Sanhedrin Nursery – Garden Blog

• Fuchsias in hanging baskets make beautiful patio plants. They bloom all summer and attract hummingbirds to their pendulous blossoms.

• When you plant your tomatoes, put a handful of bone meal in the bottom of the hole to help prevent blossom end rot on the fruit later on.

• Spray roses every two weeks to keep them healthy and prevent leaf diseases. Neem oil is a safe alternative to chemicals.

• Flower seeds can be sown directly in the garden now. Cosmos, marigolds and zinnias will give you beautiful flowers all summer.

• Mulch blueberry plants with aged sawdust and feed with cottonseed meal or an acid fertilizer.

Spice up your Cooking with Flavorful Basils

Basil is an annual herb belonging to the mint family. It is enjoyed for its rich, spicy flavor and is easy to grow in any sunny spot. There are over 40 known varieties of basil though Sweet Basil is the most commonly known and grown.

Basil plants are small and bushy with attractive foliage that varies from light green to deep green to purple. It is very ornamental in the perennial bed or the vegetable garden, and there are many delightful flavors to choose from.

The sweet-scented basils include lemon, cinnamon, and licorice basil which are named for their fragrances. Lemon basil has an intense lemon fragrance and is ideal for tea and potpourri. It has a very strong lemon scent if touched, and regrows quickly when harvested.

Cinnamon basil comes from Mexico. It has a distinctive cinnamon taste and odor and can be used in sauces and salads. Licorice or anise basil was originally from Persia. It has a licorice scent, dark purple flowers and a purple tint to its leaves. Its branches can be half-dried and then woven into wreath shapes, then decorated with dried peppers and flowers.

Thai basil has a sweet and spicy flavor and aroma. With its reddish-purple stems and pinkish-violet flowers, it is very attractive in planters or in the garden. It is good in both Thai and Vietnamese cooking and is used in salads, soups and curries.

Spicy Globe basil makes a small, dense plant, about 8 inches tall, with tiny leaves that scent the garden day and night with their spicy fragrance. Use the leaves of this flavorful variety just as you would any other sweet basil.

Genovese basil, often sold as Sweet Basil, has extra-large leaves that are easy to harvest. It is one of the best basils to grow because it yields 7 to 8 cuttings and makes excellent Italian pesto.

Dark Opal or Purple basil has beautiful dark foliage that accents any herb bed and makes a lovely garnish. It is recommended for flavoring oils and vinegars. Purple basil combines beautifully in the garden with green and silver-leaved plants.

Holy or Sacred basil, know as Tulsi by Hindus, makes a delicious tea and is attributed with many healing properties. This clove-scented basil is used in Ayurvedic medicine and in salads, drinks, and tea.

Basil is very easy to grow from seed, either started indoors or broadcast outside in the garden after the danger of frost has passed. Basil is very tender and sensitive to frost injury. Fertilize basil sparingly as this decreases the fragrant oils. To encourage a bushy, healthy plant and to maximize production, prune basil every 2 to 3 weeks. Pinch off the flower buds as soon as they begin to emerge since the flavor in the leaves is reduced when the plants go to seed.

Enjoy fresh basil in your salads and pesto this summer, and be sure to dry some for use all winter.

• Mother’s Day is the perfect time to give a gift of a living plant. Rhododendrons, lilacs, hanging fuchsias and ivy geraniums are sure to please her.

• Plant an herb garden in a container near the kitchen door for convenient fresh spices like basil, oregano, parsley and thyme.

• Thin fruit trees now while fruits are still small. Thin apples to 6 inches apart and peaches to 4 inches apart. On Asian pears leave 1 fruit per spur.

• Dahlias, lilies and begonias come in a variety of colors. Plant the roots now for flowers this summer.

• Calibrachoa, or Million Bells, are a trailing, miniature petunia. Plant them in full sun for a profusion of 1” wide flowers from spring to frost.

Eddie’s White Wonder

It’s a wonder that more people don’t grow and enjoy ‘Eddie’s White Wonder’ Dogwood. It has been commercially propagated and available in the trade since 1955, ten years after it was discovered by Henry M. Eddie, a Vancouver, B.C. nurseryman.

The “white wonder” part of the name refers to the prolific, attractive white blossoms that the tree produces in spring. The big, beautiful white flowers grow to more than four inches in diameter. Composed of four to six large, rounded and overlapping bracts, these blooms create a striking display.

Its dark green foliage is handsome throughout the summer months, and in the fall, it turns a brilliant, rich red. Small red fruits decorate its branches in winter and attract robins, mockingbirds and cedar waxwings.

