Weigela: Incoporating this Hardy Flowering Shrub into Your Flower Beds

From eastern Asia into our Midwestern landscapes, weigela add significant late spring color to my flower beds. Weigela is a deciduous, upright shrub that flowers profusely in many different colors. The picture on the left is of Weigela florida variegata. I have four of these beauties. The flowers are bourne along the entire branch and once it is done flowering, the cream and green colored foliage stands on its own. This shrub does extremely well with our ever changing weather conditions. The foliage always looks great and there's very little, if any, winter damage incurred. I have yet to have one fail to bloom. In fact, it's just the opposite. I am always amazed at how these shrubs bulk up with blooms. Weigela comes in many colors including pink, red, white, and yellow and are hardy up to zone 4.



Weigela are extremely attractive to hummingbirds and bumble bees. As soon as the weigela in my gardens start to bloom, I am surrounded by the constant hum of the bumbles. These hardy shrubs do well in full sun and will tolerate some shade.

(pictured at left: weigela florida dwarf minuet)


Some varieties will flower twice, once in the spring and then again in late summer although I don't think the late summer flowering is as profuse as in the late spring. Weigela florida Pink Princess and Weigela florida Red Prince, pictured below, are two such types.











I have all four of the varieties mentioned in my garden but there are over 12 species of weigela to choose from. Most can be easily found at your local nursery or big box stores. I think weigela is worth investigating if you are looking for shrubs to fill out large flower beds. They will not disappoint.

Feathered and Soil-bound Friends Together Again: What's Flying and Blooming in our Cottage Garden

I love to write the postings for Along the Picket Fence. What I don't love is the blog software. Half the time the problems aren't worth the effort. Until I learn how to design my own web pages, I guess this will just have to do. I hope that explains why I'm not over zealous to write a daily posting and haven't since the end of April. But then along comes something as beautiful as my fine feathered friend the Oriole and I find myself sitting at the keyboard. Not all is harmonious in the garden. This little guy has to come close to the main house in order to enjoy the feeder. Why? Because a pair of robins built a nest in the wisteria over the arbor and if I hang the feeder there---as was the placement last spring---the robins run the oriole off. At first he was really daunted but the draw of the juicy orange and the sweet grape jelly persuaded him to approach our back deck. Lucky for me, I get to sit at our breakfast nook table and watch him close-up through our sliding glass door. There are actually four orioles that have been coming to the feeder. I don't know what others might say, but I can certainly see God's face in these perfectly black and orange little creatures!

As for my soil-bound friends, the azaela are blooming! This particular variety, silver sword, are nestled---more like smothered---amongst the hosta. Also sharing that same space are Alba Bleeding heart and Anemone. It's quite a spectacular site on the north side of the house. Out in the garden beds, the sunny bright faces of potentilla have burst into bloom. Pictured is Coronation Triumph Potentilla.





I bought these from a nursery's clearance corner. They were practically dead but for a couple bucks, they were definitely worth saving. They really shine in the garden. They prefer the sunniest of locations and are quite tolerant of drought conditions. For first time gardeners, this shrub is a must. Of course, no cottage garden is complete without an old fashioned Bleeding Heart, Dicentra spectabilis.

I mentioned above that I had Dicentra spectabilis f. alba, the white bleeding heart, mixed in with my azalea but this variety is so showy with its dark pink and snow white blossoms. Fabulous. It loves shade but will tolerate a bit of sunshine. Mine get morning sun and by mid morning they are well out of harm's way, shaded by a laceleaf Japanese maple. David thinks the blossoms of both the pink and white varieties looks like plucked chickens hanging in a row. I guess with a bit of a stretch of the imagination, they do!

Of course there are iris and peony blooming but I'll save that for later. I think iris and peony deserve a posting devoted entirely to themselves. I'll tell you this much, they're awesome this year!!!

On another note, I want to send out well wishes to a good friend of ours---Hey Mike, hope you are up and going again real soon. Next time, leave the wiring to the electrical engineer in the house . . . your wife!!! Godspeed in your recovery.

What's Blooming: 4-24-09

Bulbs:

Dick Wilden Double Narcissi

Planted fall of 2008

This particular narcissus is my favorite of all the narcissi I have planted in the gardens because of its layered bloom. The bloom is the size of a large lemon and can be so heavy with petals that it needs staking. I have mine planted around our barn but this narcissus can be seen from the end of our driveway, 100 feet away.

