July is the time of wild berries here in the Pacific Northwest. The Rubus clan, best known for raspberry and blackberry also include many other members with edible fruits. Two woody shrubs that are fruiting now are Thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus, and Salmonberry, R. spectabilis. These two edible berries were staples of native peoples. Around here, harvesting thimbleberries is a summertime pleasure. Children love to place the thimble-like fruit on their fingertips.
On the Quimper Peninsula I have only seen these two Rubus species growing on moist sites, but in some regions wild thimbleberry may occur on drier sites. In Jefferson County the water table is close to the surface in low-lying areas creating wetlands. These plants are also commonly found along stream sides, and can withstand being flooded for short periods of time, thus making these shrubs useful in the rain garden. They can also be part of restoration landscapes. The deer browse the buds and stunt newly planted shrubs. Fencing, caging or spraying deer repellent for a few years is necessary for them to get established. The local deer population has suffered from loss of habitat and loss of predators.
Salmonberry, Rubus spectabilis
Another coastal native that’s fruiting now is red elderberry, Sambucus racemosa. The white flower cluster of has a pyramidal shape This berry can be edible if cooked, but I have never tasted it. Raw berries can cause nausea. All other parts of the plant are toxic. This plant grows easily in all soils and sun or shade.
Red Elderberry, Sambucus racemosa
(Blue elderberry, Sambucus nigra caerulea has white flower clusters that are flat. It is an edible, medicinal and ornamental plant.)
Other iconic berries will fruit soon including salal and huckleberry, stay tuned!
Oceanspray, Holodiscus discolor has cascading clusters of tiny cream-colored flowers.
Summertime has arrived on the Olympic Peninsula’s rainshadow! Native shrubs like Oceanspray, Holodiscus discolor and Hardhack, Spirea douglasii are blooming. Others are fruiting: salmonberry, thimbleberry, and red elderberry The garden is filling out with lush greens, and warm-season crops are starting to develop and mature. Just yesterday I saw a garter snake with a big black slug in its mouth.
Edible Garden
Winter garden: Select beds that have finished producing and replenish with compost. Rotating crops prevents diseases from building in the soil.
Time to direct sow brassicas and greens, beets and carrots. Varieties: Purple sprouting broccoli, Lacinato and Red Russian Kale, Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage, Winter Density lettuce, Abundant Bloomsdale spinach, Bolero carrots.
Make sure to leave room for your garlic crop that can be planted in November.
Tomatoes: Remove suckers and continue staking.
Weeding: Make a quick pass once a week to eliminate weeds. Some weeds can be companion plants, however they also compete for nutrients, water and light.
Curing garlic: Harvest garlic bulbs when 4-5 leaves are still green, taking care not to damage them. Over-watering or leaving them in the ground too long causes the bulbs to split or become prone to disease. Fresh garlic is fragile. Clean the garlic by gently pulling down the top leaf and removing it from the bulb. ( If the leaf has signs of rust, be sure to throw away the skins instead of composting to prevent spreading the spores.) Brush soil from roots.Drying in a well-ventilated place takes a couple of weeks. Check the stems and when no green remains inside, they are safe and should store well.
Strawberries: Renovate June-bearing varieties (not the everbearing, day-neutral ones). Cut to 2-3 inches. Mowing can accomplish this. Cut out and remove weak and crowded plants. Fertilize with a balanced natural blend like Down To Earth.
Flowers: Save seed from annuals and biennials including: nasturtium, bachelor buttons, foxglove, calendula and bread-seed poppies, cosmos. Dry them in a cool dark place and label the envelope with plant, and date.
Landscape
Time to review the garden. If some plants didn’t make it after the last couple of years of climate ups and downs, maybe replacing part of the landscape with natives could be on your horizon. If you have lots of space maybe it’s time to consider planting a hedgerow that will help slow the wind or screen the road.
Bulbs: Order bulbs in the next few weeks to plant in the fall. This is especially true if you want to plant some more unusual bulbs. When they arrive check the bulbs to ensure there is no disease or damaged bulbs. Store them in a cool dark place until you are ready to plant. I often order from Johnny Scheepers. Another company, that is good and local is RoozenGaarde.
Irrigation: Determine which plants need extra care and keep their roots growing. Many established shrubs won’t need any water until August, but in the first couple of years a plant will develop nicely and be healthier if it is watered regularly. If plants look weak or diseased, give them a boast with compost and liquid seaweed fertilizer.
