Dianthus

Cultivate New Mother’s Day Traditions with Summer Flowering Bulbs – Yahoo Finance

Seeds, Fertilizer, Varieties, Spring, Fall

A perennial garden favorite, tulips add cheerful springtime color in sunny gardens. Scientific Name: Tulipa.

Chrysanthemums send messages of well-being and joy. Daffodils, narcissus, and jonquils are perennials that rebloom in summer and fall.

Dianthus offers spunky blooms of pink to crimson, and needs sun and sandy soil. Jacob’s Ladder foliage forms hood-like blooms that attract hummingbirds.

Discover Mother’s Day Gift Inspiration from Flowerbulbs.com

PHILADELPHIA, May 9, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Spring is in full bloom, and with Mother’s Day just around the corner, iBulb has the perfect gift idea. Show appreciation for the amazing women in your life with a gift that keeps giving all summer, and maximize quality time spent together by giving the gift of summer flowering bulbs. It’s a meaningful way to say “thank you” for all she has done and a chance to create lasting memories while bringing beauty and life to her garden.

This Mother’s Day, let’s look beyond the usual gift options and give her something better, the promise of quality time in her garden with her family and friends. Summer flowering bulbs are a fantastic way to add color to any garden. And they make a wonderful gift for any mother who loves to spend time outdoors with her loved ones. Whether she has a green thumb or is just starting to explore the gardening world, summer flowering bulbs are the perfect way to get out in the garden and appreciate all that springtime has to offer.

May is the perfect time to plant summer bulbs in much of the US. The risk of frost has been lifted, and ground conditions are ideal for planting. Some popular varieties of summer flowering bulbs include dahlias, gladiolus, lilies, and canna lilies. These bulbs come in a wide range of varieties and color options. Customize the perfect mix of bulbs to suit her garden style. Whether she is looking for a serene, all-white mix of bulbs or an explosion of bright, vibrant colors, Flowerbulbs.com has all the inspiration available to make her garden shine all summer long. By giving the gift of summer bulbs, Mom can create a lasting display of beauty and magnificence that she’ll cherish for years to come.

Planting a summer bulb garden with Mom is a relaxing and enjoyable experience and the perfect opportunity to build new, meaningful traditions each spring. Get the whole family involved and design a bulb garden that reflects her unique style. As a bonus, she will have access to stunning cut flowers right from her own backyard.

With proper planting, summer bulbs can bloom continuously from June through September and beyond, providing a gift that will keep giving. Give her a reason to smile as she remembers her bright and beautiful summer garden and all the memories created while planting.

When Mom is out in the garden gathering the last of her dahlias before the first frost, she’s guaranteed to smile, all thanks to you.

iBulb is the promotional organization of Royal Anthos. iBulb promotes the use of flower bulbs, bulb flowers, and bulbs in pots through worldwide PR activities and advertising campaigns. More information and high-resolution images are available at http://www.iBulb.org. Please visit http://www.Flowerbulbs.com for inspiration and education. Mentioning Flowerbulbs.com is always appreciated.

Garden Media Group represents iBulb in the United States. They specialize in the home, garden, horticulture, outdoor-living, and lawn and landscape industries. They offer innovative PR campaigns to secure top media placements and partnerships with traditional and social media. For gardening tips, new product announcements, and PR and marketing tips, visit http://www.gardenmediagroup.com.

Media Contact

PeggyAnne Montgomery, Garden Media Group, 6104443040, peggyanne@gardenmediagroup.com

Bridget Langan, Garden Media Group, 6104443040, bridget@gardenmediagroup.com

SOURCE Flowerbulbs.com

Source: finance.yahoo.com

What to know about hiring a pro gardening service – The Washington Post

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Whether you’re an avid gardener or just looking for flowers to add to your bouquet, there’s something for everyone in this list of popular flower types.

Seeds: Dianthus

Dianthus are an easy-to-grow, hardy workhorse of the flower farmer. Their long vase life, sweet scent and cottage garden esthetic make them a go-to addition to floral arrangements.

