Sanhedrin Nursery – Garden Blog

• Crocus and daffodils announce the arrival of spring if you plant them now. Choose from a variety of colors and bi-colors available now.

• Enjoy birds in your garden by hanging bird feeders around the yard. You’ll see many different kinds as they migrate through this fall.

• Mulch asparagus beds with three inches of well-rotted manure.

• Japanese maples and snowball bushes are some of the most colorful shrubs in the fall. Plant them now and give them a head start on spring.

• Check houseplants for insects. Spray leaves with insecticidal soap and wipe them off to leave them clean and insect-free.

Protecting Plants from Freezing Weather

Plants vary in the amount of cold that they can take in the winter time. Where zinnias are completely killed by a frost, pansies thrive in the cold and will even bloom underneath the snow. Some evergreen shrubs, like jasmine vines, fuchsias, citrus and fragrant rhododendrons, are damaged by severe winter cold, but there are measures you can take to protect these plants.

Protecting plants from frost damage usually is accomplished by trapping the heat that is rising up from the ground with clear plastic or similar materials, by moving the plant to a sheltered location, or by spraying with an antitranspirant spray, such as ‘Cloud Cover’. Each measure gives a few degrees of protection, so try them all on tender plant you value.

Covering tender plants with plastic or ‘N-Sulate’ (a lightweight fabric) make a big difference. When covering with plastic, it is best to make a light frame and staple the plastic to it. If plastic touches the leaves, each point of contact will freeze. During the day, the covering must be opened, at least a slit, to prevent overheating. With just an hour of sun, temperatures under a closed cover can quickly rise to over 100 degrees!

For additional protection, add Christmas tree lights inside the cold frame. On extra cold nights, placing an aluminum space blanket over the plastic on the frame will significantly add to the frost protection. With the aluminized side placed down (towards the plants), a space blanket retains 99% of the heat.

‘N-Sulate’ is a floating row cover that traps heat and moisture underneath it. Temperatures beneath the fabric can be 6 to 8 degrees warmer than the outside temperature. It is light enough that you can simply drape it over the plant, and porous enough that you don’t need to remove it during the daytime. But it will need to be secured against winds.

‘Cloud Cover’ is a product made from an acrylic polymer. When sprayed on a plant, it forms a clear, colorless, flexible, glossy film that doesn’t interfere with the plant’s growth. ‘Cloud Cover’ forms a protective coating, holding in moisture on plant foliage and stems, substantially reducing water loss in winter when drying winds and frozen ground deprive plants of their natural moisture intake.

For winter kill protection, spray in late fall when the temperature is above 40 degrees. The spray will gradually break down in about four months under cold weather conditions.

Antitranspirants are also effective on cut Christmas trees, wreaths, and greens to retard needle drop by retaining moisture in the foliage.

Keeping plants well-watered is important in freezing weather. Container plants are especially vulnerable to the desiccating (drying out) effects of freezing temperatures.

Apply protection measures this month before the severe cold of winter arrives.

• Crocus and daffodils announce the arrival of spring if you plant them now. Choose from a variety of colors and bi-colors available now.

• Enjoy birds in your garden by hanging bird feeders around the yard. You’ll see many different kinds as they migrate through this fall.

• Mulch asparagus beds with three inches of well-rotted manure.

• Japanese maples and snowball bushes are some of the most colorful shrubs in the fall. Plant them now and give them a head start on spring.

• Check houseplants for insects. Spray leaves with insecticidal soap and wipe them off to leave them clean and insect-free.

Protecting Plants from Freezing Weather

Plants vary in the amount of cold that they can take in the winter time. Where zinnias are completely killed by a frost, pansies thrive in the cold and will even bloom underneath the snow. Some evergreen shrubs, like jasmine vines, fuchsias, citrus and fragrant rhododendrons, are damaged by severe winter cold, but there are measures you can take to protect these plants.

Protecting plants from frost damage usually is accomplished by trapping the heat that is rising up from the ground with clear plastic or similar materials, by moving the plant to a sheltered location, or by spraying with an antitranspirant spray, such as ‘Cloud Cover’. Each measure gives a few degrees of protection, so try them all on tender plant you value.

