The Weather

We’ve all seen it–one quick frost and all of your beautiful flowers and plants turn to green mush. Of course, the obvious answer is to bring them inside, but where do you put them? How much light do they need? How much water do they need? These things will all change when you move your plants to a different environment, and the shock of the change may be as damaging as the cold.

Here are a few ideas to help tender plants and gardeners survive the cold together:

1. First, make sure your plants are in loose, sandy soil or a potting mix, and your pot has holes in the bottom. If the moisture can’t drain off  your plant the roots will surely rot.
2. Next, Find a nice sunny spot in your home, preferably a south-facing window. Artificial light will work, but use florescent bulbs. The heat from incandescent bulbs will dry your plant out very quickly.
3. Make sure the temperature stays above 55 degrees Fahrenheit, anything lower than that and you might as well have left them to the elements. Also, don’t sit your container plants too close to cold windows.
4. Avoid drafty places near vents or frequently opened doors–your plants will dry out quickly. For most tender plants, the soil should be moist but not wet. Check your soil’s moisture daily.
5. If you have potted tuberous plants that grow from bulbs or rhizomes like caladiums, tulips or dahlias, you can store those pots inside in a dark cool place, like a closet or cabinet.

Happy Gardening!

Drought can be one of the most disappointing things to happen to a gardener. You work all year long, growing beautiful plants, and your yard looks exactly how you want it to look. All of it can be taken away in just a few dry weeks in August. There are a few things you can do to give your garden the best chance of pulling through.

1. When it starts to get dry cut back on the fertilizer or stop completely.
   Your plants do not need to be trying to grow right now, they need to be focusing on survival. Fertilizer stimulates growth and moisture intake.
2. Aerate your soil in the spring.
   This will allow roots to access moisture and nutrients more readily, giving your plants a big jump on the drier months to come.
3. Water longer but less frequently.
   Water deep into the soil, train your roots to grow down to where the soil holds moisture. Shallow root systems will dry out very quickly.
4. Water in the morning.
   Water your garden before 9 am, earlier if you can manage. Later in the day your moisture is more likely to evaporate before your plants have a chance to soak it up.

If you live in an area that is prone to dry weather take a look at Wayside Gardens’ diverse line of drought tolerant plants. You may also want to check your local nursery for native plants that are more adept in your climate.

The weather has been going a little crazy the last few years, and each year it seems that more and more of the country is affected by drought conditions.  It’s no surprise, then, that drought landscaping (sometimes called xeriscaping) is becoming a hot topic.  There are a lot of easy things you can do in your garden to conserve water.  A rain barrel under your house gutters is an obvious solution, and one that’s becoming more and more popular (I’ll be installing a 55-gallon barrel at my parents’ house tomorrow).  Putting down a thick layer of mulch can help a lot of plants to retain moisture.  Many landscapers are recommending less grass, most types of which require a tremendous amount of water.  In the place of grass natural areas and planting beds are taking over.

Possibly the best way to save water with little effort is by choosing your plants with water conservation in mind.  Many slower-growing perennials need much less water, and can give you just as much beauty.  There are also a huge variety of drought-tolerant plants available that, once established, will do wonderfully with almost no irrigation.

Of course, true xeriscaping requires a great deal more than just putting in some drought tolerant plants.  The most advanced xeriscaping efforts require rethinking the entire landscaping from the bottom up, using specialty grasses, carefully built gradients to channel water in the appropriate ways, and careful balancing of shade and sun.  You don’t, however, have to be an advanced xeriscaper to get real water-saving benefits from your garden this year.

It hasn’t felt much like Spring is coming around here lately, but this morning I noticed that my patch of daffodils next to my driveway is starting to come up.  That was very heartening for me.  Of course, I still have a lot to do in my garden before the weather starts to turn, but I can’t wait for the growing season to get rolling.  The worst part about a gardening hobby (addiction?) is not being able to do it part of the year.  Planning your upcoming plantings helps a great deal, and looking through garden pictures helps some with that seasonal impatience, I find.  Of course I’ve looked through most of my own garden pictures several times already this winter, and I’ve just about worn through my gardening catalogs and magazines.  I find myself searching online for pictures.  I love finding pics of gardens from other parts of the world, but one of my favorite online picture collections is from quite a bit closer to home.  It’s our Wayside Gardens Flickr collection, where several members of our team here at our Greenwood nursery post garden pictures that we’ve taken.  Some of these great pictures are from our gardens at home, but most of them are from our showcase garden, which is just about fifty feet from my office.  It’s open to the public, and during the spring and summer it’s one of the most spectacular gardens in the Southeast.  If you get a chance to visit us in Greenwood, South Carolina, we’d love to have you come stroll through our gardens and garden center.  Until then, cruise over to our little collection of garden photos at Flickr.