Okay. Look at your calendars, gardeners. As of today, it is 86 days until the May long weekend, the traditional “planting weekend”. 86 days is not very long!
I’m sure you’ve started to think about what you want to plant. Maybe you have tender green geraniums lining your windowsills or covering any flat surface near a window. Maybe you have already started some seedlings. One of my favorite memories of my sweet Mom is picturing her at this time of year, fussing over her “babies”. My Dad made her a tall table that fit right under the windowsill in the spare room. By now, it would be covered with tomatoes and a variety of other plants, planted in milk cartons, each labelled with the name and date planted. Each day, sometimes more than once a day, Mom would carefully turn and rotate the plants so that each got their share of the brightest sun closest to the window. The room had that lovely, heady aroma of growing plants, and Mom would beam as bright as the sun as she tended her beloved plants. I’d sit on the chair by the sewing cabinet as she worked with the plants, each of us with our cup of tea, and we’d talk about anything and everything in that sun-filled, aromatic room. What a precious time. My garden angel.
So now, while I don’t start all the plants that she did, I am still filled with excitement as this time of year offers us the promise of a new gardening season. She isn’t here to study the seed catalogues or gardening magazines, but I know she is with me as I do! I found a couple interesting articles I’d like to tell you about, each with common information about container gardening.
Both articles talked about foliage plants that were great for containers, and both mentioned heuchera, coral bells, as a suitable element for containers. Heuchera is a stunning little plant, a perennial, with ruffled, low-growing leaves and slender stems bearing delicate, airy flowers. The leaves can be green, purple, and amazing copper-coral colors. They do well in full sun to light shade, and prefer well-drained soil. They’d be beautiful in containers.
Another family of plants listed was ornamental grasses. These come in a plethora of sizes and colors, and add dramatic height and interesting texture to any container. They also give a nice sense of movement as the stems wave in the breeze. Another good choice.
But you’ll notice, both of these are perennials. If you choose to plant a perennial plant in a container, remember that the plant will likely not survive the winter in the container. It will have to be transplanted into the ground in the fall. If you decide to just treat the plant as an annual and don’t want to over-winter it, I know I speak for many gardeners when I say “please don’t throw it out!” Pass it on to a gardening friend, because someone will gladly make it part of their garden.
As for annual container elements, I saw a stunning picture of a container with kale, rainbow swiss chard, and nasturtiums. Can you imagine the brightness of that container? And what a wonderful variety of leaf textures to make the container interesting. Best of all, it is all edible, a great choice for those with limited space.
So many things for us to think about before planting begins!
Saturday, March 12 is the day of the 6th Annual “Yorkton Seedy Saturday — Prairie Sun Seed Festival” from 12:30 p.m. till 4:00 p.m. at Yorkdale School. There are many things to see: local organic and heirloom seeds, and of course, interesting speakers. Plan to attend!
Please check our website www.yorktonhort.ca to see what’s new. Have a great week.