Lawns: Port Townsend homeowners have long had an unspoken agreement that green lawns are not a requirement for a beautiful landscape. A well-kept yard is often mowed until mid-July and then the grass goes dormant and the hawkweed or dandelions provide food for pollinators. When the autumn rains return, our lawns green-up again. At that time, spread dolomite lime. This provides calcium and magnesium as well as making the soil less acidic and more inviting for grass. In fact, many people prefer not to have lawns. But if grass is already there, allow it to go dormant.
Roald Dahl , English shrub rose bred by David Austin
This post focuses on modern shrub roses bred by David Austin, a premiere rose breeder who introduced over 190 cultivars in his lifetime. Known as English Roses, these plants are crosses of old garden roses with modern hybrids. ‘Old Garden Roses’ originated before the 18th century. Examples of OGR include Gallicas, Albas, Bourbons, and Damask. Unfortunately, these incredibly fragrant roses only bloom for a couple of weeks once a year.
Modern roses include hybrid tea, polyantha, and floribunda, shrubs and climbers. Most modern roses are repeat bloomers in six-to-eight week cycles. Many of the hybrid roses are prone to disease and require a stringent spray regime to keep them healthy. Modern shrub roses have been bred from old fashioned roses with the added features of disease resistance, repeat blooming and a wider range of colors. These roses have a more natural form of arching canes with many flowers whereas hybrid teas and floribundas have a stiffer form. Long-stemmed florist rose are usually hybrid tea.
English shrub roses come in all different forms from peony-like full blooms to simple single petal flowers. Other shrub roses include all the rugosa roses, wild roses like our native Nootka rose and many others. I don’t have time here to do these roses justice!
Cultivating Roses
Provide good drainage and fertile soil with plenty of compost. Six hours of full sunlight will allow the roses to flower fully. Water weekly at the base of the shrub. Mulch to conserve moisture.
Deadheading is the term for removing spent flowers. Removing the first flush of blooms not only encourages more blooms but also helps to shape the shrub into a graceful form. I use Felcos #2, but any by-pass clippers work well. Sharpen the blade and then and sanitize it with hydrogen peroxide or alcohol. Always clean before starting to prevent the spread of disease. If you note disease where you need to prune, wipe the blade frequently. Removing the spent flowers prevents the development of rosehips and seed formation. Resist the urge to prune immediately below the spent flower; this results in dieback, stubby dead stems. Pruning at a leaf with 3-leaflets results in dog-legs—many spindly short stems. Instead, look for a thicker stem and make the cut just above a leaf with five leaflets. This encourages robust flowers on longer stems, perfect for cut flowers.
Even though English shrub roses are disease-resistant, they can still suffer from black spot. This fungal disease spreads by splashing water. Irrigate at the base of the plant and handpick diseased leaves and dispose of them. Make sure their is plenty of air circulation. If you need to spray, Safer brand has a fungicide. In the autumn rake and destroy all fallen leaves. If autumn is not getting gradually colder with light frosts, monitor the rose. If it continues to flower into October, stop deadheading and allow rose hips to form; the enzymes and hormones might trigger a dormancy response. By early December, strip the leaves to force the rose into dormancy. If we suddenly get slammed with an arctic blast, it is better for the plant to be dormant. Pruning is best done in February—something for another post.
Learn more about these roses with a free download from David Austin Roses: English rose handbook
Sometimes called ‘living mulch’, there are many reasons to choose groundcovers, from covering challenging slopes; to reducing garden maintenance and water consumption; to simply knitting together the landscape. They offer excellent solutions to landscape challenges but groundcovers are not maintenance-free.
Woody Groundcovers
A popular native woody plant is Kinnikinnick, Arctostaphylos uva ursi. Another is Cascade mahonia, Mahonia nervosa. Other standard choices are Taiwan Bramble, Rubuscalycinoides and Pt. Reyes Ceanothus, C. gloriosus.
Emerald Carpet or Creeping Taiwan Bramble, a drought-tolerant plant
As these plants get established they need regular weeding, especially to prevent perennial weeds from getting a foothold. Fertilizing with compost or dry organic blends encourages the plants to grow. Mulching with woodchips or arborist chips reduces the need for watering. Cover bare ground with 2-3 inches of mulch, but don’t bury the crowns (where stem meets root) or go back after and brush mulch away from the crown. The very fastest groundcovers, especially those planted closer than the recommended spacing will not need much additional mulch. But slower groundcovers like Kinnikinnick or bearberry cotoneaster (C. dammeri ) will need more mulch in about three years.
