Author: Lilac

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Jasminum nudiflorum or Jessamine or Winter Jasmine

Winter jasmine – Winterjasmin (Jasminum nudiflorum) by Maggi_94

Is spring here already? We on the East Coast in Temperature Hardiness Zone 6, have not really had any real winter weather. And now many of the early spring flowers are in bloom or starting to bloom. Should we worry? No one can predict whether a snowstorm will wipe out these early flowers. I hope not.

One of the earliest flowering shrubs, one that I have seen flowering in my area, is Jasmine nudiflorum. It is also listed as Jasminum nudiflorum or Jessamine. The common names are winter jasmine or hardy jasmine. I first saw it blooming on a high overpass in Central Park in Manhattan. On first sighting, I thought it was a rare forsythia because the color of the flower was the same brilliant yellow of the typical forsythia. When I could get close enough, one could see that the flower is not really the same as the forsythia flower.

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Tree of Life Web Project

Tree of Life in Spring by h.koppdelaney

TheGardenLady is always searching for great  websites that have to do with plants, animals and insects. I just discovered a great website for people of all ages- children will love the photos and videos as will college students or just interested older folks, like me. This website is called the Tree of Life Web Project.

The homepage says that “The Tree of Life Web Project (ToL) is a collaborative effort of biologists and nature enthusiasts from around the world. On more than 10,000 World Wide Web pages, the project provides information about biodiversity, the characteristics of different groups of organisms, and their evolutionary history.”

Everyone interested can participate. This is a site for you who love nature, gardens, wildlife. You can just use the site for your own information or can become involved. This is also great for school teachers or home school teachers. It is your own library of biology and botany.

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Groundhogs in the Garden – They Do More Than See Their Shadows

~Groundhog up a Tree~ by ~Sage~

Groundhog day just came last Tuesday.  As you may know, the Groundhog – Marmota marmax saw its shadow and let us know that we will have more winter. Since my area of the country has not really had winter yet, just two snowstorms that quickly melted, I was hoping that he wouldn’t see his shadow. I can’t wait for spring.

There are a few common names besides Groundhogs that people use. In certain parts of the country are called woodchucks, marmots, land beavers or even whistling pigs.

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The Dry Dip Method for Propagating Hardwood Plants, Trees or Shrubs

Ume, Japanese plum by autan

My favorite fanciful tree creators, Pooktre Tree Shapers, just notified TheGardenLady that they have put a new video on their website. This video shows how to propagate new trees from branches of the wild plum trees that they use for most of their living tree sculptures. They will be using these newly started trees for making more of their delightful tree sculptures. Readers will see how easy it is to propagate hardwood plants, trees or shrubs.

The method being used is called the dry dip method and is a very simple way to get more plants for your garden. You can use the technique to propagate other plants that you might want to grow in your garden. For example, if a friend has an old variety rose bush, you might want for your garden, you can try propagating some roses from the stems.  See here.  You want an older variety of rose to be sure it is growing on its own rootstock, so that your new rose will look exactly the same as the parent.  See here.

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Announcing the 9th Annual Great Gardens and Landscaping Symposium

The 8th Annual Great Gardens & Landscaping Symposium

Are readers of TheGardenLady interested in attending Garden and Landscaping Symposiums? Here is a site that gives information about one symposium called the 9th Annual Great Gardens and Landscaping Symposium. It will be held in April (the 13th and 14th) in Vermont and looks like it has some outstanding lecturers. It is open to all garden lovers. You can read about all the speakers at the site.

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Is This Plant a Dwarf Aloe?

Erica asked TheGardenLady to identify this plant in the photo above and below.

TheGardenLady thinks the plant looks like a miniature or dwarf aloe.  See here.  But which kind is difficult to know. I think it might be Aloe brevifolia. If you bought it at a nursery, see if they know the name of the plant you bought. If not check out some of the websites that sell the dwarf or miniature aloes, like this one.

If any of TheGardenLady readers can accurately identify this plant, let us know.

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Jonn Scheepers’ Seed-Starting Timetable

Image from John Scheeper’s Website Kitchen Garden Seeds

One of the catalogs that this GardenLady has been poring over has been the John Scheepers “Kitchen Garden Seeds” catalog. But how does a reader know when to start plants indoors to have them ready to plant outdoors when nature in your Temperature Hardiness Zones tells you it is safe to plant outdoors? One doesn’t want to begin seeds indoors too early or they may grow “leggy” and not strong enough to set outdoors. Or one might start the indoor seeds late so they wouldn’t be far enough advanced when transpanting outdoors. And do you know which seeds are best to start indoors and which are best to sow directly into the ground outdoors?

Here is the general indoor Seed- Starting Timetable for seeds from John Scheepers and the information about which seeds should be sown directly into the ground outdoors. Also, there are contact numbers for more information that you can get directly from John Scheepers.

When growing indoors, make sure you have all necessary equipment; some plants may benefit from LED grow lights.

 

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Caring for Poinsettias

Poinsettia by kadavoor

This is the time of year that many homes are enjoying the Poinsettia plant, euphorbia pulcherrima, that they either bought for themselves to decorate their homes for the holidays or received as holiday gifts. And though we are enjoying the beauty of the red leaves that look like flowers, many of us wish we could save the plant and have those beautiful colors return next year.   See a previous post on this topic here.

TheGardenLady received advice from a blog she has signed up to receive that gives information on all sorts of gardening. This month they have an article on caring for a Poinsettia so that it will give you the beauty of the color next December. This information comes from a professional plant nursery in West Virginia that TheGardenLady visited this past fall. Bob’s Market Nursery has a wonderful blog that any gardener can subscribe to as well.

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Lynne’s Horticultural Experience in Botswana

A dear friend, Lynne, joined the Peace Corp and left sunny California and her beautiful garden to go to Botswana, Africa for a sunnier location and hopefully a new and beautiful garden. Lynne was sent to work in a town called Mmathethe. I asked her if she would write about some of her gardening experience and the plants that she sees in Botswana for readers around the world to read.

How much do we know about Botswana? If you want to read her humerous and delightful blog, check it out here.   Here is the first post for TheGardenLady with photographs and with some added comments from TheGardenLady.

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Hydroponics and Window Farming

781 Window Farm by dorywithserifs

It is winter, brrrrr. Really fresh fruit and vegetables would really be a treat at this time of the year- not the limp stuff that is sold in even the best supermarkets during the winter months. To be able to raise your own salad, would you like to join with people around the world who are now farming inside their own apartments or homes?

Window Farms by Britta Riley / Eyebeam Open Studios Fall 2009 / 20091023.10D.55550.P1.L1.C23 / SML by See-ming Lee 李思明 SML

“Window farming” is becoming the hottest idea for people young and old because it enables them to grow vegetables, salad or fruits salad at home cheaply and with minimal light. This movement was started by a young, thirty something year old woman from Brooklyn, New York, Britta Riley. Britta Riley wanted to know where her vegetables came from and how they were grown. So she devised a contraption to grow vegetable plants hydroponically in her apartment.

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