The flowers and leaves of the Lavender have been used as herbs for at least 3000 years, and probably much longer. It probably originated in Asia Minor and followed the spread of the great Middle Eastern and European civilizations. The Greeks and Romans certainly grew and used it, and gave it its common name, which has persisted through the millennia. The Romans took it with them into Spain, across France, and into England and Central Europe. And from there it has spread throughout the world, grown and loved on every continent except Antarctica.



Seventeen years ago, on the first day that Papa Geno's Herb Garden was open for business, Beth Vosoba was our first customer, with a budding interest in herbs. She now has an extensive herb garden and has combined her love of herbs with her passion for France. Beth started out bringing lavender soap back for us from Provence a few years ago and has continued to return with the lavender items that we have been proud to feature on this website.  She is now living part time in Nebraska and part time in the Washington, DC area.



Beth reports:

To see more of Beth's Products go to www.papagenos.com/specials  or www.essencedeprovence.com



Above are Beth & Lisa, another former Papa Geno's employee who helps Beth from time to time and has her own business that arranges holiday rentals in Provence. The two of them have been kinda like extended family to Sharon and me.  Three shots of lavender flowers taken here on the farm, and a lavender/wheat bouquet, made in our workshop.

In due course, I may retire from the plant business, but I will never stop growing and enjoying it as long as I can hobble out to the garden in May and prune back my lavender plants and start some new ones.

Gene

Topiary is the art of trimming and training shrubs or trees into ornamental shapes. For example, you can grow and train a rosemary plant into a formal standard (the top is shaped into a perfect globe (or globes) that is (are) held on a single stem). To start, you need a young potted plant with an unpinched leader, scissors, stakes, ties, and patience.  If you live in a warm climate like Santa Barbara, CA, you can create a nice topiary in a year, but if you live in Nebraska or Indiana, where the plant has to live indoors for 5 months per year, you can count on at least two years.

 

               

         Size that we sell               One year old                        18 months old

In the first stage, you want the plant to grow straight up to the desired height, which can be anywhere from 12" to 36".  Place a stake beside the plant, and tie the plant along the stake for support. Allow the tip shoot of the plant to develop, by cutting off any wild side shoots that start to grow. Allow leaves to stay on the trunk. Check the ties often so they don't girdle or injure the growing stem. Check also for mealybugs that like to hide around the ties. Turn your plant frequently so each side receives adequate light and it grows evenly. Feed your topiary every four or five waterings during active growth with a 15-30-15 liquid fertilizer for houseplants.  (If you buy a an unpruned rosemary from us, the above steps have already already been done.)

The next stage is forming the top of the plant to the desired shape. Before you pinch the growing shoot tip for the first time, think of the finished look you want your plant to have. Consider leaf size and rate of growth. Where do you plan to display your topiary and what kind of container will it live in? You may want to allow the plant to grow even taller. Do you want a one-ball, two-ball or three-ball standard? Perhaps you want a pyramid or a Christmas Tree-shaped tope? When you have determined these, pinch out the tip of the trunk, and strip the leaves off of the main trunk where you are sure you don't want them. Allow appropriate, correctly spaced branches to develop. The trunk will elongate a bit as it matures and thickens. Keep turning your topiary in the light so that it grows evenly.

                    
      Triple Ball and Double Ball Standard                Short Single Ball Tope
             (at least two more years)                                (at least one more year)

Now comes the real art of topiary. You have to keep in mind the shape you want the plant to take and train the plant through careful tip pinching. Pinch tips about every 2 inches. Pinch or cut at nodes so that new shoots will grow in the direction you want. You also want to encourage width and branching at the base of the "head." Top growth will naturally develop faster, so keep upward growing shoots trimmed down. As you become aware of growth habits and observe the results of careful pruning, you will better be able to train the topiary to the finished shape you want. During indoor growing periods you will need to be conscientious about providing rosemary with the conditions it needs - most importantly adequate ambient humidity and reasonable temps. I have seen many reasonably experienced gardeners loose rosemarys in February to powdery mildew - directly the result of not taking proper care of the plants.

Many herbs can be used for topiary, in addition to rosemary. French lavender, scented geraniums, bay laurel and lemon eucalyptus, for example. The herbs you choose will depend on the topiary shapes you want to create, so be creative and have fun!

Partially borrowed from:"Topiary Herb Plants" in The Virginia Creeper, Volume 1, Number 2, Virginia State University.]

Hydrangea is a genus of about 70-75 species of flowering plants native to southern and eastern Asia  and North and South America. Most are shrubs 1-3 m tall, but some are small trees, and others lianas reaching up to 30 m by climbing up trees. They can be either deciduous or evergreen, though the widely cultivated temperate species are all deciduous.

                        
The flowers just above are "lacecap" hydrangeas - 'Nigra', 'Blue Lacecap' and 'Pink Lacecap'         

Hydrangea flowers are produced from early spring to late autumn; they grow in flower-heads at the ends of the stems. In many species, the flowerheads contain two types of flowers, small fertile flowers in the middle of the flowerhead, and large, sterile bract-like flowers in a ring around the edge of each flowerhead. Other species have all the flowers fertile and of the same size.

                         
The flowers just above are hydrangeas - 'Hobella', 'Homigo' and 'Nigra'        

In most species the flowers are white, but in some species (notably H. macrophylla), can be blue, red, pink, or purple. In these species the exact color often depends on the pH of the soil; acidic soils produce blue flowers, neutral soils produce very pale cream petals, and alkaline soils results in pink or purple. Hydrangeas are one of very few plants that accumulate aluminium. Aluminium is released from acidic soils, and in some species, forms complexes in the hydrangea flower giving them their blue colour.

                                     
The flowers just above are hydrangeas - 'Cardinal Red', 'Annabelle' and 'Nikko Blue'  

Hydrangeas are popular ornamental plants, grown for their large flowerheads, with Hydrangea macrophylla being by far the most widely grown with over 600 named cultivars, many selected to have only large sterile flowers in the flowerheads. Some are best pruned on an annual basis when the new leaf buds begin to appear. If not pruned regularly, the bush will become very 'leggy', growing upwards until the weight of the stems is greater than their strength, at which point the stems will sag down to the ground and possibly break. Other species only flower on 'old wood'. Thus new wood resulting from pruning will not produce flowers the following season.

For more botanical info, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrangea

                                

The  images  just above are of Tardiva tree hydrangeas - 3 years and 2 years old.

About flower color
The bloom color of the hydrangeas will vary considerably due to the type of soil they are growing in. The blues are best in acid soil. The amount of aluminum available in the soil and the ability of a particular variety to absorb it will control the degree of blueness. The reds, and pinks enjoy an alkaline or neutral soil. The whites will stay white but usually enjoy the same conditions as the reds or pinks.

