CORNELIUS NURSERIES
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April 15, 2008
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Cornelius Nurseries
2233 S. Voss Rd.
713-782-8640
1755 FM 1960 W
281-444-1210
1200 N. Dairy Ashford
281-493-0550
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Spring is Here?!
I've told myself that I was going to share this photo with you and I thought I'd lost the relevance until earlier this week when our brothers and sisters in North Texas had a return of Winter with an unexpected frost. And while there was no snow this year like last year's Easter gift, perhaps now would be a good time to remember that Texas is a wonderful place to live and that we can never predict what our weather may bring.
We should also mention that now with the Cornelius Garden Club, you can
receive an additional email newsletter that has coupons and additional
information, including occasional advance notice of upcoming events and
specials available only to Garden Club members. Click
here to sign up.
Now that we've designed our gardens, bought plants and planted them we should look at caring for them. Our choices for protecting our investments from predators grows more each year like the size of our flower beds. Here are some things that I've found helpful in my personal quest for gardening Safely.
Iron Phosphate - A chemical-sounding name to this product belies its actual safety and organic nature. This product is rather new in our defenses against those dreaded snails and slugs, and now there is a new product that will take care of not only these but Pillbugs. Now an enterprising company has added Spinosad, a byproduct of fermentation found in rum production. This product is both a contact and ingested poison and by adding it to iron phosphate makes products like Sluggo Plus effective against snails and slugs AND pillbugs.
Vinegar - The first time that I used Vinegar to control weeds I was frankly disappointed. I was used to the "totality of kill" of chemical herbicides on established weeds. But when used on tiny weed seedlings, Vinegar is very effective, and within only a couple of hours, too. But you must catch them while their root systems are small and the leaves are fresh and succulent. Otherwise you will get top-kill on larger plants and with re-spraying you can gain a better control.
Molasses - Excluding the Iron Phosphate, this list is sounding more and more like pancake batter, but I try to add Molasses to each new planting hole, our lawn and to flower beds. No joke, it smells great when it's freshly applied even though the fragrance dissipates quickly. I can share with confidence that ours is the first and greenest lawn earlier in the Spring than any of our neighbors. And our earthworms seem to love it.
Finally we are receiving the benefits of a breeding effort aimed at getting greater heat tolerance into Heuchera, also known as Coral Bells. This effort has combined the hardy genetics of Heuchera villosa which is native to Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee with some of the more colorful foliage types on the market. Now we have large-leaved, tall blooming varieties in a range of colors that are proving themselves much more happy in our warmer climates. 'Caramel' is one of the first on the market along with 'Pistache' and 'Bronze Wave', shown below left to right. For those of us who have tried and lost many other types, these come as that proverbial breath of Spring. Personally I've seen mine overwinter nicely and go through last Summer happily. While more heat-tolerant be sure to give them good drainage and shade and protect them from snails and slugs.
Each year the American Rose Society graces us with new winners and Rose growers around the world introduce their newest varieties. I can't speak for every new 2008 variety but these two seem to stand out - 'Dream Come True' and 'Burgundy Iceberg', shown below.
Reminiscent of 'Peace' this year's All-America Rose Selection is a dream come true for every gardener. A grandiflora, 'Dream Come True' produces long-stemmed beauties with a mild tea fragrance. And like its parent 'Iceberg', 'Burgundy Iceberg' performs in every garden with multiple clusters of deep, velvety purple (deeper in cooler weather) with a mild honey fragrance.
Enjoy your garden and let Cornelius help you be a Success in the Garden this year!
(back to top) Thanks for reading this edition of our Garden Notes.
Happy Gardening!
The PlantMaster
