Deadhead spring
bulbs after flowering. Let the foliage die back naturally. The nutrients in the
foliage gets stored in the bulb for next year’s nutrients.
Stay ahead of your
weeding chores. The month of May is when weeds start showing their ugly heads.
I recommend using a Pre-Emergent Weed Control. Just make sure it is recommended
safe to use around trees, shrubs, and perennials. Some Pre-Emergent’s are also
recommended to use around your vegetable garden. So always read the label to
see where you can use a pre-emergent. The way a pre-emergent works is by
preventing the weed seeds from germinating. Before applying a pre-emergent pull
all existing weeds by the roots because a pre-emergent will not kill existing
weeds. Use a weed-N-Feed for your lawns. Check the label to make sure you can
use the product on your lawn variety.
Fertilize trees
and shrubs. After fertilizing apply a fresh layer of mulch. Applying mulch to
your beds helps to keep the roots cool in the spring–summer months and warm in
the fall-winter months.
As the weather
gets warmer your cool-season vegetables will start to bolt. Start harvesting
your last crop and compost. Get the planting bed ready for the spring -summer
veggies and herbs.
It is recommended
to check your irrigation each year. It boggles the mind when you turn on your
irrigation in the spring and an irrigation head is pointing in the wrong
direction. When that head was working perfectly last year.
Prune ornamental
grasses and clean perennial flowers before new growth starts in the spring.
Prune Azaleas, forsythias,
hydrangeas, and gardenias after blooming. You can fertilize Azaleas monthly
until the end of August. Be on the lookout for lacebugs on your Azaleas. The
bugs are hard to see, but the damage is not. The damage looks like very small
white dots on the leaves where the bugs sucked out the chlorophyll. Spray with appropriate
insecticide.
It is warm enough
to bring the houseplants out that you over wintered outdoors. Place the plants
in shade to begin with and slowly move the plants to a sunnier location, if
required by the plant. Some tropicals will grow in full sun.
Hibiscusandmore.com has new products just in time for
the spring -summer months. We have live plants. Click here for live plants.
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
Hibiscus and More
is pleased to welcome back Live Plants to their website. The website will be
growing houseplants, herbs and butterfly attractant and pollinator friendly
plants. This month will be featuring Mountain Mint, Red Anthurium, and Jacob
Cline Beebalm.
Pycnanthemum muticum -
Short-toothed Mountain Mint. Mountain mint is a native perennial, butterfly
attractant plant. Hardiness zones: 4-9. Height: 2-3 feet. Full sun to partial
shade. Blooms in summer and will spread by runners. Mountain Mint comes in a
3-inch, eco-friendly, biodegradable pot that is ready to be transplanted in
your favorite container or in the garden.
Anthurium
andraeanum - Flamingo
Flower, Red Anthurium. Red Anthurium needs bright light, is easy to care for,
and reaches a height of 1' - 2'. Blooms red flowers from spring to fall. Red Anthurium comes in a
3-inch, eco-friendly, biodegradable pot that is ready to be transplanted in
your favorite container.
Monarda didyma ‘Jacob Cline’ -
Bee Balm. Jacob Cline Bee Balm is a butterfly and hummingbird attractant plant.
Hardiness zones: 4-9. Height: 3-4 feet. Full sun to partial shade. Red flowers
from late spring – fall. Jacob Cline comes in a 3-inch, eco-friendly,
biodegradable pot that is ready to be transplanted in your favorite container
or in the garden.
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, butif 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.
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 onRoses.
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
In March
the weather teases gardeners into believing spring is almost around the corner,
with lots of continuous sunny and warm days. During this time of year, the
weather is very unpredictable for planning and the weather is like a roller
coaster, one day it’s nice and sunny, then the next day it’s cold and rainy. As gardeners we get antsy, we want to get out
in our garden and play in the dirt. But we know better, the last average frost
date is still a month or two months away, depending on your gardening zone. This
is when we can start planning for this year’s spring garden. Spring is a good
time to check out new gardening books. There are two gardening books I would
like to recommend Southeast Style Gardening and Gardening for the
Butterflies and the books are on sale on Amazon. Here are the links:
Southeast Style Gardening and Gardening for the Butterflies. The books can help
you plan your garden for spring.
March Gardening Chores
As we
patiently wait for spring to arrive, we can start preparing by starting seeds. Start
spring flowers and vegetables from seeds indoors. It takes about 6 weeks to get
strong seedlings. To make starting seeds easier several horticultural companies
have designed and marketed seed germination kits. The kits can be bought at
local nurseries, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and online. There is a kit that includes 2
grow lights, seedling heat mat, growing tray, base tray for excess water, 2
vents on the cover, garden tools, and plant labels. This kit is just one that
was listed on Amazon that I found.
Spring is a good time to prune your shrubs and vines. Just be
aware that some plants bloom on new growth whereas other plants bloom on old
growth. When in doubt prune after flowering.
