When you are shopping for fertilizer, the main thing to compare is the N-P-K ratings on the front of bag. The N, P, and K are all elemental symbols for the three primary nutrients: N for Nitrogen, P for Phosphorous, and K for Potassium. The numbers represent the total percent of the fertilizer’s weight in those available nutrients. For example, a balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer contains 10% Nitrogen, 10% Phosphorous, and 10% Potassium by weight. Fertilizers have different compositions based on what they are trying to achieve. For example, tomato food is usually 3-4-6 (3% Nitrogen, 4% Phosphorous, and 6% Potassium), while lawn fertilizer is 4-1-2 (4% Nitrogen, 1% Phosphorous, and 2% Potassium). To know whether your plants need more Nitrogen, more Phosphorous, or more Potassium, we have to understand a little about how plants feed.
Read MoreWe gardeners know how hard it can be to raise living things. It seems like some plants are just too fussy to live–you plant them at the right time of year, you do your research and carefully amend the soil, you water them religiously, you fertilize them at the appropriate time, and still they wilt and drop their pouty leaves to the ground. It’s enough to make you want to yank them out and toss throw them in the compost!
Well, being a mother must be like that, only approximately a million times more challenging and frustrating. Children are the fussiest perennials. Children grow and blossom year after year, but they also need their diapers changed. They also learn how to say ‘no’. They learn to walk around and get into trouble–they get in fights at school and run away from home.
The fact that you and I are still alive is purely because we had a mom that was always patient, that always took care of us, and that never gave up hope. So, here’s to those mothers that never stopped nurturing us, no matter how fussy we were!
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Comparison of Bareroot Hibiscus (left) and 1 Quart Monarda (right).
The dry, sparse appearance of bareroot perennials can be alarming to the novice gardener, but in reality ordering bare root is often the smarter choice. Foliage and blooms can be seductive, but the health and long-term potential of a plant truly lies in its roots. Bareroot plants have several advantages over plants in containers—bare roots are less expensive to ship, they are less likely to be harmed in the shipping process, their timing is easier to control, and they are field-grown for larger, healthier root systems. This is why Wayside Gardens has had great success with bare root plants, and you can too!
Shipping plants bare root makes more economic sense for several reasons. Container plants are costlier because the nursery has to supply a pot and soil as well as a large box and lots of inserts and packaging to protect the plant’s foliage. These larger, heavier boxes are significantly more expensive to ship.
Additionally, it is safer to ship plants in bareroot form because there is no risk in harming new growth, and therefore the plant actually has a better chance of making it safely into the customer’s garden.
And thanks to refrigerated storage, the timing of bareroot perennials can be precisely controlled. “(Bareroot perennials) are dormant,” explains JPPA Lead Horticulturist Benjamin Chester, “But as soon as they leave the refrigerated storage they’ll begin breaking dormancy.” And once the plant ‘wakes up’, it is ready to begin the growing season in earnest, which means it will quickly catch up to the level of container plants.
The most important benefit of bareroot perennials is that they can be field grown rather than confined to containers. The bareroot Cherry Cheesecake Hibiscus pictured here perfectly illustrates the difference between a field-grown perennial and a containerized one. Wayside Gardens used to offer this variety in a quart container, like the Monarda next to it. But the Hibiscus was simply too cramped in that space, so Wayside switched to growing it in the earth and selling it bare root. The result is a thick, fibrous mass of roots that used to fill up several cubic feet of soil and which, even in its bare, pruned form would be too large to fit back into the 1 Quart container. What a difference a little space makes! While small and slow-growing cultivars can start well in containers, large and vigorous cultivars like Cherry Cheesecake need more room to stretch out and develop a solid root system.
For more information on planting and caring for perennials, visit waysidegardens.com or contact us directly by calling our public relations department at 1-864-941-4521.
Happy gardening!
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Enter for your chance to win top cultivars!
It’s hard to believe I work for a company that is turning 94! Most of the time it doesn’t feel like it, but every now and then I come across an artifact that reminds me, like an ancient bulb catalog or an old plant culture library on Dewey-Decimal-style cards.
Well, to celebrate its grand old age, Wayside is doing a huge event featuring 7 giveaways as well as plenty of sales. So head over to the Giveaway Page to enter for your chance(s) to win some of Wayside’s finest plants and supplies! There will be something for everyone, from trees to perennials to planters!
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Gardeners have a love/hate relationship with winter. The cold is one of the biggest killers of plants, but at the same time many plants have a chilling requirement—having adapted to a cold climate, they now require a certain length of wintry conditions to allow them to undergo the mysterious process of vernalization.
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You’ve invested a lot of time, money, and energy in your garden, and the result is a gorgeous landscape you’re extremely proud of! Yet, you and your neighbors aren’t the only ones admiring your hard work; nighttime marauders are treating your prized plants like an all-you-can-eat buffet. Sound familiar? Time to flip the script on these devastating deer!
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