You'll need to raise the acidity of the soil to encourage "blueing" of the flowers. This can be done by soaking the soil around the plant several times at weekly intervals in the spring and again in the fall with aluminum sulfate. The aluminum sulfate should be applied at the rate of 1/4 ounce per gallon of water. Powder form can be worked in the soil but concentrations vary depending on the brand. Read the instructions on the box carefully before application.

Apply lime to lower the acidity of high acid soil to encourage pink to red blooms. The lime should be applied at a rate of one pound to every ten square feet of surface area once or twice a year until the desired color is obtained.

Please note that color correction takes some weeks or even months to occur, so you'll want to be patient. Rain, irrigation, and soil composition also affect the acidity of your soil.

The best time to plant hydrangeas depends on your local climate, but as a general rule of thumb you can plant in the spring after the last chance of frost. Planting in the fall or summer is also an option if you live in a more mild climate.  Most hydrangeas will be happiest  in a location sheltered from wind and hot afternoon sun.

Papa Geno

Topiary is the art of trimming and training shrubs or trees into ornamental shapes. For example, you can grow and train a rosemary plant into a formal standard (the top is shaped into a perfect globe (or globes) that is (are) held on a single stem). To start, you need a young potted plant with an unpinched leader, scissors, stakes, ties, and patience.  If you live in a warm climate like Santa Barbara, CA, you can create a nice topiary in a year, but if you live in Nebraska or Indiana, where the plant has to live indoors for 5 months per year, you can count on at least two years.

                        

    Unpruned Rosemary         Single Ball Standard             Single Ball Standard
(What we sell - 2 years old)     (at least one more year)           (at least one more year)       

In the first stage, you want the plant to grow straight up to the desired height, which can bee anywhere from 12" to 36".  Place a stake beside the plant, and tie the plant along the stake for support. Allow the tip shoot of the plant to develop, by cutting off any wild side shoots that start to grow. Allow leaves to stay on the trunk. Check the ties often so they don't girdle or injure the growing stem. Check also for mealybugs that like to hide around the ties. Turn your plant frequently so each side receives adequate light and it grows evenly. Feed your topiary every four or five waterings during active growth with a 15-30-15 liquid fertilizer for houseplants.  (If you buy a an unpruned rosemary from us, the above steps have already already been done.)

The next stage is forming the top of the plant to the desired shape. Before you pinch the growing shoot tip for the first time, think of the finished look you want your plant to have. Consider leaf size and rate of growth. Where do you plan to display your topiary and what kind of container will it live in? You may want to allow the plant to grow even taller. Do you want a one-ball, two-ball or three-ball standard? Perhaps you want a pyramid or a Christmas Tree-shaped tope? When you have determined these, pinch out the tip of the trunk, and strip the leaves off of the main trunk where you are sure you don't want them. Allow appropriate, correctly spaced branches to develop. The trunk will elongate a bit as it matures and thickens. Keep turning your topiary in the light so that it grows evenly.

                    
      Triple Ball and Double Ball Standard                Short Single Ball Tope
             (at least two more years)                                (at least one more year)

Now comes the real art of topiary. You have to keep in mind the shape you want the plant to take and train the plant through careful tip pinching. Pinch tips about every 2 inches. Pinch or cut at nodes so that new shoots will grow in the direction you want. You also want to encourage width and branching at the base of the "head." Top growth will naturally develop faster, so keep upward growing shoots trimmed down. As you become aware of growth habits and observe the results of careful pruning, you will better be able to train the topiary to the finished shape you want. During indoor growing periods you will need to be conscientious about providing rosemary with the conditions it needs - most importantly adequate ambient humidity and reasonable temps. I have seen many reasonably experienced gardeners loose rosemarys in February to powdery mildew - directly the result of not taking proper care of the plants.

Many herbs can be used for topiary, in addition to rosemary. French lavender, scented geraniums, bay laurel and lemon eucalyptus, for example. The herbs you choose will depend on the topiary shapes you want to create, so be creative and have fun!

Partially borrowed from:"Topiary Herb Plants" in The Virginia Creeper, Volume 1, Number 2, Virginia State University.]

Papa Geno

Troll Gardens® is a registered trademark of Papa Geno’s Herb Farm/Prairie Home Perennials, and will soon have its own website.  This concept been in the works for a number of years, and these tiny trees, plants and gardens are the result of a lot of work on the part of several people.  This is “small space gardening” taken about as far as one can take it. We have identified almost 100 species/varieties of dwarf and miniature trees and shrubs and over 100 tiny perennials and grasses that are being used to create our Troll Gardens®?   

                   

             


Trees that never get more than 12” tall, 6” shrubs, flowering perennials 3” tall , hostas that top out at 2 inches, miniature irises, dwarf daylilies and more.  These are not bonsais, although some of the trees could be used as such.  These are totally natural plants and trees that you don’t have to spend a lot of time fussing over.  They are not “house plants” in the ordinary sense of the word, although they can be brought indoors for limited periods of time to grace a dining table. Ideally they will spend most of the year outside in a spot sheltered from drying winds and sub zero temperatures.

The trees and shrubs in the Troll Gardens® Collections are not seedlings or “babies” of standard-sized trees.  These are all genetically miniature or dwarf, and very slow growing. The trees just above are in 4" pots and will pprobably no more than double in size in five years.  A ‘miniature’ tree will grow 1-3” per year and reach maturity at perhaps 12” after ten years.  A ‘dwarf’ tree will add 1-6” per year and will max out at 18-24” after 10-15 years. 

The trees and shrubs are shipped in 4” or 4.5” pots, and most of the perennials are shipped in 2.5” x 3.5” pots.  The trees and shrubs will already be 4-5 years old when you get them, and the perennials will be 6 –12 months old.  They can remain in their shipping pots for some time (2 weeks to 2 months, depending on the species), but they will do better if they are transplanted into their new “home” as soon as possible. Most of these little plants will do wonderfully in troughs or other containers, or if you have the right spot, will do fine planted directly in the ground.

Generally speaking, in Zones 8 -10 they can be planted outside, in the ground, almost any time of year with appropriate care given to provide shade from Phoenix sun and shelter from the Texas wind. In Zones 5-7 it is usually safe to plant them outside between March and October if you treat them as you would any other hardy perennial. Some will require more shade than others, and those are so identified. Container growing requires a different kind of attention. If you don’t have an enclosed porch or chilly basement or garage where they can spend the coldest part of the winter, they should be placed in a corner of the yard and covered with leaves. All are capable of surviving temperatures down to 10 degrees F, but they will not survive if they are subjected to repeated freezing and thawing (like many perennials.)

