Eat Your Flowers!

Author Bio:

This post is contributed by Linda Bailey from housekeeping.org. She is a Texas-based writer who loves to write on the topics of housekeeping, green living, home décor, and more. She welcomes your comments which can be sent to b.lindahousekeeping @ gmail.com.

Beautiful Garden Plants That are Edible Too

Climbing Rose

We all love to make our yards beautiful but it is nice when we can make them functional too. While starting your own mini farm is not on many gardeners’ lists, you may be surprised by what plants you can eat that are attractive too. Here are a few examples:

Lotus flower forming the pod

Lotus pod

1.     Lotus– If you have a water garden or pond then you may have a few Lotus pods. Grown for their beautiful flowers these water loving plants can also be eaten. The nuts that are produced in large seed pods in fall and winter are great to eat raw or roasted. They can even be ground into flour. Tubers which grow at the ends of runners underwater can be harvested in late summer and fall and used much like a potato. The tubers are great candied with a little ginger. Be sure to remove the green centers of the nuts before eating as they have a bitter flavor. A Lotus can be differentiated from a Lilly Pad because the pad of a Lotus is round, without a cleft.

 

Cannas in the middle of the container

2.     Canna Lilly – Also known as Cannons, these tall flowers are prolific in many yards. With leaves like a banana tree and big, beautiful multicolored flowers many gardeners love this hardy plant. However you can also eat some parts of it. The young shoots are edible as well as the tuber-like roots. You can use the large leaves like you would banana leaves to wrap food to be cooked. The tubers have high starch content and make great flour. Cut them up into thin disks and let dry. Then crumble into a bowl of water. The starch will sink while the fiber floats. Discard the floating parts and let the starch dry completely before grinding into flour. 

Alyssum

 

3.     Alyssum– The delicate white flowers of this plant make it a common feature in spring landscaping as the heat tends to kill them off. Although it is also known as “Sweet Alyssum” it is actually related to the mustard family and has a similar taste. Both the flowers and the young, green seedpods are edible. They have a taste similar to horseradish and can favor dishes. The leaves are also edible and can be used like mustard greens.

 

Amaranth in front of Dahlias at Giverny

4.     Amaranth– The red variety of this large leaved plant is often used in garden decoration. They also have a spike of tiny, clustered flowers the same color as their leaves. Both the leaves and the flowers can be eaten. Young leaves make a great spinach substitute in salads and older leaves taste good cooked. The seeds of this plant have a nutty flavor when eaten raw or they can be roasted and then ground for a nutritious and delicious gluten free flour. The seeds of this plant contain the amino acid lysine which is very rare for plants but vital for human health. A single plant can produce as many as 100,000 seeds, and the red variety is just as productive as the green ones.

 

Red Rose climber on my pergola

5.     Rose  –We all knows what a rose looks like and smells like, but did you know you could eat parts of your rose plant as well? Rose hips and flowers can be eaten. Rose hips are the bulging areas that form below the flower. They have very high concentrations of vitamin C and can be made into jam, jelly or tea. Rose petals make a colorful addition to salads and can also make a wonderful light flavored jelly.

Rose Hips

 

6.     Redbud  – The last one on our list is actually a tree. The redbud tree is used as decoration in landscaping duet to the beautiful display of pink flowers in the spring. The flowers themselves are edible and have a sweet flavor. Opened flowers are sweeter than buds. The seed pods that form after the flowers fall are also great cooked up in stir fries and the like. However after a couple of weeks they become tough and unpalatable, so harvest early.

Redbud tree in full bloom on my property

 

Related articles

• 52 Wild Plants You Can Eat (wakingtimes.com)

Plants at Your Fingertips!

Planted table ready to go

Planted Furniture for the Patio

I went to a cocktail party at a plant lovers house, saw his planted table and was enthralled! I was sure that I could create one just as good, if not better.

I looked around for a table that I could buy and convert to a planted table, but it just wasn’t practical.

As I create drawings and plans of gardens for a living, I drew what I wanted to scale and took the drawing to a carpenter friend and explained what I was going to do. He made a beautiful table out of treated wood for me with very sturdy legs to carry the weight of soil and plants.  I told him that I needed at least 3 inches of soil in the top for root growth and he created the perfect table.  I stained it and made sure there were plenty of drainage holes in the bottom and set to work.

Drainage holes were drilled into the bottom

I lined the whole thing with landscape cloth and filled it with soil.

Lined with landscape cloth

After adding a good quality potting soil with plenty of vermiculite to lighten the load, I added fertilizer and leveled the mixture into the table top about an inch and a half below the top of the sides.

I let the soil settle over the course of a week and then started the fun part of planting.

