 *All articles are from the Down to Earth Garden Club monthly newsletter. Contact us for subscription information.
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Viola hiemalis Viola hiemalis, the ice pansy, is not to be confused with the many hybrids that are cold hardy. The true ice pansy is just a bit bigger than a viola and come in shades of blue, yellow, and white. The yellow and the white pansies are said to be the most fragrant; the blues and yellows are the most cold tolerant.
Just how hardy is this smaller breed of pansies? In trials these little beauties recovered from temperatures of 6 degrees F. They will continue to flower and bud if soil temperature remains at 45 degrees F. At lower temperatures they will cease to bloom. Growth and budding will resume as the soil temperature rises above 45 degrees. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 23 June 2007 )
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Aline received the Bluestone Perennials catalogue recently and recommends it highly. She found some small carnations in it that she had been searching for and has not been able to find elsewhere. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 23 June 2007 )
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We've all seen the expensive seed tapes and while they may seem a timesaving way to plant and to space your seeds evenly, they do have their draw backs. One is the price and the second is the limited varieties of seeds that are packaged this way. Here is a simple method of making your own. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 23 June 2007 )
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Exotic Perennials in Western PA |
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Those of you who have worked our annual booth at the Farmer's Market have heard it over and over; "Don't you have any unusual perennials?" Everyone wants the exotic perennial that none of his neighbors possess. Yet the very fact that these gardeners are interested in perennials seems to indicate that they are looking for a plant that will give them good and loyal service, coming back year after year. Not for them the showy annuals that will die at the first frost or the tender bulbs that have to be lifted with the coming of winter. Nope, they want the perennial that will be there in the spring and save them money and effort. None of them ever consider that the search for the unusual defeats the purpose of a perennial. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 24 June 2007 )
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The next time you are shopping for daylilies, if the plant is in flower, feel the petals. You may find that some of the flowers have much thicker petals. You will also note that some plants have flowers are larger and of a more vibrant color than other daylilies. The plants themselves will be more robust with bigger and thicker leaves. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 23 June 2007 )
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There are more than 2500 cultivars of hostas available to the gardener. They range from the tiny to the immense. The smallest I could find with a cursory search was ‘Illicit affair’ (described as a “tiny temptress”) that grows to a height of 3 inches with a spread of 10 inches. I think that the one Esther grows is smaller than this but we do not know what it is. Two of the biggest happen to be growing in my shade garden, Blue Mammoth which reaches 30 inches with a spread of 70 inches and ‘Sum and Substance’, which grows to 33 inches with a whopping spread of 80 inches. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 23 June 2007 )
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Paging through the heirloom vegetable catalogues, you might be surprised at the variety of vegetables that were available before hybrids became the vegetable gardener’s choice. I was certainly surprised to find that my “new” Purple Dragon carrot, with the bright orange interior and red/purple skins, and similar purples were available to the farmers of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran for thousands of years.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 08 August 2007 )
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