Between November and March these Troll Gardens® will be coming to you from a greenhouse that is kept at 40 degrees F, so you can’t unpack the shipping carton and place the plants and trees in a spot that is either too cold or too warm.  They need to be gradually acclimated to whatever conditions their new “home” will be. And their new home should not be a typical American house with the thermostat set at 70 F. They require some special care at the beginning, but their beauty more than compensates for any extra efforts on the gardener’s part.  Once they are established, they will provide ample enjoyment – with very little fuss – for many years.

Detailed growing instructions accompany each order shipped.

Papa Geno

Heavily scented with white trumpeted flowers, the Paperwhite Narcissus is a joy. And, it's so easy to grow, too!

A native of Mediterannean Europe and Asia Minor, it is now grown around the world. Paperwhites are small members of the Narcissus family (Daffodils and Jonquils are larger family members). What Paperwhites lack in size, they make up for in fragrance and charm. For little flowers, they are big in the popularity department. These winter and spring blooming flowers are equally popular grown as an indoor houseplant. Growing them indoors adds bright cheery blooms and a sweet scent to an otherwise dreary winter 's day.

         

Paperwhite narcissus are one of the easiest bulbs to force for cut flowers or ornamental displays in the home from December to March. They can be forced without a chilling period. The paperwhites you get from me are already potted, and require only an occasional drink of water to bloom in time for the holidays, but if you want to find your own loose bulbs and  give it a shot, here is all you need to know.

To force paperwhites, fill a bulb pan with about one to two inches of potting soil, then position the bulbs in the soil so they are nearly touching each other with pointed end up. Add enough potting soil so that only the top half of the bulbs remain exposed, then water well.

Paperwhites can also be forced in shallow decorative containers with pebbles and water, or in water alone. Place the bulb pans or decorative containers in a bright, cool room until the shoots are one to two inches tall. Then move the pots to a warmer location. Bulbs started in a warm room have a tendency to become leggy and the leaves flop over. No fertilizer is needed to force paperwhites.

Paperwhites bloom four to eight weeks after potting. For a continuous show of color, start new pots of bulbs every couple of weeks throughout fall and winter.

Commercially, several types are available. Some cultivars (varieties) have pure white flowers while others have white perianths with light yellow cups. Paperwhites originate in the Mediterranean and are tender bulbs. Thus, they can be grown outside only in  Zones 8 to 11. Unless one lives in one of these zones, forced bulbs should be composted. Believe me - after 20 years of trying to get them to bloom again, I have given up.


Planting -- Paperwhites can be forced using 3- to 4-inch deep decorative containers that do not have drainage holes. To force the bulbs using this system:

   1. Place 1 to 2 inches of washed gravel or stones in the bottom of the container.
   2. Carefully, place the bulbs on the gravel or stones.
   3. Subsequently, place enough gravel or stones over or around the bulbs to hold them in place.

Watering -- Add just enough water to bring it to base of the bulbs and subsequently, maintain it at this level. Do not immerse the bulbs in water, only the basal (root) plate should be in water.


Planting -- Use a well-drained, pH 6 to 7, sterilized planting medium. Any width pot can be used; it depends on the number of bulbs to be forced. However, use a pot that is 3 to 4 inches deep, and plant the bulbs with the noses even or slightly below the rim of the pot.

Watering -- After planting, water the medium thoroughly. Then, keep it moist, but not soggy wet!


Temperature - Initially, use a 60 to 65 degree area in the home. When in flower, use the coolest area of the home.

Light -- Paperwhites will flower under any light conditions. However, for best results, initially place them in a window area with a southern exposure. When the plants begin to flower, remove them from direct sun-light and place plants in coolest area of the home. This helps to prolong the flowering of the plants.

Fertilization -- None is required for forcing.

Diseases and insects -- If healthy bulbs are purchased, no pests are generally encountered.

For more info, go to:   http://gardening.wsu.edu/column/12-03-00.htm

Papa Geno

Let's see if these Scented Geraniums show up better than those in the preceding entry.




Well, somewhat better, but still not ready for prime time.  Bear with me; we're working on this and will have something worthwhile fairly soon.  We have 145 different SGs documented with photos like this and we're anxious to be able to share them ASAP.

Papa Geno

Scented Geranium Special - # SP0568. This entry accompanies our email newsletter for May 22. Here are images for the Scented Geraniums featured: Lady Plymouth, Variegated Mint, Red-flowered Rose, Radula, Village Hill Oak, Lemon crispum.  Don't have room on the Specials page for them.









Hmmm. Those don't show up very well this small, but I guess it is better than nothing.   Back to the drawing board; gotta figure out a way (reasonable) to show these wonderful plants.


Papa Geno

 

                                        Next Weekend!

Yes, we are having our usual Mother's Day Open House and Plant Sale. 

As I posted here  a month or so ago, it will be May 11, 12, 13 and 14!  We're open Noon - 6:00 pm on Thursday and Friday, 10:00 - 4:00 on Saturday, and on Sunday - Mother's Day - we will be open from Noon until 4:00 pm. Free plants(s) with every purchase.

            

For those of you who haven't been here - we are nine miles east of Crete, NE, on Highway 33, or if you are coming from the east, we are five miles west of the intersection of Highways 77 and 33.  The link below will take you to a printable map. We are a few miles southwest of Lincoln, NE.

http://www.papagenos.com/map2006.pdf

                       

If the weather cooperates, the iris and peonies will be in bloom and we will have fresh cut peony flowers for sale.  But if you are coming only for cut flowers, please call first - 402-794-0400.

papa geno

Dr. Hwei-Yiing Johnson and I are working on a book about Scented Geraniums, and have been experimenting with various ways to present photos of the varieties.  Here are a couple of formats we are considering:





Comments?  Suggestions?

Papa Geno

1. If you are looking for basic info on Scented Geraniums, just enter the words in the little search box to the right. You will get a lot.

2. Below are some new Scented Geranium photos, hot out of the digital camera of Dr. Hwei-Yiing Johnson of Lincoln University, who is doing research on SGs here at our greenhouses.

    
                  Almond                             Attar of Roses                        Cinnamon

We grow these wonderful plants for the fragrance of the foliage, but as you can see, the flowers aren't too shabby either!

   
         Cody's Nutmeg                          Eucalyptus                              Filbert 

The flowers range from fairly large and fairly garish to very small and extremely delicate. 

     
           Frensham Lemon                 Godfrey's Pride              Joy Lucille, Varigated

All scented geraniums have five petals, but they can be very different from each other.

     
              Lady Mary                         Rogers Delight                   Upright Coconut

This is just the first installment of what we hope will be a comprehensive gallery of Scented Geranium photos - flowers, foliage shapes and sizes, as well as pics of mature plants. As far as we can tell, it has never been done in a systematic, comparative fashion.

                                  
                   Snowflake Rose                          Forgot the name of this one, but I'll get  
                                                                       it tomorrow when it is light enough to see                                                                             in the greenhouse.

