Sanhedrin Nursery – Garden Blog

• There’s still time to plant spring-flowering bulbs, but don’t delay. Daffodils, tulips and hyacinths are still available.

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

• Plant Paperwhite narcissus in pots this weekend for holiday gifts.

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

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

Garden Ornaments

Decorative ornaments serve to personalize the garden, making it more than an attractive arrangement of trees and shrubs. Garden ornaments can be almost anything, from home-made sculptures of endless variety to sundials, wind chimes, statuary, fountains and gazing globes.

The gazing globe, one of the most romantic of garden ornaments, is back in style. Also called a reflecting orb or garden ball, they date back to at least the 16th century. They regained popularity early in this century and are now back again.

Gazing globes are available in a wide range of sizes and colors. They come in sizes from 4 to 12 inches in diameter and are made from hand-blown glass or stainless steel. The glass globes are silvered on the inside to create a mirror that reflects the expanse of flowers across the garden within the orb. “Glow in the Dark” globes are especially popular. Luminescent crystals emit a soothing green glow for hours after dusk!

Gazing globes are set on pedestals and used on lawns, in flower beds and woodlands, and around garden pools. Stands come in a variety of heights and styles to compliment the landscape. They are an outstanding feature in the garden. Photographers like to use gazing balls to enhance photographs.

Garden statuary covers the whole range from animals and dwarfs to Asian, classical and religious figures, large and small. They can serve as focal points or rest quietly among the plants to be discovered by keen observers.

Birdbaths and fountains also come in a wide variety of styles. To attract birds, they should be placed near large shrubs where the feathered fellows will feel safer with a nearby bush to dive into. Fountains and waterfalls can be the centerpiece of an area, with the sound of running water creating a relaxing atmosphere. Most fountains simply recirculate the water so you only need to fill them up when water evaporates.

All concrete basins should be covered with plastic in the winter here so that they do not hold water. When water freezes, it may cause the concrete to crack and leak.

Even bird feeders can make nice garden ornaments. Some feeders are decorative and cute while others are strictly functional. But the birds that come to them will add their lively decor to the yard as they flit about in the garden.

Garden stakes are increasingly popular. From dragonflies to suns and moons, these small ornaments add charm and interest to potted plants or garden beds.

Stepping stones and garden plaques can be displayed in the home or in the garden. They add a distinctive focal point to the outdoor living area.

Garden ornaments will extend your living area into the outdoors adding color, character and your personal touch to your home decor and interest to the garden throughout the year.

• King Alfred daffodils, those big, showy, golden, trumpet-flowered daffodils, can be planted now from bulbs for glorious spring flowers.

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

• Rake and destroy leaves from fruit trees that were diseased this year.

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

• Liquidambar and Chinese pistache trees can’t be beat for fall color. Choose them now while you can see their bright colors.

Landscaping with Bulbs

One of the things gardeners look forward to in the fall is planting bulbs that will bloom in the spring. It is a simple job that brings big results, but it should be done by the end of November.

Spring bulbs, with their great variety of color, flowering time, plant height and shape are an important addition to any landscape or garden. Since bulbs give us our first spots of color after a long winter, they are always welcome sign of spring. In addition, they need no watering except the winter rains.Ӭ

Bulbs always look nice planted in front of a section of evergreen shrubs. Many houses have plants up against the house which make a nice backdrop for groupings of bulbs. A border of bulbs planted along the edge of the lawn will add a splash of color to the lawn area. Ӭ

Spring bulbs can also be planted under deciduous trees. The bulbs will bloom before the trees leaf out, giving them plenty of light to make strong stems. Some bulbs that perform well under trees and shrubs are grape hyacinths, crocus, snowflakes and daffodils. Ӭ

In a perennial bed or border, spring bulbs will bloom during March, April and May before most perennials start to flower. Locate the bulbs in the planting bed so that the dying foliage will not be noticed. Spring bulbs used in the perennial border can be left in the ground the year round or they can be removed and replaced by other plants after flowering is complete.

