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Windows Enjoyment Of Small Bulbs

December 8th, 2009 Keith Markensen No comments

Spring flowering bulbs that are rather small and those that are unprotected by any kind of a husk or covering should be planted as soon as possible. This is particularly true of the winter aconite (Eranthis). Many of these dry out so quickly that if kept until late October or November they will be so shriveled that they do not give you the results the catalogs promised.

Some of the small ones that you will particularly enjoy are the many different kinds of crocus, both spring and fall blooming, grape hyacinths, snowdrops, glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa), species of wild tulips, guinea hen flowers (Fritillaria meleagris), bulbous irises such as reticulata and Danfordi and the various squills. Since many of these are early blooming and rather small, plant them where you can enjoy them from the windows of your home or see them as you go in and out of doors.

We get great enjoyment from the dozens of kinds of these little bulbs in the wall garden just back of our home. As they are a couple of feet above the ground we don’t have to get down on our knees to see and appreciate them.

News About Lilies

Have you kept up with the progress on lilies? It’s been tremendous. Some that you may have overlooked are the many varieties of current hybrids. These are in yellows, oranges and reds, some upright flowered, some with flowers facing sideways, some hanging down. They will grow from two to about three feet in height and will bloom in June. And a little later will come the modern forms of regal lilies called Olympic hybrids. They are larger flowered and more showy than the original regals. For July blooming try some of the many Aurelian hybrids. Some of them are similar to one of their parents – Henryi; others go over to the other parents – a white trumpet lily. And there is everything under the sun in between, they are tall, usually four to six feet in height, in yellows, oranges, and salmons, some curved petaled, some trumpets, some fragrant, some not fragrant. They are wonderful. And now there are hybrids of the regals that are yellow or pink. Just like lilies, philodendrons have also many varieties for example is the philodendron prince of orange.

Send away for the catalog or search online for one of the lily specialists and “blow yourself away.” Remember, lily bulbs are perishable; don’t put them away in the kitchen pantry and say “I will plant them next week.” If you can’t plant them today put them in damp peat moss in the refrigerator, and plant them just as soon as you possibly can.

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Homeowners Landscape Planning Failures

October 31st, 2009 Keith Markensen No comments

In order to plan your landscape accurately, you should have a drawing board, ruler, tape measure, paper, and patience.

A flowering shrub costs less than an evergreen, and in my opinion can achieve equally marvelous effects.

False Cost Estimates

Once you have studied the techniques of landscaping you will be able to guard against making false cost estimates. Here is a typical example of how many people go wrong: The novice would be “professional” home landscaper says to himself, “The distance across the front of my house is 40 feet – the ten plants to plant there cost me $75. Therefore, to go all around my property would cover 300 feet and this would cost approximately $550 plus dollars.” He shakes his head and resigns himself to a half-planted garden.

You will soon learn that such a method of estimating costs is inaccurate. In the first place you must try not to enclose the entire property; secondly, plants in the back yard will be given much more space in which to develop; finally, the plants in the back yard for the most part will be or should be deciduous.

Thus, a fine planting for your entire landscape even including a generous allotment of trees need not cost $550.

Installment Planting

If your budget cannot stand a large initial expense, there is no reason why you cannot spread costs over several years by installment planting, that is, setting only as many shrubs and plants as you can afford each year.

Because you will have made an overall plan, you need not worry that this gradual approach will result in a haphazard garden. As long as as you adhere to your sketches and plans you will eventually have a beautifully landscaped house and garden.

Be Original

Study of landscaping principles makes it easy to avoid imitation. You will arrive at your own firmly grounded convictions, and will be able to judge features common in your neighborhood on their merits, not on their popularity. Some you will like and incorporate into your garden. Others will seem pointless and you will ignore them without hesitation. You will, then, discover (a) that traditional methods are often obsolete, and (b) a different and less expensive garden will in the long run be better suited to your family’s needs.

Therefore, you should eliminate any ideas you have like planting croton red mammey and about how a garden should be designed. Then, as you go through the planning process, you will find that some of your ideas were good and should be included. Others will seem wrong; they will most often stem from what everybody else has in their garden like having croton red mammey. Forget these erroneous ideas; be original. Substitute new ideas you have gleaned from the reading, visiting other gardens – even public gardens and look at new commercial landscape projects. In a few years your house will be a stand-out in your neighborhood. In fact, you will soon realize, as I have many times seen, that your neighbors are beginning to copy you.

People do not copy failures, so you must be a success.

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