SHOW ARCHIVE

Episode 193 • March 5, 2011

VIDEO ARCHIVE

Welcome back to a new season of Garden Time.  We are delighted to bring you a sixth season of Garden Time.  It seems like the hiatus between seasons grows longer each year, we always get so excited to return each spring!   We hope you enjoy the new look to the show.  During the off-season we have made some major changes.  The Garden Time Magazine now looks like a regular magazine; this on-line version even has pages that turn with a click of your mouse.  You will also notice that we are presenting the show in 16:9 High Definition (where available).  This should make the pictures sharper and clearer.  We hope you enjoy the changes.  Enjoy this first episode!

This week we featured...

Spring Rose Pruning

Spring Rose Pruning

If you follow the traditional rules, your roses should have been pruned a couple of weeks ago, but with roses you can break a few rules.  We went to the experts at Heirloom Roses (503-538-1576) to see how they tackle the chore of pruning.  Laurie Anderson was out in the fields pruning away some of the old winter canes and prepping the plants for a full season of bloom.  Roses are very forgiving, but we tend to treat them gingerly when it comes time to cut them back.  Laurie showed us how to cut them back and even how to remove some of the older canes to promote that new growth.  Of course now is also a good time to get new plants in the ground.  If you have any rose questions you can call Heirloom, or better yet, sign up for one of the Saturday Academies where you can learn in a ‘hands-on’ setting.

Spring Interest Plants

The spring garden is not a waste land!  There are lots of plants that are looking at their peak right now.  We stopped by Farmington Gardens (503-649-4568) to visit with Tony to see what he picked out as his favorites for this early part of the season.  The first one he brought to our attention was the viburnum ‘Spring Bouquet’.  This one is a great evergreen landscape shrub that gets 4-6 feet tall.  Right now it is just starting to show off with some clusters of small pink flower buds that will turn into white flowers later in the spring.  The Japanese Skimmia was next.  There are 2 different plants in this group, the male and the female.  They have different sized clusters of flowers and they will end up with ‘holly-like’ red berries later in the season.  It is also an evergreen shrub.  Pieris are great early season plants for our area.  There are tons of different varieties available and Tony pulled out a few of his favs to show us. The first one was ‘Valley Valentine’.  Long strings of deep pink blooms on a bush that can get up to 5 feet tall are the highlight of this plant.  The Pieris ‘Variegata’ has white flowers and green foliage that is rimmed in a light cream color.  Finally he showed us a shorter variety called ‘Prelude’ which will only reach 3 feet tall when fully grown.  The Pink Jasmine was next.  This plant can be a little touchy so he recommended that you keep it in a cool place on your porch and enjoy the early color and fragrance, then move it out into the landscape later in the season.  Another overlooked plant in the landscape is the heathers.  These small ground covers blend in to the landscape, but during certain parts of the season they can really show off.  The ‘Furzey’ heather has tons of pink blooms right now and when paired with the white flowers of the Heather ‘Silberschmelze’ they make a stunning contrast in the garden.  The final large specimen we saw was the Witch Hazel ‘Arnolds Promise’.  This large shrub is covered with ‘fine-textured’ feather like yellow blooms along its branches.  During the summer months it will have lush green leaves and during the fall it has spectacular fall color.  It makes a great plant for the back of a planting bed.  Tony also had mixed in a bunch of the better known plants of the spring as well.  Tulips, daffodils, Hellebores, hyacinths and even some early season ranunculus were great when mixed into these other perennial plants. 

It was great to see all these interesting plants for spring in the new covered greenhouse at Farmington.  If you were by the nursery in the fall you saw them building this new area and this week we were there to see them start moving in!  If you are in the area, be sure to stop by and help them celebrate the new addition to the nursery.  It is a fun area and makes shopping for plants a real treat!      

