Category Archives: Bulbs

Bees & Pollinators, Bulbs, Perennials

Perennial Plant of the Year 2018: Allium ‘Millenium’

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Adapted from perennialplant.org allium millenium

Allium ‘Millenium’ has numerous virtues to add to the landscape setting and will not disappoint.  It boasts low-maintenance,  dependability, and is not invasive.

Soil: Grows best in well-drained soils.

Uses: Full-sun gardens–where its sleek structure can complement many other growth habits. Cut flowers retain a blush of their summer color.

Unique Qualities: Allium ‘Millenium’ is a butterfly magnet. The plant is interesting through multiple seasons for both foliage and large, gorgeous blooms. Reseeding is much less a problem than in other alliums.

Maintenance: Allium ‘Millenium’ is subject to no serious insect or disease problems. Deer and rabbits usually avoid ‘Millenium’.  Alliums are bulbs that are available in stores for fall planting.

Growing best in full sun, each plant typically produces an upright foliage clump of grass-like, glossy deep green leaves reaching 10-15” tall in spring. In midsummer, two to three flower scapes rise above the foliage with each scape producing two or three showy two-inch spherical umbels of rose-purple florets that last as long as four weeks. Alliums are sometimes avoided due to their reseeding behavior. Fortunately, ‘Millenium’ exhibits 50% reduced seed production, raising less concern for self-sown seedlings.

Blooming at a time when most of our garden begins to decline in the tired excess of the season, ‘Millenium’ offers much needed color.  It is truly an all-season plant that offers attractive shiny foliage spring through summer and caps off the season with its crown of perfectly round rose-purple flower umbels.

Annuals, Bulbs, Compost, Fruits, Houseplants, Perennials, Shrubs & Trees, Soil, Vegetable Gardening

The Soil in Your Garden

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by Christine Freeburn – Master Gardener

For the plants in your garden to be the best they can be, you need to start with the best soil you can make. Enhancing your soil with compost and manure is the best way to do this.

Soil provides physical anchorage for plants

You need your soil to have enough texture to hold your plants without being so heavy that it strangles them.

You should know what your SOIL TEXTURE is.  To do this, you can try this simple test:

  • fill a quart jar one third full with a sample of your soil
  • dig down into the soil to get a sample
  • fill the jar with water, put the lid on tightly and shake well.

As the soil settles, you will be able to see different layers.  The bottom level is the sand portion.  Next will be silt. Silt has larger particles than sand, but smaller than clay.  Last will be clay.

The amount of each that you have in your soil will determine what type of soil you have….clay, sandy, silty or any combination of these. The best soil is sandy loam, which is about 60% sand and 40% clay.

This will also tell you how your soil deals with water….does it drain well or hold and stay wet longer.

You can amend your soil to improve the texture, but it is a constant challenge. Sometimes it is better to accept what type of soil you have and grow plants that prefer a sandy soil or a clay soil.

Soil supplies water and nutrients to plants

When you water, water the soil and roots of your plants, not the leaf portions. Water is absorbed through the roots and channels up into the leaves.

pH

Another thing you should know about your soil is it’s pH…is it acidic or alkaline. pH has a scale of 1 to 10, with acidic soil have a low number. Most plants like 6.0 to 7.5. This is where they can best absorb the nutrients in your soil. You might have heard that plants like rhodendrons prefer acidic soil, which would have a lower pH.

Knowing the nutrients in your soil is important also. You can send away to Guelph University to get your soil tested, however that can be expensive. You can use an inexpensive soil testing kit also. It will also test for pH.

There are 3 big nutrients and these are Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. You will be familiar with them as the three numbers on fertilizers. Many fertilizers are synthetic, however you can get organic types.

Nitrogen is for leaves and greening of your plants.NPK-01.png

  • fish emulsion
  • blood meal

Phosphorus is for bloom

  • bone meal

Potassium is for roots and overall health of plant

  • wood ash
  • composted seaweed

Other natural fertilizers

  • animal manures – make sure they are well composted or they will burn your plants or be full of weeds
  • manure tea – dilute manure in water, let sit for a week, then water plants
  • comfrey tea – another good nutritional source
  • epson salts – put a tsp in hole when planting

Know your soil, it’s texture, pH and nutritional content

Grow the plants that will thrive in those conditions or be prepared to make amendments

Soil is a living thing which needs to be enriched on a regular basis

Compost and Topdress

Annuals, Bulbs, Compost, Perennials, Soil

Planting a Flower Patio Container – Things to Consider

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by Pat Freistatter

Location of Container

  • Sunlight – how much sunlight will the container will receive – afternoon sun is hottest – choose plants for those light conditions

Viewing Container

  • larger leaves with coarse textures and tall spiky grass can be viewed from a distance and make a visual statement
  • fine textured plants invite you to look more closely at the detail
  • a taller pot may be needed if you want the flowers to be viewed from afar

Container Size and Material

  • Container needs to be big enough to hold enough soil for the growing season
  • Fiberglass or plastic pots do not dry out as fast as clay and other porous containers.
  • Three to seven 1 cm holes need to be drilled into the bottom of container for adequate drainage.

