SHOW ARCHIVE

Episode 228 • November 12, 2011

VIDEO ARCHIVE

It is hard to believe that we are just a couple of short weeks away from the end of the current season of Garden Time. The fall is a weird time for us. We are excited for the change of the seasons and the upcoming holidays, but it is also the time that we start to wrap up the end of the show for another season. But we still have a few more tips for your garden before we take our annual break.

This week we featured...

Indoor Color Plants

Indoor Color Plants

The cold days of winter doesn’t mean that we have to do without plants with great color. There are a lot of indoor plants that are great for this time of year and will give you great color and texture for years and years. Cornell Farm (503-292-9895) has a huge selection of indoor plants and Deby showed Judy just a few to think about. For plants we started with an old favorite… orchids. There are lots to different ones to choose from and their blooms will last for a long time. Deby has had one in bloom for over 5 months. If you are looking for a little foliage color she had a lemon cypress which will stay small in a pot. This one also has the benefit of giving off a slight citrus smell when you touch the foliage. Next we looked at the Kalanchoes. These are a type of succulent and they are covered in blooms right now. These were ‘double’ Kalanchoes which have more blooms than the original species. You can get more blooms if you cut off the flower stalks when they are done blooming. African violets were next on Deby’s list and they come in a bunch of different colors. They are great in low light conditions and are drought tolerant so don’t over water them. The polka-dot plant is another great indoor plant. These small plants have great foliage color in either deep red or a cream color trimmed in green. These are great accent plants for other arraignments on your holiday table too. A holiday favorite for a lot of homes is the paperwhite bulb. These are a relative of the daffodil/narcissus and will grow in a small pot or even just touching water. These are great bulbs for the kids. They can plant them and in a couple of weeks be enjoying the flowers. The one drawback… some people find the fragrance a little overpowering. The next plant we checked out was the cyclamen. These are traditional plants for the cooler weather and if you have a hardy version in your garden, you might be seeing them start to flower again. If they are in a cool area they will stay in bloom for a long time. The larger blooms are on a plant called the ‘florist cyclamen’. We then moved to the bromeliads. There were a couple that Deby had pulled out to show us, but there are a large number that are available on the market. We saw a large one which had a red center stalk and a smaller ‘starfish’ type. These will give you great foliage color for months. On a side note, did you know that pineapples are a type of bromeliad? The final plant we looked at was another Kalanchoe. This one was called ‘teddy bear’ and it had the softest foliage! You just can’t help petting it! Other ways of bringing color indoors are with wreaths. Deby had one made out of rose hips and another made out of twigs that were covered with ‘air plants’. The air plants are actual plants that just need a little mist of water every few weeks to keep growing. As you can see there are lots of choices for indoor color. To see other selections stop by Cornell Farm or any of your other local independent garden centers.

Rose Hips and Fall Tips

Rose Hips and Fall Tips

Even though your rose blooms are starting to fade, you can still enjoy fall color by harvesting your rose hips. Cheryl of Heirloom Roses (503-538-1576) showed us a huge selection of rose hips from the Heirloom gardens. Rose hips are the seed pods that form when the rose blooms have been fertilized. Not all roses form hips, but the ones that do can have many different shapes and sizes. We also learned that some rose hips are edible and loaded with vitamin C. Be careful not to just eat any rose hips, they should be from a rugosa rose that have not been sprayed. We also asked about any rose tips that we should be doing in our gardens right now. She recommended that you cut your plants down to waist high AFTER the first frost. You avoid making your cuts until then to prevent the plant from adding new growth. You also cut them back to avoid wind damage to the canes and to keep them from being blown over in the wind. It is also recommended that you remove the leaves and throw them away (don’t compost them) to prevent old diseased leaves from spreading any new infections next spring.

Fall Containers

Fall Containers

Nothing makes a better impression on your holiday guests than a beautiful entryway to your home! Laura Nash from Farmington Gardens (503-649-4568) designs some of the best decorative pots and containers in the area and is a certified nursery professional. Laura uses some great combinations of plants in her designs and some even include bulbs to carry the color into spring. We also talked to her about different structure plants in her containers. She planted a container for us using a dwarf conifer at the anchor point, but she also said that people tend to over look some of the other flowering shrubs and conifers that you can use in your planters. She really liked some of the winter Andromedas and the Pernettya mucronata which has edible berries on it. Don’t forget to take some time to pick out a complimentary container for your plants as well. The pot can add a lot to your choice of plants and even be used to compliment the color of your home. If you would like more ideas, check out Farmington Garden or your local independent garden center.

Winterize Your Fountains

Winterize Your Fountains

Water in the garden is great, but once the weather turns to freezing it is time for you to look at protecting your investment in your fountain so you can enjoy it for many years to come. Wayne Elliott from Little Baja (503-432-8959) showed us how to protect and preserve your fountain. First you need to get out all of the water in your fountain. Wayne uses a shop vac and a small hand pump to make sure every drop is out. Any water left in the feature will freeze and then you will have permanent damage. He even plugged in the pump after he was finished to make sure that all the water was out of it. Next he scrubbed down the fountain to make sure that all the algae was gone. He used a natural, non-toxic cleaner to do the job. Once again he dried the fountain. Finally he covered the whole thing with a clear 4 mil plastic and tied it off at the bottom. The clear plastic allows the sun to warm the fountain and evaporate any remaining water. Wayne also poked a few holes in the plastic to let the evaporated water escape. Now if this seems like a huge task you can call Wayne and have the folks at Little Baja come out and do the job for you. They will even return in the spring and set it up for the summer of 2012.
 

 
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