        
We're in the process of photographing the leaves as well, and will be able to match the leaves with the flowers in the not-too-distant future.

Stay tuned.

Papa Geno

 
   

Twilight Scented Perennial Collection
The only thing more beautiful to plant in your garden than colorful perennials are fragrant colorful perennials. Plan to spend many evenings sitting outside enjoying the sights and scents of this collection.  It includes eight hardy, easy-to-grow  perennials, care guide and a planting diagram.

                

 Phlox paniculata ‘David’ - Grows to 4-5’ tall with bright white clusters of deliciously fragrant flowers in the summer. Mildew Resistant. 2002 Perennial of the Year

Hesperis matrionalis (Dame's Rocket) - An old-fashioned garden plant for the early summer border. Blooms in spring and then again in the fall.

Cimicifuga racemosa 'Fairy Candles'  - This plant will grow 4-6’ bottlebrush-like white flowers in July and August. Handsome broad leaves; very unusual and attractive plant. (Recently renamed as Actaea racemosa; common name - Black Cohosh or Snake Root.)

Dictamnus Purpureus (Gas Plant)  - This plant will grow 24-30” spikes of rosepink flowers in June and July.

Nepeta  ‘Blue Wonder’ - This Catnip has 15-18” stems that are loaded with bright green, serrated foliage and a profusion of spiky lavender blue flowers.

                  

Monarda didyma ‘Goldmelisse’ - Wonderfully aromatic foliage topped with fragrant, scarlet red flowers in June through September.  Very tough Beebalm.

Geranium macrorrhizum (Crane's Bill) - A popular, low growing (8-10” ) spreading groundcover with magenta-pink flowers in late spring.

Dianthus ‘Dad’s Favorite’ - Fringed, double white flowers with red petal edges and red centers bloom on compact stems typically rising to 10-12” tall in late spring to early summer.

These plants are all available individually on the website under the Genus name, in alphabetical order in the Perennials section.

Papa Geno

My large perennial collections are kind of difficult to present.  Lots of plants, care guides, planting diagrams (garden plans), etc.  Here are some details on one of them - the Prize-Winnng Perennial Garden. I have this kind of detail on all of them, of course, and would be happy to email them to you, or post them here.There are thousands of perennials, but each season only one can win "Perennial Plant of the Year." From the Perennial Plant Association (PPA), we have gathered prize winners from the last 15 years into our best-selling collection. Prize-Winning Perennials will fill your garden with spectacular color, year after year.

              Instructions for how to plant and a diagram of the garden included.

             

                                         Collection Includes: 10 Plants
·  Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’          ·  Echinacea ‘Magnus’         ·  Coral Bells ‘Palace Purple’
·  Penstemon ‘Husker Red’    ·  Russian Sage Atriplicifolia    ·  Summer Phlox ‘David’
·  Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’       ·  Salvia ‘Mainacht’      ·  Pincushion Flower ‘Butterfly Blue’
                                        ·  Speedwell ‘Sunny Border Blue’

                                
Additional Information:
Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’ - These wiry herbaceous bushes reach 15-18" high with pale yellow flowers from June to frost. 1992 Perennial Plant of the Year.
Echinacea ‘Magnus’ - Good rose pink form with non-drooping rays in summer. Grows 2-3’ tall. 1998 Perennial Plant of the Year.
Coral Bells ‘Palace Purple’ - Flower spikes adorn the tops of these 18-24" tall perennials.
Penstemon ‘Husker Red’ - This plant has dark Burgundy foliage with rose colored spikes 2-3' long, bearing small white bell flowers. 1996 Perennial of the Year.

               
 
Russian Sage Atriplicifolia - This perennial has tall, silver foliage bearing azure blue flowers that last all summer. 1995 Perennial of the Year
Summer Phlox ‘David’ - This plant has 4-5' tall bright white clusters of deliciously fragrant flowers in summer. Mildew Resistant. 2002 Perennial Plant of the Year.
Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ - These large, deep yellow flowers have a bronzy, black cone center and form nicely branched 2’ foot plants. 1999 Perennial Plant of the Year.
Salvia ‘Mainacht’ - This perennial has beautiful 12-14" violet spikes. 1997 Perennial Plant of the Year.
Pincushion Flower ‘Butterfly Blue’ - These lavender-blue flowers bloom all summer on this compact 12-18" winner of the 2000 Perennial Plant of the Year.
Speedwell ‘Sunny Border Blue’ - This perennial has 18-20", sturdy herbaceous bushes with dark violet-blue spikes from June to hard frost. 1993 Perennial Plant of the Year.
                      
                                                                              Garden Plan Included
These plants are all available individually on the website under the Genus name, in alphabetical order in the Perennials section.

Papa Geno

Yes, we will have our usual Mother's Day Open House and Plant Sale.  I've been meaning to get this on the blog for about a month, but I never seem to remember it while I'm sitting at a computer.  (That memory stuff will happen to you too when you get older.  Count on it.)

Anyway - those of you close enough to get here mark your calendars - May 11, 12, 13 and 14!  We're open 10:00 am - 6:00 pm on Thursday and Friday, 10:00 - 4:00 on Saturday, and on Sunday - Mother's Day - we will be open from Noon until 4:00 pm.

For those of you who haven't been here - were are nine miles east of Crete, NE, on Highway 33, or if you are coming from the east, we are five miles west of the intersection of Highways 77 and 33.  I've got a map somewhere, and when I find it, I will post it here.  We are a few miles southwest of Lincoln.

Papa Geno

Basil Pesto Recipe

For most Americans “pesto” is nearly synonymous with basil, but in Italy (and in France where it is called “pistou”) it can mean a paste made from almost any herb/leaf veggie combination. Since almost all of my readers are Americans, I will stick with an American version.

                                                                     

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 cup flat Italian parsley leaves (not essential, but it makes a more robust pesto)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (or old Romano; Reggiano is better)
1/2 cup olive oil (maybe a little more, depending on the moisture content of the Parmesan)
3 -5 tablespoons pine nuts or walnuts (or in a pinch, sunflower kernels or blanched almonds)
3-4 garlic cloves, finely minced

Preparation:

Place basil and parsley leaves in small batches in food processor chop well (do about 1 cup at a time). Add about 1/3 the nuts and garlic, blend again.
Add about 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese; blend while slowly adding about 1/3 of the olive oil, stopping to scrape down sides of container.
Process basil pesto it forms a thick smooth paste. Repeat until all ingredients are used, mix all batches together well.

I add smaller quantities of other fresh herbs as well if I’m in the mood.  Go easy on rosemary, Greek oregano and thyme; they can quickly overpower the essential basil flavor. Chopped marjoram is good, as are minced chives or garlic chives. Tarragon, sage, fennel and chervil do not work as well, to my taste.

