Artist Barbara Rosenzweig's Blog: Art, Gardening, Photography, and Ramblings: daffodils

Showing posts with label daffodils. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

UGLY LEAVES! WHAT TO DO?

What to do with ugly, dying leaves? It seems that gardeners never tire of creating ways to hide unsightly, yellowing daffodil and tulip leaves!

Once the flower blooms and the petals fall off, if you are crazy like me, you can cut the flower stalks so that the "fruit" won't have a chance to form. That way, the energy that it would take to form the seeds will instead go into the bulb for the next year.

As for the leaves, when they are still green but start to flop over, it is okay to cut off the top half of the leaves, allowing the remaining part of the leaves to continue photosynthesizing, sending food to the bulb (a storage stem). They will stay upright for a while longer. When the leaves turn yellow, you can cut them to the base of the plant. Some people braid them (sorry to say that I once did that), twist them and tuck them under themselves, and/or bend and push them under surrounding plants. All are fine to do and you just have to decide how much labor you are willing to put in.

If you live in the Philadelphia, PA area, don't forget to stop by the Tamanend Art Show, Saturday, May 19, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can check out my flower paintings, Bucks County covered bridges, and beach scenes. There will be lots of other artists displaying their work, too. All art will be for sale. Refreshments will be served.

For details http://uppermoreland.patch.com/events/tamanend-park-art-show-93ba8424

Happy Gardening!

Posted by Barbara Rosenzweig

Linked to Watercolors by Barbara Etsy Shop, Watercolors By Barbara Website

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

THE POWER OF PURPLE

Early spring is a wonderful season to see how purple blooms, as well as the blues, enhance the depth of your garden. Grape hyacinths, Vinca minor, lungwort (Pulmonaria), and perennial forget-me-nots (Brunnera) all help punch up the contrast to our bright spring blooms – daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths.

Red Parrot Tulip and Grape Hyacinths

Tahiti Daffodil with Grape Hyacinths and Vinca minor (Periwinkle) groundcover

Tete-a-Tete Daffodils with Grape Hyacinths

Linked to:
Rednesday on Wednesdays
Wordless Wednesday Alicia
Outdoor Wednesday

Friday, March 4, 2011

SPRING GARDENING TIPS

Pack the plants together to keep down weeds and create large sweeps of color.

Be sure that all dead foliage from last fall is cleared away.
Now the fun begins!
As young perennials continue their spring “rebirth,” you can take advantage of their wonderful ability to be divided. Masses of a single color can be created and color can be brought to new areas of your garden. Think of your landscape as a lovely painting just waiting to be “completed” with colors from your flower palette. This way, too, bare spots can be filled with the added goal of preventing weed growth. And, of course, you can always share your bounty with gardening buddies

Here again, masses of color are very effective. In early spring, keep dividing perennials and massing them.

Some of the plants that may be divided now are bleeding hearts, asters, primrose, iris, daylilies, and chrysogonum. This is best done before they get too big. If you wait too long in the season to divide and transplant them, excessive wilting or death may result.
To make plants bushier, cut back beautyberry, roses, St. John’s Wort, buddleia, and caryopteris in late March, early April.

Daffodils put on a beautiful early spring show. Use creeping phlox as a ground cover to set them off.

New study: The Royal National Rose Society gardens in England conducted a rose trial that seems to prove that rose deadheading radically effects its rebloom. “If it is clipped off at the neck, rather than to the first leaf bearing five leaflets, as rose wisdom once dictated, the bush reblooms sooner, with 50% more flowers over the season."