Covering tender plants with plastic or ‘N-Sulate’ (a lightweight fabric) make a big difference. When covering with plastic, it is best to make a light frame and staple the plastic to it. If plastic touches the leaves, each point of contact will freeze. During the day, the covering must be opened, at least a slit, to prevent overheating. With just an hour of sun, temperatures under a closed cover can quickly rise to over 100 degrees!

For additional protection, add Christmas tree lights inside the cold frame. On extra cold nights, placing an aluminum space blanket over the plastic on the frame will significantly add to the frost protection. With the aluminized side placed down (towards the plants), a space blanket retains 99% of the heat.

‘N-Sulate’ is a floating row cover that traps heat and moisture underneath it. Temperatures beneath the fabric can be 6 to 8 degrees warmer than the outside temperature. It is light enough that you can simply drape it over the plant, and porous enough that you don’t need to remove it during the daytime. But it will need to be secured against winds.

‘Cloud Cover’ is a product made from an acrylic polymer. When sprayed on a plant, it forms a clear, colorless, flexible, glossy film that doesn’t interfere with the plant’s growth. ‘Cloud Cover’ forms a protective coating, holding in moisture on plant foliage and stems, substantially reducing water loss in winter when drying winds and frozen ground deprive plants of their natural moisture intake.

For winter kill protection, spray in late fall when the temperature is above 40 degrees. The spray will gradually break down in about four months under cold weather conditions.

Antitranspirants are also effective on cut Christmas trees, wreaths, and greens to retard needle drop by retaining moisture in the foliage.

Keeping plants well-watered is important in freezing weather. Container plants are especially vulnerable to the desiccating (drying out) effects of freezing temperatures.

Apply protection measures this month before the severe cold of winter arrives.

• Bulbs, bulbs, bulbs! It’s time to plant tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocus and many other flower bulbs for beautiful blooms next spring.

• Choose shade trees for fall color now and plant them while the soil is still warm.

• Divide artichoke plants which have been in the ground for three or four years. Mulch established plants with steer manure.

• Plant cover crops in the garden where summer plants have finished. Fava beans and crimson clover will grow through the winter and improve your soil for spring planting.

• Seed slopes with annual ryegrass to prevent erosion and improve the soil for later plantings.

Enchanting Amaryllis

Amaryllis belladonna, known as Naked Ladies, are a wonderful fall flower that is truly easy to grow. A native of South Africa, it is well adapted to our dry summer, Mediterranean climate.

Each September the large flower bulbs send up one or two tall bare flower stems about two feet tall. Then each flower stem bursts into bloom with a cluster of large, bright pink, fragrant, trumpet-shaped flowers. Up to twelve flowers are produced from the flowering stem and they tend to face southward toward the sun. The bare stems with no leaves give rise to the common name, Naked Lady.

After flowering, the large strap-shaped leaves appear. The leaves remain green throughout the winter and die down in the summer when the bulb becomes dormant. After they are finished blooming is the time to plant them. Plant the large bulbs about twelve inches apart with just their necks showing and divide them in the fall when they get too crowded.

The bulbs are almost indestructible and multiply readily. In fact, about the only way to kill them is with kindness, by watering during the summer, applying fertilizer or burying them in mulch.

They grow in full sun or partial shade. They like well-drained soil and can take dry soil all summer. The deer generally leave them alone so you can plant them along driveways and in exposed areas. They can be used for naturalizing on a bank, along a fence line, or in a vacant corner.

There are other, similar bulbs that go by the common name of amaryllis. The so-called Christmas amaryllis actually belongs to the genus Hippeastrum. They bear giant red trumpet-shaped flowers at Christmas time, rather than in the summer.

Beautiful amaryllis hybrids come from Holland, and are available as named varieties in many separate colors. These hybrid strains have impressively large flowers, 8 to 9 inches across and 4 to 6 flowers to a stem, often with two stems growing from each bulb. The color range includes bright reds, salmon, soft pink, coral pink, white and red-and-white.

They are easily grown in 6-inch pots. Plant them so at least 2/3 of the bulb is above soil level. Keep the potted bulbs in a cool light place at about 50° until the roots are well developed. When leaves start to appear, move them into a warmer room. Bulbs bloom in about six weeks from planting.

The bulbs are tender and must be keep indoors or on a frost-free porch until summer. Then they should be brought back inside in late September when they go dormant.

Enjoy beautiful amaryllis in both fall and winter by planting them now, indoors and out.