Rodd's Seeds of Wisdom Horticultural tips and tricks from Rodd Moesel

We are in the prime of spring when we can plant most any plants and when all of our plants are growing rapidly and the entire plant kingdom seems happy and productive. This is a great time to plant the rest of your flowerbeds, to plant all your container gardens and hanging baskets so you can enjoy the next 6 months of our Oklahoma growing season. As we make the annual march through spring many seasonal flowers are celebrating with colorful displays of flowers. We are still enjoying some Iris and Wisteria we talked about earlier but now the Peonies and Roses are stealing the show. This last week I have seen some of the prettiest Peonies in years flowering just in time for Mothers Day and they will flower for the next several weeks. They produce beautiful large flowers, many very double in tones of pink, white and red grown from roots handled like bulbs planted in the fall or you can buy them now, grown out in nursery containers. They will make a magnificent show year after year in mid to late May.

Roses are one of our most famous and historic flowers that we use to communicate our love and friendship. We use roses for Valentine’s Day, Mothers Day, all kinds of special dates, weddings, anniversaries and just because. Besides enjoying rose cut flowers for special occasions you can grow beautiful roses in your own yard. Archeologists have found rose fossils dating back over 35 million years and they are prominent in Greek Mythology involving Aphrodite, Zephr, Chloris, Dionyses and Apollo. Roses are mentioned in Hindu legends involving Brahma and Vishnu arguing whether roses or lotus are the most beautiful flowers. Frescoe paintings in Crete from 1700 years before Christ feature roses and wreaths with roses were found in many old Egyptian tombs. The Romans became so enchanted with roses that they filled baths and fountains with rose water, created rose petal confetti for celebrations, set on carpets of rose flowers for very special feasts and events. They also used roses for perfume and medicinal purposes. During the fifteenth century the civil war to control England was known as the War of the Roses as the York area was identified by the white rose and the Lancaster area was represented by the red rose. Later the rose was championed by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet at a time when roses were in such demand that roses and rose water were used as legal tender. Napoleon’s wife, Josephine, established great rose gardens with over 250 varieties west of Paris. Cultivated roses were introduced to England and the rest of Europe from China in the late 1700’s. These new varieties from China were repeat bloomers instead of only blooming once a year.  The early roses were tones of pink and white until red roses were introduced from China. Frenchman Joseph Permet – Ducher discovered yellow roses in the early 1800’s and soon breeding had yellow and orange tones to go with the red, white and pink roses.

Today there are over 30,000 known varieties of roses for you to choose from in many growth styles from climbers or vines that do well on trellises and fences to polyantha’s that stay small and compact and work good as borders. The most common types are floribundas with clusters of flowers, grandifloras and the elegant hybrid teas with the large single stem flowers. All growth types are available in numerous colors.

You can buy beautiful container grown roses at your local nursery or garden center to add to your landscape. They do best planted in well drained soil planted in the full sun with the bud union or graft 1” to 2” above the soil.

After each flower is finished cut that stem back to at least the first leaf with 5 leaflets to direct the plants energy to produce more flowers rather than seed. Roses will need supplemental watering in the dry summer months to get the most flowers and they will benefit from several light feedings through the growing season. Some varieties are more susceptible to blackspot or mildew funguses which may require spraying. Your nurseryman can help you select the right rose bush for your application. They will come back year after year with just a little attention. Prune your roses back in late February to mid March each year and they will perform for many years.

Our days are now longer and the weather is inviting so make some time to get out and commune with nature in your yard and gardens.

In spite of a couple of surprisingly cold nights this last weekend it appears the spring season is in full gear and all of nature seems to be leafed out, blooming and springing back to life. You can now plant almost all kinds of container grown trees, shrubs, vegetables and flowers. Now is the best time to plant to take advantage of the full 6 month growing season between now and the killing frosts late next October or early next November.

Two of the plants making the biggest color splash now as you drive around our wonderful state are Azaleas and Iris. Both are plants that come back year after year with just a little attention and are available at garden centers and nurseries now if you want to buy some to add to your landscape. Azaleas are in the rhodendron  family and many varieties of azaleas are widely available in our area for use in full or partial shade . There are well over 10,000 varieties of species and hybird azaleas available in many tones of white, purple, red, orange and pink flowers.  Flowers range from a ½” to 2 ½” across but it is the huge quantity of flowers that makes a showy mound from 12” to 60” tall and across and the intensity of these flowers that makes them so impressive. Most popular deciduous varieties are native to North America and many evergreen varieties are native to Japan. Azaleas usually bloom at this time of year and stay in flower for 2 to 4 weeks although some new varieties like the Encore series bloom off and on throughout the season with bigger flower displays in the spring and fall.

In our part of the country Azaleas do best on the north or east side of the house or other buildings or in the shade created under trees. They like acidic (5.5 to 6 PH) and well drained soil. Adding lots of organic matter to your soil will help lower the PH and improve the drainage. You may want to dig a hole about the size of a bushel basket and mix Canadian sphagnum peat about 50/50 to your backfill as you plant azaleas into your yard. Azaleas are light feeders but will benefit from an annual application of a low PH fertilizer for acid loving plants. Any pruning should be done right after flowering in the next few weeks so you don’t cut off the flowers for next spring.