For woody groundcovers to look their best, prune once or twice a year. Prune back leggy stems to make denser coverage. (The principle is the same as tip-pruning house plants or perennials. It works by removing the plant hormone or auxin in the stem’s tip that maintains apical dominance.) Also, if your goal is a carpet effect, prune out vertical branches.
Herbaceous Groundcovers
These plants are not as tough as woody plants. If the foliage forms dense mats often this shades the soil and prevents weed seeds from germinating.
The smaller the foliage the more work to keep out grass and tiny weeds. If your garden is on a city lot then tiny foliage can work, just plant smaller groupings. There was a time when many people planted chamomile or woolly thyme as small lawns, however they require regular weeding. If you plant lots of annual flowers that readily reseed themselves, herbaceous groundcovers with tiny foliage will take much more work to maintain because they will easily harbor germinating seedlings.
Natives include evergreen coastal strawberry Fargeria chiloensis, inside-out flower, Vancouveria hexandra and redwood sorrel, Oxalis oregana, and stonecrop, Sedum spathufolium. Non-native groundcovers include many Epimediums, and Geraniums. A low maintenance herbaceous groundcover for shade is hardy geranium or Geranium macrorrhizum, especially the magenta pink ‘Bevan’s Variety’ makes a dense mat of foliage that is deer-resistant. It does require a little water during dry summers.
Plants don’t have to form low carpets to be a groundcover. Distinctive foliage is a good reason to mass plants together. Under conifers the western sword fern is attractive. Larger perennials like Corsican Hellebore, Helleborus argutifolius make a bold statement. Pools of ornamental grasses offer ribbons of texture that can ripple in the wind.
One of my favorite permaculture shrubs is Goumi, Elaeagnus multiflora. This multifunctional plant is easy to grow! The fragrant tiny yellow flowers bloom in April, followed by astringent and sweet fruit by the end of June. In 2018 I ordered plants from One Green World and they recommend planting two varieties, so I planted two Sweet Scarlet and two Red Gem. The former is more robust with dense foliage that hides the fruit from the birds whereas Red Gem has a more open framework, with less foliage and is more productive. If you have limited space and prefer to cook the fruit with a sweetener, then Red Gem is a winner. I mostly eat the fruit raw and share the crop with birds. For the sweetest flavor wait until the fruit is a deeper red.
The genus Elaeagnus is recognized for having a symbiotic bacteria, Frankia that grows in the soil and fixes nitrogen from the air, making it available to the plant. I prune Sweet Scarlet several times a season and use the leafing branches as compost.
Goumi, an Asian native has been cultivated here for at least one hundred years. In Japan it is known as natsugumi. The fruits of this shrub are high in lycopene I wrote a more thorough account here
The garden is a riot of blooms bursting with color. Let’s take a look at English garden roses, one of my favorite. Goumi, the earliest fruit in my garden has a sweet-tart flavor that I love to nibble. The garden is alive with bird songs! Robins in the garden are fun to watch as adults seek out worms and their fledglings beg for food.
By now in the vegetable garden, the cool season crops are producing and warm season crops are in the ground. Before the month is out we will be preparing for the winter garden.
Edibles
Tomatoes: Begin training indeterminate tomatoes. Train a couple of main stems. When new shoots form between the main stems and a leaf, pinch out these suckers. There will be less fruit but they will ripen sooner. Remove some foliage if it is excessive but leave some to protect the fruits from sun-scald.
Vegetable Pests: Watch for signs of leaf miners on spinach, beets and Swiss chard. The larvae form tunnels between the layers of leaves that look like yellow trails and pockets. As the fly larvae metabolize the plant they deposit black frass. Hand pick the leaves and trash them. Don’t place them in compost!
Swiss chard leaf with yellow spot indicating leaf borer within. Leaf miner maggots visible on top left. The top layer of leaf was peeled back to reveal these fly larvae.
Garlic: Harvest scapes ( curvy shoots with flowering head) Stop watering when leaves start to turn yellow. Harvest when only 4 leaves are still green, or the bottom 1/3 of foliage is yellow. For longer storage, cure (dry) garlic with the tops and roots for several weeks, allowing nutrients into the bulb. Cut tops and roots leaving as much skins to protect garlic bulbs.Prevent the spread of garlic rust fungus by starting with certified disease-free bulbs, rotate crops and use a mulch of arborist chips to prevent rust from establishing in soil.
