Choosing Tulip Bulbs for Your Garden

Tulips may be a sign of spring, but they are actually planted in the fall in anticipation of spring. The bulbs require several weeks of chilly weather in order to grow and bloom. Now is the best time to shop for tulip bulbs. The local nursery and garden centers have the best selection, and you can take your time picking the best of the bunch for your garden.

Tulip bulbs actually hail from Turkey and cooler Asian climates. Traders brought them to Holland, where they seemed to flourish in the cool, moist climate. By around 1637, tulips were all the rage, with new colors like the "Rembrandt" striped and striated flowers causing a run on the market, with prices soaring in a short while. Fortunes were made and lost as speculators bid their wealth on the precious bulbs. Sound familiar? People never change!

Today, we are fortunate to live in an era when hybridizers and growers have selected the best among each of the categories of tulips and bred them for specific characteristics such as color, resistance to wind and weather, repeat blooming and so on.

Most tulips should be treated as annual flowers, or at best, short-lived perennials. Although I have some Darwin hybrids (above) that return in the garden, with each year they do diminish, and eventually the flowers are much smaller than in their original years. The plant puts energy into the bulb to reproduce, and eventually, unless you dig up the bulbs, split them, and lovingly tend them for a few years, they won't bloom again.

Gardeners, myself included, rarely have the time, patience or space for this, so I simply plant more and enjoy the show.

If you're interested in naturalizing with tulips, or finding tulips that might return for repeat blooms, choose from among the Tulipa kaufmaniana, Tulipa fosteriana, and Tulipa gregii hybrids. Like species tulips, these tend to bloom earlier and are less showy than the cottage, Darwin, parrot and lily-flowered tulips that add so much variety to the garden.

As you shop for your tulip bulbs, read the package label. Consider the estimated blooming times, and add a few species that bloom as early as March and as late as May so that you have a continual show in the garden. You can plant different species in the same planting hole. The tulips don't mind.

Choose the biggest bulbs you can find. The larger the bulb, the bigger the flower - or at least that is what a Dutch bulb grower once told me when I worked in a garden center! And after your tulips are finished blooming in the spring, let the leaves die back naturally. Don't cut them back or hack them down to the ground. The leaves are the food factories of the plant. Through the process of photosynthesis, they produce carbohydrates in the leaf cells which act as nourishment for the plant. Cut the leaves off of the plant and it dies.

Lastly, as you're planting tulip bulbs, remember to plant them with the pointy-side up, like a Hershey's chocolate kiss. Dig the hole as deeply as the package directions tell you to do, for the plant needs it, and the deeper holes discourage squirrels from digging the bulbs up entirely. Make sure you place a plant label or a marker on the spot so that you remember what you've planted there. It's easy to forget during the long winter months and dig up your precious bulbs in your haste to plant spring annuals later.

Although I don't think we'll see "Tulipamania" the way the Dutch did during the Dutch Golden Era, I sometimes feel a kinship with the burgermeisters of times past who gambled fortunes on flower bulbs. As I empty my wallet on the store counter, packing bag after bag of tulips away as if they were treasures of gold, I understand how one humble flower could inspire a mania. I share the passion!

RESOURCES for Your Enjoyment

• Flowering Bulbs: Culture and Maintenance
• Forcing Flower Bulbs for Indoor Bloom

Hydrangea Care

I love hydrangea. This praying mantis in my garden seems to love them, too. But I find it challenging to grow hydrangea here in south central Virginia. Too much heat, not enough rain...sometimes they seem fussier than roses.

For those looking for a quick primer on hydrangea care, I've included tips derived from a great Cooperative Extension publication. Virginia Tech offers a free download called Hydrangea Selection, Pruning and Care that was very helpful to me as I struggled to figure out why the leaves on my hydrangea are turning black (probably over-eagerness to fertilize on my part) and why the color changed on one plant. It's definitely worth downloading if you love hydrangeas.

A few notes on hydrangea care from our friends over at Virginia Tech: (These tips apply to Big Leaf Hydrangea, which is what you normally see blooming in people's front yards at this time of year or so.)

• No flowers? Don't prune your shrubs late in the season. Hydrangeas bloom on last year's woody stems. Prune older stems in late June or early July and don't prune too much away. You can also prune in late winter if you missed your opportunity in the summertime.
• You can influence the color of the blossoms by changing the soil pH. A drench with an aluminum sulfate mixture (see the link above) changes the color to blue. Hydrated lime mixed with water changes it to pink. Please be sure to read the Virginia Teach pamphlet for the correct proportions of solution to water.
• Hydrangea thrive in rich, moist and well-drained soil. If they are struggling, have your soil checked. It could be too dense to allow for drainage. Our local clay soils may need amendments before hydrangea find them acceptable.

Hydrangea are beautiful landscape plants and a treasure in the garden. Here's to a beautiful bloom this year and more!

