Water your lawn - Set out cottage cheese containers on the lawn and put a mark one inch up from the bottom. Run your sprinkler and time how long it takes to fill the containers to the mark. That's how long you should run your sprinklers to water your lawn once a week.
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Tradescantia 'Blue and Gold'
A beautiful member of the spiderwort family, this vigorous, easy to grow perennial features spectacular, sparkling golden foliage and gentian-blue flowers. It will grow in most any soil type, even wet bogs. Cut back long sprawling stems after primary bloom and plants will re-bloom come fall. Give it a sunny location in moist soil, and enjoy a spot of sunshine yellow and blue in your mixed border. - Ciscoe Key feature: Dramatic foliage color Plant type: Perennial Light needs: Partial to full sun Growth rate: Fast Water needs: Needs wet or constantly moist soil Average landscape size: Grows quickly to only 12 inches tall and 18 inches wide Recommendations from the Gardeners at Whitney Farms: Whitney Farms Organic Planting Soil and Whitney Farms Organic Rose & Flower Food. For container gardening use Whitney Farms Organic Potting Soil.Ciscoe's plant of the week can be found at several local retailers.
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Prune Rhododendrons and other spring blooming plants as soon as the flowers fade.
Fertilize the lawn with organic lawn food. Water it in, if no precipitation is expected.
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Autumn Salvia 'Hot Lips'
Autumn Salvia 'Hot Lips' is one of my all-time favorite plants. Give it a sunny, well-drained location and the fragrant foliage will be covered all summer long with gazillions of red and white flowers. I cut mine back about 2/3rds of the way to the ground once growth starts in the spring. Wear a hard hat if you're going to cut a few flowers to add to bouquets, because the hummingbirds will dive bomb you if they catch you taking away even one of their coveted treats! - Ciscoe Key feature: Attracts Hummingbirds Plant type: Perennial Light needs: Full sun Growth rate: Fast Water needs: Once established, needs only occasional watering Average landscape size: Fast grower to 3 feet tall and wide Recommendations from the Gardeners at Whitney Farms: Whitney Farms Organic Planting Soil and Whitney Farms Organic and Natural All Purpose Plant Food. For container gardening use Whitney Farms Organic Potting SoilCiscoe's plant of the week can be found at several local retailers.
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Put up a hummingbird feeder where you can enjoy watching those crazy acrobats do their thing. The best kinds of hummingbird feeders have a perch so the birds can rest. Use only one part granulated sugar to four parts water in the feeder, and wash it often with vinegar.
Water any newly planted trees, shrubs or perennials, even drought tolerant ones, well until they establish a healthy, strong root system. Even desert plants need extra water until they establish a large root system.
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Hosta 'Great Expectations'
There is a reason 'Great Expectations' the number one selling Hosta of all time. The center of the bluish green puckered leaves on this 2.5 foot beauty are yellow in the spring, turning to dark butter-yellow in the summer, making for a spectacular contrast. The pink June flowers even attract hummingbirds. This Hosta will glow in your woodland garden. - Ciscoe Key feature: Dramatic foliage color Plant type: Perennial Light needs: Full to partial shade Growth rate: Moderate Water needs: Needs wet or constantly moist soil Average landscape size: Grows into mounding, dome-shaped clumps, 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide Recommendations from the Gardeners at Whitney Farms: Whitney Farms Organic Planting Soil and Whitney Farms Organic and Natural Smart Start Planting Inoculant Fertilizer For container gardening use Whitney Farms Organic Potting SoilCiscoe's plant of the week can be found at several local retailers.
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Prune barberry as soon as they're done blooming. Rather than shearing them into a ball, thin to give them a natural fountain shape. Watch out they have nasty prickers!
Plant Dahlia tubers 6 inches deep - work in a handful of organic bulb & bloom food and a handful of bone meal into the hole before planting, and stake the tuber before filling in the hole. Bait for slugs that devour newly emerging Dahlia steams with slug bait for organic gardening.
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Papaver nudicaule 'Champagne Bubbles'
If you love pastel flowers, you will love the three inch satiny, slightly fragrant flowers that sway gently in the breeze like colorful champagne bubbles above this poppy. Deadhead as the summer progresses and this baby will reward you with beautiful flowers all summer long. At the end of summer, let it go to seed, this beautiful annual won't survive the winter, but it often reseeds to add beauty in your next year's spring garden. - Ciscoe Key feature: Showy flowers Plant type: Perennial Light needs: Full sun Growth rate: Fast Water needs: Once established, only needs occasional watering Average landscape size: Fast grower to 10 to 12 inches tall, 12 inches wide Recommendations from the Gardeners at Whitney Farms: Whitney Farms Organic Planting Soil and Whitney Farms Organic and Natural All Purpose Plant Food. For container gardening use Whitney Farms Organic Potting SoilCiscoe's plant of the week can be found at several local retailers.