Asparagus: Mature fronds can get top heavy and fall, sometimes snapping at the base. For attractive plants in an edible landscape stake individual plants or prop up with bamboo. For asparagus in rows place a metal t post at each end and run jute twine between the posts. To keep the plants together weave the string between plants. In the fall when the shoots die to the ground, the jute can go into the compost along with the dead asparagus.
Fruit Trees: Thin fruit, and watch for signs of fungal disease that spreads by splashing water. Use neem oil spray or sulfur powder. Look for and destroy tent caterpillars. Patrol for slugs and snails.
Winter vegetable garden It can be confusing to newbie gardeners that just as the summer solstice arrives, we begin sowing seeds for winter harvest! Sow brassicas including winter cabbage, kale, and purple sprouting broccoli. from mid- to late June. If you miss this window, buy vegetable starts at the coop next month. Purple sprouting broccoli is the most successful winter broccoli with its small and numerous shoots. Early July is time to sow the following: carrots, beets, Swiss chard, kohlrabi and radicchio. (Crops for late fall harvest grows through the autumn equinox and then growth slows almost to a standstill.)
Ornamental Plants
Deadhead Rhododendron. By gently snapping off the flower cluster, seeds won’t form, instead we allow the shrub’s energy to be directed into growing foliage and starting next year’s flower buds.
Perennial Flowers: Some late summer and fall- blooming perennials, pinch back now for sturdier and shorter stems. Remove the top 1/3 of the following plant Asters, mums, beebalm (Monarda), and Joe-Pye weed.
Fungal diseases are exacerbated by rain. Powdery mildew is not one disease but a symptom.Caused by different fungal diseases, the symptom is white circular patterns with a powdery texture, becomes gray or brown over time. The disease is more than cosmetic; it inhibits photosynthesis. It can overwinter in buds and also on dropped infected foliage on the ground. Humid weather and crowded conditions that cause stagnant air encourages fungal growth. Neem oil or sulfur can be effective when used at first signs. Safer brand Fungicide is another option.
Winter Injury: By now many plants have recovered from the winter. Evergreen shrubs that dropped foliage are now leafing out. Old stands of red-hot-poker that completely died to the ground with many rhizomes turning to mush are now leafing out. All these plants require monitoring, removing dead wood and watering during dry spells.
May on the Olympic Peninsula is a time when everything is in bloom—from our native rhododendrons and madrona trees to lilacs and peonies . Deciduous trees are brilliant with fresh green growth. Spring migration is in full force with songbirds returning and their songs brightening each morning. Insect pollinators are becoming more active. This month is a transition from spring to summer.
Check the weather—It may seem shocking that now is the time to start watering but its true. Here in the rainshadow there may be drizzle, but often if you poke the soil you will notice how shallow the moisture extends. The Dept of Ecology has announced a statewide drought emergency due to the low snowpack. although we currently have a dry forecast, El Niño is rapidly changing into La Niña so the forecast may change.
Garden chores includes transplanting or sowing warm-season crops. Now is the time to check your irrigation system or consider installing a more water-efficient one. Sow seeds of warm season crops directly in the garden and transplant tomatoes and peppers. Fertilize shrubs by scratching in dry natural fertilizer. Stake perennials. Let’s get out in the garden!
Check the weather—It may seem shocking that now is the time to start watering but its true. Here in the rainshadow there may be drizzle, but often if you poke the soil you will notice how shallow the moisture extends. The Dept of Ecology has announced a statewide drought emergency due to the low snowpack. although we currently have a dry forecast, El Niño is rapidly changing into La Niña so the forecast may change.
Cultural practices
Avoid overhead watering that can spread fungal disease. Water the root zone. Water in the morning.
Avoid water splash from soil. Prevent the spread of phytophthera of tomatoes
Prune for air circulation, avoid overcrowding, learn how large plants will grow.
Prepare beds with compost. Home-made or bought. Spread 1”-3” deep.
Handy tool for determining how much your garden can use;
Monitor for pests: Tent caterpillars, winter moth, European sawfly on currants,
Vegetable starts; plant the hot season cucurbits and tomato, peppers and basil.
Plant dahlia tubers: Late summer here is often warm and dry providing dhalias with the perfect weather to display their amazing variety of flower shapes and colors.
