August Gardening Calendar

African Daisy

July and August forecast is predicting above average temperatures for most of the United States. For the past two weeks there have been heat advisory warnings daily and to use precautions while working outdoors. The best times to garden in an area that has heat advisories is early morning or late afternoon. When we garden during these heat advisories it is recommended to protect yourself from heat dangers by:

·         Stay out of the sun, if possible.

·         Drink plenty of cool water whether you are thirsty or not.

·         Wear loose, light-colored clothing, and sun screen. Try wearing clothes that use the Dri-Fit technology.

·         Try to schedule outdoor activities early mornings or late afternoons.

·         While working outdoors pace yourself and take a break when tired.

Prune Tropical Hibiscus you plan to bring indoors for the winter. Plan to place your plant in the sunniest window during the winter months. Trim back enough to fit your location indoors and bring your Hibiscus inside around December or before first frost. After pruning check your Hibiscus for insects and spray with appropriate insecticide. Now is a good time to fertilize your Hibiscus. Hibiscuses are heavy feeders and should be fertilized monthly.

Remove faded blooms and seedpods on your Crepe Myrtles. You may be rewarded with more blooms before first frost. The recommended fertilizer formulation for Crepe Myrtles is 10-15-9 or a similar combination. Don’t forget to fertilize your Crepe Myrtles.

Roses prune out dead canes, and weak, bushy growth. Cut back tall, vigorous bushes by 1/3 the original plant height. Fertilize roses on a monthly basis until October. After pruning you should see new blooms coming in about 6 weeks.

Azaleas Lace bugs on your Azaleas increase rapidly in summer. Check your Azaleas for insects. The damaged caused by these sucking insects looks like tiny white dots and the entire leaf is almost completely white. Spray with appropriate insecticide labeled for Azalea Lace Bugs.

Perennials Can be divided in August and transplanted else where in the garden. Perennials such as: summer phlox, peony, iris, and daylily. Perennials that have finished blooming for their season can be divided also.

Lawns check your grass for insects, especially for chinch bugs and white grubs. These insects are most active in the summer months. The signs for chinch bugs are irregular circles, and the grass is thin, and then dies. For white grubs, the signs are irregular circles, and the grass is loosely rooted. Check the soil underneath the loosely rooted grass by digging up the soil, the grubs should be about an inch down in the soil, if you have them. Apply the appropriate insecticide and follow the package directions carefully. Lawn Mower Blades should be sharpened once each summer. A sharpened lawn mower blade prevents shredding the grass, and giving your lawn a nice, clean cut.

Mulch check all shrub beds and trees for mulch thickness. We are experiencing extreme heat this summer and shrubs and trees that have 2 to 3 inches of mulch keeps the roots cool and helps the soil retain moisture. In winter 2-3 inches of mulch will keep the soil warm through the winter season.

Fruits and Vegetables Start planning your fall vegetable garden this August. Till the soil and add Gypsum and Composted Cottonseed hull. The additives lower the alkalinity and helps the soil stay loose. Tomatoes, Peppers, and Beans should be planted by August 1^st. Starter plants usually are available by August 15^th. Pick the varieties of tomatoes that mature in 65-70 days. Cool season vegetables, broccoli, carrots, lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, swiss chard, collards, spinach, kale, and snow peas are planted in September. Blackberry and Raspberry plants at this time of year have a tendency to trail along the ground. Take the trailing canes or runners and tie them back to their arbor. For more information on planting fall vegetables click to read my blog post Here. Seeds for cool season vegetables can be started now for planting in September.

Seeds sow cool season seeds of snapdragons, dianthus, pansies, calendulas, and sweet alyssum to be planted in mid to late fall. Sow seeds of bluebonnets and other spring wildflowers this month to be planted in the garden. The wildflowers will establish a root system during the fall for spring blooms.

Tropical Foliage Plants Check plants that are spending the summer outdoors for insects. Use an insecticidal soap, if needed. Your houseplants can be fertilized biweekly with a water-soluble plant food. Hibiscus and More has a wonderful selection of gardening books. Click to order.

August is a good time to start thinking about fall bulbs. Mail-order houses usually have early bird specials for consumers who order early.

Hibiscus and More now features Fine Art Prints and Merchandise. Click to order.

Cheryl now features her botanical photography on two stock websites. Need the Image as Stock? Click Here.  Shutterstock.

Need the Image as Stock? Click Here.  Adobe.

