Category: Plants

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Dividing Dicentra Spectabilis

Bleeding Heart / Dicentra Spectabilis by bill barber (flickr)
Bleeding Heart / Dicentra Spectabilis by bill barber (flickr)

TheGardenLady received this question.

I have a huge Bleeding heart plant the I would like to divide. I see buds coming out about the size of a pinky nail. Is it too late to divide? I am afraid of killing it.

The correct time to divide Bleeding Heart, Dicentra spectabilis is in September. At that time the plant is going dormant. Now in the spring, the plant wants to send forth flowers and is putting its energy into flowering. You may not kill the plant which is fairly hardy, but you may prevent the Bleeding Heart from flowering this year. The fringed-leaf varieties divide nicely early in spring while they are emerging.

Read this about the Bleeding Heart plant.

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Taking Care of Your Mother-In-Law’s Tongue Plant

”]Sansevieria - Mother-in-law tongue or Snake Plant [Photo by Green Acres Nursery and Supply]TheGardenLady received this question from Donna:

I have a  that is turning yellow. I have had it for over ten years and it’s been in the same pot since. It has always done well, but here recently it is becoming sick. There hasn’t been any change to it to cause it. Any suggestions?

Since you say that you have had your Sansevieria Trifasciata plant, commonly called Mother-In-Laws Tongue or Snake plant, for over 10 years, I doubt that you have a gold variety like`Vandal Gold`, a Sansevieria that I have read about but do not know where to buy.

And I am amazed that you have a plant or anything that hasn’t had any change in all that time. There is nothing in TheGardenLady’s house that hasn’t changed in 10 years- including TheGardenLady.

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Tea Plants (part II)

Japanese Tea Field
Japanese Tea Field

The strongest flavored tea made from the Camellia sinenses leaves is called black tea or red tea.  Black tea is the tea which was most commonly sold over the years in the US by brand names like Tetley, Lipton or “Good Morning” organic. Black teas are made from “fermented” tea leaves.

What is called fermentation is really oxidation because it takes place when Camellia sinensis leaves are spread on trays in a cool, humid atmosphere to oxidize the leaves. This changes the chemical structure of the leaf, and allows the tea’s  characteristic flavor to emerge. The longer a tea is allowed to ferment, the stronger flavor it will have and the darker it will become. To retard the fermentation process the leaves are dried. After drying the leaves are graded -  longer leaves are used for loose teas and leftovers and dust leaves are used for tea bags.

Connoisseurs think of tea like great wines or coffees, each with its special flavor. Aged tea is considered a great delicacy in the Chinese culture. TheGardenLady was invited to  a Chinese tea ceremony where she tasted 50 year old black tea. This was a first for TheGardenLady who has attended a number of Japanese Tea Ceremonies.

Continue reading “Tea Plants (part II)”

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Tea (part I)

Japanese Tea Field
Japanese Tea Field

It is cold outside, especially if you live in an area where it is frigid or snowing or raining. This is the time of year for drinking lots of hot tea, the world’s second most popular beverage after water. And now that there are so many articles about the health benefits of drinking tea, such as the antioxidants, anti-cancer content of tea , or tea helping to cure diabetes, people will probably be drinking more tea – both hot and iced.

Tea is one of the oldest beverages known to civilization- thought to have been discovered as a beverage in (probably western) China in 2700 B.C.  It was brought to Europe in the 1600s. We, in the American colonies, first got it from Europe and then were forced to buy it only from England who then foisted high taxes on the tea it exported. So the early colonists fought this high tax in a battle called the Boston Tea Party.

Continue reading “Tea (part I)”

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Watching Plants Do Their Thing

As the winter wears on, many of us dream of spring and the return of flowering plants.  Some of us are lucky enough to have flowers open or opening indoors.  My amaryllis bud is opening and I eagerly await the brilliant red flower.  But if you don’t have flower buds and dream of your outdoor or indoor plants in bloom, you can watch time lapse shots of flowers opening or plants growing on your computer. There are many sites to watch (see here). Or perhaps you can take your own time lapse photos and send them to TheGardenLady (see here). YouTube has a lot of these videos and they are free.  Sit back and enjoy.

A few that I enjoyed are these:

Showy lady slipper – Cypripedium reginae – flower opening

Hibiscus Time Lapse

Time lapse radish seeds sprouting, top and roots growing

Orchid Time Lapse

Or you might want to watch a creative animation of flowering plants opening.  Check out the first video of this post.  It’s called

Plant techno

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When to Plant a Magnolia Bush

Photo by Fadadomar

TheGardenLady received this questin from Betty:

When is the best time of year to plant Magnolia bushes?

TheGardenLady never heard of a Magnolia bush; but since there are about 80 different species of magnolia that are native to the eastern United States and southeastern Asia as well as hunderds of named hybrids, there might be a plant that has the common name of Magnolia bush.

One difference between a bush and a small tree, TheGardenLady was told, is the height- a bush is under 20 feet tall and a tree is over 20 feet tall. So you can see how arbitrary the word bush can be in a plant name. That is why it is imperative to ALWAYS give the Latin name of a plant when asking a question about a plant. With the Latin name, the person answering your question knows exactly which plant to talk about.

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Callicarpa americana

                                           Photo by natureloving

TheGardenLady had never seen a bush with such magnificent fall berries until she walked around her town one fall and saw a shrub with magenta berries on it. Once seen TheGardenLady had to have this shrub; but when she first asked its name - Callycarpa Americana – it seemed difficult to remember.  And its common name with Beauty in it, was also difficult to recall because there is beauty as part of other common plant names. But once TheGardenLady learned that Callicarpa is derived from the Greek words kallos (beauty) and karpos (fruit); Linnaeus named it americana to distinguish it from the old-world species, this TheGardenLady could never forget the name.

It had to be given the name whether in Greek or in English of Beauty Berry because of the strikingly bright magenta berries that are profuse on all the branches-the berries on some shrubs are said to be pink through violet. And there are also white berried Callicarpa americana – var. lactea or other white berried callicarpas.

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Plants for Sale

                              Photo taken by Celine

In case readers hadn’t noticed, this is a great time to buy plants. Most nurseries have already started their sales. One can purchase plants from 25% off the retail price to much more off. Nurseries want to get rid of most of their plant stock so that they can start planning for purchasing next year’s plants. They want to have room not only for garden favorites, but also for the newest hybrids that are going to come to market in 2009 and also for plants that are winners of plant awards, like The Perennial of the Year or the All American Rose. So now smart buyers can reap the benefits.

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Toadshade Wildflower Farm

 

The other day a catalogue arrived. It came from a small nursery that specializes in Nursery grown and Propagated Perennial Wildflower plants native to Northeastern America only; Toadshade Wildflower Farm in Frenchtown, NJ. All the plant species in their catalogue, they say, to the extent that the Toadshade owners can determine,  are NATIVE – not alien, introduced or naturalized. They also let the reader know that “No plant or plant parts are dug from the wild!”

Since TheGardenLady has been so upset to see so few butterflies this summer- yes, she has seen a few more since she wrote the article- she decided to try to find more host plants to plant on her grounds. One butterfly enthusiast the TheGardenLady knows said that she has so many butterfly eggs and larvae on her host plants that she is “harvesting” them and raising them for the 6th annual Master Gardener Insect Festival to be held on Sat. Sept. 13 from 1-4 in Pennington, NJ on Federal City Road. TheGardenLady has offered to attempt to raise butterflies for this event.  Any budding scientists can raise butterflies themselves or teachers of science can purchase kits for their students to raise butterflies.

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