Spring-flowering bulbs: This time of years the daffodils and tulips and smaller bulbs can look tired. Keep them healthy by removing the spent flower to prevent the plant from making seeds. We want all the energy going into nourishing the bulb, so let the foliage remain until it dries out completely. If you are a real neatnik who enjoys labor-intensive gardening that can be relaxing and meditative, consider braiding the narrow foliage of daffodils and snowdrops. To avoid big gaps when the foliage is gone, consider interplanting with native bleeding heart, Chinese for-get-me-not, or love-in-a mist, calendula or annual poppies.
Tinker with apprentices at Abundant Life Garden 1990’s
Tinker was an advocate of living lightly on the Earth by conserving resources and living a joyful life of volunteer simplicity. This post is for local farmers who may not know her legacy and want to continue this important work.
Along with Judy Alexander, Tinker spearheaded the Dryland Farming Project, exploring the limits of what staples can be grown locally with little inputs, especially without irrigation. “We need to research ways that we can locally and sustainably grow staple crops such as grains, legumes, and seed crops.”
Today we have a vibrant farming community and many people share Tinker’s passion. Organic Seed Alliance develops seeds that grow organically with less inputs. Finn River is growing wheat and many others are working together toward a sustainable farming future.
Garden soil acts as a bank account, holding available water.” Tinker Cavallaro gave a presentation based on the Dryland Farming Project ten years ago at the Quimper Grange. Tinker discussed her presentation with me beforehand and I wrote up the handouts. These are some of the notes:
Understanding our climate and the site’s soil properties is the foundation for making smart choices in garden irrigation.Rainfall quantities vary across the Quimper Peninsula. Close to the mountains, Quilcene gets much more rain. Port Townsend is located in the rainshadow of the Olympics, a unique area with less rainfall than most of Puget Sound. The rainshadow of the North Olympics extends from Sequim to the San Juan Islands.
“As crops grow they make heavy withdrawals from the garden soil bank account.” We will investigate more about soil properties but here are some basic tips:
Practices and techniques
Develop the habit of checking the soil for moisture
Use drip irrigation or low-volume sprinklers
Use water-filled containers with holes placed next to larger plants
Foliar spray or fertigation with liquid fertilizer known as ‘tea’ made of water and organic matter such as compost, manure, seaweed or nettle
Raised beds hold moisture better than rows do
Plant seeds and transplants deeper than normal in the soil
Crops that do well with no extra water
Early Spring Crops
Peas
Greens: mustard, arugula & early lettuce
Kale, cabbage, early broccoli & radish
Direct-sown early carrots & beets that are heavily thinned
Grains
Potatoes
Late Spring-Sown Crops
Field corn
Amaranth, quinoa
Winter squash
Dry beans including field peas, garbanzos, lentils & fava beans
Quinoa trials at Ecology Action in Willits, CA
Crops that require summer irrigation
Celery & celeriac
Napa cabbage and summer brassicas
Summer lettuce & spinach
Onions if you expect sizable bulbs
NOVIC Broccoli Field Trials at Red Dog Farm, Chimacum Washington
Understanding the Soil’s Capacity
Our rainy season, extending from fall through winter, provides enough water to bring our soils to field capacity, or the ability for the soil to hold all the moisture possible. Summer rains, on the other hand, are usually insignificant. In our windy location the little rain that falls often evaporates.
As plants grow they make heavy ‘withdrawals’ from the garden soil bank account. Hot sun and wind cause plants to transpire moisture. The roots of plants pull soil moisture from the soil, up through the plant and out the surface of leaves. Foliage gives clues as to the plants ability to conserve water or use it freely. Drought-tolerant plants from dry climates tend to have small leaves or grey foliage. Magnification reveals tiny hairs that shade the leaf surface. The lush foliage of leafy green vegetables on the other hand can withdraw much water if not properly managed.
How plants utilize water
Plant roots, in a symbiotic relationship with soil microbes form a region known as the rhizosphere, the active site for water and nutrient uptake. Plant enzymes dissolve insoluble starches and oils that are required for plant energy and change them into water-soluble sugars. Roots draw moisture from the soil to their ultimate lateral spread and depth. The size of a plant’s roots indicates drought tolerance.