Fifteen years ago, Cathy Haynes started R-A-G Thyme Gardening in New Boston, N.H., on the premise that others hated weeding as much as her mother did. Now, she and her husband — along with a crew of 15 — maintain, design and install gardens for about 180 customers with yards ranging from a quarter acre to several acres, and they have a wait list. “There’s work out there for us to have twice as many employees,” she says. “But it’s just too many people to handle.”

Some 18 million Americans took up gardening during the pandemic, according to a 2021 survey by the National Gardening Association. Amateur gardeners planted flower, vegetable and pollinator gardens; new homeowners tackled overgrown yards; and longtime homeowners replaced lawns with planting beds. Now that life has returned to something resembling normal, though, many people no longer have the time to maintain those gardens.

Enter professional gardeners, who fill a niche between businesses that plant and service gardens in expensive Zip codes, and landscapers who offer garden maintenance along with a host of other services.

“Fine gardening companies only take care of the gardens they planted,” said Bill Haynes, president of R-A-G (Rent-A-Gardener) Thyme Gardening. “Landscapers want to get in and out as fast as possible.” Professional gardening services, on the other hand, design and install new gardens, restore old ones and offer maintenance services such as watering, deadheading, dividing perennials and manual weeding.

13 essential tools you need to get started as a gardener

“Planting a garden is one thing, maintaining it is quite another,” says Tina Yi, owner of Blue Cabin Gardens, Ringwood, N.J. “Even a small garden requires a lot of work.”

If you find yourself over- or underwhelmed by your gardens, it might be time to call in a service. Read on for tips on how to find — and get the most out of — a professional gardener.

Know what’s included

Most gardeners weed by hand (rather than using chemicals), deadhead spent flowers, water and feed plants, treat and prevent infestations, edge, mulch, plant annuals and prune beyond shaping a shrub into a ball or cone.

Gardeners typically offer weekly, biweekly, monthly and seasonal arrangements. R-A-G Thyme Gardening accounts include spring and fall cleanups plus a one-time summer visit; twice-monthly maintenance for small gardens; and weekly plans for large yards with several gardens. It depends on a customer’s budget and penchant for tidiness, says Cathy Haynes. “To us, it’s about the look. We’ll go in there and make it look neat, clean and pristine.”

Gardeners also offer design services and installation. “People are getting away from the same foundational plants used over and over with no gardens,” says Yi. “We’re at a point where homeowners are willing to try new things.” Like most professional gardeners, she also does containers and window boxes.

Find a gardener

Despite the booming market, gardeners can be hard to come by. “There aren’t a lot of people who do this,” says Yi, who holds a horticultural certificate from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. “If I’m working in front of someone’s home, people will come by and talk.”

Most R-A-G Thyme customers come via word of mouth, or when someone sees an employee working at a property or driving one of the company’s trucks. “One time someone chased us down right into our driveway,” Bill Haynes said.

Find out who plants and maintains local public gardens, or ask neighbors with impressive gardens who maintains them. Check community sustainability, gardening and native plant Facebook groups for recommendations. If you’re creating or maintaining a pollinator garden, native plant landscapers and nurseries often offer maintenance in addition to design and install services.

Search online for “self-employed professional gardeners in my area.” In the search results, there might be a gardener or two mixed in with traditional landscapers. You may also come across names in the growing field of garden coaches. But a little research showed that most of these professionals are consultants offering gardening education and advice, not maintenance services.

Set a budget

Depending on where you live and the gardener’s level of expertise, expect to pay about $50 an hour for maintenance. R-A-G Thyme Gardening charges $50 an hour per worker, and sends a minimum of two gardeners for a minimum of two hours to a property. As with most gardeners, they will visit a property and provide an estimate.

Make the most of the visit

Determine your top maintenance needs. Do you want a perfectly manicured garden or a freshened-up look? Do you want the garden watered while you’re away for part of the summer, then serviced upon your return? Is there room in the budget for annuals? If so, what colors would you like to see?

