Gardeners learn something new in every growing season.
In the last few months, readers of this column have shared what they have learned, what they want to know, and their creative ideas. It’s time to share them:
Morning glories
In a column earlier this year, I claimed I’d learned how to thwart the menace of morning glory – a rampant weed that can overwhelm a garden in just weeks. Two readers emailed to ask how that was done.
My overconfident answer: You have to be more relentless than the morning glories are -- and if your neighbors have them, you need to recruit the neighbors to the cause. I was sure I had won the battle.
The two most important things are, first, to never let them bloom and make seeds, and second, to try to trace their horizontal underground roots and dig them up. It's a great victory when you pull up a three- or four-foot run of roots – which you should never put in your compost.
Now my new neighbors have blown a big hole in that strategy by resisting my appeals to join in the control effort. They’re busy. So morning glories have overwhelmed their back yard, and are growing through the fence between us. Now I’m doomed to a weekly search-and-destroy border patrol mission. When I close my eyes at night, I have visions of those horizontal roots silently sneaking under the fence sending up vines that cover everything in my yard.
Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom from morning glory dominance.
Bee balm
A bee-loving reader wanted to know if bee balm (aka monarda) – a summer perennial – is invasive. It’s not. But there is a look-alike that is. Knapweeds (centaurea) have similar flowers. I’ve never seen knapweeds around here; they are mostly a problem east of the Cascades.
More bees, please
Another reader wanted to know which flowers are best for bees. Bee balm is certainly one of them. In general, bees seem to like the small, compound flowers of lavender, oregano, thyme, and similar herbs more than big showy flowers like zinnias. But bees are also abundant on my echinacea (aka purple cone flower). Bees are also enthusiastic visitors of catmint (nepeta) and perennial asters, which will start to bloom soon. Among shrubs they favor are spirea, (a common landscape plant in parking lots), beauty bush, and hibiscus (aka Rose of Sharon). And my whole garden has been getting a lot of bumblebee traffic this summer too, which is a welcome development.
California poppies
Yet another reader said he’d seen California poppies along the freeway, and wondered if he could grow them here. The answer is a resounding yes, and they are easy to find in most seed racks. I also let him know that if he planted them, soon his neighbors would be growing them too because they reseed far and wide.
Nursing plants back to health
One of my favorite reader responses came from a retired nurse who dug up many of the plants in her California garden and brought them along when she moved here a few years ago. She also likes to bargain hunt for bedraggled half-price plants, and maintains a Plant Intensive Care Unit where she nurses them back to health.
Plants in pots
And finally, here’s a smart idea from another favorite reader:
“I have a big English type garden, but I also have large pots scattered throughout, and several on my deck. One thing I learned early on was to first put the plants into a nursery type plastic container and then put that in the pot. That way it is easier to move them around , and I can change things up when I want to.”
Ah, the thrill of mail from gardeners! You all make me feel like part of a local garden community. Thank you.
Jill Severn writes from her home in Olympia, where she grows vegetables, flowers and a small flock of chickens. She loves conversation among gardeners. Start one by emailing her at jill@theJOLTnews.com
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