Easter Lilies

For many people, the beautiful trumpet-shaped white flowers of the Easter lily represent the spiritual essence of Easter. Over time, the flowers have come to symbolize purity, virtue, innocence, hope and life.  Throughout history, they have been mentioned--in mythology, literature, poetry and the world of art--with stories and images attesting to the beauty and majesty of their elegant white flowers.

The Easter lily is actually native to the southern islands of Japan, which was the primary producer of the plant until World War II. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Japanese source of bulbs was cut off abruptly. Now the majority of lily flower bulbs are grown along a few miles of the Pacific Coast at the Oregon and California border.

Easter lilies actually bloom naturally in the summer throughout most of the United States. They rise from earthy graves as scaly bulbs, and bloom into majestic flowers right before Easter with a little help from some “trickery” by greenhouse growers who use a balance of moist cold and sunlight to get the flowers to bloom in time for the holiday.

Two of the great charms of the Easter lily are its great trumpet-shaped form and its wonderful fragrance. Whether you plan to give the potted plants as a gift or use them to decorate your own home, the following tips will help make your Easter lilies keep on giving.

Select medium to compact plants that are well balanced and proportional in size--not too tall and not too short. The flowers should be in various stages of blooming with only a few blooms open and the rest still puffy buds or tightly closed.

As the flowers mature, remove the yellow anthers before the pollen starts to shed. This gives the flowers longer life and prevents the pollen from staining the white flowers. When a mature flower starts to wither after its prime, cut it off to make the plant more attractive while you still enjoy the fresher, newly opened blooms.

Easter lilies thrive near a window in bright, indirect natural daylight, but avoid glaring, direct sunlight. They prefer moderately moist, well-drained soil. If the pot is wrapped in decorative foil, be careful not to let the plant sit in trapped, standing water. After blooming, you can transplant your lily outside for many more years of lasting enjoyment. For great tips on planting outdoors, see below.

We have a great selection of Easter lilies and invite you to stop buy and pick some up today. Whether given as a gift or enjoyed in your own home, the Easter lily serves as a beautiful reminder that Easter is a time for rejoicing and celebrating.

For some tips on planting Easter lilies, click here.

Lawn (lon) noun. A usually closely mown plot or area planted with grass or similar plants. [variant of obsolete laund, from Middle English launde, lawnde, from Old French launde, heath]

Heath (heeth) noun. 1. Any of various usually low-growing shrubs of the genus Erica and related genera, native to the Old World, having small, evergreen leaves and small, urn-shaped pink or purplish flowers. 2. An extensive tract of open, uncultivated land covered with such shrubs or similar plants; a moor.

Moor (moor) noun. A broad tract of open land, often high but poorly drained, with patches of heath and peat bogs.

At what point of history did a lawn become defined solely as closely cropped green turf grass? Was it originally to walk on? Was it developed at the time we domesticated animals such as cows, horses, and sheep that fed on grasses? Was it for lawn bowling, golf, or cricket?

"True" grasses include not only what we now know as lawn grass, but also cereal grains, as well as those grains grown as ornamental garden grasses. Bamboo is also in this category. Over the years, the meaning of grass has expanded to include a wide range of plants with narrow to strap-like leaves. This group includes rushes, sedges, liriopes, flax (phormium) and cattails.

Today, we also have an even greater list of plants that can be used instead of a turf grass. We call them "lawn substitutes" when they are used in this fashion. All of these plants, as well as the grasses listed above, can be members of your gardens--functioning in a decorative way and complementing other plantings.

There are many reasons to consider alternative plants in place of a regularly mown lawn: too much shade, too little water, too much water, a preference for alternative ground covers, a preference for alternative grasses, and the need for regular mowing. There are many beautiful options available today. For example, a number of no-mow ornamental grasses can be used in hard-to-mow areas, or even in a large area, if you like a natural look.

There are many lawn substitutes to choose from, depending upon your needs and requirements. The choices increase if you have areas with very little foot traffic. Use substitutes in combination with each other by placing the most traffic-tolerant plants in the heaviest foot traffic areas. Add in some of the many ornamental grasses for a bit of height.

Many plants besides the usual lawn grasses will tolerate foot traffic. Varieties of cerastium, chamomile, leptinella, pratia, sagina, silene, and thyme are all examples of ground covers that take some foot traffic and would be beautiful lawn substitutes. Some of these flower; others release a wonderful fragrance with each step. Some, like thyme, do both.

Today, more and more people are bringing back a more natural look to their yards and gardens. Many areas of the country are working hard to maintain and reestablish the native plant habitats. You can join in this passionate evolution of gardens. Remember, until recent years, grass meant only a "lawn," green and mown. There are now many alternatives to that bowling lawn look. Enjoy seeking out and planting your new lawn substitutes.

Most gardeners love a colorful garden filled with blooming annuals, but many don't realize that a colorful garden can also smell good! In addition to filling your garden with wonderful scents to tickle your nose, fragrant annuals provide the added benefit of attracting hummingbirds, butterflies and other beneficial insects that help control bad bugs.

You can build a fragrance garden by creating a layered effect with shorter annuals in the front and gradually increasing the height to the back of the bed. If you are planting a garden island, start with the taller varieties in the center and lower the height of plantings as you work towards the outer edge.

For border plants on the outside, consider alyssum, dianthus, petunia, dwarf sweet peas and viola. Now add a layer of mid-size bloomers (1-2') such as cornflower, linaria, nasturtium, nicotiana, annual phlox, stock and wallflower. Next come the tall guys, like cleome, four o'clock, and tall sweet pea varieties. If you have room on a fence at the back of a bed, you can also plant the fragrant moonflower vine.