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Support great institutions - support local plant sales that support great institutions and causes such as Children's Hospital, the Arboretum and the Master Gardeners.
Feed Rhododendrons - with organic and natural Rhododendron food.
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Silene dioica 'Clifford Moor'
This perennial features dark green leaves, brilliantly bordered with a bright creamy gold. Silene dioica 'Clifford Moor' grows to 18 inches and the real show starts when the starlight pink flowers burst into bloom in early summer. Give it a sunny spot and rich perennial garden soil and this plant will thrive for years. - Ciscoe Key feature: Showy flowers Plant type: Perennial Light needs: Full sun Growth rate: Moderate Water needs: Once established, needs only occasional watering Average landscape size: Grows to 12 to 18 inches tall, 12 foot spread Recommendations from the Gardeners at Whitney Farms: Whitney Farms Organic Planting Soil and Whitney Farms Organic and Natural All Purpose Plant Food. For container gardening use Whitney Farms Organic Potting SoilCiscoe's plant of the week can be found at several local retailers.
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Feed garlic with a high nitrogen natural all-purpose liquid plant food. Look for an 8-0-0 ratio. Fertilize every two weeks to promote rapid growth and a big bulb. Stop fertilizing and cut back on watering on the summer Solstice.
Prune Forsythia by removing 1/3 of the old canes after they stop blooming.
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Lithodora diffusa 'White Star'
This ground cover has dark green leaves. It gets 12 inches tall, can spread to four feet wide, and is absolutely covered with wonderful starlight flowers of deep blue with a white stripe. Hummingbirds are driven crazy for the flowers of this ground cover. It looks fantastic cascading over a sunny wall. - Ciscoe Key feature: Attracts Hummingbirds Plant type: Perennial Light needs: Full sun Growth rate: Moderate Water needs: Once established, needs only occasional watering Average landscape size: Grows to 6 to 12 inches tall, 18 inches wide Recommendations from the Gardeners at Whitney Farms: Whitney Farms Organic Planting Soil and Whitney Farms Natural Azalea, Camellia & Rhododendron FoodCiscoe's plant of the week can be found at several local retailers.
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The best defense against lawn moss is to keep your grass thick and growing vigorously. Grass won't grow well in shade, so consider removing shady areas of lawn and replacing it with shade loving shrubs and perennials.
The best way to prevent moss from accumulating in garden beds is to scrape it out with a stirrup or scuffle hoe (a special hoe that scrapes the surface, available at garden centers) and then cover the soil with wood chip mulch.
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Lewisia cotyledon 'Sunset Series'
There's nothing more spectacular than the brilliant blooms and shades of pink, salmon, violet and orange on the evergreen succulent foliage of Lewisia cotyledon 'Sunset Series'. Give it a sunny, well-drained location and deadhead regularly for repeat blooms all summer long. - Ciscoe Key feature: Showy flowers Plant type: Perennial Light needs: Full to partial sun Growth rate: Moderate Water needs: Once established, needs only occasional watering Average landscape size: Grows to 6 to 10 inches tall, 6 to 12 wide Recommendations from the Gardeners at Whitney Farms: Whitney Farms Organic Planting Soil Whitney Farms Organic and Natural Smart Start Planting Inoculant FertilizerCiscoe's plant of the week can be found at several local retailers.
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Sow lettuce directly into the garden. Work 1 cup of organic vegetable food and a 1/2 cup of bone meal into the soil for every 10 feet of row.
Weeds are coming up like wild banshees. Try to get them out before they go to seed and drive you crazy.
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Allium 'Purple Sensation'
Take zillions of tiny reddish-violet flowers, compress them into a four to five inch ball and float it atop a 20 to 30 inch stem in early spring, oh la la, nothing looks better than letting that grow up between medium and tall growing perennials and shrubs. Give 'em a little bit of fertilizer and a sunny spot and they'll form giant clumps in no time. - Ciscoe Key feature: Showy flowers Plant type: Perennial Light needs: Full sun to partial shade Growth rate: Moderate Water needs: Needs regular watering Average landscape size: Grows to 26 to 34 inches tall, 5 to 6 inches across Recommendations from the Gardeners at Whitney Farms: Whitney Farms Organic Planting Soil, Whitney Farms Organic Rose & Flower FoodCiscoe's plant of the week can be found at several local retailers.
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Sow lettuce directly into the garden. Work 1 cup of organic vegetable food and a 1/2 cup of bone meal into the soil for every 10 feet of row.
Weeds are coming up like wild banshees. Try to get them out before they go to seed and drive you crazy.
