Category: Flowers

                                                                              

TheGardenLady received this question from Tracey.
 
The Knock-Out rose company says that it is not necessary to dead head the roses.  See here.

Deadheading means to remove dying flowers from a flowering plant. The reason for deadheading is to trick a plant into producing more flowers. Plants make flowers to make the seeds for reproduction and when there are seeds, the plant will stop producing flowers. Plants that don’t set seed will continue to bloom longer.  Most plants benefit from having their old, dying flowers removed but it is not necessary for Knock-Out roses that have been created to continue to bloom for much of the summer without any deadheading

The other reason for deadheading the flowers is to make the plant look neater. Though the Knock-Out rose petals fall off cleanly, TheGardenLady finds that the rose bush looks nicer when she dead-heads.  TheGardenLady only dead heads when lots of the flowers have fallen, like after a heavy rain.

So to answer Tracey’s question, No it is not necessary to dead head Knock-Out roses. Easy care is another advantage to raising this type of rose.

Fran asks TheGardenlady the following question:

My mother gave me a (small) pot of gorgeous and very leggy daffodils to take to my office. They have really brightened up my desk, but I am worried that I might have killed them. A few leaves are turning yellow/brown at the tip, and several new flower buds did not bloom, but turned brown and shriveled. I have been good about watering the plant and caring for it. Does it want more sunlight? Do office environments generally kill flowers like daffodils? Thank
you so much for any help you can give!                                                 

Not knowing about the culture of the bulbs before they were brought to you, nor seeing the plant’s condition, I cannot say much about the cause of their dying in your office.  Bulbs that were forced needed good, fertile soil as well as fertilizer in the soil when they were starting to send up shoots in order to have healthy flowers.

When the bulbs are in flower indoors they need a lot of  bright light, some say sunny spot or artificial lights to grow  properly and not leggy.  Office lights can be good for flowers if they are close enough to give light during the day and are shut off at night. Daffodils don’t want light 24 hours.

Continue reading “Caring for Daffodils”

Joe asks TheGardenLady the following question:

I would like to try to grow roses in my garden. I’ve heard some varieties are very difficult to grow. Can you recommend a variety that is fairly easy and what suggestions you may have to make them look their best?                                                    

Many roses are high maintenance. They generally want a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight. They like nice loamy soil – use your compost for best results. Roses want water, but the soil should have good drainage. And to avoid diseases, try not to do overhead watering. Water the roots not the leaves.  Roses like to be fed nutrients that might be missing in the soil. Roses get diseases – they like good air circulation, need pruning and need spraying for diseases. They attract insects like the Japanese beetle. And deer love to eat roses in spite of their thorns.

Continue reading “Growing Roses in the Garden”