Beyond basic maintenance, point out your concerns. Does the garden flood after a heavy rain? Is one plant spreading beyond the bed? Is there a weedy section of lawn that could be replaced with a perennial garden? Is there a memorial tree that needs attention?

Ask how many hours it will take, and don’t be surprised if it’s more than you thought. “Gardening takes much more time than average landscaper work,” said Bill Haynes.

Let the gardener do most of the talking

Now’s not the time to get chatty. The gardener most likely has additional appointments, and can only devote so much time to the estimate. Stick to the topic so you don’t return indoors only to realize you didn’t cover everything.

Save money by using what you have

A gardener can relocate and divide plants, turn over last year’s mulch, and renew mature shrubs by properly pruning them over several seasons.

Gardeners can also make over a poorly planted new garden, enliven a low-luster one and restore a neglected one to its former glory. “One of our favorite things is bringing a garden back to what it was while incorporating what the new customer wants,” says Bill Haynes.

Give the gift of a gardener

Know someone who can’t tend to their garden? Consider paying for their maintenance. Cathy Haynes says a customer in Oregon paid her to service his parents’ gardens. “I love my elderly customers,” she says. “They want someone who will take care of their gardens as well as they did, and really appreciate the service.”

Now there’s a good Mother’s or Father’s Day gift.

Monica Cardoza is a writer based in Ridgewood, N.J. Her website is monicacardoza.com. Find her on Twitter @probablyoutside and Instagram @thegreatlocaloutdoors.

Source: washingtonpost.com

Good Natured Gardening: Lily of the Nile is a flower of love – The San Diego Union-Tribune

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Popular Flower Types

Add color to your garden with these easy-to-grow perennial flowers. Choose from yellow, red, orange, bronze and white varieties, adding height and texture to borders, kitchen gardens and natural landscapes.

These showy flowers bloom in early spring and provide a pop of color well into fall. They are easy to grow and attract pollinators.

According to Garden Guides, Agapanthus is derived from the Greek words: agape, which means love, and anthos, which means flower.

Taken together, the agapanthus is the flower of love. It’s also known as African lily and Lily of the Nile, tributes to its African origins.

Of course, a lot of flowers, such as carnations, gardenias, lilacs, orchids, and tulips, want to be called the love flower. But the red rose remains the reigning champ.

The regal Agapanthus is a colorful herbaceous perennial that blooms in blue, violet or white, depending on the variety. Their trumpet-shaped blooms are highly attractive to bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

According to Flowers.style.com, the “African Lily and Lily of the Nile, Agapanthus flowers are not lilies!” And knowing that botanists like to mess with us, we all should have seen that coming. These flowers are related to onions. They belong to the Amaryllidaceae gang, whose members include the notorious amaryllis, daffodils, and snowdrops.

Originating from South Africa, Agapanthus today thrive in Mediterranean climates around the world. In the mid-1600s, ships of the Dutch East India Company stopped at Capetown, for supplies, including exotic plants, and brought them to the Netherlands. I’m not sure how they made it to America, but my guess was via Teleflora. Or Amazon. Or DoorDash. Or…well, gee whiz making this stuff up gets confusing.

Agapanthus are either deciduous or evergreen. The deciduous varieties are hardier than the evergreens and grow well in pots. Some reach just 12” high, making them especially suited to containers; others can reach 5’ tall.

The general specs: soil should be well-draining, loose, and organically rich. Soil pH: 5.5 – 7.5. Full sun.

Bloom time: June through September. Space 2’ apart. Height & width: 2’ – 4’. Time to maturity: 2 – 3 years. Cut back in October and November. Remove dead leaves and deadhead spent flowers (or just leave them if you want to collect the seeds).

In the spring, administer a dose of slow-release 5-5-5 NPK granular fertilizer, and then again 2 months later. Mulch annually.

Good companion plants: birds of paradise, coneflowers, dianthus, hydrangea, Shasta daisies or wisteria.