Iris is another plant available in thousands of varieties and we often think of them as a “grandma” plant as we probably saw them in grandma’s garden with their unique and royal looking bearded flowers. In reality, their history dates back much further than grandma as they were named after the goddess of the rainbow because of their many colors and their flower appears on the ancient sphinx statues and in many early Egyptian stone relief works. There are two major groups of iris, all with interesting green sword like or fan shaped foliage. Rhizome iris include the popular bearded, crested or beardless iris with thickened stems that grow horizontally and the smaller bulbous iris like Dutch iris that produce smaller flowers and need a period of dormancy between flowerings. The iris are available in a rainbow of colors including blue, purple, red, pink, yellow, white, black and many combinations of these colors. Some are especially interesting where the 3 upright or standard petals are one color and the 3 sepals or falls that drop down are another color. Iris roots have been used medicinally for dropsy, as a powerful cathartic and to remove freckles. Today the flowers are widely used to make a violet like perfume.

Select the Iris colors and varieties you like and plant them in the full sun in a well drained soil for best results. Space the plants one to two feet apart. They do best if you will work the soil 12 to 15 inches deep and mix in 2” to 4” of sphagnum peat or other good compost. You can plant container grown iris at the same depth as the soil in the container or if planting the rhizome or fleshy root dig a hole about 10” to 12” in diameter and 4” deep and make a ridge at the center of the hole where you can set the rhizome and spread the roots to each side of the shallow ridge and cover the rhizome with a thin layer of soil. Water thoroughly and regularly and get ready for your own iris flower show next spring like those enjoyed by the Egyptian Pharaohs and your grandma. Plant away and have fun in your yard and garden.

Hopefully your early planted vegetable gardens and flowers, fruit trees, grapes and other plants survived the frosts or hard freezes this last weekend. For the second year in a row we got popped with a cold front at mid April after two or three mild weeks above freezing. The mild weather causes many of our plants to think spring has arrived, bud out and to be particularly vulnerable when exposed to these late freezes following such nice mild weather. Thankfully this years mid April cold front does not appear to have dropped as low and did not linger for as many hours as last years freezes that caused so much crop damage. From looking at the seven day forecasts and our historical weather it appears that was probably our last flirtation with the 32º freezing mark this spring and we should be able to safely move into full planting mode on all but the hottest blooded container grown plants. It is probably best to wait until May 1^st or after when nighttime temperatures and soil temperatures rise a little more to plant periwinkle, caladiums, sweet potatoes and a few other real heat loving plants.

This is a great time to plant new trees and shrubs and to plant replacements for those trees lost or damaged in our bad ice storms of the last two winters. This is the time to plant tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and most all of your other favorite warm season vegetables. With food prices up so dramatically, what better year to plant some vegetables in your own vegetable garden or even plant some amongst your regular flower beds. Few things are as enjoyable as planting your own vegetables, nurturing and caring for them and then the joy of picking your own fresh vegetables to wash and eat fresh in the garden, at the dinner table or in your cooking.

Our grandparents mainly raised vegetables to feed their families with a few flowers to add color and beauty to the landscapes. Our parents mainly planted and raised flowers to feed their souls and beautify their houses and neighborhoods with just a few vegetables for their favorite recipes or dishes. These days we mainly plant and grow ornamental flowers to decorate and landscape our houses but you may be missing out on the special joy and satisfaction of growing some of your own food. It is a real treat to raise your own fresh tomatoes, slicing cucumbers, sweet or hot peppers, strawberries for homemade shortcake and cream or any of the other countless home grown treats you can raise.

It is just plain fun to get your hands into freshly worked dirt and to plant your own plants. It may be a new wisteria vine motivated by the beautiful purple wisteria now blooming on arbors and fences across our state.  You could plant azaleas, rhodendrons or camellias like those creating gorgeous masses of color under trees or on the north or east side of homes across our state.

Flowering bedding plants create an amazing splash of color in your container gardens, hanging baskets and flowerbeds. Consider the traditional geraniums, petunias, marigolds, zinnias, begonias, penta, impatiens or numerous other colorful annuals to jazz up your yard and plant now to create your very own photo opportunity. This is one of the greatest seasons of the year, full of energy, growth and vitality. Spend as much time as possible in your yard and enjoy your own personal experience with nature.