Since the table was to be placed on a patio in partial shade, I selected shade plants with beautiful foliage and some seasonal pansies for lots of color.  The pansies can be rotated out later in the spring when the weather warms up.

Ferns, pansies, lamium, polka dot plants, mazus, and forget me nots were all planted

I placed flat stones to set drinks on and then covered all the soil with moss mounds from a local florist.

Moss and a glass ball adds the finishing touch

I have had it for 6 weeks now, and the plants are growing and filling in.  I keep it misted with water about every 3 to 4 days and the moss is holding up fine.

All grown in 6 weeks later

Mow Down those Knock Out Roses!

Knock Out Roses planted on a bank

I get a lot of questions about taking care of Knock Out Roses at this time of year with people unsure of what to do with those vigorous Knock Out Roses that they are sure will be engulfing their yards soon! You really need to hack them back to stubs and people are scared to do this. You cannot kill a Knock Out Rose! These shrubs are tough and can take lots of abuse.

The natural inclination of The Knock Out® Family of Roses is to grow to about 3′ wide x 4′ tall, but they are easily maintained at a smaller size through pruning, and that means severe pruning!. They are ideal for growing in mixed borders, in containers or as a hedge. A hedge of Knock Outs is beautiful! Think of using these instead of Forsythia for a colorful hedging plant that will give you months of blooms.

English: Rosa ‘Knockout’ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Just like other roses, The Knock Out® Family of Roses perform best when planted in full sun. The soil should be well drained and fertile. In partial shade, they will not bloom as profusely and can get leggy looking.

Plant the roses 4 feet apart to allow for room to grow and good air circulation.

To keep the flowers coming, feed your roses with a fertilizer blended especially for roses. This should be done after each bloom cycle. There is no need to remove faded flowers because these roses are self-cleaning – another task you can remove from your to do list!

Knock Outs planted alongside a house

Prune in late winter or early spring, while the plant is still dormant. Remove any dead or damaged wood, do a little shaping if necessary, and take out some of the interior stems to improve air circulation. Every 2 or 3 years remove about one-third of the old branches to stimulate new, fresh growth. If you are trying to keep the roses at a certain height, you can cut them back hard with hedge shears. No need to worry about the usual rose pruning rule of cutting back to an outward facing leaf bud – just lop them down to the desired size. I’ve even seen Knock Out® Roses spring back beautifully after being cut down to 6-inches.

Tiger rests in the knock-out roses (Photo credit: Vicki’s Nature)

Related articles

• Properly Pruning Roses in the Spring (gardening.answers.com)
• To prune or not to prune? (pressrepublican.com)
• How to plant and care for roses (blogs.vancouversun.com)

Little Cuties Are A Rainbow Of Colors

Sugar Berry Little Cutie Heuchera series- This one is my favorite

I post a lot about miniature gardens and accessories and am always looking for different plants to set these gardens off. I found a series of miniature plants that sport stunning color combos for 2013! They are called ‘Little Cutie’ Coral Bells. The colors are phenomenal, and they are spicing up containers for the spring. I got most of these pictures from Terra Nova Nursery in Oregon.

Peppermint Little Cutie Heuchera

I was plodding down the aisles of a local wholesale nursery laden precariously with flats of plants on each arm, and did an about-face when I came upon these beauties. The nursery was trialing them in small quantities before plunging into planting greater numbers, and I begged to take a few of them home. I knew exactly what to do with them. My favorite was one called ‘Sugar Berry’ which had a beautiful rose garnet coloring with venation that I am going to use in containers and miniature gardens.

Sweet Tart Little Cutie

According to the information that I can gather, they have:

• An ever blooming habit
• Long season of interest
• Vigorous with multiple crowns to fill a pot
• A great size for mixed containers
• Perfect for rock, train, and fairy gardens
• Attractive to butterflies and bees
• Suitable as house plants!!

From Terra Nova Nurseries, they have been hybridized by Dan Heims in Oregon.

Flat of Llittle Cutie Heucheras

There are 6 varieties of this series with a rainbow of names - Sugar Berry, Ginger Snap, Sweet Tart, Coco, Peppermint, and Frost. The flowers are actually very pretty also, which is unusual for a Heuchera (Coral Bells), and they claim to remain small in stature and evergreen. Playing well with others and not overtaking a container is another of their notable characteristics. Good drainage is the secret of success with Coral Bells and one reason that they do well in containers. Morning sun and afternoon shade is their preferred light requirement. As with any other Heuchera, as the plant grows, the crown elongates and rises up out of the soil. To remedy this, you can lift and divide the plant every few years, and make sure you don’t bury the crown.

Coco Little Cutie Heuchera

Little cuties in pots

I am trying a few of these in my containers and miniature gardens and hope that they perform as good as the reviews say. Sometimes plant introductions are too good to be true, and I am disappointed when they don’t pan out.  I will keep you posted!