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Pulsatilla vulgaris 'Rote Glocke'
If you see this plant just before it blooms, you won't be able to resist petting it. That's because it's covered with soft down, making it look almost like a little puppy. Then almost before the leaves unfurl the buds will open to reveal two inch wide crimson red flowers with deep golden yellow centers. Pulsatilla is known as wind flower because the gorgeous leaves silky white seed heads that follow the flowers, pulse in the slightest breeze. Hey, if you're really lucky, one or two of the seeds that have scattered about the garden might germinate and give you a free one of these great plants. - Ciscoe Key feature: Showy flowers Plant type: Perennial Light needs: Full sun to partial shade Growth rate: Moderate Water needs: Once established, needs only occasional watering Average landscape size: Grows to 6 to 12 inches tall, 8 to 12 inches wide Recommendations from the Gardeners at Whitney Farms: Whitney Farms Organic Planting Soil,Whitney Farms Organic and Natural All Purpose Plant FloodCiscoe's plant of the week can be found at several local retailers.
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Mow your lawn when ever the grass gets 1/3 taller than the height you normally cut it. For most lawns it's best to mow to 2 inches tall as soon as the grass reaches 3 inches tall. Use a mulching mower and leave the clippings.
Avoid fertilizing lawns until the last week in April unless you are renovating the turf. Too early fertilization causes excessive growth and shallow rooting.
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Dianthus Early BirdTM Radiance
Watch out the iridescent flowers on this 12 inch tall sun lover are so red hot, you'll think they'll burn your fingers if you touch them, add to that beautiful blue-green foliage and unbelievable fragrance and you've got yourself a totally irresistible plant. Grow Dianthus Early BirdTM Radiance in full sun and well-drained soil, dead head and feed regularly, and it'll continue to dazzle the living tweedle out of you and visitors to your garden with repeat blooms all summer long. - Ciscoe Key feature: Rich Crimson Blossoms Plant type: Perennial Light needs: Full sun Growth rate: Moderate Water needs: Needs regular watering Average landscape size: Grows to 5 inches tall, 10 inches wide Recommendations from the Gardeners at Whitney Farms: Whitney Farms Organic Planting Soil, Whitney Farms Organic Rose & Flower FoodCiscoe's plant of the week can be found at several local retailers.
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Renew the soil in your vegetable garden by forking 4 inches of organic compost into the soil 12 inches deep.
Plant onion sets and side-dress onions and garlic with a high nitrogen organic fertilizer such as fish meal or blood meal every two weeks to promote fast growth and bigger bulbs. Stop fertilizing after the Solstice occurs.
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Corydalis flexuosa 'Purple Leaf'
This spring blooming relative of bleeding heart combines elegant lacy green infused purple leaves with upright clusters of dangling tubular purple-blue flowers. It creates an irresistible charming woodland ground cover. Given adequate moisture, this beauty will keep producing sweetly fragrant flowers well into summer. Purple Leaf is hardy to minus 10 degrees and is one of the easiest corydalises to grow. - Ciscoe Key feature: Showy flowers Plant type: Perennial Light needs: Partial shade Growth rate: Moderate Water needs: Needs regular watering - weekly, or more often in extreme heat Average landscape size: Grows to 6 to 12 inches tall, 12 inches to 3 feet wide Recommendations from the Gardeners at Whitney Farms: Whitney Farms Organic Planting Soil, Whitney Farms Organic and Natural All Purpose Plant FoodCiscoe's plant of the week can be found at several local retailers.
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Mix 2 cups of alfalfa meal with the recommended amount of organic rose food and work it into the soil around roses and blooming perennials. Alfalfa meal contains micro-nutrients that tell your plant, bloom you fool bloom!
Cut the stems of red twig dogwood back to 4 inches from the ground. Only new growth has the red bark, so cutting them back will keep the twigs red, and it will grow back to only about 4 feet tall (as opposed to 18 feet tall that the shrub will reach if you just let it grow).
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Heuchera 'Blackout'
If you love coral bells with black foliage as much as I do, you won't be able to resist this darkly clad beauty. Heuchera 'Blackout' features unbelievably shiny charcoal black leaves, then contrast that with sprays of white flowers and it's almost too beautiful to look at. Best of all, this attractive coral bell is hardy to minus 30 degrees and as long as it gets adequate moisture, it's easy to grow in both sun and shade. - Ciscoe Key feature: Dramatic Foliage Color Plant type: Perennial Light needs: Full sun to partial shade Growth rate: Medium Water needs: Needs regular watering Average landscape size: Grows to 12 to 18 inches tall, 18 to 24 inches wide Recommendations from the Gardeners at Whitney Farms: Whitney Farms Organic Planting Soil, Whitney Farms Organic & Natural Smart Start, For container gardening use Whitney Farms Organic Potting SoilCiscoe's plant of the week can be found at several local retailers.
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