’re planting it amongst other shrubs and plants that you don’t wish to have choked out.

Bridal Wreath Spirea (Spring Bloomer)

Bridal Wreath Spirea is a mounding shrub with slim nodding limbs that are heavy with tiny white florets cascading down in mid spring. It grows about 6-8 feet tall at maturity and is easy to grow in full sun. Mature plants tend to be ignored by deer, but they may need protection in the first couple years after planting.

Bridal Wreath is the perfect name, as its long limbs bend easily to form wreaths or flower crowns. Petal confetti will be abundant as its flowering window closes, and the wind typically takes care of the piles that amass around it.