Pumonaria

Most gardeners first encounter Pulmonaria with the old standard 'Mrs. Moon'. This is a charming little plant with lance-shaped deep green leaves spotted with small white moons. The buds start out pink and open to an azure blue.A low growing perennial flower

Leaves: with oval, pointed leaves. Leaves can be solid green, of varying intensities or variegated with spots or splashes of white.

Flowers: The small funnel shaped flowers come in vivid clear shades of white, blue and pink. Many will change color, as they mature and are pollinated.

Pulmonaria are a natural for shady woodland gardens. The white flowered varieties really glow against the green foliage.

You can also plant them in a sunny border, among later maturing perennials, for a shot of spring color. Pulmonaria can handle full sun in the spring and the leaves of taller, summer perennials will provide shade for them, later in the season..

For a winning combination, they look especially beautiful planted with the delicate foliage and soft pink flowers of fringed leaf Dicentra.

Pulmonaria 'Excalibur' - A clump former with silver leaves and long lasting violet-blue flowers. Mildew resistant.

P. officinalis 'Sissinghurst White' - Long, speckled leaves with pale pink buds that open to pure white

P. 'Spilled Milk' - Has the familiar pink to blue flowers. Young leaves are tinged purple, changing to film of white as they age.

Pulmonaria is a large genus with some form that will grow almost everywhere. Their season is early spring, when most other plants are barely poking out of the ground. Breeders have had a good deal of fun with Pulmonaria in recent decades. They flower in wonderful brilliant blues, pinks and white. The leaves can be solid green, speckled or completely frosted white.

Pulmonaria is a low growing plant, although the flower stalks can reach a foot and a half. Bees love the blossoms. Most varieties will self seed as well as spread by rhizomes, so they make a nice choice as a ground cover.

Pulmonaria are basically a woodland plant and prefer either shady location or at least a moist one.

Maintenance: After flowering, the flower stalks turn brown and flop over. The initial leaves also begin looking tattered. A removing the entire flower stalk and the older leaves will encourage the plant to rejuvenate and look fresh again. More de-leafing may be necessary if the summer is hot or dry.

Because they grow in moist conditions and low to the ground, Pulmonaria can be prone to mildew and slug and snail damage.

Wash Tub Planter

 

Overwintering Geraniums

Reviving Dormant Geraniums - What Happens in the Spring? Soak Desiccated Geraniums to Wake Them.

Photo: © Marie Iannotti (2008) licensed to About.com, Inc.

It can take a few weeks for your geraniums to wake up in the spring. About 6 weeks before the last expected frost, bring your geraniums back into indirect light. If they’re bare root, pot them up. Bare root plants can also be soaked in water for several hours before potting to re-hydrate the roots.

Give the potted plants a thorough watering and a diluted dose of fertilizer (about half what the package recommends for houseplants) and then let them be as they come out of dormancy. You should start to see them becoming more green and growing new leaves. Don’t move them back outdoors until all danger of frost is past. Good luck!

Overwintering Tender Plants

Whether you set your house plants out last spring, for a summer vacation, or you got carried away with container gardening until pots competed with the cat for every sunny nook of patio space, the cool night temperatures mean it's time to think about bringing tender plants back indoors. Chances are you have even less sunny nooks inside, so you will have to decide what's worth keeping and how to care for them. Keep only healthy plants. If something has been struggling all summer under the best of conditions, it is not going to improve indoors. Never bring in a plant with pests or disease. Don't convince yourself that you'll quarantine the plant until it's been treated. Problems spread more quickly among indoor plants than in the garden. Give dibs to your favorite plants, the ones you've been coddling for years, like a bay tree, anything you've trained into a standard and sentimental favorites. If the plant would look good as a house plant, bring it in and use it as one. Many people have the light to successfully winter geraniums and begonias in full bloom. Some tender perennials like a period of dormancy in winter. You can winter over potted lavender and rosemary in your garage. If the temperature doesn't go below 20 degrees F. or above 40 degrees F. they won't freeze, but will stay dormant. Just don't let the pots dry out. If you have the room, consider bringing in some small pepper or tomato plants. These are actually tropical perennials and given enough light, will continue to produce fruits all winter. Tomatoes need a large pot. You'll have more success growing a compact, patio variety. Cherry tomatoes and small-fruited peppers like chilies or cherry varieties will fruit easiest and give you a higher yield. Be realistic about space and available light. You can always start cuttings. Cuttings take up much less space.

Give your outdoor plants time to acclimate to being house plants. Bring them indoors while the windows are still open. They'll adjust to the change in temperature and humidity more easily if the change is gradual, rather than waiting until a frost is expected and then bringing the plants into a dry, heated home.

Signs of Cabbage Worms

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Garden Magzines - Top Picks

Gardening magazines are monthly garden inspiration. They tell us about new plants, garden design ideas and gardening techniques. While gardening books are like old friends, garden magazines offer endless new gardening possibilities.

Here are my picks for the top gardening magazines.

This magazine is a wonderful mix of maticulously cared for private gardens and articles about what's new. My favorite feature is at the end of each garden profile, when the owners share their knowledge and tips. Whether you lust after the look of an English garden or just want to hear from some of the most entusiastic gardens out there, each issue is a treasure.

If you only read one gardening magazine, I recommend Fine Gardening. They just seem to know what's important at the moment. There are regional departments and the writers come from all over and all aspects of gardening.

Garden Gate has no advertisements, just lots of colorful pages of gardening how-to and tips. They have regular features like: Before & After, Design Challenge, Container Recipe and Weed Watch. Garden Gate always offers something new to learn, while providing plenty of eye candy.

Sunset is not exclusively a gardening magazine, but since they set the standard for western hardiness zones and have produced such a wonderful library of western gardening books, they are often the first source turned to by western gardeners. Non-westerners could learn a thing or two from Sunset about upcoming trends, too.

Most gardeners enjoy attracting birds to their gardens and Birds & Blooms combines the two interests into one magazine. Their are tips on plants for attracting particular birds, education for those of us who can't identify all the birds that come to our gardens, crafts and projects and lots and lots of photos.

Colorado Potato Beetle

The Colorado Potato Beetle (CPB), Leptinotarsa decemlineata, is native to North America. The CPB was originally a western pest, hence its name, but it moved east with potato crops. It feeds on the leaves of the potato plant and can completely defoliate an entire crop, if left uncontrolled. Although potatoes are its favorite food, it will also feed on eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, tabacco petunias and sometimes even cabbage.
It is the larva of the Colorado Potato Beetle that does the damage to vegetable plants. The larva feed on the leaves of host plants, weakening and eventually killing the plant, if not treated.

The adult CPB overwinters about a foot below the soil surface. The adults emerge in late spring, find a nice potato patch or garden, mate and lay their eggs on the undersides of leaves. In cold climates, there is only one Colorado potato beetle generation per year. In warmer areas there can be up to three generations. A single female beetle can lay up to 500 eggs.

The best control of Colorado Potato Beetle comes from keeping them out in the first place. Mulching with wheat or rye straw seems to hinder the beetle’s ability to find potato plantings and it has the added advantage of being an attraction for CPB predetors like lady beetles and green lacewings. Cover susceptible crops with a floating row cover in late spring will protect the plants from egg laying female CPB. If you have a small garden or crop, you can monitor the undersides of leaves and scrap off or squish CPB eggs when they first appear. Rotating your affected crops can help lessen the population of CPB, but it won’t get rid of them entirely.