Most gardeners start with purchased plants, divisions, or bare-root rhizomes, which yield flowering plants
in just one or two seasons. Plant them in the spring or fall in a sunny spot. Many tolerate a little shade.

Dig a hole deep and wide enough for the root ball. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

Water one inch per week, until you see new growth. Use drip irrigation instead of overhead watering, which can lead to fungal infection.

If planting rhizomes, place them pointy side up, root side down, and cover with 2” of soil. If growing in containers, start with a pot that’s 18+” in diameter.

Agapanthus can be propagated either from seed or by root division.

When planting from seed, it’ll take 2 to 3 years for them to flower. Slow and steady will still get you there. To speed up the germination process, place a heat mat underneath the seed tray. The ideal temperature for germination is 70-80°F.

Use a seed tray filled with potting mix, and cover the seeds with 1/8th of an inch of sand or perlite. When the seedlings each have three to four leaves, you can transplant them to larger pots filled with sand and rich potting soil. Keep in mind that seeds saved from an existing plant won’t necessarily produce true to the parent plant. May nice and sweet surprises come your way.

Planting root divisions is a faster way to produce blooms than seeds. Only divide after the plant has bloomed.

Deciduous varieties should be divided every six to eight years; evergreen types every four to five years. In the springtime, divide the roots by digging up the entire plant. Using a knife, carefully cut the root ball in half between the shoots. Take each of these sections and cut them in two.

Punching those numbers into your calculator, you should now have four new pieces. Each should have one or two shoots attached. Leave the new divisions outdoors, uncovered and out of direct sunlight, for 24 hours to allow the roots to stop bleeding sap. Cover the root ball, but allow any shoots to poke up above the surface.

Occasionally, fungal diseases will damage foliage; simply remove the affected leaves. If you see white spots (powdery mildew), silvery coating (botrytis), or brown spots (anthracnose), remove affected leaves and spray with a copper fungicide. If you have root rot, ensure the soil is well-draining. Watch for slugs and snails. Some varieties get the collywobbles, better known as upset tummies.

According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension, agapanthus rhizomes (roots), leaves, and sap are toxic if ingested, and the sap can irritate the skin. Keep children and pets away from these plants.

Wear gloves when handling.

Some other varieties to consider: ‘Galaxy White’ (5” white flowers, can reach 40”); ‘Jacaranda’ (blue flowers in June through to August; height of 3’); ‘Peter Pan’ (dwarf with blue blooms)’ and ‘Midnight Cascade’ (dark blue flowers from August to September; grows to 2’ tall);

Whatever you call the Lilies of the Nile, they’re all flowers of love. But so are carnations, gardenias, lilacs, orchids, tulips, and roses.

Schmidt is a Poway resident with over 40 years of gardening experience.

Source: sandiegouniontribune.com

Gardening 101: Planting colorful perennials – CBS News

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Popular Flower Types

A variety of perennials offer year-round color. Choose a few with bloom times that work for your garden and climate.

For example, astilbe sprouts stunning plumes that add color to shady spots in the yard. Heuchera, also known as coral bells, produces dainty blooms that attract hummingbirds.

Gardening 101: Growing spring perennials

Gardening 101: Growing spring perennials 01:55

FORT WORTH (CBSNewsTexas.com) — One of my favorite places to visit is the Trial Garden at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. A stroll anytime during the growing season can educate you about what grows here in North Texas.

For every plant in the garden, you can take a picture and go find it at a local nursery, which can be difficult for some varieties. A surefire way to find the plant you found in the Trial Garden is to go to the bi-annual plant sale the FWBG puts on.

If you are a member there, you can shop on the Thursday before it opens to the public and get the first picks. I paid a visit to the garden with Steve Huddleston of FWBG. He pointed out three flowering plants that put on a show in April (and, for some, beyond).

Stemless Four-Nerve Daisy — Four-nerve daisy Getty Images/iStockphoto

The Four-nerve daisy will flower mostly through March to June. If you keep it feed and watered, it could bloom most of the year. This is native and Texas tough; you find it in the wild growing in rocky hillsides. It gets just over a foot tall.