Basil pesto keeps in refrigerator a week or so, or freeze for a few months. We always freeze some in ice cube trays, pop out the cubes and store in the freezer in Ziploc bags. Thus providing an instant supply of pesto all winter long.

My favorite uses: Tossed with hot pasta. A spoonful floating on top of tomato soup. Spread on thin whole wheat crackers and topped with sun-dried tomatoes for a quickie gourmet appetizer. Or simply a dollop on sliced tomatoes.

Experiment until you find the combo that is perfect for you.

---

Pico de Gallo salsa recipe

This is the only salsa we eat at our house from July until the last fresh tomato is used in October. Although it is perfect with Mexican food, we use it nearly every day with something. My favorite breakfast on the porch is scrambled eggs topped with couple tablespoons of pico de gallo. And for a quick and healthy wrap, a whole wheat tortilla with sliced turkey or chicken and pico de gallo is as good as it gets!

                                                                                 

 4 firm tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 fresh chile peppers, mild or hot, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped red or yellow bell pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro (at least; depends on your preferences)
1 teaspoon lime juice
salt and pepper, to taste

PREPARATION:

Combine ingredients in a glass, ceramic or plastic bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Makes about 2 cups

Does not really keep very well; tends to get watery after a couple of days. So we make it small quantities several times per week.

Enjoy!

Papa Geno

If you've come here looking for information about growing lavender, or cooking with lavender, you're in the right place.  Just scroll down to the entries for 1/20, 2/9, 2/12 and 2/14 of this year.  Or - to save some scrolling, you can click on the January and February archives in the right hand column of this page.

                                                
                                                  Mixed Provence-type lavenders (Lavindins)

We have many varieties of  lavender plants and lavender gift items on the website.

To see lavender plants, click here.

To see lavender wreaths and bouquets, click here.



Papa Geno

We will not be shipping live plants this week.

This will make no sense to most of my subscribers, but those of you who have plants on order and were expecting them this week need to know this.

We are having a terrible snow storm - one that is forecast to continue through Tuesday noon (March 20).  It is too cold to ship, even if our employees could get to work - which they can't. Everything scheduled to ship this week will get postponed until March 27 - 28.

                                       

Isn't springtime on the Great Plains wonderful? Almost no snow all winter, and then the mother of all winter storms on the first day of Spring!

Sorry!

Papa Geno

This is the first of two postings on Scented Geraniums  made originally on January 22

Scented Geraniums is the fastest growing category of our little business. In their native habitat of the Cape of Good Hope, the scented geraniums (pelargoniums) are perennial, but in most of the US, they are treated as annuals or tender perennials. The leaf form is highly variable and the leaf texture can be smooth, velvety or even sticky. It is the back of the leaf that releases scent for which each geranium is named. I have personal experience with about 150 named varieties, but I am sure that there are others which I do not know.

Cultivation: Scented geraniums are well suited for growing in containers, but can also be planted in the ground. They thrive in sunny location in evenly moist soil. They are occasionally grown from seed but do better from rooted cuttings. Water them well several hours before taking cuttings. Cut “slips” 3 to 5 inches long with a very sharp knife or nurseryman’s clippers, sterilized with alcohol. The best cuttings are from a stem that “snaps.” Cut below an internode at an angle and remove lower leaves and stipules. Lay the cuttings out for 24 hours to “callus.” This stimulates the growth of new cells on the wound. Filtered light, a dry atmosphere, and no more than 70oF assures the best callusing. Placing cuttings in a frost-free refrigerator for 12-to 36 hours assures good callusing. It is not necessary to use a rooting hormone on geraniums. However, if you are going to root them in sand or soil, the fungicide contained in rooting compound may prove helpful. Stick the callused cuttings upright into the soil medium. Put this in a warm place in filtered light. In two weeks or so the cuttings will develop roots. Certain varieties do better in a rich loam as opposed to ordinary potting soil: Mint (Tomentosum), apple, apricot, strawberry, Mabel Grey. Transplant to garden if desired, adding soil amendments as necessary. Remove any leaves as they yellow.

History: These geraniums (pelargoniums) are grown for the scent of their leaves as opposed to their flowers. Native to the Cape of Good Hope, they were first introduced into Europe in the early 1600s. And by the late 1800s there were over 150 varieties described in American catalogs. In their native habitat and parts of the south, these geraniums are perennials. In most of the country, they are treated as annuals or tender perennials. Some can reach a height of four feet and the scents range from rose, pine, mint, fruity and spicy. Flowers are small. Other uses are potpourri, paper making and body care products.

Using scented geraniums

Obviously, scented geraniums are a diverse group, so it's not surprising that their uses as diverse as well. Here are some suggestions:

• Plant three of the smaller varieties in ceramic pots on a windowsill.
• Fill a large clay pot with a specimen plant of Lemon Rose on the patio.
• Combine them with flowers in a whiskey barrel.
• Tuck a mid-sized Peppermint into a shady nook in the garden.
• Plant a row of pruned Lemon Crispum as a border.
• Place a matched pair of standards or topiaries at the front door.
• Use them as backdrops or foundation plantings.

Combine them with vinca vine as an elegant hanging basket. Your imagination is the only limit, but remember to place them, indoors or outside, where you will be able to touch them and enjoy their fragrance. There are myriad uses for the fragant and flavorful foliage of scented geraniums. for some suggestions.

Culinary Uses:
Not all scented geraniums have tastes that complement cooking. Recipes call for either rose, lemon, or mint. Most often their flavors are infused into the dish and they are removed and discarded before serving, although fresh leaves can be used as a decorative garnish. The leaves are used fresh. Scenteds are typically used in sweet dishes. Rose varieties add a delicate but stimulating flavor to sugar which is then used in baked goods or to sweeten teas. Stack clean, dry leaves in a large canister between 1 inch layers of sugar. Place the canister in a warm spot for two to four weeks, and then sift out the leaves. Some cooks recommend first bruising the leaves to impart more flavor. The sugar can be substituted for all or part of the plain sugar called for in recipes for white cakes or icings. Small rose- or lemon scented leaves can also be candied by dipping them in egg white and coating them with sugar to create impressive cake decorations. Dry them on a rack before using. The leaves can be arranged in the bottom of a lined or buttered baking pan and pouring cake batter over them. Jellies flavored with rose scenteds can be used as a filling for sponge- or angel-food cake layers. Apple and crab-apple jellies are most commonly used for this purpose.

Other uses include fruit punches, wine cups, ice cream and sorbets. Use lemon and rose scented geraniums in sweet vinegar recipes, they combine especially well with lemon verbena, lemon basil and mints.