Ballade (lily-flowering) tulip

Planted fall 2008

Very nice variegated pink/lavender and white tulip. Perhaps not the most showy tulip in my garden but definite one of the most feminine and fussy.

Red Georgette (bunch flowering) tulip

Planted fall 2008

Awesome tulip for multiple blooms. In this picture, there are a total of four bulbs but it definitely looks like more plants with all the red blooms. I plan to purchase many more this coming fall. The performance their first year has been spectacular.

A Simple Guide to Planting Tomatoes

Every gardener has their own tried and true method for planting tomatoes to reap the ultimate harvest. I'm no exception. And, although I'm no master gardener, our harvest was over 1,800 tomatoes from 32 plants last year. Not too shabby. So I'll share what I know and hopefully some of my suggestions will be helpful along the way.

It always starts with the dirt. We grow our vegetables in raised beds. I like raised beds for several reasons. I can work around each bed without slopping through the mud in flat ground gardening. In that respect, I can usually get in my beds earlier. We've had so much rain that our property squishes with every step across the ground. However, my raised beds allowed for water run off and weren't soup. I didn't drag out the tiller this year. Instead, I opted for using a hoeing fork that I found at an early spring estate sale. This implement allowed me to turn and work the soil without need for tilling. I then pulled the dirt into tall mounds and allowed them to sit for a week. They dried out nicely and were ready for planting.

Soil tip: With either hand turning or roto tilling, now is the time to amend the soil with compost for nutrition or sand for clay, etc. I use a lot of straw for mulching and water retention. I like to work any excess straw back into the dirt.

The first step is to make a hole in the top of each dirt mound. I dig down as deep as my bed will allow. Tomato plants will root all along the trunk if buried deeply. This induces a network of roots that allows for more water absorption and thus, healthier tomato plants. I then fill the hole with water!!! For years, I've heard gardeners insist on planting tomatoes in dry soil. I think that's fine if it works for them. Personally, I've found that tomato plants endure less shock if they are kept moist until they have taken hold. I place the tomato into the water filled hole and I bring the soil back into a mound around the tomato, leaving just the top tier of healthiest leaves above ground.

Once the tomato is planted, I sprinkle the dirt with a pelletized fertilizer. I use a slow release plant food so that the newly planted tomato will have another means of earlier stabilization. I think it boosts the recovery rate of the tomato plant. Mine seem to take less time to establish.


Since we are still experiencing cool night temperatures, I protect my plants with milk jugs. Placing a milk jug over the plant acts like a mini greenhouse. It also helps to protect the plant from wind damage. (Always remove the cap but keep it handy. If there is a late freeze, replacing the caps for the night will keep frost from damaging new and tender plants. Remove cap immediately after fear of frost is over.) The next step of protection is to add a tomato cage and then pack straw between it and the milk jug. The straw will help keep the jug in place until the tomato establishes and will keep the ground around the plant not only moist but warm as well. Within a week, the milk jug can be removed if frost is no longer an issue. The straw then acts as a mulch for the newly established tomato plant. In no time, I had seventeen plants snuggled into several layers of protection and beginning to establish.

Another good rule of thumb is to plant your tomatoes in stages. I put those first seventeen plants out on April 17th, knowing full well that we could have a frost. But, with the layers of protection, I also knew that most could survive. In a few days, I'll plant the next seventeen. And then during the first week of May, I'll plant my last dozen. Staggering plantings ensures that I'll have a constant crop of tomatoes all through the growing season.


I've been planting my tomatoes like this for the past ten years and every year, I've had a record harvest. I hope that these tip will help you to have a record harvest too!

Jackson & Perkins: Lousy Warranty/Lousy Customer Service

I previously posted about the two Jackson & Perkins Baby Blanket carpet roses (4/9/09) I lost due to no fault of my own. I bought three and two didn't make it through the winter although all three were lovely, lush, healthy rose bushes. I emailed J&P and asked what they would consider doing about it. Below is the email I received from Lynne Cody, J&P customer service representative:

From: JP CustServ
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 21:09
To: Lynne Cody
Subject: FW: Feedback Form for JacksonAndPerkins

Good morning Jennifer,

Thank you so much for contacting us here at Jackson and Perkins! We value our customers’ comments and questions highly, and we appreciate hearing from you.This is the spring season and we handle calls and e-mails from thousands of people every day. I apologize that somehow your e-mail has gotten pushed to the back. We guarantee the roses (for 60 days) to grow and bloom which yours did. I am so sorry that your plants did not do well through the winter.

