1. If you are thinking of planting a hedge, make it useful not only as a boundary or barrier plant but for cut flowers or fruit. A hedge of Iceberg or Knockout roses will give you flowers on and off throughout the year. You can shear the plants occasionally to remove faded flowers but, other than that, just let them grow. Icebergs make excellent cut flowers too so you can use them for vase arrangements. If you are seeking a 15-20 foot tall hedge that produces fruit, select any semi-dwarf orange, mandarin, or grapefruit since that is their height at maturity.
2. You can still plant a number of flowering herbaceous perennials, meaning certain bulbs (lilies), tubers (dahlias, caladiums), and corms (gladiolus, ranunculus). Where ranunculus is concerned, soak the corms for three hours in lukewarm water prior to planting. The corms are susceptible to rot so don’t oversoak them and make sure they are planted in well-drained soil to prevent garden rot as well. Ranunculus flowers are reminiscent of tightly wound turbans or moderately-sized roses and are universally loved. You will not regret planting large clumps of them when they are in bloom and will wonder why you never planted them before. When planting your selected bulb, tuber, or corm, plant many together for maximum effect. A bonus of these plants that grow from underground storage tissue is that they make wonderful cut flowers. Their stems are invariably strong since, buried several inches underground, they must have the power to poke up through the earth.
3. Cut branches of ornamental flowering peach, plum, apricot, quince, saucer magnolia, or redbud, since they will adorn your home with vivid flowers even as spring is still, officially, more than a month away. You can plunge blooming branches directly into water or, to enjoy their bloom from start to finish, cut them when flower buds have yet to open. Place these branches in lukewarm water for eight hours and then in cool water. Keep in a cool room until flower buds open and then move them to wherever their presence is desired.
4. Consider bringing non-aggressive mason and leafcutter bees into your garden for pollinating purposes. Unlike European honeybees and bumble bees, mason bees and leafcutter bees do not congregate in colonies but live solitary lives. They are more efficient pollinators than other bees since pollen sticks to the large surface area of their fuzzy bellies, as opposed to being collected in the pollen baskets on the hind legs of honey bees and bumble bees. One mason bee can pollinate 20,000 flowers, work that would require the effort of 60 honeybees. Both mason and leafcutter bees build their nests in small hollow spaces such as those afforded by reeds. A major difference between mason and leafcutter bees is that mason bees use mud to separate the cells in which single eggs are laid within their nests, whereas leaf cutter bees separate their cells with leaf pieces. You may have seen evidence of leafcutter bees, especially among roses, when neat circular or oval cut-outs are observed on foliage. This is nothing to worry about; it is merely a sign that these efficient pollinators are in your garden. To encourage mason bees, you need to have some sticky clay around since that is the material they use — much like a mason’s cement — to separate cells in their nests and plug the holes at the end of the reeds. You can acquire five different solitary, non-aggressive California native bees and all the materials needed for them to nest in your garden — including clay for mason bees — at masonbeesforsale.com.
5. Whether by seed or from seedlings, you can plant artichoke, cilantro, peas, lettuce, parsley, beets, chard, kale, turnip, mustard, collards, green onions, asparagus, and spinach. Carrots, radishes and cole crops (cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli) do not transplant well, so it is best to sow their seeds directly in the garden bed. Plant potato pieces with sprouts coming from at least two eyes, garlic cloves, and sweet potato slips (shoots), generated by planting a sweet potato with its bottom portion in fast-draining soil or just by balancing a whole sweet potato in a glass of water with its bottom half submerged. Cut each shoot you see with a piece of the sweet potato attached, and plant in your garden. Sweet potatoes are extremely easy to grow and are widely considered to be the most nutritious of all vegetable crops.
Please send questions, comments, innovative gardening practices, or information about newly introduced or exotic plants to Joshua@perfectplants.com
