Sanhedrin Nursery – Garden Blog

• Spring bulbs can still be planted now. They make lovely gifts for friends and relatives.

• Be sure to water outdoor container plants. This dry, freezing weather can damage them.

• Living Christmas trees make a fine tradition. Slow-growing Colorado spruce trees can be used for 3 to 5 years before they need to be planted. Water them every other day while indoors.

• Persimmons look beautiful hanging on the bare branches of trees. Consider planting one in your orchard.

• Fruit trees can be planted now from containers while the soil is easy to dig.

Under the Mistletoe

The tradition of hanging mistletoe in the house goes back to the times of the ancient Druids. It is supposed to possess mystical powers that bring good luck to the household and ward off evil spirits. It was also used as a sign of love and friendship in Norse mythology and that’s where the custom of kissing under mistletoe comes from.

The pretty mistletoe that brightens our Christmas season is not a garden plant but a parasite that grows on trees. It is generally found on deciduous trees, particularly oaks.

Mistletoe is a semi-parasitic plant that manufactures its own food through photosynthesis, but depends on its host plant for water and minerals. The mistletoe that infects oak trees is not terribly harmful to the trees. After all, a good parasite should never kill its host, because it would thereby kill itself.

The plant produces sticky white, pink or red berries that are sweet and attractive to birds. As they feed and digest the berries, the birds carry the mistletoe seeds from one tree to another. Sometimes the berries fall from higher to lower branches, making new plants where they land. The seeds germinate almost anywhere, but penetrate only young, thin bark.

Mistletoe cannot develop its own root system, so it produces haustoria instead. Haustoria are the modified roots of a parasitic plant that penetrate the tissues of the host and absorb nutrients and water. These find their way into the water system of the tree, and draw up water and minerals for its own growth.

Growth of mistletoe is slow at first, but in 6 to 8 years, a plant may be 3 feet across. Branches usually swell around the infected area, and growth is sometimes sparse beyond the mistletoe. Trees that are infested with mistletoe usually continue to survive for many years, but their overall growth and vigor may be reduced. However, if the mistletoe spreads to most of a tree’s branches, the tree will die.

Since the haustoria of mistletoe spread through the branch a foot or more from the point of attachment, control is usually done by pruning. Remove the infected limb where it meets a larger branch, otherwise the mistletoe will re-sprout.

You can also control mistletoe by cutting it off flush with the branch and wrapping the area with several layers of black plastic, taped firmly to the tree. Since the mistletoe needs light to grow, the new sprouts will be killed by the darkness under the plastic within a couple of years. This method, however, may give only temporary control.

Mistletoe is a poisonous plant. Eating any part of the plant can cause drowsiness, blurred vision, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, weakness and seizures. Despite its dangers, mistletoe has a history of medicinal use. The European varieties have been used for centuries in traditional medicine to treat seizures, headaches, infertility, hypertension and arthritis. In Europe today, it is used as a treatment for cancer.

Mistletoe has always been admired for its ability to stay green all winter. So we can enjoy it for holiday decorations and know that it gives the birds delicious berries to eat.

• Clean up the yard and compost dead plants. Replace them with pansies and primroses for winter bloom.

• Feed the birds this winter and enjoy the pleasure of their company. Bird feeders come in many styles and make wonderful gifts.

• Clean up rose bushes by removing spent flowers and raking up old leaves, but wait until February for heavy pruning.

• Don’t overwater your houseplants in the winter. Empty saucers after watering.

• Stop peach leaf curl by spraying now with copper to help prevent this disfiguring disease from attacking your trees next spring.

Winter Days in the Garden

We may not welcome winter with its short days and grey weather, but the plants in our gardens do. During the winter, most plants go dormant, take a rest from the continual production of new growth and store up food for the spring growth spurt.

Tulip, daffodil and crocus bulbs, which spent the summer resting, are busy putting out a whole new set of roots to anchor and feed themselves and preparing to bloom once again. Trees that have lost their leaves take their break now and brace themselves for the winter storms.

Evergreen trees and shrubs are still using water, especially when it’s windy. And their roots are still growing, even if the branches are not. Evergreens in containers need to be kept moist all through the winter. When the temperatures drop below freezing, they desiccate or dehydrate through their leaves and, if the soil is frozen, they can’t pull up water to replace what they’re losing. Keeping them moist at all times will help them withstand cold spells.

