Off topic

Now is the time to gear up for spring, before the rain comes. Turn the compost over in your garden beds, spread manure on your lawns, after aerating, and beds and prune those unsightly branches or shrubs, especially the evergreens. Also for propagating or layering perennials start looking around for specimens to propagate before they start budding and possibly flag them so that you remember where they are located. You can fertilize your garden beds too. I suggest Espoma@ espoma.com. The fertilizer they sell happens to smell so don’t be alarmed. I use Scott’s “Turf Builder” on the lawn, because I haven’t found anything better that greens up a brown lawn although if we get heavy spring rains the fertilizer could wash through the soil faster. I use to start my vegetable seeds indoors this time of year, but if you don’t have the proper location or heat underneath you’ll get frustrated like I did, and you will get long leggy seedlings. I start my cucumbers and squashes in the garden and always use bonemeal. When I was in college they taught us to use Super Phosphate when transplanting but I found it can burn the roots. If you burn wood use the wood ash in your garden beds or on your lawn.

Heavenly Bamboo

Nandina Domestica or Heavenly Bamboo is not a true bamboo but is an evergreen woody plant. It grows to a height of 8 feet if left unattended and is a great screening woody plant for the landscape garden bed, showing bright red berries in the winter contrasted by its reddish dark green foliage. Propagating for me has been from seedlings after the fruit drops to the ground. I have propagated hundreds of plants by this method, but the soil must be friable around the mature plants and moist for the berries to germinate. The picture of the mature planting was grown from seedlings. In North Carolina it is a fast grower if provided water on a regular basis and transplanted into larger containers, pruning the roots when re-potting along with adding bone meal. It is hardy to -10 degrees, but may die back but in the spring new shoots will appear. It is best when potting seedlings to plant 3 or more seedlings in the same container so a bushy plant emerges. Pruning in the spring before new growth shows will also produce a denser plant. There are many varieties of Nandina, from dwarf to mid size and different color leaf variations for the landscape garden, but the dwarf varieties do not have showy berries and their leaves are almost pink. It is a great screening plant to hide unsightly areas especially in winter. Other woody plants that also sows seeds are the Redbud and Dogwood, medium sized trees in North Carolina with purple and white flowers in the spring before the leaf buds break. When digging any seedlings make certain enough soil is taken with the seedling, which more then likely fall away when transplanting, because the roots systems are not dense and you want to get as many roots as possible when replanting, which should be as soon as possible, before the roots dry out. I get my containers on E-Bay and one can buy lots of as few as 10. I use 1 gallon containers initially, then transplant into 3 gallon.

Phlox subulata

Phlox Subulata or moss pink or creeping phlox is the perennial to propagate and is used in rock gardens, as edging along pathways, and on slopes. Color varies from red, white, pink, blue, lavender, or purple. Standard propagating procedure is by division, however because it can spread out up to two feet, the procedure I suggest is layering and again not all the branches are self-rooting and one needs a microscope to find the starter roots. It is best to dig up a clump and systematically break apart the clump gently and use 5-6 branches clumped together to pot and cut back the top growth to approximately 3" to help promote root growth and branching out when the plant takes hold. Make certain all plants that you are attempting to root have ample water and you will have a blast of spring color in your landscape garden bed once the roots are formed and transplanted.

Cotoneaster

Cotoneaster, a fast growing semi-evergreen groundcover type woody plant is the next to propagate by layering. Remember layering occurs when a plant spreads along the ground and sends out roots under optimum soil conditions. Not all branches, just some. Depending on the climate usually if the branch is pruned early in the spring and potted in a good sand/manure mix with bone meal, one should have a sturdy new Cotoneaster to plant in the landscape garden bed by fall. Make certain the branch that is planted in rooting medium is pruned back to about 6 inches so when it starts growing it will branch out in two or more different directions. Rooting hormone is not necessary. Cotoneaster is an semi-evergreen with small red berries in the fall and landscape designers usually use it to flow over walls or in rock gardens because most varieties cascade with the new growth appearing at the top with the old growth dying underneath.

Layering.

Now that I have gleaned over propagating perennials by division, and there are many more different varieties of plants then I covered, actually that’s how I propagated the biennial, Columbine, because it is self seeding, the next step is propagation by layering and this occurs when plants spread branches out parallel to the earth and send out roots into a fertile patch of loose soil. You prune the branch that sent out roots back towards the base of the plant. You bunch together a handful of these cuttings, pruning back the top growth to curtail it from initially sending out new growth until the roots take hold. This is the natural growth habit of Euonymous, in this case “Emerald Gaiety,” an evergreen woody plant,as shown in the picture. What some people do, because this can be the easiest way to make rooted cuttings if there is ample moisture and good loose soil surrounding a plant is to layer or bend a branch parallel to the soil of a particular plant variety, then pin it to the ground with heavy gauge wire bent in two to hold the branch down close to the soil and in the fall after the branch is rooted they prune the newly rooted branch and pot it up. Again bone meal and a watering procedure are a necessity and are good horticultural practice.

Spring bulbs.

Next up is spring bulbs for the landscape garden bed. In my yard Grape Hyacinths spread like weeds. Look in the photo of the Bearded Iris that I propagated. Deep in the soil of the clump I dug up lay Grape Hyacinth bulbs. The best way to figure out where your bulbs are that you want to transplant or divide in the fall is to flag the group, but Grape Hyacinths unlike most bulbs, sprout their leaves in the fall. The flags can be purchased at Home Depot. Usually in spring and summer one doesn’t notice the flags because the gardens are in full bloom, and yet they seem to pop up come fall. Just make certain when you start digging that you give yourself enough room, because sliced bulbs don’t appreciate being cut in half. Careful horticultural practices reap rewards.

Coneflower

Next up to propagating perennials are Coneflowers, Echinacea, don’t try eating the roots to prevent colds, which are long lasting bloomers in late summer standing 12-18" tall. I prefer the pinks or purples over the whites, because that could be confused with a daisy. They are easy to divide and enjoy full sun and well drained soil in the landscape garden bed. Actually all perennials favor well drained soil to perform up to expectations. Unlike the Bearded Iris the rhizomes of the Coneflowers are spread out so if you want to propagate just one or two plants that can be easily accomplished whereas with the Iris you must dig carefully just to replant one or two corms. Coneflowers are the first plant to let you know when they need water after propagation because the plant roots have grown spread quickly and are shown in the photo. It is also necessary when potting or planting that the soil is tamped down, compacted, so it forces all the air out of the soil before watering. Do this with the handle of the trowel when potting or the shovel handle when planting in the landscape garden bed. If air is allowed in the perennial plant roots will dry out fast and all your effort would have been in vain.