Cracks in Tomatoes

There's nothing quite like the taste of a fresh garden tomato. I love growing tomatoes, and am still learning the best ways of growing them. Virginia Tech has a great free tip sheet on growing tomatoes that can help beginners improve their cultural practices and grow gorgeous tomatoes all summer long.

Let's talk about one problem that I'm seeing frequently in my garden this year: cracks, specifically cracks that radiate longitudinally from the stem of the tomato and radiate down into the fruit. These are called growth cracks, and they can be common among large, beefsteak varieties of tomatoes.

According to the Cooperative Extension, these cracks appear when environmental conditions cause rapid growth of the tomato. A drought, followed by a heavy downpour, is an example of natural conditions that can cause these cracks.

Think of it this way: a tomato's skin is like a plastic grocery bag. If you fill a grocery bag too full of cans or boxes, cracks appear and the bag breaks. It can only expand so far to fit your purchases inside. A tomato is like that. The exterior skin can only grow so fast, but when a rush of water hits the garden, the greedy roots drink deeply, pushing water to the growing tomatoes. The skin can't expand fast enough, so what does it do? It cracks.

You can prevent growth cracks to some extent by watering your plants on a regular basis. Of course, you can't control nature. A downpour after a thunderstorm, a welcome rain storm after a drought - that's life in Virginia in the summertime. Into every life a little rain must fall.

Tomatoes with cracks are fine to eat. Just cut away the cracked part, and keep an eye on the area where the cracks appear. Microorganisms can enter and start rot, which of course ruins the tomato.

But in the meantime, you can still enjoy those fine summer tomatoes. Rain or shine, nothing beats a fresh garden tomato on a hot August day.

Tips for Growing and Containing Mint

Growing mint in the home garden is a delicate dance between desire and frustration, delight and horror. Plants in the mint (Lamiaceae) family are tough as nails, and seemingly driven to conquer the world. Here's how to contain mint before it contains the rest of your garden to one small square foot.

The mint family includes popular favorites such as spearmint, apple mint, peppermint, and many, many other types of mint. Mint is so prolific, and crosses easily with others in the mint family, that different mints planted within your garden can actually mingle their genes and produce unique and distinct offspring. That explains why a dear friend of mine, who lamented leaving his exceptionally pungent patch of mint behind in New Jersey when he moved to Virginia, was right when he said he could never find the exact same scent in mint plants here. It's possible he had a unique hybrid right in his yard, or one of the dozens available on the commercial market that may not have made it to our local garden centers.

Mint spreads mostly by runners, however, and not by seeds, and it will spread, far and wide. In fact, mint can even tunnel under fences, barriers, and other things you put in its way.

Experts at the Cooperative Extension recommend that if you wish to keep your mint contained, you container it - that is, you plant it in a container. You can sink the container into the soil to grow it in your garden without it spreading throughout and swallowing everything in its path.

Mint loves full sunshine, but can survive in partial shade. They tolerate a wide range of soil types and can survive drought. Pinch leaves or snip them off and dry them for use in teas and other cooking projects later in the year. Don't worry about over-harvesting your mint. It laughs in the face of adversity.

If you do find your mint patch taking over the yard, you may need to pull it out and pot up just enough to tide you over. Any little bit of stem or root left in the ground will find a way to grow again. (Ask me how I know). Be careful, thorough, and resigned to the fact that you may need to repeat the process of digging it up for several seasons until it gets the hint that it's no longer wanted.

Mint is easy to grow but can be a pest. If you love it, however, nothing beats the scent of freshly crushed mint leaves rolled between your fingers. To me, it's the scent of summer.

Tips to Keep Pests - and Pesticides - Out of the Garden

Attract beneficial insects.

Virginia Cooperative Extension recently published a great article called "Tips to Keep Pests - and Pesticides - Out of the Garden."  The Extension office recommends seven methods of insect control in the vegetable and ornamental garden that do not use pesticides. Instead, they rely on simple, common sense organic gardening techniques that can work very well in the home garden.

Among the advice offered in the article, the Extension Office recommends:

• Removing many insect pests by hand: A simple method to remove pests like the Colorado potato beetle and cucumber beetle larvae uses soapy water to drown them. Simply use a clean glass jar with a lid, like a spaghetti sauce jar that you're going to put into the recycling bin anyway. Place one tablespoon of liquid dish washing soap in the bottom and add water until the jar is one-quarter to halfway full. Then, put on a pair of rubber gloves or gardening gloves and pick the bugs off, one by one, dropping them into the soap water. The soap makes it impossible for them to climb out. Close the lid when you're finished insect removal and place the entire jar in the trash.

You can remove insects by hand instead of using pesticides.

• Using aluminum foil "collars" around seedlings to prevent cutworms: I never thought of using aluminum foil, but instead use newspaper or paper collars. Fold a strip of paper to make a thick collar, tape it shut, and place it around seedlings to act as a barrier for the cutworm. You can also cut a paper cup in half and use the open ring of paper as a cutworm collar.

