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

September Gardening Calendar 2023

 

September Gardening Calendar

Beets

Let’s get ready for September in preparation to cooler temperatures by fertilizing annuals, perennials, and roses one last time for winter preparation. Check flowerbeds for pooped-out perennials such as Purple Coneflower, Black-Eyed Susan, and Shasta Daisy. Trim dead flower heads and brown leaves for fall.

Fertilize Chrysanthemums and Salvia with a liquid plant food. You will be rewarded with blooms later in the fall.

Chrysanthemums, Pansy, Viola, alyssum, and Snapdragons provide winter color through the spring and should be available by mid-September at garden centers. For a complete list of Fall Color Annuals Click Here For More Information. For spring blooms plant Bluebonnet and Poppy seeds now.

September is a good time to divide and cut back perennials. Check your daylilies, irises, and monkey grass while the weather is still warm.

Are you planning to bring your Tropical Hibiscus in this winter? Place in a sunny window.

Preserve excess Basil leaves by pureeing in a blender with ¼ cup of olive oil or water. Pour the mixture in ice trays and use the cubes in your wintertime Italian dishes.

Spring-flowering bulbs should be on sale. Plan to plant in mid-October or when the weather cools to the 60’s or below.

Start planning where you will place your Tropical Plants that spent the summer outdoors. Trim back, if necessary and inspect for insects. Spray with appropriate insecticide, if needed. I prefer to use horticulture oil on my houseplants. Horticulture oils are environmentally friendly and will give your Houseplants a nice shine along with killing any insects. Check out our selection of Tropical Plants.

Are you planning a fall vegetable garden? Cool weather vegetable starts such as Beets, carrots, radishes, spinach, kale, brussel sprouts, Broccoli, Collards, Cabbage, Tomatoes, Peppers, and Snow Peas are good choices. Don’t have room to plant a fall vegetable garden, but would like to grow your own vegetables? You can grow vegetables in a container. The container should be 16 inches or larger and for excellent success use a potting soil. For more information on Fall Vegetable Gardening Click Here.

The last week in September is the time to replace your mulch under your Roses and Red Tip Photinia to prevent diseases on next year’s leaves. Rake up any fallen leaves before replacing the mulch.

As the weather cools, this is a good time to plant shrubs and trees. When planting in the fall, it provides less stress on the plant and the roots start to get established in the ground. SuperThrive is the recommended concentrated solution of plant vitamins and hormones used to encourage plant and root growth and to revitalize stressed or dying plants. SuperThrive is not a fertilizer and can be mixed with your favorite liquid fertilizer. Dosage recommendation for transplanting or weekly use: ¼ of a teaspoon per gallon of water, or for larger projects 3 ounces to 100 gallons of water. To revitalize stressed or dying plants use: 1 ounce to five gallons of water and water the root zone or drip line. Then water every 3 – 5 days ¼ teaspoon to 1 gallon of water at the root zone or drip line. For bare root roses use: 1 ½ teaspoons per 5 gallons of water and soak for at least 30 minutes. Depending on your plant’s condition you may use weekly or monthly.

During drought or stressful conditions, it is wise to water established shrubs and trees. The recommended rate for trees is 15 gallons of water per each trunk diameter a week. Break up the amount of water to twice a week and use SuperThrive as recommended above.

I found another good additive to mix with water that will help get your new transplanted plants established. It is called Recharge from Real Growers. It’s a professional strength microbial superpack. Recharge helps and promotes stronger plants within 48 hours. I was skeptical, but I tried it and it really does work. That’s why I would recommend it when adding new plants to your landscape. You can mix Superthrive and Recharge together in water for excellent results.

Bermuda grass seed should be planted no later than September 15^th to ensure that the seeds germinate and become established before winter frost.

Brown Patch fungus is more apparent in the fall months. Prevention is the best cure by watering your lawn early in the morning before 10:00 AM or after 4:00 PM.

Mid-September is the last feeding for your lawns. Fertilize your lawn with a winterizer weed and feed to prevent spring-time weeds.

My photography is on display on different websites including my own HibiscusAndMore.com. The other sites that have my photography are: www.society6.com/cmeola7 and www.fineartamerica.com/art/cheryl+meola When you need images as stock check out the links below.

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

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

https://stock.adobe.com/contributor/210785031/cheryl 

Happy Gardening. ©Cheryl Ann Meola 2023. Certified Texas Nursery Professional #1282

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.