Need more gardening advice? Follow our BlogSpot for current sales, daily specials, and sound gardening advice. Simply click on Join This Site Link Under Followers. Sign Up Is Free. View Current Blog Post Click Here.

Have a wonderful summer. Stay hydrated, keep cool, and go to the shade when starting to feel weak. Happy Gardening.

©Cheryl Ann Meola - Certified Texas Nursery Professional #1282

April Gardening Calendar

                                  April Gardening Calendar

Start planning for Spring. April is the perfect month to start planning your garden for the current year. As a refresher for last year’s thoughts, ideas or plants you were thinking about purchasing, dust off your gardening journal to see what changes or additions you wanted to make this year. A garden is always evolving.

Irrigation: In zones where your irrigation was turned off for the winter. Irrigation should be checked each year in spring. Turn on the irrigation to make sure the irrigation heads are working properly. Check for leaks, cracked heads, and spray direction. Some issues you may be able to fix yourself, if not call an irrigation specialist.

Roses: Your roses should be trimmed between February 12 – 20, if you have not pruned your hybrid tea roses it’s not too late to trim them now. For more information on trimming, caring, and fertilizing your roses click on my blog article on Rose Care.

Vegetable Gardening: Till the soil when you have a designated area for vegetables in your garden. This preventative measure helps to eliminate weeds, insects, and nematodes. Don’t have room for a vegetable garden, but would like to grow your own vegetables? All vegetables can be grown in large planters. The recommended size for vegetables is 16 inches or larger. In fact, that’s how I grow my vegetables each season. Garden center retailers are still reporting skyrocketing sales for vegetable starts and seeds this year versus last year’s sales. Start planning and planting your vegetable garden now to reap the rewards of homegrown vegetables, if you are thinking about having a vegetable garden this year, today is the time to start. Put on your gardening gloves and reap the rewards and benefits of a spring vegetable garden. For more information on Spring VegetableGardening Click Here.

Color Annuals: April is the month to start thinking about replacing your cool weather color annuals with spring and summer annuals. Here are a few of my favorites: Caladiums, Celosia, Coleus, Cosmos, Dahlberg Daisy, Dusty Miller, Gazania, Geranium, Gerbera Daisy, Ivy Geranium, Lantana, Marigolds, Mexican Sunflower, Moss Rose, Periwinkle, Petunia, Primrose, Purslane, Salvia, Snapdragons, Verbena, Wax Begonia, and Zinnia. All of the annuals mentioned can be planted in soil or in containers.

Bulbs: If you have spring bulbs that are still blooming you may want to enjoy a few of the flowers as fresh cuts indoors. On all perennial bulbs, let the foliage die back naturally, as the foliage dies the bulb transports the nutrients from the foliage to the bulb and will use the nutrients from the foliage and stores the nutrients to the bulb for next year’s growth and flowers. As the foliage dies and it may look untidy and displeasing. To alleviate this annoyance, you can pull up the foliage in a bunch and then roll the foliage down as you would a paper bag, and then tie the rolled-up foliage with a rubber band.

Shrubs: Trim your spring flowering shrubs after they finish blooming and fertilize with the appropriate plant food.

Azaleas: Once your azaleas finish blooming trim back to shape. Azaleas bloom on last year’s growth so it is important to trim your Azaleas no later than the middle of June. Azalea’s set their blooms during the fall months, and this is one reason to trim your Azaleas during the time frame that is provided. After pruning your Azaleas, you need to fertilize them with an Azalea plant food and also add a new layer of mulch. Instead of throwing your spent coffee or tea grounds away your Azaleas will benefit from sprinkling the grounds around your Azalea bushes. 

Prune Pampas Grass and other ornamental grasses trim to about 12 to 24 inches. Prune Lantana and Cannas to about 6 to 10 inches. Shape Crepe Myrtles and Altheas and remove old seed heads. Do not hat rack the Crepe Myrtles. Crepe Myrtles do better without being trimmed to 4 – 6 feet above the ground.

Decorate Your Patio With Tropical Color: Now is the time to start thinking about spring-cleaning your patio and your patio furniture. After sprucing up your patio you may want to redecorate the patio for summer fun with tropical plants that really know how to beat the summer heat. Tropical plants will bloom repeatedly throughout the summer until first frost. Here are a few of my tropical color favorites: Allamanda, Bougainvillea, Copper Plant, Hibiscus, Mandevilla, Pentas, and Shrimp Plant. Hibiscusandmore.com features fine art prints of tropical plants. Click Here Fine Art Prints.