Related articles

• ‘Diamonds’ for small spaces in the garden (dailyherald.com)

Help! What Can I Plant Besides Impatiens???? 10 Alternatives

Reblogged from The Garden Diaries:

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If you haven't heard by now, Impatiens, Impatien walleriana, are in trouble.  Lots of shade gardeners are bemoaning this right now, and wonder what should they plant instead!!?? I posted this a couple of weeks ago, but have updated it so when you go to the garden center this weekend, you are prepared.

Downy Mildew is the Culprit

First, a little background.

Read more… 863 more words

Containers With Pizazz ! Not Your Ordinary Container!

Same container grown in

Finesse With Containers

Anyone with a flower pot can put together a container in an afternoon with a trip to the local big box store or nursery. But here are a few pointers which help with the final result that will turn your finshed product from the pedestrian geranium with vinca vine to a showplace masterpiece with Wow factor.

Succulents in containers

More succulents – you rarely have to water these containers

Artful Containers

The best piece of advice that I picked up over the years was the secret to coordinating your colors in a container.  Choose a piece of fabric or piece of art that you really like and take it with you when you plant shop.  Of course, you can’t take a painting with you so grab refrigerator magnets with famous paintings on them from museums, or cut out paintings from magazines.  My most successful container was inspired from a Van Gogh magnet obtained from my many museum visits. Van Gogh’s iris painting has that intense blue which is hard to get with flowers – also orange, greens, a touch of white and yellow. If you like it in a painting, you will like it in a container!

Beautiful colors from Van Gogh painting

Vase with Red Gladioli, 1886, Private collection (F247) This painting represents some of Van Gogh’s early Paris still life, where he introduced brighter, contrasting color. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have plenty of room to plant in my beds but I really enjoy planting in containers because they become a piece of art in miniature. This is my opportunity to try new annuals that look good in the nursery  and go wild with the color combos. I also do it professionally for clients who don’t have the time or expertise to put it all together.

Musical Plants-Rearrange for the Season!

I rarely keep my flowers in the pot all season.  They just fizzle by the end of the summer and I get tired of them. Sometimes I have three seasons of containers -  a winter one with an evergreen and some pansies, then I move on to petunias, supertunias, cannas, lantanas -everything that likes heat, and finally to fall plants -  mums, asters, grasses, cabbages, and ferns. I mix and match perennials, shrubs and annuals to get the most versatility and longevity out of my pots.

Seasonal container

Large Containers Are Best

Choose a large enough container to avoid constantly watering it during our hot Maryland summers.  A pot with a circumference of at least 15 to 18 inches is enough to get you going with a selection of different types of plants, plus enough room for them to grow throughout the summer. I like the light faux pots that look like real pottery,  but will not crack and will retain water better than terra cotta ones. These faux pots will last for years and you can leave them out all winter, plus they are inexpensive and portable. There are even self-watering ones available which have a water reservoir built into the container.  Regardless of the type of container that you have, make sure there are drainage holes in the bottom.  If there aren’t any, drill some using a large bit on a portable drill.

Attractive composite containers planted with shrubs and flowers

A great little trailer- Silver Fall

Good Soil – Good Plants

The soil that you use should be an organic mix of compost, spaghnum moss, and perlite. There are a lot of commercial potting mixes on the market so be sure to choose one that has added fertilizer to it as container plants need a good boost of fertilizer to bloom all season long, plus regular applications. Make sure that you add a good dollop of compost in the bottom of the pot – a couple of inches at least.  This is where the roots are going to reach down and use up all those nutrients to produce flowers all season long.

Container in full summer glory

Plants – Dress It Up

Consider where the container will be located when you select your plants.  Notice if the site will get all day or part-day sunlight, or will be in mostly shade.  Shady container plants can be just as colorful as sunny ones with careful selection of colorful foliage. Go to the nursery and ask a knowledgeable employee for suggestions on varieties.  For any situation,  you want something tall for the back, like a grass or Canna or Caladium, something shorter for the middle area, and a spiller to cascade down the sides -  thrillers, fillers, and spillers! – I am sure everyone has heard this phrase.  It is an overused hackneyed phrase, but it really describes the process well. For a pot 18 inches in diameter, you would need approximately 5 to 6 plants. Of the 5 plants, use a tall architectural one, a couple of fillers, and a couple of spillers.

A favorite coleus for punching up the color

Window Boxes

Succulent window box

Window boxes are planted using the same principles as containers. To create depth you really make use of those spillers.  Silver Falls, Dichondra, is a great asset for trailing down walls and planters.