Cheddar Pink - Dianthus gratianopolitanus Rare Somerset fllower — “Bath’s pink” dianthus Getty Images/iStockphoto

“Bath’s pink” dianthus flowers in April with a brilliant display. The rest of the year, enjoy the silver-gray mat of foliage that will serve as a great foreground to some summer flowering plants.

Sage Royal Bumble — Autumn sage Getty Images/iStockphoto

Autumn sage (Salvia greggii) is a North Texas garden must. Once established, these plants are difficult to kill. The best part is that they provide local pollinators some steady food through just about the entire spring, summer and fall. They also come in a wide range of colors. These plants get about two feet tall and grow well in a crowded community.

Fill your garden with native flowering perennials and you’ll significantly lower your watering bill while feeding local pollinators. You’ll also only have to buy these plants once – unless you have a neighbor that grows them and they need dividing.

Then you get them for free!

Jeff Ray

Jeff joined CBS 11 and TXA 21 in December 2010. He came to North Texas from Nashville, where he spent the past 11 years, most recently as the morning meteorologist at WKRN-TV. His career has also taken him to Kansas City, Mo., where he was the senior meteorologist at KSHB-TV.

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Source: cbsnews.com

Gardening: These orchids can be grown outdoors in Southern California – OCRegister

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Popular Flower Types

There are many different flowers that have an international appeal. They are a great way to express your feelings and bring positivity into your life!

Dianthus is one of the easiest spring flowers to grow from seed. Their long vase life and sweet scent make them a great addition to bouquets and arrangements.

Orchids are commonly thought of as delicate plants for indoor use, yet there are at least three species that can readily be grown outdoors in Southern California. There are an additional four species I have observed thriving outdoors on separate occasions, although I cannot vouch for their general suitability for outdoor growing in our area.

Cymbidium: Locally, this is the best orchid for growing outdoors in containers. I recently received a photo of a glorious cymbidium orchid growing in a container in Huntington Beach. The photo was taken six years after its caretaker, Janet Guillen, divided an orchid she inherited when her mother passed away. She had split the original plant in two, planted the divisions in Miracle-Gro Potting Mix in medium-sized containers, and situated them on a patio sheltered from direct sun.

Cymbidium orchid in Huntington Beach. (Photo courtesy of Janet Guillen)

When I asked Guillen what she does in terms of maintenance, she replied, “I just water them,” but also wanted to know what to do going forward since roots were growing through the bottom of her pots. Many orchid species, and cymbidiums in particular, flower at their maximum potential when crowded. In the case of cymbidiums, roots can be growing over the side of the pot or through drainage holes and continue to bloom heavily for many, many years.

There is a great temptation to repot when roots are not confined to the interior of the pot, but you need to be aware that should you divide your plant, you may have to wait several years until you see flowers again. In nature, cymbidiums may be either epiphytes (tree dwellers), lithophytes (meaning they grow on rocks), or terrestrial (meaning they grow directly in the earth). There are also miniature cymbidiums that grow as small as eight inches tall with tiny flowers to match.

Interestingly enough, if you keep Cymbidiums exclusively indoors, they will never bloom. According to Tony Glinskas of Huntington Beach, who is a member of the Cool Growing Orchid Society of Orange County, “Cymbidiums must have about a 20-degree Fahrenheit change in temperature between day and night in the fall or flower spiking will not occur. I have seen cymbidiums bloom in Hawaii only because they truck them up to the high mountains for a few days to get that temperature spread.”

Glinskas adds that “most orchids require more light, humidity, and temperature variation than we normally have in our homes.” The one exception is the ubiquitous moth orchid (Phalaenopsis), seen wherever indoor plants are sold. Its temperature range for growth resembles that of human beings (a constant 60-85 degrees) although it will need 10-12 hours of daily light exposure to bloom the way it should.