Hellebores

The Hellebore has been a mainstay of the early spring garden.  Many older gardeners have had this plant in the garden for the wonderful early spring color.  In the past few years new and old gardeners alike, have found some of the new varieties in the garden centers.  Growers are working hard to bring us some new and exciting variations.  The latest varieties come to us from Germany through Skagit Gardens in Washington State.  Skagit has been working with plant breeders in Europe and they are now introducing some cool new plants here in the states.  Debbie Hewlett from Skagit was in Portland recently for the Yard, Garden and Patio show at the Convention Center and she brought us some of the new varieties to showcase.  The first one was ‘Jacob’.  It is a mid winter variety that you can bring in for the holidays and then move out into your garden.  It has a white bloom that fades into a rose color.  It almost looks like 2 different flowers on the same plant.  ‘Josef Lemper’ is another early bloomer with white flowers, but these blooms fade into a vibrant shade of light green.  ‘Cinnamon Snow’ is next and it has more of a reddish-pink bloom fading into a cinnamon color.  One of the plants that starts to flower in mid-January is ‘Winter’s Bliss’.  It has white flowers that turn into an apple green with time.  Next, Judy held up ‘Pink Frost’.  This late winter bloomer has cream colored blooms that are rimmed in pink.  As this one ages, the flowers turn into a deep merlot color.  The final plant that we showcased is the ‘Moonlit Marble’ and it was just starting to bloom.  White blooms are accented with dark green leaves with some great veins in the leaves.  It also has dark red stems that look fantastic right now.  These newer varieties all have foliage that survive the winter pretty well without looking all chewed up.  The older varieties in most gardens have foliage that can be looking pretty tired right now.  If that is the case in your garden Debbie recommends that you cut off all the foliage and enjoy the flowers.  Don’t worry the new leaves will grow back on in just a few months!  These new Skagit plants are available at many of your local independent nurseries and garden centers.  Check them out and add them to your winter garden for next year!

Garden Gloves

Having the right tool for the job makes gardening easier.  That includes protecting your hands.  Judy and William showed us a wide range of gardening gloves available including ultra thin nitrile to heavy duty leather.  You’ll find gloves in all shapes, colors and sizes including ones designed for specific garden jobs like pruning your roses.  You may need more than one type of glove depending on the types of garden jobs you tackle.  Always look to replace your garden gloves at least once a year.

 

Raspberry Planting

Growing your own food has become the latest trend.  You can enjoy the plants and also a nice harvest of fruits and vegetables later in the season.  One of the most popular of the fruits is the Raspberry.  To get some tips on growing them we stopped by Tsugawa Nursery in Woodland, Washington.  Brian and his staff have set up a fruit and vegetable garden to show people how they can grow lots of fresh vegetables and fruit in a small area.  The raspberries were placed at the back of this garden and, as Brian showed us, they need a structure to grow on too.  Poles and wires allow you to keep the plants upright and allows for better fruit production.  The raspberry fruit grows on old wood.  These are the canes that have been established in the previous season of growth.  In fact when you get a new raspberry plant you can sometimes see the new canes just starting their growth from the base of the plant.  Don’t cut these off, or your will not be able to enjoy tasty berries later in the summer.  Brian also told us about the 2 types of raspberries, June bearing and Ever bearing.  June bearing will give you one large crop usually from mid June to mid July.  This type is great if you are looking for a large harvest to make jams and jellies.  The Ever bearing will produce a smaller crop, but it just keeps coming all season long, up until the first frost of fall. 

Some other secrets of success… plant more than a couple plants.  12-25 plants are perfect.  That many will assure you of enough fruit to make everyone happy!  Also remember to amend the soil so the plants have a good start.  Also you will want to plant the berries on a slightly mounded hill.  Raspberries don’t like to set in water and this ‘hill’ will allow the drainage they need to stay healthy and happy. 

If you are looking to get started Tsugawa’s has a complete kit that you can buy that includes posts, wire, plants, fertilizer, and just about anything else you need to be successful.  Stop by the nursery if you have any questions and then get out there and enjoy a full season of tasty berries!

Spring Bird Care

Spring Bird Care

With the coming of spring it also signals the return of birds to the garden.  You can make it easier for our feathered friends by equipping your garden with all the right materials they need.  We paid a visit to Backyard Bird Shop (503-635-2044) and met with Scott Lukens to see what he recommends for bird lovers.  The basics that they recommend addressing are food and shelter.  Food needs change depending on the type of bird you want to attract.  For example, you wouldn’t use a hummingbird feeder to attract a chickadee.  So know your bird and use a correct feed.  Most seed feeding birds like black oil sunflower seed.  Also, when choosing a feed, pick a quality one.  Backyard Bird Shop gets fresh deliveries of seed a couple times a week.  Shelter could be a bird house, or even planting the right plants in your garden that can protect them from the weather and predators.   Scott showed us a bird house that had a smaller hole for the birds to enter with no perch.  This is important.  A larger hole with a perch will attract non-native types of birds.  An inch and quarter is just the right size.  You will also want a way to clean it out after the nesting season is over. This will prevent diseases and contamination for the next brood.   You can also leave out nesting material and it will help them build a nice soft nest.  Finally, the hummingbirds are returning and you can welcome them back with a nice meal.  Set up your hummingbird feeders with some fresh nectar.  You can make it yourself with the recipe on the Backyard Bird Shop website.
 

 
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