 

January Gardening Calendar

January Gardening Calendar

Bare Root Roses will be arriving soon at local garden centers. Prepare planting beds by digging an area 4 feet wide by 12 inches deep for each rose. Soak bare root roses in a mixture of SuperThrive and water for 24 to 48 hours before planting. For more information on Rose Care.

Poinsettias water only when the soil is dry to the touch. Start fertilizing in March. Poinsettias need bright light and cool temperatures even indoors.

Deciduous Trees and Shrubs the structure of the trees can be easily seen this time of year. Prune all branches that rub or cross each other. Trees and shrubs can be planted now. Plan to plant on a warm day when the ground is not frozen. When the weather warms for a week or longer, and then the temperatures drop into the twenties, cover Camellias and Gardenias nightly until the temperatures are above freezing. The last week in January prune Pear and Apple trees, and Grape vines.

Vegetable Garden till the soil, if the ground is dry. 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 such as these, Hibiscus and More offers. In fact, that is how I grow my vegetables each season. For more information on Spring Vegetable Gardening. 

Prune Pampas Grass and all other ornamental grasses down to about 12 inches. Prune Lantana and Cannas to about 2 to 3 inches. Shape Crepe Myrtles and Altheas and remove old seed heads.

Annuals water winter annuals like pansies, violas, ornamental cabbage and kale, after a hard freeze. This helps to rehydrate the annuals faster. Water outside container plants before a hard freeze, too.

Houseplants check for insects. Insects like mealy bugs, scale, spider mites are more likely to infest your plants during the winter months. Spray with a horticultural oil or insecticidal soap, and make sure you spray underneath the leaves. Turn your houseplants a quarter to half turn once a week. This prevents leaning of your houseplants. I turn mine once a week when I water my houseplants. 

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.

©Cheryl Ann Meola

Texas Certified Nursery Professional #1282

December Gardening Calendar

December Gardening Calendar

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 dependant 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 planted cool weather annuals? If not, there is still time to plant. Are your pansies already planted? Now is the time to fertilize your pansies, violas, snapdragons, ornamental cabbage and kale.

For Southern gardeners that are in zones 9 or 10 there is still time to plant your spring flowering bulbs.

Rake your leaves from your lawn by doing so; you will not have dead spots in the grass next spring. The leaves make excellent compost for the landscape beds in the spring. Need A Composter? Hibiscus and More has Hand Crafted Cedar Composter. Click To View.

Tis the season to harvest holiday decorations from your garden, Holly, Nandina, Pyracantha berries and foliage make an excellent red holiday accent for table centerpieces and hearth mantels.

Attract birds to your garden with different types of bird feeders. Bird experts recommend a selection of bird feeders that hold wild birdseed, thistle seed, and some that have suet cake holders. Bird experts recommend attracting wild birds to use black oil sunflower seed; this will attract a larger variety of wild birds. Hibiscus and More offers Thistle Bird Feeders, Bird Feeders with Suet Cake Holders, and Bird Feeders For Black Oil Sunflower Seed. View Thistle Bird Feeders. View Bird Feeders with Suet Cake(s) Holders. View Bird Feeders For Black Oil Sunflower Seed.

Need Horticulture Advice? Ask A Horticulturist. It’s Free.

Hibiscus and More now has a blog spot and we just started a new feature called the plant of the week. Click To View This Weeks Plant. It is one of our favorite plants because that it is very durable and easy to care for.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays From Hibiscus and More.

April Gardening Calendar

April Gardening Calendar

Roses: Your roses should be trimmed between February 12 – 20, if your have not pruned your hybrid tea roses it is not to late to trim them now. For more information 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. For more information on vegetable gardening click on my blog.

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 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 later of mulch. Instead of throwing your spent coffee or tea grounds away your Azaleas will benefit from sprinkling the grounds around your Azalea bushes.

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 Hand Crafted Cedar Planters from Hibiscus and More. Tropical color really knows how to beat the heat of summer and will bloom repeatedly through out the summer, and until first frost. Here are a few of my tropical color favorites: Allamanda, Bougainvillea, Copper Plant, Hibiscus, Mandevilla, Pentas, and Shrimp Plant. You may purchase your Hibiscus plants online at HibiscusAndMore.com. Take advantage of our 10% off spring coupon of orders $50.00 or more. Hurry the coupon expires June 30, 2009. Use redemption code: Newsletter at checkout. Visit my blog for more gardening information.

All photographs and digital images are ©Cheryl Ann Meola 2007. All Rights Reserved. All photographs and digital images displayed in this article are for viewing purposes only and cannot be duplicated.