Need more gardening advice? Follow our BlogSpot for current sales, daily specials, and sound gardening advice. Simply click on Join This Site Link under Followers. Sign Up Is Free. We don’t share your information. 

For more information on Landscape gardening   Butterfly Gardening and Design

Growing Houseplants in your home or office

Fine Art Prints by Cheryl Ann Meola

Need floral stock photography? Click here. Need botanical stock photography? Click here

All photographs and digital images are ©Cheryl Ann Meola. All Rights Reserved. All photographs and digital images displayed in this newsletter are for viewing purposes only and cannot be duplicated or copied.

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Cheryl+Ann+Meola

Cheryl Ann Meola photos, images, assets | Adobe Stock

©Cheryl Ann Meola

Mother's Day Sale & April Newsletter

Mother’s Day Sale & April Newsletter

Hibiscus and More would like to honor all the gardening mother’s that have visited the web site throughout the years. We would like to thank each and every visitor with my Mother’s Day sale. This year’s Mother’s Day Sale is dedicated to my mother, June Meola, who taught me the passion and love of gardening. My mother is one of the reasons we started the web site: Hibiscus and More because I wanted to share my passion in gardening and growing plants to a larger audience, the World Wide Web. The goal of Hibiscus and More is to provide honest and up to date gardening advice, and to provide high quality plants and gardening merchandise at a reasonable price.

Spring Chores For April and May:

We have had an unusual hard, cold winter this year, and spring is a little late. We have had a few reports that numerous plants are about a month behind in their usual bloom date. Gardening friends in GA informs us that as of 3-21-2010 the Daffodils and Forsythias are just starting out, and only the Bradford Pears with flowers. I lived in GA for 10 years and my mother’s Daffodils always bloomed in early February.

Plant: Spring is one of the best times to look for trees, shrubs, and roses. Numerous flowering shrubs and trees are in bud or full bloom in your area, and certain species of plants are only offered during spring.

Roses: Your roses should be trimmed between February 12 – 20; if you have not pruned your hybrid tea roses it is not too late to trim them now. For more information on trimming, caring, and fertilizing your roses click on my blog.

Vegetable Gardening: Garden center retailers are still reporting skyrocketing sales for vegetable starts and seeds this year versus last year’s sales. Start planning and planting your vegetable garden now to reap the rewards of homegrown vegetables, if you are thinking about having a vegetable garden this year, today is the time to start. Vegetables can also, be planted in large containers or raised planter beds. Put on your gardening gloves and reap the rewards and benefits of a spring vegetable garden. According to gardening experts, the second week in April is the time to start planting: Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplant, Beans, Corn, Squash, and Cucumbers. For more information on vegetable gardening click on my blog.

Color Annuals: April or May is the month to start thinking about replacing your cool weather color annuals with spring and summer annuals. Here are a few of my favorites: Caladiums, Celosia, Coleus, Cosmos, Dahlberg Daisy, Dusty Miller, Gazania, Geranium, Gerbera Daisy, Ivy Geranium, Lantana, Marigolds, Mexican Sunflower, Moss Rose, Periwinkle, Petunia, Primrose, Purslane, Salvia, Snapdragons, Verbena, Wax Begonia, and Zinnia. All of the annuals mentioned can be planted in soil or in containers.

Bulbs: This year our spring bulbs maybe a little late because of our unusual cold winter, but if you have spring bulbs that are still blooming or starting to bloom you may want to enjoy a few of the flowers as fresh cuts indoors. On all perennial bulbs, let the foliage die back naturally, as the foliage dies the bulb transports the nutrients from the foliage to the bulb and will use the nutrients from the foliage and stores these nutrients to the bulb for next year’s growth and flowers. As the foliage dies, it may look untidy and displeasing. To alleviate this annoyance, you can pull up the foliage in a bunch and then roll the foliage down as you would a paper bag, and then tie the rolled-up foliage with a rubber band.

Shrubs: Trim your spring flowering shrubs after they finish blooming and fertilize with the appropriate plant food.