Dappled sunlight illuminates the showy blooms of ‘Eddie’s White Wonder’ dogwood. A hybrid of the Pacific Northwest native dogwood, Cornus nuttallii, and the Eastern dogwood, Cornus florida, it grows taller and has larger flowers than Cornus florida. It is also easier to grow, more resistant to anthracnose, and generally more adaptable than its other parent, Pacific Dogwood.

Upright and rather pyramidal in form, with slightly pendulous branches, ‘Eddie’s White Wonder’ grows to a height of about 25 feet with a spread of 15-20 feet. They grow naturally in partial shade, but will also grow in full sun with ample summer watering. Too much shade will cause them to produce fewer flowers.

They prefer well-drained, acid soils high in organic matter and like evenly moist soil conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. Be sure your site is well-drained even in the winter.

Dogwoods are low maintenance trees. They should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season’s flowers. Careful thinning will enhance the horizontal branching pattern but improper pruning can ruin the lovely layered effect. Remove crossing limbs when in flower and use the lovely cut branches for house decorations.

The flowering of ‘Eddie’s White Wonder’ is somewhat dependent upon the previous years summer weather. After a long hot summer, the spring flowering will be magnificent, so they generally bloom very well in our area.

‘Eddie’s White Wonder’ is a fine specimen tree planted in a prominent corner of the yard. It looks lovely planted with Lily-of-the-valley shrub, Pieris japonica, variegated holly bushes and evergreens. And you can surround it with lush, bold Hosta plants, which will form a ground cover and act as a living mulch.

Dogwoods have special interest every season of the year – in spring with beautiful flowers; in summer with attractive, healthy foliage; in fall with brilliant red berries and vivid autumn color; in winter with their picturesque horizontal branching pattern. Find a place for ‘Eddie’s White Wonder’ in your landscape.

• Plant the vegetable garden this month, but remember that late frosts can still nip tender young plants.

• Beautiful African Violets will decorate your indoor spaces with their masses of flowers in all shades of purple, blue and pink.

• Feed roses to encourage a beautiful display of color later this month. Treat plants to prevent insect and disease problems.

• Azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons provide lots of beautiful flowers for the shady spring garden. Choose now.

• Petunias can be planted now. Their bright flowers will bloom all summer in hot, sunny locations and they will take a light frost.

The Secret Life of Ladybugs

Ladybugs, also called lady beetles or ladybird beetles, are magnificent creatures. They are predators and are natural enemies of many insects, especially aphids and other sap feeders. A single lady beetle may eat as many as 5,000 aphids in its lifetime. In addition to aphids, ladybugs eat a variety of other insects and larvae including white flies, mealy bugs, spider mites, and other types of soft-bodied insects.

In California we are familiar with Convergent Lady Beetles. They are dome-shaped and have red wings with the usual 13 spots, or sometimes none. One or two generations occur each year before the adults go into hibernation, usually in mountain valleys far from food sources.

Adult females usually lay clusters of eggs on plants in the vicinity of aphid, scale, or mealybug colonies. Females may lay from 200 to more than 1,000 eggs over the summer. In two to five days, the eggs hatch and alligator-like larvae appear. They are spiny and black with bright orange spots on their backs and, although they look dangerous, they are quite harmless to humans. They are excellent predators and, while adult ladybugs tend to move on once pests get scarce, the larvae remain and search for more prey. They have a voracious appetite for aphids and feed for 3 to 4 weeks before they pupate and turn into young adult ladybugs.

You can purchase ladybugs from most nurseries in the spring and early summer. Before releasing them into your garden, here are a few tips to help ensure that the ladybugs stay where you want them:

1. Release ladybugs near infested plants after sun down or before sun up. They navigate by the sun and are most likely to stay put in the evenings and early mornings.

2. Water the area where you are going to release the ladybugs. They will appreciate the drink and the moisture on the leaves will help the ladybugs to “stick” on the plants. If released in a dry garden, the ladybugs will most likely fly off in search of a drink instead of sticking around to eat.

3. In warm weather, chill the ladybugs in the refrigerator before releasing them. This will not harm the ladybugs and they tend to crawl more in colder temperatures rather than fly away.

Do not release too many Ladybugs at one time. Try to keep a balance of pests and Ladybugs so that they have something to eat. Release a few at a time each night when leaves are young, tender and attractive to aphids.

Greenhouses often attract aphids and other pests due to warm humid conditions and abundant food. Releasing ladybugs into a greenhouse with screened doors and openings will keep them inside where you need them.

As winter approaches, lady beetles migrate to the Sierra Nevada Mountains where they congregate in large numbers before moving off to hibernate under nearby pine needles and leaf litter.

Throughout the world ladybugs are a symbol of good luck. And they will bring “good luck” to your garden by keeping it clean of undesirable pests.