|
Too Hot
Outside? Look
After Houseplants
Now
is a good time to take a hard look at your houseplants, where you can
work in air conditioning! Get tough on scraggly plants and start over
with a nice arrangement of fresh ones. Like outdoor flowerpots, you can
combine houseplants in colorful floor-sized ceramic containers to catch
the eye in any room. The rule for three plants is "a thriller, a
filler and a spiller." The arrangement shown here features a
variegated dracaena, golden pothos and variegated ivy. These are a good
combo for medium light indoors. Just don’t expect houseplants to look
great forever. Often they get leggy in low light or the leaf edges turn
brown in low humidity indoors. Two exceptions to this are Christmas
cactus, which can live for decades; and mother-in-law’s tongue (Sanseveria
species), which is about as close to plastic as a real plant can get.
Make
Soaker Hoses Last
Cover
black soaker hoses with mulch to block the sun. Water left in the hoses
can damage them when it expands. A layer of straw, pine straw or bark
mulch will help hoses last several seasons. In winter, store hoses where
they’re protected from freezes.
|
|
|
|
Monarch
Watch
The
last generation of Monarch butterflies flies hundreds of miles,
including over Alabama, to their winter resting place in the mountains
of central Mexico. During their fascinating journey, which is still not
completely understood, the butterflies depend greatly on sources of
nectar along the way to fuel their flight. You can create a Monarch way
station in your yard for Monarchs this fall by planting their favorite
nectar flowers, some of which can still be planted from seed if you
hurry; these are cosmos, marigold, tithonia and zinnia.
The
puzzle of Monarch migration inspired a national program called Monarch
Watch, where volunteers around the country and Canada capture, tag and
release monarchs in the fall so that if a butterfly is later recaptured,
its data can be used to learn more about their habits. To learn more
about Monarch Watch, which is headquartered at the University of Kansas,
visit www.monarchwatch.org,
contact them at University of Kansas, 1200 Sunnyside Ave., Lawrence, KS
66045-7534 or call (785) 864-4441. |
|
Garden
Whimsy from EPCOT
Each
spring the grounds at Disney’s EPCOT are even more spectacularly
planted than usual during the eight-week Flower and Garden Festival.
When I visited this spring, I saw a really fun idea for recycling old
tools in the Children’s Garden. The items were brightly painted and
nailed to a fence. So hold on to your junk tools to add a touch of
garden whimsy in your garden.
Order
Suitable Bulbs
The
garden catalogs for fall bulbs have been appearing in my mailbox since
last month. All the beautiful tulips, daffodils and other bulbs are a
great temptation, but I’ve learned that many of those just don’t
make it in our warm climate. To get the bulb varieties best suited to
our area, contact a local source such as your Co-op or garden center,
where knowledgeable staff order from experience. Bulbs begin to appear
in retail outlets next month. It’s great to try a few things out of
catalogs, but test them before buying by the dozens. The first year is
not a good test; wait and see how they come back the second spring to
determine their worth.
|
|
|
|
Feed the
Hummers as
They Go South
If
you haven’t already hung your hummingbird feeders, do it now to enjoy
the fall migration as hummingbirds begin flying south by the hundreds
soon. My late mother-in-law, a member of the Audubon Society, taught me
to make syrup for the feeder by diluting one cup of sugar in four cups
of hot water. Make sure the feeders are clean to start with by soaking
them in bleach water.
|
|
Lois
Trigg Chaplin is author of The Southern Garderner’s Book of Lists
and former Garden Editor of Southern Living Magazine.
|
|