Azaleas: Once your azaleas finish blooming trim back to shape. Azaleas bloom on last year’s growth so it is important to trim your Azaleas no later than the middle of June. Azalea’s set their blooms during the fall months, and this is one reason to trim your Azaleas during the time frame that is provided. After pruning your Azaleas, you need to fertilize them with an Azalea plant food and also add a new layer of mulch. Instead of throwing your spent coffee or tea grounds away your Azaleas will benefit from sprinkling the grounds around your Azalea bushes, and any acid loving plant such as Ferns, Tropicals, Junipers, Boxwoods, Camellias, Rhododendrons, and Hollies.

Hibiscus Care: Time to Go Outdoors. Once the weather warms up in your area, to 40 - 50 degrees, you can start acclimatizing your Hibiscus by placing it in the shade outdoors and then slowly move the plant to partial shade and finally to full sun. With the unusual weather we have been experiencing this spring bring your prized Hibiscus plant back indoors if you get freeze warnings. Now would be a good time to fertilize and prune your Hibiscus. Follow the recommended fertilizer rates listed on the label. Pruning encourages a bushier plant. 

Houseplants: April is the time to move your houseplants outdoors and place them in an area that is full shade. The temperatures should be around 45-50 degrees at night before moving them outdoors. After a few weeks you can move them to an area that receives filtered shade, in other words, morning light, afternoon shade. This is also, the time to check for any bugs on your plant. Be sure to check underneath the leaves, and if you see those pesky critters on your prized houseplants spray with an insecticidal soap or horticulture oil.

Hibiscus and More’s Mother Day Sale Is To Honor Mother’s Around The World and we are Offering A Wonderful Sale Of Gardening Themed Products. To insure on time delivery by Mother’s Day all purchases should be ordered no later than April 25.  

Give the gift of flowers that will last forever floral fine art prints. Do you see a print that is sold out? Are you looking for a flower or foliage print not listed? Send an email to Cheryl@hibiscusandmore.com to order.

Happy Mother’s Day From Hibiscus And More. ©Cheryl Meola 2022.

 

April Gardening Calendar 2023

                April Gardening Calendar

Start planning for Spring. April is the perfect month to start planning your garden for the current year. As a refresher for last year’s thoughts, ideas or plants you were thinking about purchasing, dust off your gardening journal to see what changes or additions you wanted to make this year. A garden is always evolving.

Irrigation: In zones where your irrigation was turned off for the winter. Irrigation should be checked each year in spring. Turn on the irrigation to make sure the irrigation heads are working properly. Check for leaks, cracked heads, and spray direction. Some issues you may be able to fix yourself, if not call an irrigation specialist.

Roses: Your roses should be trimmed between February 12 – 20, if you have not pruned your hybrid tea roses it’s not too late to trim them now. For more information on trimming, caring, and fertilizing your roses click on my blog article on Roses.

Vegetable Gardening: Till the soil when you have a designated area for vegetables in your garden. This preventative measure helps to eliminate weeds, insects, and nematodes. Don’t have room for a vegetable garden, but would like to grow your own vegetables? All vegetables can be grown in large planters. The recommended size for vegetables is 16 inches or larger. In fact, that’s how I grow my vegetables each season. Garden center retailers are still reporting skyrocketing sales for vegetable starts and seeds this year versus last year’s sales. Start planning and planting your vegetable garden now to reap the rewards of homegrown vegetables, if you are thinking about having a vegetable garden this year, today is the time to start. Put on your gardening gloves and reap the rewards and benefits of a spring vegetable garden. For more information on Spring Vegetable Gardening Click Here.

Color Annuals: April is the month to start thinking about replacing your cool weather color annuals with spring and summer annuals. Here are a few of my favorites: Caladiums, Celosia, Coleus, Cosmos, Dahlberg Daisy, Dusty Miller, Gazania, Geranium, Gerbera Daisy, Ivy Geranium, Lantana, Marigolds, Mexican Sunflower, Moss Rose, Periwinkle, Petunia, Primrose, Purslane, Salvia, Snapdragons, Verbena, Wax Begonia, and Zinnia. All of the annuals mentioned can be planted in soil or in containers.

Bulbs: If you have spring bulbs that are still blooming you may want to enjoy a few of the flowers as fresh cuts indoors. On all perennial bulbs, let the foliage die back naturally, as the foliage dies the bulb transports the nutrients from the foliage to the bulb and will use the nutrients from the foliage and stores the nutrients to the bulb for next year’s growth and flowers. As the foliage dies and it may look untidy and displeasing. To alleviate this annoyance, you can pull up the foliage in a bunch and then roll the foliage down as you would a paper bag, and then tie the rolled-up foliage with a rubber band.