Scented Geranium Jelly

4 lbs cooking apples

3 1/2 cups water

White or preserving sugar

Juice of 2 lemons

15 scented geranium leaves

Chop the apples roughly, leaving the skin, stalk and pips. Put in a large pan with the water and simmer until soft. Strain for several hours through a jelly bag or muslin; do not squeeze the fruit pulp through or the jelly will be cloudy. Measure the juice into a preserving pan and for every 2 cups of juice add 1 pound of sugar. Add the lemon juice and the geranium leaves. Stir over a low heat to dissolve the sugar, then boil rapidly until set, for about 10 minutes. Quickly remove the leaves and pour into clean, warm jars. Cover the jars while the mixture is still hot.

My thanks to Maureen Rogers at the Herb Growing and Marketing Network for part of the above content.  See next Scented Geranium posting on this blog for additional information about caring for them.

If you are really interested in SGs, I know of one good book – Knowing, Growing and Enjoying Scented Geraniums by Jim Becker and Faye Brawner.  It is available both new and used on Amazon.com as I write this. (January 2006).

Click here to see our 140 varieties of Scented Geraniums.

Papa Geno

This is a repeat of the posting I made on January 22, so that the reader coming from my newsletter doesn't have to dig around in the archives. 

Outdoor growing - Scented geraniums (Pelargoniums) are a great addition to any area of your garden. We've used them in beds with brightly colored annuals like marigolds and zinnias, combined with standard geraniums, and in beds dedicated solely to scented geraniums. With few exceptions they need 5-6 hours of direct sun per day. Peppermint (and a couple of other "fuzzy" varieties) can get sunburned, and love light shade. At least a dozen varieties make attractive hanging baskets, and we use several varieties for creating topiaries and espaliers.

 

Growing scented geraniums indoors - Scented geraniums are not picky about temperature, but prefer to be cooler than standard geraniums. A range of 55 to 70 ° F is ideal. If you have them in a south window, sheer undercurtains are the perfect screen to prevent sunburn in summer.

Planting your scented geraniums
Any pot that provides good drainage will do, but we think unglazed clay (terra cotta) is a natural complement to these plants. Start with a 5" or 6" pot, and use a light commercial potting mix, or make your own using lots of perlite and/or sand. These plants are indigenous to a cool, semi-desert area and do not like wet feet, so water them well, and then let them dry out before watering again. In warmer areas (Zones 7-10), you may plant them outdoors after a period of acclimatization.

Scented geranium care tips
Give your geranium at least four hours of direct sunlight a day. Night temperatures should be 50° to 65°; day temperatures are ideally 68° to 72°. Allow the soil to dry out somewhat between thorough waterings. Fertilize every two weeks from March through October and once per month during the rest of the year. Pinch the tips of plants that are not branching on their own in order to avoid tall, leggy plants.

Fertilizing
Take care to not overfeed scented geraniums; overfeeding will diminish their fragrance and they actually don't need a lot of fertilizer. Any well balanced commercial plant food will do; natural fish emulsions and seaweed fertilizers are great for outside use. Use all of them at about 1/2 the strength recommended for houseplants. As with most plants, fertilize more often during periods of active growth, and not at all during the winter months.

Pruning
To prune or not to prune? Prune! Some plants may arrive looking as if they have just had a haircut, which is probably true, particularly late in the spring shipping season. These plants are not damaged - in fact, pruning encourages dense, lush growth. To truly appreciate these plants, you need to prune them on a regular basis.

Propagating
Starting new plants to add to your collection or to share with friends or neighbors is very simple. Use the plant material which you prune off your plants! Put the cut ends in damp sand and you will soon have new rooted plants. Plant into containers or into your garden when they're well rooted.

Winter care
Keep them indoors when it's cold outside! As they are easy to grow inside, scented geraniums make great fall and winter houseplants. They need only a sunny windowsill or a flourescent light and seem somehow to thrive on neglect. If you use a light, keep it turned on 12 hours per day during the winter. Some scented geraniums are large and bushy and will need regular pruning to keep under control.

A couple of weeks before it is time to move them outdoors in the spring, prune them back to a nice shape, repot if rootbound, and fertilize. Because of their lack of fussiness and tolerance of hot, dry conditions, scented geraniums are naturals for American summers. Plant them where and when you would plant standard geraniums - after danger of frost is past. Dig and re-pot about 3 weeks before the first fall frost, and gradually acclimatize them to the house before moving them inside for the winter.

Troubleshooting

Why are my geranium's leaves discolored?
If you notice mottling, streaking, curling, or abnormal color patterns on the leaves of your geraniums, they may have been infected with a viral disease carried by insect pests. Once infected, there is no cure; infected plants should be destroyed to prevent the spread of the virus. A regular program of watering and fertilization will keep plants healthy and best able to ward off viral infection.

What diseases affect geraniums and how can I treat them?
The first step in combating a plant disease or pest is to identify it. Here are some descriptions of common geranium diseases and their recommended treatments:

Southern root-knot nematodes: These microscopic, soil-dwelling worms can attack geranium plant roots and cause stunted growth, wilting and yellowing. Infested roots will display knots or swellings. These worms are most troublesome in warm-winter climates and sandy soils. Nematode infestation can be prevented with a regular program of watering and fertiliztion in conjunction with the use of compost to introduce beneficial soil organisms and crab or shrimp wastes to amend the soil. These wastes contain a substance which encourages the growth of nematode-attacking organisms. Once infested, a plant cannot be treated; however, the organisms remaining in the soil can be killed by solarization. Cover bare soil with clear plastic sheeting for three to four weeks. The build-up of solar heat under the sheeting will kill most pests and weed seeds in the top few inches of soil.

Leaf spot: Leaf spot diseases develop during warm, moist weather and cause leaves to display brown or black spots with yellow edges. Eventually, the leaves may drop and the stems may rot. Cut off and destroy infected plant parts as well as seriously affected plants and any soil their roots touch. Since the diseases overwinter on plant debris, if leaf spot occurs, keep the beds clean and replace the mulch. Because the diseases can spread via water, infected tools, or unwashed hands, avoid splashing water on the foliage and keep your hands and tools clean. Spacing plants widely will promote good air circulation.

Botrytis blight: Also known as gray mold, this fungal disease is spread by wind-brone spores and thrives in cool, moist weather. Stems and flowers will rot and develop gray mold, especially during damp, cloudy weather. To prevent its spread, destroy diseased plant parts. To prevent infection, space plants widely to promote good air circulation and allow the soil to dry out between waterings.

Pelagonium rust: This fungal disease causes small, yellow spots on leaf surfaces or powdery, orange spores on the undersides of leaves. Badly infected leaves and plants should be destroyed. Plants with minor infections can be sprayed with sulfur. Watering early in the day, widely spacing plants, and avoiding overhead watering will help prevent infection.