Soil Mixture Contents

  • Materials such coconut husk fiber and sphagnum peat moss help retain water
  • Black earth (humus), composted manure, perlite, lime, and fertilizer support plants throughout growing season.

Colours and size of plants

  • White flowers catch your eyes and help other darker colours jump out
  • A variety of leaf shapes and sizes increase drama and interest in your pot

Plant soil and moisture requirements

  • All plants in container need to have same moisture requirements – don’t mix plants that like dry conditions with those that prefer wet feet

Structure

  • Thriller – tall centre
  • Filler – plants around thriller
  • Spiller – plants that spill over the edge of the container

Note: if the back of your container will be up against a wall, then the taller plants should be at the back 

Container Maintenance

  • Check planter daily to ensure it doesn’t dry out
  • Fertilize container every couple of weeks with water-soluble fertilizer
  • Remove dead flowers to encourage re-blooming.
  • Empty and wash out containers at end of season
Bulbs, Garden Design, Links

After Bloom Care Of Spring Bulbs

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by Deb Gordon

Nothing signals the rebirth of a garden more to a gardener than the first splash of colour from spring bulbs. The fresh green colour of their leaves and their colourful palette of blooms are a welcomed sign of the departure of winter and the awakening of life in the garden with all the hope and expectations that they may bring. Be it tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, grape hyacinths or alliums these early bloomers all have one thing in common. They are all true bulbs and being so means their continued lives depend on letting them become dormant through the cold winter, allowing them to bloom in the spring and die back naturally in order to complete their life cycle. This ensures the bulb’s good health so it has the ability to endure freezing temperatures throughout the winter, produce optimum blooms for the gardener to enjoy the following spring and continue to do so for years to come.

The only drawback for growing these bulbs is waiting for the leaves to die back. Unfortunately it takes weeks for their leaves to wither and die. Especially with larger leaved bulbs like tulips and daffodils, the appearance of their dying foliage, long after the blooms drop or fade, can detract from the beauty of an early summer garden. Premature removal of the foliage is tempting in order to keep the garden neat and tidy however there are consequences to doing so. Take tulips for example. They grow and bloom using the food that they have stored in their bulbs from the previous year. Once this food is spent, the bloom drops and the foliage starts to die. During this post-bloom phase, the leaves, through photosynthesis, produce the food that is stored in the bulb to enable it to survive the winter and grow and bloom in the spring. Photosynthesis is a process where the energy in sunlight is harnessed and used to convert carbon, oxygen and water into sugars. Because leaves of all plants are the primary location for photosynthesis to occur, cutting off the leaves prematurely deprives the plant of the ability to restore the energy in the bulb for its future healthy growth and its production of those beautiful blooms.
So what are some of the options for a gardener to choose in order to keep a  more pristine-looking garden?
When blooms start to fade and petals drop, tidying up the garden at this time is easily accomplished by cutting off the stems of the flower. This will still allow the leaves to continue to absorb the sun’s rays. The time is right to remove the leaves once they have withered, turned brown and can be tugged gently away from the bulb. Wait another week or two if they are not separating from the bulb easily.
The following suggestions may help to avoid the distraction of the dying foliage.
  • Dig up the bulbs and replant new ones in the fall. This can be costly in time and money. This is done routinely in publicly sponsored gardens.
  • Transplant the tulips post-bloom to another bed to live out the foliages’ dying days then replant the bulbs in the fall. This requires an extra bed just for this purpose.
  • Choose a variety that have narrower leaves which might be less distracting.
  • Conceal the withering leaves.
Strategic planting of the right combination of perennials around your bulbs may be the answer to successfully camouflaging the unsightly foliage while still allowing them to complete the restoration of energy in the bulb undisturbed for next year’s growth. Annuals and summer blooming bulbs are also other options. When choosing perennials to use, consider the rate at which the plant matures. You want the bulb to be centre stage while it’s in full bloom, the perennial just starting to appear above ground and then mature as the tulip leaves start to yellow and wither.
Although the rate of maturity is important, also consider foliage type, colour, and bloom times when choosing these perennial plants.
Hostas, tall drooping grasses, and taller ground covers are examples of perennials that are idea lfor concealing a tulip’s dying foliage. Remember that placement is key. If you are planting bulbs in the fall around hostas, make sure you plant the bulb just inside the dripline of the hosta just under the leaves. Bulbs go in front of the drooping grasses.
There are combinations of perennials listed at Cornell University’s website.
Researchers at Cornell University actually tested and listed plant combinations to see which were successful at looking good and growing well together. They have great photos of these plants and bulbs at different stages of their growth.
Just remember to check the hardiness zone and growing conditions of some of the suggested plants (if choosing) to ensure they will grow in your zone and growing conditions. The research took place in Ithaca, New York with a USA hardiness zone of 5.
If you’ve been discouraged from growing or adding more spring blooming bulbs to your garden due to the lingering foliage that never seems to go away, these suggestions will hopefully encourage you to do so. The early visual impact is rewarding and will trigger feelings of hope and excitement of the wonderful things to come.