Healthy soil includes air and water. This water can move upward through the soil by a process known as capillary action. Water is drawn up in a wicking action through the gaps between soil particles. Soil texture determines the soil’s capacity to hold moisture. Sand holds one inch of water per foot of soil. Sandy loam (soil with a bit of silt and clay) can retain 2 inches of water per foot; clay soil retains 3 inches of water per foot. The point is that clayey soil holds three times as much water as sandy soil. If the capillary action is not strong enough then the gravitational pull will sink water deeper into the soil.
Cohesion describes when water is attracted to water and adhesion describes when water is attracted to other materials. When irrigation or rain moistens the ground, soil particles act almost as magnets and water adheres to them. Like a wet sponge, the ground is holding as much water as possible. Water is highly cohesive so gravity will pull water deeper into the soil. This happens when the water cannot adhere to the surface of the soil. If the soil structure has enough pores and humus that acts like glue, more water can be utilized. Root systems have to be able to penetrate the soil, become more extensive, and grow deeper to utilize the soil water.
Plants are much healthier if they can aggressively seek new water in soils unoccupied by roots and grow deeper and wider. Not only will vigorous plants be capable of withstanding drought and wind, they will also create more flavors and sugars.
( For more information on this important topic see Steve Solomon’s Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades, Ch 5)
A delightful native shrub for early summer is Lewis’s mock orange, Philadelphus lewisii. This deciduous shrub has a fountain like shape and fragrant white flowers that grow in clusters.
It is equally at home in a cultivated landscape or a natural thicket. My introduction to this native came in a conservation bundle thirty years ago. When the shrubs matured and started to flower, I wondered if a mistake had been made. The flowers looked so much like the Philadelphus coronarius, a European introduction commonly seen on old farms in New England. Our native west coast mock orange is just as beautiful and better adapted!
This multi-stemmed shrub with long arching branches may grow 3-10 ft tall or more. I planted one by a shed where the rain spills off the roof and after thirty years, it is close to 15 ft tall. Since it was part of a native plant thicket planted along the roadside, I never pruned it.
Lewis’ mock orange is equally effective as an ornamental as it is in restoration plantings. It can be used in borders or grouped together for screens. In autumn the foliage turns lemon yellow.
Growing Conditions
Lewis’s Mock Orange is flexible about soil requirements. It prefers soil rich in organic matter but will grow in gravelly soil if provided moisture. Full sun will encourage more blossoms but the plant will be healthy in partial sun. This native will be drought tolerant once established.
Native Habitat
Mock orange can be found throughout the west from British Columbia to California. I am sad to say I have never seen it growing on the Olympic Peninsula but, in Nelsa Buckingham’s book Flora of the Olympic Peninsula, she says it occurs in open habitat here on the peninsula lowlands from north to east. also at mid-elevations from northeast to east.
Benefits
Pollinators love this nectar-rich plant. Birds that eat the seeds in autumn include junco, chickadee, thrush, flicker and finch.
Check the weather—It may seem shocking that now is the time to start watering but its true. Here in the rainshadow there may be drizzle, but often if you poke the soil you will notice how shallow the moisture extends. The Dept of Ecology has announced a statewide drought emergency due to the low snowpack. although we currently have a dry forecast, El Niño is rapidly changing into La Niña so the forecast may change.
Cultural practices
Avoid overhead watering that can spread fungal disease. Water the root zone. Water in the morning.
Avoid water splash from soil. Prevent the spread of phytophthera of tomatoes
Prune for air circulation, avoid overcrowding, learn how large plants will grow.
Prepare beds with compost. Home-made or bought. Spread 1”-3” deep.
Handy tool for determining how much your garden can use;
Monitor for pests
Tent caterpillars, winter moth, European sawfly on currants,
Vegetable starts; plant the hot season cucurbits and tomato, peppers and basil.
Plant dahlia tubers: Late summer here is often warm and dry providing dhalias with the perfect weather to display their amazing variety of flower shapes and colors.
Spring-flowering bulbs: This time of years the daffodils and tulips and smaller bulbs can look tired. Keep them healthy by removing the spent flower to prevent the plant from making seeds. We want all the energy going into nourishing the bulb, so let the foliage remain until it dries out completely. If you are a real neatnik who enjoys labor-intensive gardening that can be relaxing and meditative, consider braiding the narrow foliage of daffodils and snowdrops. To avoid big gaps when the foliage is gone, consider interplanting with native bleeding heart, Chinese for-get-me-not, or love-in-a mist, calendula or annual poppies.
Sustainable Garden Design 