What pests commonly attack geraniums?

Some common geranium pests include the following:

Geranium aphids: These tiny, soft-bodied, pear-shaped insects suck plant juices and can spread viral diseases. They can be controlled by knocking them off the plants with a strong stream of water, an application of insecticidal soap (pay special attention to treating the undersides of leaves), spraying with horticultural oil, and releasing beneficial insects, such as parasitic wasps, ladybugs, green lacewings, and aphid midges.

Caterpillars: Several species of caterpillars chew geranium leaves. Caterpillars can be handpicked and destroyed or they can be controlled with an application of Bt (Bacillus thuringeinsis) which kills caterpillars, but does not harm beneficial insects. Cultivating the soil in winter will kill overwintering pupae. Attracting or releasing beneficial insects such as ladybugs and parasitic wasps will also help to control caterpillars.

Other pests: Common garden pests, such as mealybugs, whiteflies, and spider mites, can easily be controlled by knocking them off the plants using a strong spray of water, watering plants well during dry spells, and attracting or releasing beneficial insects. More severe infestations can be treated by applying insecticidal soap or neem.

What is the best way to overwinter geraniums?
It is almost impossible to overwinter geraniums outdoors in Zones colder than Zone 8, but quite simple to do so indoors. To overwinter entire geraniums or scented geraniums, dig them out of their beds or window boxes and place them in a bright spot inside. Make certain not to overwater your plants during their stay indoors. Some gardeners prefer to grow cuttings of their plants indoors rather than try to overwinter entire plants. To start to root cuttings, remove bottom leaves and place in a glass of plain water on a windowsill. Make sure to protect all overwintering geraniums and new cuttings from freezing temperatures which can occur if your plants are left too close to icy windows.

 

Why won't my geraniums bloom?
A common reason many flowering plants refuse to bloom is an overdose of nitrogen. Many commercial fertilizers are extremely high in nitrogen. While nitrogen is an essential element for vigorous plant growth, too much nitrogen encourages leafy growth at the expense of blooms. Try supplementing your soil with a balanced organic fertilizer such as our Rose and Flower Food. You might also consider having your soil tested through your local county extention agency. This is a free service which will help provide you with valuable soil improvement suggestions.

What should I do to get rid of the spent blossoms on my geraniums?
The best way to deal with old and withered flowers is to deadhead the plants. Deadheading can be done at any time of year, by cutting or pinching dead buds. You can use any hand tool, pruning shears, or even scissors -- just be sure to avoid new buds and blooms. Deadheading will freshen the appearance of your garden, as well as promote longer lasting and more abundant blooms.

If you are really interested in SGs, I know of one good book – Knowing, Growing and Enjoying Scented Geraniums by Jim Becker and Faye Brawner.  It is available both new and used on Amazon.com as I write this. (January 2006).

Click here to see our 140 varieties of Scented Geraniums.

Papa Geno

About Flowering Perennials

Almost every garden that we admire is built around a core of perennials. In most parts of the country, herbaceous perennials die to the ground at the end of the season, and then regrow from the same roots the following year. However, plants that are reliably perennial in the warmer parts of the U.S. may not overwinter in the colder parts, and some perennials must have a “cold period.” “Perennial” is a relative term. We grow perennials because they are generally low-care, dependable performers year after year, and because they provide a wide variety of color, texture and form to the garden.
               

Some perennials, such as astilbes, require deep, moist humousy soil and plenty of shade, while others such as English Lavender and German Iris struggle if they are grown anywhere except in full sun and well-drained soil. Perennials range in size from small mounds of green with tiny flowers to rangy giants that can take over your garden. Some should be pruned in spring, some in summer, some in fall. Many people think of perennials only as eye candy, but there are many perennial herbs to stimulate your senses of smell and taste as well.

The lifespan and bloom time of perennials. varies greatly. Some are relatively "short-lived" with a lifespan of just a few years. Others may live much longer or even, in the case of peonies, a lifetime. Bloom time may last for only two weeks each year, or may extend over two or three months. Some plants – such as reblooming daylilies and iris – will bloom in the spring and then again in the fall in many parts of America.

There are so many different species and named varieties of perennials to choose from that no one can know all of them. Experienced perennial gardeners rely on many resources for information and inspiration – books, magazines, plant catalogs and – more recently - the Internet. Many sources provide photographs, cultural information, a description of growth habits, bloom time, color and characteristics of the plants. A good general book about perennials is an excellent place to start, and we can recommend: (Fill in the blank with info about BHG perennial books.)

Local resources are often the best. Nearly every county, and every Land Grant University in America has extension offices that can provide you with horticultural information specific to your own locale. The gardeners down the street or across town are also great source of information. Nothing beats seeing a plant in a garden setting, where you can observe how it is being used. There's just no way to know how a plant will do for you unless you give it a try. If it turns out to be too tall, the color is wrong, or the plant doesn't thrive, you can always move it and try something different.

 Perennial Planting Styles

Few if any "perennial gardens" contain only herbaceous perennials. Woody plants, such as shrubs, roses, and trees, are often incorporated to provide a backdrop for the perennial plants, or are used to fill in and give mass to the bed or border. Many gardeners include annuals or biennials in their perennial gardens to provide splashes of dependable color throughout the season. Bulbs are added for early spring color and ornamental grasses for their interesting textures and late-season beauty.

Traditionally, perennial gardens have been laid out in one of two ways: a border or an island bed. A border is typically a long, rectangular flower bed that is about two to four feet deep. The classic English perennial border, which was so popular in the first half of the 20th century, was often as much as eight feet deep and 200-feet long. But for most home gardeners, a better size is about three feet deep and about 12 to 15 feet long.

Borders are usually viewed from only one side, and are located in front of a backdrop. This backdrop may be created with shrubs, a hedge, a fence or a stone wall. A well-defined front edge is important. You may design a solo border, or a matched pair. When selecting plants, keep in mind that borders usually look best when there is a repeating theme of plants and colors.

An island bed is a garden that floats in a "sea" of lawn. The shape is irregular, with gentle curves and no sharp corners. It is usually designed to be viewed from all sides, with the tallest plants positioned along the center line of the bed, and the shortest plants around the edges. Island beds look best when they are generous in size. A good size for an island bed is 8-by-15 feet, with the tallest plants reaching a height of about five feet.

Of course perennial flower gardens sometimes look nothing like a traditional border or island bed. Rock gardens break all the rules, for the objective is usually to create an irregular, natural-looking rock outcropping where tiny alpine plants can be featured.

Shade gardens are often irregularly-shaped, because they follow the natural shade patterns of the trees above. Another emerging style for perennial gardens is the large, free-form garden. In this case, the garden is defined by a series of meandering paths that lead the viewer right into and then through the plantings. Perennial flowers can also be mixed in among shrubs, planted around your mailbox, used in woodland or streamside plantings, or even planted in containers.