Shrubs: Trim your spring flowering shrubs after they finish blooming and fertilize with the appropriate plant food.

Azaleas: Once your azaleas finish blooming trim back to shape. Azaleas bloom on last year’s growth so it is important to trim your Azaleas no later than the middle of June. Azalea’s set their blooms during the fall months, and this is one reason to trim your Azaleas during the time frame that is provided. After pruning your Azaleas, you need to fertilize them with an Azalea plant food and also add a new layer of mulch. Instead of throwing your spent coffee or tea grounds away your Azaleas will benefit from sprinkling the grounds around your Azalea bushes.

Prune Pampas Grass and other ornamental grasses down to about 12 to 24 inches. Prune Lantana and Cannas to about 6 to 10 inches. Shape Crepe Myrtles and Altheas and remove old seed heads. Do not hat rack the Crepe Myrtles. Crepe Myrtles do better without be trim to about 4 – 6 feet above the ground.

Decorate Your Patio With Tropical Color: Now is the time to start thinking about spring-cleaning your patio and your patio furniture. After sprucing up your patio you may want to redecorate the patio for summer fun with tropical plants that really know how to beat summer heat. Tropical plants will bloom repeatedly throughout the summer until first frost. Here are a few of my tropical color favorites: Allamanda, Bougainvillea, Copper Plant, Hibiscus, Mandevilla, Pentas, and Shrimp Plant. Hibiscusandmore.com features fine art prints of tropical plants. Click Here Fine Art Prints.

Need more gardening advice? Follow our BlogSpot for current sales, daily specials, and sound gardening advice. Simply click on Join This Site Link under Followers. Sign Up Is Free.

Need floral stock photography? Click here. Need botanical stock photography? Click here

All photographs and digital images are ©Cheryl Ann Meola. All Rights Reserved. All photographs and digital images displayed in this newsletter are for viewing purposes only and cannot be duplicated or copied.

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Cheryl+Ann+Meola   

Cheryl Ann Meola photos, images, assets | Adobe Stock

©Cheryl Ann Meola

November Gardening Calendar

November Gardening Calendar

Blow or rake fallen leaves from lawn areas. Don’t forget to compost the leaves. Spray each layer with water. Need a composter? Click Here To Order Your Handcrafted Cedar Composter.

Plant spring-flowering bulbs now and add bone meal to the planting hole. For more information on fall bulbs Click Here.

You can save your Elephant Ears, Dahlias, and Caladiums by digging them up now. Let the tubers dry out before storing for the winter. Store tubers in boxes layered with peat moss or vermiculite, then layer tubers on top of your choice of medium. Store boxes in a cool, dry place.

After the flowers have faded on Chrysanthemums and Asters prune to 4 inches.

Fill bird feeders with black oil sunflower seeds. Need a new bird feeder this fall season? Click To Order Your Bird Feeders.

Plant New Shrubs and Trees: Have you been thinking about replacing a few shrubs that just did not quite get established in the landscape, or planting a new shade or flowering tree that you just cannot live without in your landscape? Now, is the time to start thinking about making that purchase? The fall season is an excellent time to add new shrubs and trees to your landscape. This time of year will let your newly planted shrubs and trees get a head start by developing and establishing new root growth in the soil.

You still have time to plant your winter color such as: Chrysanthemums, Pansy, Viola, Snapdragons, Stock, Cyclamen, Dianthus, Sweet Alyssum, Flowering Cabbage and Kale provide winter color through the spring and should be still available at garden centers. For spring blooms plant Bluebonnet and Poppy seeds this fall.

The Holiday Plants that you kept last year need to be placed in a dark room during the evening hours for the plants to bloom this holiday season. I remember this gardening ritual when it is time to turn back our clocks; it is time to give my holiday plants total darkness until I see buds or bracts forming. Christmas Cactus and Poinsettias are night dependent plants for them to bloom; these plants need so many hours of darkness to bloom. The cooler weather also helps in the blooming process. If you purchased new holiday plants, try to place them in the coolest area of your home.

Have you ever tried forcing Paperwhites for the holidays and the stems and blooms became leggy? Here is a link to an article about what to do to prevent the legginess from occurring. Click Here To Read More: http://www.hortmag.com/weekly-tips/cultivation/growing-paperwhites?et_mid=525016&rid=2111517

Cheryl Ann Meola

Certified Texas Nursery Professional #128