March is the last month recommended to prune Roses to half
their original size. After pruning rake up last year’s mulch and replace with
new mulch. This should be done especially if your roses had black spot because
the black spot spores are lying dormant on top of last year’s mulch. Fertilize
with Bayer Advanced Rose Fertilizer after pruning and apply once a month. ClickHere For More Information on Roses.
Prune back Holly shrubs that have gotten too large. If needed,
you can prune back to 36 inches, but if the holly shrubs are 10 to 15 feet you
can do the pruning in stages until you find the height that you like.
Flowering shrubs such as Winter Honeysuckle, Quince, and
Forsythia can be pruned after flowering.
Is your Liriope looking at little tattered? The leaves can be
cut either with a weed eater or your lawn mower set on its highest setting.
Fertilize winter flowering annuals with a blooming type of fertilizer. Water in all granular type fertilizers.
Lawns should have lime at least yearly. Have you limed your
lawn lately? Use 40 pounds per 1000 square feet.
Fertilize Pecan Trees with a fruit tree fertilizer and water
in well after.
Fertilize shrubs with a shrub and tree fertilizer and water in
well.
Need to divide your perennials? When the leaves start to show
you can divide and plant elsewhere in your garden. Use a mixture of SuperThrive
and Recharge, professional strength microbial superpack as a root stimulator
for best results after planting.
One of the best time to plant fruit and nut trees is in early
spring. Nurseries have a good selection of these trees in spring, but hurry the
selection usually goes fast.
Peach and Apple trees need to be sprayed with a fungicide
recommended for fruit trees and spray the trees while the blossoms are on the
tree.
Check for scale insects on Camellias and Euonymus. Spray with
a horticultural oil, if you detect the insects.
Thursday, March 9,
2023 is National Slam the Scam Day. The Social Security Administration is
launching a new campaign to bring awareness to these scams targeted mostly to
seniors. For more information and how to report the scammers visit: www.ssa.gov/scam
Unfortunately,
this is not the only scam going around internet cyberspace that needs to be
addressed and shared with my readers. Anyone who has a social media account can
become a potential target to scammers. This has become the new norm for
scammers and our blog is spreading the word of warning to our readers.
There are several
ways scammers use to extract money from individuals. One way is to send a
friend request on Facebook. The majority of the time when you receive a friend
request it is from a friend you know. A lot of people have reconnected with
long lost friends through Facebook. What happens when you accept a friend request
who you don’t know? Here is one scenario that could happen to you or someone
you know.
The scenario is
you accept a friend request from someone you don’t know on Facebook. For
whatever your reasoning, you accept the new friend request, then within 24 to
48 hours later you start receiving Facebook messages on your Facebook page.
The messages are
very general such as, how are you doing, what are you doing? As time passes the
messages become personal questions. The messenger asks questions about whether
your married or single, have children, religious believes, what you do, where
you live, blah, blah, blah. Some of this information can be viewed on your
profile page, especially whether the new Facebook friend to check. During the
question answer period you find out your new buddy is working under contract at
sea and not in US territorial waters.
After a period of
question/answer with your new friend you start to realize your questions are
never answered. The new friend keeps responding with a new question directed to
you and not ever answering the question you asked. Your new friend is about
ready to go to the next step of the friendship.
This step is where
it becomes really romantic or more friendly. The new friend expresses total
devotion in loving you or waking up each morning with you in their arms, or
the new friend cannot wait to get back to the states to meet you in person. After
all these confessions of love and blah, blah, blah. Sounds like something out of a romance novel. Right?
The next step of
your new friend is a request to download the WhatsApp or Google Chat.
Your new Facebook friend doesn’t trust Facebook messenger.According
to your new friend WhatsApp or Goggle Chat are more secure and private, or my
company does not like us to use Facebook messenger, or Google Chat is more
reliable app than Facebook at sea.
The conversation switches
to whatsapp or google chat. The new Facebook friend is laying down the
compliments to you non-stop and your head is swimming from all the compliments,
but your gut feeling says something’s amiss. You sign off for the day and say
you will chat tomorrow.
24 or 48 hours
later from your last sign-off you receive a message from your new Facebook
friend stating their computer is having issues because their apple laptop is
out of date. Please, love could you go purchase an apple gift card? Supposedly,
the apple gift card will fix all the issues with your new Facebook friend, or will
it?
The new Facebook
friend requested you purchase an apple gift card for $100.00 or $50.00.
You say no and
suggest several different ways on how your new friend can get a gift card. After
several chats back and forth you decide that there is no way that I am giving a
complete stranger money.
Moral of the
story. Trust your gut and your instincts. In the scenario your do not have to
buy someone’s affection. If you know someone that this has happened to there
are resources, you can go to. Report the scammers. Please share and spread the word against scammers.