We humans celebrate the new calendar year each January first. We organize our businesses, government, churches, trade groups and associations for corporate new years or fiscal new years and some unique cultures celebrate their own new year’s like the Chinese New Year’s celebration on various other dates throughout the year. Mother Nature has her own calendar and it varies a little each year based on the weather but the spring season, whenever it happens, wherever you live, is clearly the start of Nature’s New Year.  Instead of manmade fireworks that last one evening, or entertainment, dancing or other special short term celebrations, Natures New Year celebration lasts for weeks and is an annual progression of color and beauty as our trees, shrubs, bulbs, flowers and lawns spring back to life for a new year and a new growing season. When we last visited, natures new year’s celebration for 2008 had kicked off with the trumpeting daffodils, the cute crocus, the bold yellow flair of forsythia and the massive white displays of the flowering Pears. Now the show has progressed to luscious displays of salmon, hot pink and deep pink flowering crabapple trees, the beautiful red, pink and purple tones of red buds in our neighborhoods and the bright orange, red and white flower clusters of Japanese quince flowering shrubs immortalized in so many famous Japanese paintings. The spreading mounds of creeping phlox are covered with flowers as are the pansies and violas producing another round of pretty faced flowers.

As you travel across the state you can enjoy the white flowered sand plums and the native redbuds covered with flowers defining the natural creeks and streams across our plains. Each week reveals another round of plants budding out with leaves, flowers and the excitement of a new year in nature. There is a very special feeling of renewal and hope each year as we watch and participate in this annual process of the plant world springing back to life.  Nature seems to say the past is past and it is time to start again, to make a fresh start, to tackle the world with new energy and a fresh attitude. We humans could learn a lot by watching the iniative and “can do” attitude of the natural wonders around us and trying to duplicate those attributes in our own lives and giving a helping hand to the trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses around us. As with most things, the more time you invest in your yard and with nature the more lessons it will share with you and the more it will effect and enrich your life. Put down the cell phone while you are driving and enjoy the view. Spend a little more time each week walking in your neighborhood or parks and get out in your own yard and plant a vegetable or flower garden and spend a little more time communing with nature this year. It will be good for your blood pressure, your waist line and most importantly your spirit and soul.

Our last average freeze date across the Oklahoman’s circulation area varies from early April   to April 20 so we are within one to two weeks of passing that critical last freeze date. If you start planting tomatoes or tender annuals quicker be prepared to cover them with boxes, hot caps or blankets. Last year we got a hard freeze that caused a significant amount of damage April 15. If you want to be safe, spend your time preparing flower beds and then plant away after mid April except for the real heat loving crops like caladiums, sweet potatoes and periwinkle that do best when planted after May 1. It is now a little late to apply most pre-emergents on your lawn but you can use post emergents to control weeds that have already germinated in your lawn.

 Get outside and celebrate spring, the New Year’s celebration of nature.

The daffodils have lifted their yellow trumpets to announce spring is arriving in Oklahoma. These bulbs hide underground all winter with the roots growing and then green shoots literally explode growth from the ground that a week later opens to reveal yellow trumpet flowers and long tall green leaves. Other signs of spring surround us with the purple henbit we call a weed in our lawn looking gorgeous across the prairies, in pastures and along the roadsides where it flowers out as a purple blanket covering the ground.  It is another example that the same plant is a weed when growing somewhere we don’t want it and a beautiful wildflower in other environments. Our state has tens of thousands of ornamental pears, mostly the Bradford Pear that was widely used in commercial plantings and in subdivisions the last 20 years. These pears were some of the most damaged trees in our winter ice storms. In nature, life goes on and there is a natural attempt to recover and renew. Those some pear trees are now covered with white flowers, often so many you can hardly see the branches. Even the wounded trees are making a great effort to launch a new spring and kicking it off with a big flower party. The redbud trees are just flashing their first signs of purple, pink and red colors and will be very impressive over the next few weeks. Before the recent plantings of so many pears the redbuds would have been about the first tree to bloom out across the plains of our state and I am sure that is why our forefathers made it our state tree as they anxiously looked forward to spring and a new season and the redbuds announced its arrival. Forsythia is one of the first of the flowering shrubs to launch into flower each spring and their long arching branches of bright yellow flowers always lead the way into a new growing season of rebirth and renewal.

When I was growing up I remember old time gardeners using forsythia blooming as the best indicator of when to apply pre-emergence weed killers or weed and feed products to your lawn to control crabgrass and other summer weeds before they germinate. They were right and that is still a good indicator so you should tackle that project right away.  The old timers and especially the transplanted Irishmen said March 17 or Saint Patrick’s Day was a good time to plant potatoes and they were right. We Americans eat an average of 200 pounds of potatoes per year. Food prices are all up this year so this is a good year to grow some of your own vegetables and berries. Now is the time to plant onions, potatoes, asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, other berries and many vegetable seeds.

The old timers often said to start planting your color plants and warm season vegetables right after Easter.  That is bad advice this year as we have a very early Easter this year, about as early as it is possible to have on our calendar. Last year we got a bad killing freeze on April 15 which was a little later than our last average freeze date of April 7. You should wait to plant tomatoes, peppers, petunias, marigolds, impatiens and other warm season plants until April 15 or after. If you are determined to plant early make sure to have some wall-o-water, hot kaps, boxes, sheets or other covers ready to put over and protect your crops at night from low temperatures. These covers will usually work on a light frost but if we get a heard freeze you probably will get to start over.

Enjoy the Easter lilies this week and have a wonderful Easter Holiday as we celebrate spring and the season of renewal.