Shaded areas don't have to go neglected for fragrance either. Alyssum will still bloom well provided you have full morning sun, as will dianthus, linaria and viola. For shade gardens, nothing beats heliotrope, and some varieties of impatiens are moderately fragrant as well.

So remember, your flowerbeds can smell good as well as look good!

Do you have a large garden with two much open space? Tired of mowing all that lawn? Perhaps you want to add some personality to your garden? If so, a garden island might be just the solution your garden needs.

Designed and planted correctly, garden islands (whether mounded or not) can add a focal point that can be seen from all parts of the yard. The key is to use plants that will be in correct proportion to the overall size of the island. The other design aspect to keep in mind is that the entire island needs to flow away from the center (high to low) in all directions.

To mound or not to mound? Creating a mound will add contour and visual dimension to your garden but it also can create potential watering challenges to your garden. Plants on the top of the mound tend to dry out faster while plants along the bottom can become over-saturated from water draining off the top. If you go the mound route, a drip irrigation system is recommended.

Start by selecting a centerpiece that will be the focal point of your garden island. If you are working with a large area in a large garden this should be a small tree that is either contorted branching, multi-stemmed or fountainous branching in nature. A good choice for contortion would be a copper or tri-colored beech tree, or a blue Atlantic cedar. For multi-stemmed consider a crape myrtle, a flowering magnolia or an upright Japanese maple. If a fountainous centerpiece appeals to you, consider a weeping cherry, crabapple, beech, or a wisteria tree.

If you have a smaller mound or island area consider a smaller focal centerpiece such as a butterfly bush, breath of heaven, flax, dwarf Japanese maple, dwarf crape myrtle, lion's tail, fringe flower or a tall grass such as feather grass, fountain grass or maiden grass. On a larger island these same (second tier) plants will add structure and definition, flowing away from the centerpiece.

Now you need to add low-growing mounding "filler" plants that will add not only more contour but also color to the island. The key is to select plants that stay below 2 feet in height so they allow the taller plants to stand out. Leave some space between plants so your island doesn't become too crowded. Consider boronia, breath of heaven, dwarf cotoneaster, dwarf escallonia, dwarf heavenly bamboo, potentilla, rhaphiolepis, spirea, dwarf weigela or yaupon holly.

Finally, consider a few low perennials with spiking flowers for that extra splash of seasonal color. Good choices include agapanthus, daylily, heuchera, penstemon, salvia and veronica. Fill in any other open areas with tough ground cover perennials such as creeping phlox or thyme.

As you lay out your plants just keep in mind the need for balance on all sides of your island.

Over the past twenty years, commercial growers have produced tomato varieties that valued shelf-life and unblemished prettiness over taste — and the result has been an almost tasteless tomato at your local supermarket (the baskets might taste as good). Put taste back on top with heirloom varieties — some can even flourish on your patio in a 7-gallon-sized container!

Heirlooms vary in their production time, so you can sequence your varieties over the summer. A vine-ripened tomato salad can be yours for the picking! These tomatoes may not look as pretty as the ones in the local supermarket — but the taste more than makes up for it.

Planting and growing directions:

The one disadvantage to heirloom varieties is that they tend to be less disease-resistant than the hybrids. Choose the healthiest plants you can find, buy a few extras in case, and especially keep any cigarettes far away (if you smoke yourself, don't even think about tending them with a cigarette in your mouth — that's asking for mosaic virus, even with a resistant hybrid). If you've grown a few extra, and they all stay healthy, your non-gardening neighbors will probably be happy to take some of your great-tasting tomatoes off your hands.

Once you get your plants, if they are greenhouse-grown, harden them off for a week or so before transplanting (leave them outside for just a couple of hours the first day, then gradually increase the length of time, watering as needed). Before you transplant, amend your soil with a good planting mix, such as Gardner & Bloome Harvest (Bumpercrop)., If you are planting in pots, use a potting mix such as Dr. Earth Potting soil for Master Nursery Gold Medal Potting — don't use garden soil. Plant them in the evening or on a cloudy day, and they will be less likely to droop. To make for a stronger plant, bury tomato stems up to the plant's second true set of leaves (they'll develop roots all along the buried stem).

Stake or cage as needed (depending on the variety), water as necessary, and fertilize regularly with Dr. Earth Vegetable Food — and you'll have a tomato crop that can't be beat!

A note to those growing tomatoes in pots on a narrow patio: you can espalier tomatoes! They won't produce as well but if it's the only way you'll have the room to grow them at all, try it — half a crop is better than being stuck with the tasteless 'tomatoes' sold in the supermarkets.

Can I grow basil and other herbs from cuttings?

Answer:

You can take cuttings any time that the mother plants are still actively growing and healthy. Always use a shallow (less than 3 inches deep) container that is new or has been sterilized with 1 part bleach to nine parts water.

We recommend indoor greenhouse trays that come with clear plastic covers.

Use a mixture of peat moss and sand or a seed starting mix like Gardner & Bloome Seed Starting Mix. Wet your mixture completely with lukewarm water. Always keep your soil moist, not soggy, so the new plant roots have oxygen. Select new stems and prune no more than 3 inches. Strip the leaves off the bottom half of the cutting with your fingers. Make a final angled cut (at a former leaf node) so more of the stem will be exposed to root.

Use a pencil to make holes in the soil. Dip the cut end of your cutting into rooting hormone and place in the hole, firming the mix around your cutting. (There should be no leaves touching the mix.) Mist your cutting a few times daily to keep it moist and cover with plastic or a mini greenhouse cover to keep it humid.

Place your pots or trays in a warm location where soil temperatures can be maintained between 65 and 75 degrees. You can use a heating mat if needed, but check your soil moisture more often if one is used. When new growth resists when you gently tug on the plant, then it is ready for potting.