Searching for signs of springby aldona |
As the song goes, “spring will be a little late this year.” At least that’s how it’s felt to me.
It’s been a dark, cold and snowy and seemingly never-ending winter here in Toronto, but this week we’ve had a few warm, sunny days and brilliant blue skies. It’s a perfect time to walk around the neighbourhood to search for signs of spring. In my garden I can see daffodils poking their way through a mulch of leaves, while the blooms on my ‘Primavera’ witch hazel brighten up the fenceline.
I walk around the corner in search of crocuses and snowdrops with no success, but notice that buds are fattening up on shrubs and some ground-covering sedum is showing its first signs of life.
When the weather is like this, gardeners itch to get out there and start the cleanup. Please resist. It’s much too early to rake off that mulch—winter ain’t done yet and you could give your plants a nasty, cold shock. It’s best to wait until the weather really settles down and warms up to stay.
Next: Adventures in Arizona
Tags: 'Primavera' witch hazel, daffodils, signs of spring, spring clean-up
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This is a message for Aldona.
I was saddened to hear that you are leaving Canadian Gardening, and hope to read your articles wherever that might be.
I have a question for you. I have read that this is a good time to apply a layer of compost over the beds now however, I do not have any compost myself, can you recommend where I might be able to locate it.
Waiting for your reply, thank-you, Jasmine
Hello from Arizona, Jasmine. Thanks for your kind words. Depending on where you live, you can buy bags of various types of commercial compost from garden centres and big-box stores. Don’t underestimate the goodness of a bit of bagged cattle or sheep manure, too. And if your municipality composts, you can sometimes pick up free (or low-cost) compost from them–it’s worth checking out.
Hello from Southwestern Ontario. The weather is just wonderful here and all my great flowers are popping up. I have a Dropmore Scarlet Honeysuckle that is about 3 years old and just won’t flower. Is this a water issue? Too little, too much?
Is is a very hardy vine, just bloomless.
Should I just take it out and try again with another?
Hi Gillian. Some plants can be duds, but don’t give up just yet. Tell me a bit more. Is the honeysuckle planted in the sun, or in the shade? Are you feeding it with anything, and if so, what? What type of soil do you garden in? Is the vine next to a lawn where it might be receiving too much nitrogen from fertilizer (which promotes leaves, not flowers). Let’s see if we can get to the bottom of this…
Aldona, thank you so much for your quick reply.
The honeysuckle in question is in the sun in a small garden along our garage. The surrounding area is a walkway for our pool (salt water, so no real chemicals there) so no grass to speak of. Next to the honeysuckle is a lovely cluster of James March Lilies. They do quite well.
I usually fertilze with Miracle Grow, haven’t yet this year.
The honeysucle grows quite tall and is very lush, just no blooms. I believe it to be in it’s third season.
Well, this is a stumper. The conditions are fine and you seem to be doing all the right things, though non-blooming honeysuckle is not as rare as you might think. And fertilizing with Miracle-gro is okay, as it has a high middle number (phosphorus) that encourages blooms.
This vine blooms on new wood, so is there a chance you’ve been pruning off all the buds in early spring? If not, perhaps your vine is just a slow starter (I have a bayberry that did nothing for years, but is now beautiful.) Some would say hack it back and give it a root pruning to shock it into action, but I’m of a gentler disposition. Why not give it a few more years and basically leave it alone, tidying it up as need be but not pruning over-aggressively. Feed it with compost and mulch the roots. If nothing happens, whack and hack.
You may have nailed it for me!!
I cut the whole vine down in the fall to about 24 inches.
All growth is on new wood.
This fall I will leave her alone and perhaps just give her a trim. Thanks for the advice. I really do hate to get rid of her for she is a good-looking vince to begin with.
Well, sometimes benign neglect will do the trick. Good luck with your honeysuckle, and happy gardening!
Another question for you. On a walk thru my neighbourhoood yesterday I walked past a home that had jasmine in bloom. I have noticed it before and it just dawned on me that jasime does not over winter in my area (zone 5). So my question is, what is it? Is is really jasmine is it or is it a plant that looks and smells like it?
You’re right—jasmine will not overwinter in Zone 5. So here’s a question for you: could this plant have been overwintered in the house or in a conservatory, and simply brought outside for the summer? That’s what I do with a number of plants including Agapanthus (lily-of-the-Nile), which spends winter on my sunporch and summer in the garden. It’s in full bloom right now. Or are you positive this plant is one that’s well-established and growing from the ground?
The plant that I saw was growing from the ground covering a chain link fence. From my time in Greece, the scent this plant has is Jasmine (according to my nose, that is…LOL). I will stop and ask the home owner what the plant is. I will let you know what I find out.
While I am here picking your brain, I have yet another question. I planted two “Wonder of Staffa Asters”. Do I cut this plant down right to the ground in the fall or do I let it go as is thru the fall.