Again, thank you for writing to us. If you have any further questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us. To help us serve you better, please use the Reply button to respond so that all previous communications will be included. Thank you for gardening with Jackson and Perkins!

LynneJackson and Perkins Customer Contact Team2
Floral AvenueHodges, South Carolina 29653
Telephone: 800-292-4769Fax: 800-242-0329
http://www.blogger.com/email: service@jacksonandperkins.com

Now I don't know about you, but that's a pretty lousy warranty. What I found even more ridiculous is the fact that this woman thinks I would ever again consider making another purchase with their brand stamped all over it. Shoot, even Home Depot, whose been in the customer service hot seat for awhile, guarantees all their plants for 1 full year.

I'll just keep buying my Weeks Roses and stay clear of any container/wrapper with the words Jackson & Perkins on it.

Hey Jackson & Perkins-----Boo! Hiss!

Robinson Crabapple: What's Blooming Now 4-16-09

Looking back through my hardcopy garden journal, I was surprised to find that we'd planted this Robinson crabapple tree in 2006. It sure didn't seem like that long ago. (Time flies when you're having fun---or getting old ! which is more my case.) Anyway, looking through the journal jogged my memory about this poor tree's history. Dave bought it on a 75% off sale at Lowe's. It was half dead when he brought it home and someone had cruelly carved the branches out of the center. We planted it in August in the midst of a drought and babied it to keep it going. In 2007, it budded and was just beginning to leaf when a late spring freeze nipped it back. Needless to say, no flowers and what branches grew were spindly. The spring of 2008 was kinder to the poor tree, no freeze but regardless, it refused to flower. The branches thickened a bit but it still looked scrabbly. After it went dormant this past fall, I gave it a good pruning. We had all but decided to move it if it didn't bloom this year. . .

Barring a killing frost to nip the flower buds, a flowering tree that refuses to flower can be coaxed. In the fall before it goes dormant, hit it with a dose of phosphate and then again around the end of February before it gets the chance to bud. I used ferti-lome Blooming & Rooting Soluble Plant Food. It's ratio is nitrogen (N) 9%, phosphate (P) 59%, and potash (K) 8%. Another method is to purchase phosphate by itself and work the powder into the dirt around the tree. High Yield makes a phosphate for just that purpose and it is also good for working into the dirt around gross feeders such as dahlias or peonies.

Weeks Roses vs J&P: How They've Played Out in My Gardens

Does this look like a perfectly healthy carpet rose to you? I'm on a tear this morning. Two days ago, I emailed Jackson & Perkins in regards to their Baby Blanket carpet rose of which I bought three last year. One of the three has leafed out but two of the three are dead. I'm really ticked about this since I tore out an established row of both daylilies and of red fox speedwell, replacing them with the Baby Blankets. As you can see in the picture, that was a lush, robust rose but, this spring its dead. I probably wouldn't be so ticked if it was just the first time one of their roses had played out on me. But its not. I paid good money for another of their roses, America, a climbing rose, that in my garden, hasn't climbed two feet. Furthermore, what really irritates me is the their slogan: The World's Finest Roses---and the Easiest to Grow. I beg to differ. And as far as customer service is concerned, well I'm still waiting to hear from them.

On the other hand, I can't say enough good things about Weeks Roses. I'm sold. I have sixteen of their beautiful rose bushes on the property and every one is alive and doing well. In fact, late last summer I bought three shrub roses, Mary Rose, Lady Elsie May, and Watercolors, and one miniature, Ruby Ruby, from Nick's GreenLeaf Gardens. I was worried they might not have enough time to get established before winter but they came through with flying colors. All have leafed and are looking robust. FYI: these were all planted well after J&P's Baby Blanket carpet roses.

To top that, I came upon a nursery sale the first week of October. I bought ten of Weeks's rugosa roses, Blanc Double de Coubert, Hansa, and Purple Pavement. They were in bad shape having grown in their nursery pots all season long and then having endured a severe shearing. At $1.99 each, it was well worth trying to save them. And, knowing how well Weeks roses have done in my garden, I wasn't worried. This spring all but two survived and are growing like crazy. That's a Weeks rose for you.

And as you can see in the second and third photos of this posting, Weeks roses put on a beautiful performance. Weeks roses are sold at many retail venues. If you are in my area and are interested in purchasing some for yourself, head over to Nick's Green Leaf Gardens and tell Nick and Loretta, I sent you!