When I first visited the unforgettable garden of Richard Lynch in San Pedro, large clumps of cymbidiums planted in the ground had burst into bloom. Speaking with him the other day, he tells me that due to the many different cymbidium cultivars that he grows, he sees a steady show of cymbidium flowers starting in November and continuing at least through the month of March.

Epidendrum: I first encountered this plant, known as reed orchid due to its slender stems, growing in a large flower bed in Granada Hills that faced south but backed up to the facade of a house. It has been my experience that walls have a moderating influence on extreme temperatures where plant growth is concerned. This was definitely the case here although these orchids are known for growing in both full sun, which may turn their stems red, and partial shade.

Epidendrums make excellent container plants as well and, like cymbidiums, bloom in a wide range of colors including yellow, orange, red, burgundy, bronze, pink, lavender, purple, and white. Inflorescences consist of clusters of small, star-shaped blooms. I have encountered Epidendrums – whether growing in the ground or in containers – throughout the San Fernando Valley, and all points south of there. They spread vegetatively through underground rhizomes.

Bletilla: Known as Chinese ground orchid or simply hardy orchid due to its cold tolerance down to 25 degrees, this is a carefree terrestrial orchid that is highly suitable for use as a ground cover, proliferating through its aggressive rhizomes, and I once saw a front yard in Sherman Oaks that had been completely overtaken by it. Flowers are fuchsia, purple, or white, and resemble diminutive versions of Cattleya or corsage orchids.

Oncidium: Its common name of dancing ladies refers to the form of its small yellow flowers that are studded in great profusion along its stems. I once saw this orchid growing in a container under an arbor in Thousand Oaks.

Zygopetalum: Planted in the ground, I witnessed the purple flowers of this most fragrant of all orchids and enjoyed their scent as it wafted through the San Pedro garden previously mentioned. This orchid’s caretaker informed me that it blooms on and off throughout the year.

Dendrobium: I was privileged to encounter pink rock orchid (Dendrobium kingianum) in a small backyard planter in Westwood. Its delicate blooms were quite enchanting.

Laelia: Closely resembling cattleyas, with which they freely hybridize, there are cold-tolerant cultivars that grow outdoors as far north as San Francisco. My first encounter with a Laelia was when I saw a dazzling specimen vining up the trunk of a large cycad in Glendale.

You are invited to tell me about your orchid-growing experience so I can share it with readers of this column.

A musical version of “The Secret Garden” is now playing at the Ahmanson Theatre, located in The Music Center in downtown Los Angeles. This is a classic story of personal transformation, as well as achieving family peace, through the restoration of a garden. Performances will continue through March 28th and tickets are available online at centertheatregroup.org.

Manzanita Arctostaphylos densiflora var. Howard McMinn.(Photo by Joshua Siskin)

California native plant of the week: I am astonished each year at the spectacular bloom of my manzanita, a plant that never gets any attention from me except when I gaze or gawk, glare or stare at it. Each year, it blooms with more flowers than the year before and it has been doing this for the past two decades.

I am privileged to have planted Arctotsaphylos densiflora ‘Howard McMinn,’ a variety second to none when its abundant bloom and symmetrical form are considered. It is slowly approaching its ultimate size when height and girth will reach eight feet.

Alas, I have never seen the fruit (manzanita means “little apple” in Spanish) for which this plant is named. There can only be one explanation for this: the native bees responsible for causing vibrations that move pollen to stigma – which is needed for fruit and seed development – are not present in this part of California when this manzanita is in bloom.

With all manzanitas, these native bees grasp hold of the flowers and through “buzz pollination” or sonication dislodge pollen, allowing it to move down the flower, an inverted urn, until it rests on a stigma. This same phenomenon happens with the flowers of blueberry bushes, which are relatives of manzanita and prove this relationship with urn-shaped flowers of their own. Manzanitas run the gamut when it comes to form with mat-like ground-hugging species, compact bushes, large shrubs and trees all included in the wide-ranging repertoire of the Arctostaphylos genus.

Send questions, comments, and photos to joshua@perfectplants.com

Source: ocregister.com