”¨ Some bulbs can be planted with low growing ground covers like ajuga, violets, creeping thyme or low-growing sedum. Choose bulbs that are at least twice as tall as the ground cover.  Small bulbs like crocus can also be planted in a lawn. They will be finished blooming by the time you get out to mow the grass and they look very cute popping up out of the lawn. ”¨

Spring bulbs will bloom between early February and mid-June. First to bloom are crocus, grape hyacinths and narcissus, followed by hyacinths, daffodils and tulips through April and May. The visual feast ends with Dutch iris and elegant Alliums. Ӭ

Planting bulbs of one variety or color in mass will have greater visual impact. Never plant bulbs in a single straight row or in a single circle around a tree or bush, except in very formal gardens. Bulbs look better and more natural when they are planted in masses. 

In small areas, bulbs of one color will make the planting space look larger. In large spaces, a planting of two or three colors can be effective. Plant each color together, don’t intermix them. The color of spring flowering bulbs is enhanced when interplanted with pansies or primroses or other early flowers. ”¨

Try some fun combinations like blue hyacinths or yellow tulips with miniature narcissus. Add some blue pansies for a living bouquet. Plant pink and red tulips together for a living Valentine. Or try a bold mixture of fragrant hyacinths that will light up the border next spring.

Enjoy painting your landscape with beautiful bulbs.

• Plant tulip, daffodil, hyacinth and narcissus bulbs now for beautiful blooms next spring, and let Mother Nature do the watering for you.

• Sasanqua camellias have lovely, delicate flowers that bloom through the winter months. Find a place for one of these hardy shrubs in the landscape.

• Plant Paperwhite Narcissus in pots now for fragrant Christmas gifts.

• Mulch established rhubarb plants with three inches of well-rotted manure.

• Clean up the garden by raking leaves and old flower blossoms out from under your shrubs. Roses and camellias especially appreciate this.

Gardening by the Moon

Planting by the moon is an idea as old as agriculture. Since ancient times, our ancestors have watched the phases of the moon and observed the behavior of seeds and young plants.

As they did so, they saw that seeds germinated more quickly when they were planted at certain times. They also saw that some seedlings grew more vigorously than others, and that some crops fared better when planted at certain times than at other times. Years of observation led them to the conclusion that the phases of the moon were responsible for these differences.

Indeed the moon’s position in the sky does appear to influence plant behavior, just as it affects the tides in the ocean. And for this reason many gardeners plant and garden “by the moon.”

Astrological gardening, as it is called, is an elaborate system involving both the phases of the moon and the signs of the zodiac. As the moon moves around the earth, it passes through each of the 12 constellations of the zodiac every month. “The moon is in Pisces” means that the moon is in the same part of the sky as the constellation Pisces. The moon moves into a new constellation every 2-3 days.

Every gardening task has its optimum time from planting seeds to harvesting crops and killing weeds. For best results, planting, and other garden jobs, should be done when the moon is in the right phase and also in the right constellation for that activity.

The best time for planting above ground crops, like broccoli, cabbage, lettuce and spinach, is between the new (dark) moon and the first quarter. The most fertile signs of the zodiac are Cancer, Scorpio, Taurus, Libra or Pisces. So planting these crops will be most successful when the moon is in this phase and in one of these zodiac signs.

Between the first quarter and the full moon, plants with a fruit or pod, like beans, squash and tomatoes, do best. Flower seeds also germinate best at this time, especially in the sign of Libra.

The week following the full moon is a good time to plant bulbs and root crops along with perennials and grape vines. This is also a good time for transplanting, since active root growth is strong. It is also the best time for pruning, especially under the sign of Scorpio.

Between the last quarter and the new moon, activities like weeding, cultivating and pest control can be done during a barren sign like Leo, Virgo, Aquarius and Gemini. It is also a good time for harvesting.

If all this sounds too complicated, that’s because it is a very complex system that has taken hundreds of years to work out. Fortunately though, others have done the work of sorting this out and have put it together in a calendar called Gardening by the Moon 2016, available at the nursery. It gives you day-by-day suggestions for all your gardening activities based on the cycles of the moon to keep you on track with your gardening jobs.

Get ready for a great gardening year by taking advantage of the secrets of gardening by the moon.