Silver Falls at Chanticleer in the ruin

Textures

Whe selecting your plants, consider your textures. I see too many containers planted with flowers and foliage that are similar in texture and look too busy.  Try mixing it up with some broad sculptural leaves, variegated foliage, and deeply lobed leaf shapes. Using varying forms will help your plants stand out instead of blending together in an indistinguishable mass.

Good textural contrast and variety

More textural variety

Cannas and Caladiums

Canna indica ‘Edulis’ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cannas are good selections for sunny containers -  just make sure your pot is large enough.  I have seen cannas get 8 feet tall or higher! For shade, try Caladiums. There are beautiful Caladiums on the market with very colorful unusual markings and they will shine in the shade.

Canna Crozy Group ‘Albèric’, Pfitzer 1949 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The foliage of Cannas is their best attribute but some varieties have beautiful flowers also.

One of my full shade containers-shade is not boring!

Plant canopy (Caladium bicolor ‘Florida Sweetheart’) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Coleus

The Coleus on the market now are not your grandmother’s Coleus! Most of these plants have been bred to thrive in full sun -  not shade -   though there are a few that prefer shade only. Literally, there are hundreds of varieties on the market and you could simply do lots of containers with just Coleus and have very colorful pots. Coleus are among my all-time favorites with beautiful strking foliage. I prefer not to let Coleus flower as the flowers detract from the foliage beauty, and when they appear, I remove them.

A beautiful Coleus – I forget the name!

Partial shade container in old fashioned lead pot

Maintenance-Nip and Tuck!

Snail Watering Can (Photo credit: dog.happy.art)

Maintenance includes regular watering, at least once a day when it is hot, fertilizing with a dilute or granular fertilizer at least once a week, and pinching back plants as they grow to maintain their shape.  I call this nip and tuck.  If you don’t do this on a regular basis, your plants will get leggy, unattractive, and woody. It is also a good idea to elevate containers on bricks or “pot feet” so that they drain properly. If you don’t have good drainage, your plants will sulk and die!  Make sure that your drainage holes are large enough so they don’t get clogged up and don’t use gravel in the bottom.  I carry a long metal rod for unplugging drainage holes. The gravel just makes the pot heavier and does not help with drainage. Drip irrigation is an option if you have lots of containers that need regular watering and you don’t want to be a slave to your water can.  Drip is pretty simple to set up, with all the components available at a local nursery or hardware store and they just snap together. I compare it to playing with Tinker Toys!

Grouping

Another helpful hint is to group your containers, especially if you have many small ones.  By grouping, you achieve a bigger impact and it is far easier to take care of them in one bunch.  If you do drip irrigation, grouping is essential as you use less tubing and you can hide the tubing in the adjacent pots.

A large grouping at the National Arboretum in D.C.

Great color combo

Don’t be afraid to plant just one kind of sensational plant in a container – here it is oleander

Related articles

• Calvin Finch: Colorful plants withstand summer heat (mysanantonio.com)
• Growing Tropical Flower and Foliage Plants in Chicago (disclose.tv)
• Annuals are the ‘ta-daa!’ of the garden; here are new additions (seattletimes.com)
• Creating a Window Box for Your Apartment (apartmentguide.com)
• Choose The Right Container For Your Gardening (backyardgardeningtips.com)
• Container Fever in the Winter (thegardendiaries.wordpress.com)

Beware of the Buttercup Bully!!!

Ranunculus growing in the woods in springtime

Have you seen this blooming on your property??? If your answer is yes, get ready to do battle!! This is a really nasty invasive that hales from Europe and Asia and is taking over North America. It is Ranunculus ficaria,  Lesser Celandine, or more commonly just a cute little buttercup. It was introduced as an ornamental plant in the trade and took off at lightning speed. A spring ephemeral, the plant appears very early in the spring, overtaking other spring ephemerals and displacing them.

Ranunculus ficaria. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lesser Celandine is in the Buttercup family and is rampantly spreading everywhere.  I see it at a lot of job sites and the first order of business is to spray it repeatedly with a herbicide before it takes over the entire property. It is possible but very difficult to dig it up, but most of the time, digging just spreads it around because of the fingerlike tubers underground.

Completing it’s life cycle in the winter and spring, it disappears when hot weather rolls around, but it is just getting ready to come out in every greater numbers the following spring with multiplying tubers.  It is relentless! This Ranunculus is smothering out all the more desirable native plants which are so necessary for the local pollinators.

Lesser Celandine (Photo credit: Dave McLear)

Spray with a herbicide early when the weather is at least 50 degrees. As spring advances, spraying is more unsuccessful and you are more likely to overspray other species.

English: Ranunculus ficaria (Celandine) in full sun at Spier’s Old School Grounds, Beith, North Ayrshire, Scotland. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)