But winter is also a time for seeing the garden with new eyes, and for letting some of the more subtle plants shine. There are several winter-flowering scented shrubs that grow well here. Sarcococca is an evergreen shrub with shiny dark green leaves that blooms in mid-winter with tiny white flowers that give off a wonderful fragrance. Growing to 5 feet tall, they are attractive up against the house where you can situate them near an entryway so you can enjoy their sweet scent.

Daphnes of all kinds are deliciously fragrant. They need good drainage, but will take almost any exposure. Daphne odora ‘Marginata’ has attractive green leaves with white margins, and it looks pretty year-round. Blooming in February, it is a delight you won’t want to miss.

Camellias give us a lot of winter color, especially the winter-blooming Camellia sasanqua. Their single flowers are borne in great profusion for several weeks through the winter in colors from dark red through shades of pink to pure white. The flowers really stand out against the shiny dark green leaves of the plants.

Don’t overlook hollies for winter interest. Their beautiful leaves are attractive year-round and their bright red berries which adorn the plants also make wonderful indoor decorations. There are many different types of holly from low, round bushes to tall, full shrubs. Variegated leaves on some varieties are an added attraction.

The hardy, evergreen perennial Helleborus, known as Christmas rose, blooms through the winter months with nodding, cup-shaped flowers in white, pink or rosy-purple. Plant it in the shady, woodland garden.

Contrasting colors of foliage, even among the evergreens, add a lot of interest to the winter landscape. There are beautiful blue conifers, such as blue spruce or the exotic Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar, which are outstanding against a green background. Needled plants contrast nicely with broad-leafed evergreens, and a golden shrub like gold-edged Euonymus is beautiful in the winter sun.

There is always something wonderful and beautiful happening in the garden, even in wintertime.

• There’s still time to plant bulbs. Consider putting some in containers so you can enjoy the flowers on your patio or by the front door.

• Plant snapdragons, pansies and violas for color this fall, winter and next spring.

• Dress up your interior landscape with some new houseplants for the holidays ahead.

• Spray for peach leaf curl with copper spray. Peach and nectarine trees may suffer from this fungus disease without a protective spray.

• Tie red raspberry canes to wires; prune to 1 foot above the top wire or wrap the canes around the top wire.

Heavenly Hyacinths

The Hyacinth family is relatively small compared to other bulbs. Native to the Mediterranean region and South Africa, they were made famous by the Dutch in the 18th century. In fact, they became so popular that 2,000 kinds were said to be cultivated in Holland, the chief commercial producer, at that time.

The common, or Dutch, hyacinth has a single dense spike of star-shaped flowers ranging in color from pure white to yellow, salmon, pink, blue, purple, and near red. Colorful as its flowers may be, the true joy of the Dutch hyacinth lies in its delightful, pervading fragrance. Even a few bulbs suffice to instill the garden with a heady scent.

The peculiarities of the soil and climate of Holland are so favorable to the production of hyacinths that Dutch florists have made a specialty of growing them. Virtually all hyacinth bulbs available in this country are imported from Holland.

Plant bulbs 4 to 6 inches deep and 6 to 8 inches apart, in a sunny, well-drained area in beds and borders. They are especially appropriate for formal plantings. Plant a few near a doorway so the heady perfume can waft inside each time to door is opened.

For a more informal look, mix hyacinths of various colors with tulips, daffodils, pansies, primroses and other spring-blooming flowers. They make excellent cut flowers.

Few plants are better adapted than the hyacinth for forcing in pots. By starting them in early September, they can be forced into bloom as early as Christmas. To keep up a succession of bloom, others should be potted every few weeks through November.

When planting, the pot should be loosely filled with enough planting medium so the top of the bulbs will be even with the top of the pot. Place 1 hyacinth bulb in a 4-inch pot, 3 bulbs in a 6-inch pot, and as many as possible in larger pots. You can also grow them in hyacinth vases, special glass vases with a pinched neck and bulb-sized “cup” at the top.

Either way, you need to keep them in a cool, dark place (from 35° to 48°F) for 13 weeks to establish roots. Then bring them into the light and they will quickly send up a flower spike and bloom in 2 to 3 weeks. Hyacinths can be planted in the garden after they are finished blooming. Many of them will flower again after 1 to 2 years.

Planted in clumps of single colors or arranged in masses of contrasting colors, they add a bright and happy tone to the garden. Forced for indoor display, they fill the house with a heavenly fragrance.