Cutworm collars can be made from recycled materials. These are made from PVC pipe scraps. You can also use aluminum foil, newspaper or paper cups.

• Attract beneficial insects: Planting flowers around your vegetable garden not only attracts pollinators, it increases the number of beneficial insects in the garden, too. Predatory wasps can take care of tomato hornworms. Ladybugs will gobble up mites. A variety of flowers, herbs and vegetables offers a feast for insects of all types, but especially beneficials who will help keep the harmful insects in check.

Herbs like these chives planted among other vegetables attract beneficial insects.

For more tips, please see: 7 Tips to Keep Pests - and Pesticides - Out of the Garden from the Virginia Cooperative Extension.

Get Ready for Japanese Beetle Season

June is the season for roses, for the end of fresh garden lettuce and peas, and the start of tomato season. It's also the start of Japanese beetle season here in Virginia. Here are some recommendations from the Virginia Cooperative Extension on how to handle this pest.

Japanese Beetle Identification

First, know your enemy: Japanese beetles emerge sometime in the south central Virginia area around Father's Day. Some years it's a little before, some years, a little later. The brown beetles have an iridescent sheen to the carapace, or shell. 

The beetles don't migrate, but actually spend the entire year going through their larval and pupal stages in the earth. Around May, the larvae begin to wriggle to the surface. The fat grubs can often be found when digging in the soil, especially lawn areas where the adult beetles like to lay their eggs.

Japanese Beetle Damage

The larvae damage lawns by eating the roots. This turns the grass above brown, often in patches around where the insects are feeding. Adult Japanese beetles land on the leaves of many ornamental plants and eat holes through the leaves, creating a lace-like effect. They love roses, morning glories, and many, many other plants.

Image licensed from Shaka, Morguefile.com license

Good News and Bad News

The good news with Japanese beetle control is that a drought in July and/or August will kill off many of the eggs, thus reducing the population of beetles the following year. I say that's good news because we often get long dry spells at that time of year, which benefit us in terms of insect control.

Another bit of good news when it comes to Japanese beetle control is that the grubs or larval form of the insect are easier to control than the adults. Lawn-care products that promise to reduce or kill Japanese beetles are your best defense.

Natural Japanese beetle control includes Nematodes, specifically entomophagous nematodes, which are said by the Virginia Cooperative Extension to be effective in controlling the grubs.

Now here's the bad news: one the insects reach the adult form, they are difficult to control. Please see the Virginia Cooperative Extension website for detailed information on insecticides to control the adult beetles.

Can You Use Japanese Beetle Lures and Traps?

Nothing seems to generate more controversy than those ubiquitous bag traps you see hanging in people's yards. The traps work using scent lures and a bag. The scents mimic Japanese beetle pheromones or sex scents. When the beetles smell the come-hither scent, they fly to the trap, tumble into the bag, and can't get out. Every few days or weeks, you remove the bags and throw them in the trash, replacing them with fresh bags until the beetle onslaught has abated.

Some gardeners will swear that the traps work wonders. Others swear AT you when you hang up the traps, claiming you've just wasted your money and they don't work. Who is right? We have to go with the Virginia Cooperative Extension on this one. They claim that the traps work to some extent, but can attract more beetles into the area. That makes a lot of sense. After all, the goal of the scent lures is to attract beetles so it stands to reason that a trap may indeed lure more into your yard.

Whether you use the hanging traps or not is your choice, but given the few effective treatments against this invasive pest, a combination of larvae control, traps and planting resistant-species may help.

For more information on Japanese beetle control, please see:

• Virginia Cooperative Extension: Japanese Beetles
• Virginia Tech: Japanese Beetle Pest Management
• Virginia Tech: Managing Japanese Beetles in Corn Fields

Easy Care Plants: Succulents

Looking for an easy-care plant? Try succulents. These low-water use plants can tolerate a range of conditions and are virtually pest-free.

Sedums, like the ones shown above, are just one of many plants in the succulent family. They're characterized by thick, fleshy leaves that hold moisture. Unlike cacti, succulents do not have thorns. They evolved in arid (desert) regions of the world and like hot, dry conditions. Sounds familiar? Sounds like Virginia in the summer!

Because they can tolerate a wide range of conditions, succulents are ideal for those areas in your yard or garden that get hot sunlight. Sedums and other succulents do well in rock gardens where shallow soil is often the norm, and they also do well in pots and containers.

There are so many varieties of succulents available at your favorite nursery and garden center that it would be difficult to list them all. Choose one to add to your garden, find a sunny spot with dry conditions, and you've got the makings of a lovely succulent garden.

Native Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum)
One stonecrop native to Virginia is Sedum ternatum. This succulent actually prefers woodlands, where it grows in the quiet shade underneath trees. White flowers adorn the upright stems when the plant blooms in May or June. It's a lovely stonecrop that's worth investigating for your native plant garden.