Arranging Your Plants
The appearance of a perennial garden depends as much upon the shapes of your plants and how they are arranged, as upon their colors.

Height
You'll want to place the tallest plants in the back of the border, or in the center of an island bed, then work down in height, ending with the shortest plants around the edges of an island bed or the front of a border. Books and labels usually list the average mature height for a plant in bloom. Remember that many plants hold their flowers well above the foliage. This means that when the plant is out of bloom, it may be much shorter than the specified height.

Heights are also an average. When grown in poor, dry soil, a plant may be only half as tall as the same plant grown in rich, moist soil. Be prepared to move your plants around once you see how tall (or short) they really grow. Even the most experienced gardeners rearrange their plants (usually more than once!).

Width
A plant's width, or spread, is just as important as its height. Width figures given in books or on labels are also an average. The actual width of a plant will vary depending on soils, geographical location and the age of the plant. Be careful about locating slow-growers very close to rapid spreaders. The former may all but disappear by the end of the first growing season.

Spacing
Patience is a virtue, but when most people plant a perennial garden, their goal is to create a full effect as soon as possible. The challenge is to plant thickly, but not break the bank, or create a crowded, unhealthy situation two or three years down the line. When planting a grouping or "drift" of the same kind of plants, you can put them closer together to create a massed look more quickly.

Another trick is to place short-lived plants between slower-growing, long-lived plants. Most peonies, for example, have an ultimate spread of three feet, but it may take seven years for them to reach this size. While you're waiting, you could interplant with Shasta daisies, a fast-growing, short-lived plant that will provide a full look and plenty of flowers while the peonies get themselves established.

Drifts versus specimens
A garden planted with groupings of five or more plants of the same variety will display drifts of repeating colors and textures. In this type of garden, plants are used primarily as design elements that add up to a pleasing and integrated visual effect.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the collector's garden, filled with onezies and twozies of all different kinds of plants. These are the gardens of people who simply love plants and want to have one of everything. The look of this type of garden may be a jumble of colors and textures, and maintenance is usually more challenging, but these gardens are about plants first, and design second.

How to Select Perennials

When it comes to deciding which perennials to plant, most of us are not very deliberate about our choices. We succumb to a luscious photo in a catalog, stumble upon an irresistible beauty at the nursery, or a neighbor sends us home with a bag full of cast-offs. If you ever do set out to make an informed and deliberate choice, here are some of the things that you should think about.

Your Site
Perennials, like all plants, will live longer and be healthier and more floriferous if they are planted in a location that suits them. Does your garden have sandy soil or is it heavy clay? Is it in the sun or shade? Is the soil moist or droughty? Is the pH high, low, or neutral? Is the site flat, gently sloped, or steep? A good reference book can help you figure out which plants will probably be happy in the growing conditions that you can provide.

Hardiness
If a plant is not hardy in your growing zone, it will not survive the winter. If you don't know which zone you live in, check a USDA Hardiness Zone Map. Though knowing your zone is very important, altitude, wind exposure, soils and snow cover can have a dramatic impact on plant hardiness, effectively shifting the hardiness rating for your garden by as much as a full zone.

For best results, choose plants that are well within your zone. You will probably be tempted by those that are at or even just beyond your growing zone. If you can afford to take the gamble (financially and emotionally), it can be very rewarding to discover that you can grow a couple of Zone 5 plants in your Zone 4 garden. Where snow cover is not dependable, a winter mulch of leaves or straw can help marginally hardy plants survive a cold winter. Well-drained soil is also a benefit. During the winter, heavy, wet soils can heave and damage plant roots.

Northern gardeners concern themselves with the minimum temperatures that a plant will tolerate, but Southern gardeners must pay attention to the upper end of zone ratings. Many popular perennials, including lupines, peonies, and garden phlox, will not perform well in warm climates. They must be exposed to a period of subfreezing temperatures to produce a good display of flowers. Other perennials will simply not tolerate long periods of heat and humidity.

Color
In working with color, aim for a balance of integration and contrast. Too much of the same color can be monotonous, yet a cacophony of different colors can be jarring rather than pleasing to the eye. You may want to organize your garden around one color; or choose a theme such as pastels, cool colors, or hot colors. You can also experiment with different color themes in different parts of your garden--hot colors by the front door and cool colors in a quieter part of the yard.

Remember that few perennials are in bloom for more than a couple of weeks each year. Most of the time, plants are green, and it is their leaf form and foliage texture that are the "color" in your garden.

Bloom time
A perennial may be in bloom for two weeks a year or for as long as three months. If your objective is all-season color, choose several plants from each bloom season. When selecting plants for a spring garden, concentrate on those that bloom during April and May. After that peak, the garden may lack color for the rest of the season, but you will have achieved a spectacular spring display. For best effect, group at least two or three different varieties of plants together that will bloom at the same time.

Remember that specified bloom time is only an average. In California, April may be the peak bloom time for bearded iris, yet in Vermont, the same plant will not bloom until early June. Keep a record of when various perennials bloom and you'll create and invaluable reference. No book, no matter how good, will be as accurate as your own observations about when plants bloom and how they perform in your own garden.

Seedling, potted or field-grown
When purchasing perennials, try to get the largest, most mature plant that you can afford. The bigger the plant, the more quickly it will fill out and the sooner it will begin blooming. Typically plants are available in pot sizes ranging from 3-inch diameter to 12-inch diameter. Pot-grown perennials can be planted from spring through fall, and will suffer minimal transplant shock.

Some mail-order companies ship plants bareroot (without soil). Bareroot perennials are usually available in spring and fall. The roots must be kept moist, and the plant should be put into the garden as soon as possible (within a couple of days). Once the plant is in the ground and has emerged from its dormant state, it will take hold relatively fast.

A few local nurseries still offer field-grown perennials. These plants are dug up when you come for them and they need to be transplanted immediately (within a few hours) to minimize transplant shock. Field-grown perennials are usually the largest and most mature plants around, but today most nurseries only offer container-grown perennials.

Vigor
Vigorous plants can be good, but they can also create problems. Plants that are too vigorous can invade neighboring plants and gradually take over your entire garden. Determining a plant's propensity for invasiveness can be difficult, because poor growing conditions can render a normally invasive plant relatively tame, whereas in fertile soil, a normally restrained plant may exhibit invasive tendencies.

Look closely at plant descriptions and be wary of those described as "vigorous." This may be a euphemism for an invasive plant that you'll wish you never set eyes on. Perennials with a reputation for invasiveness include: Physostegia virginiana, Monarda (bee balm), Artemisia ludoviciana 'Silver King’, Lysimachia clethroides (gooseneck loosestrife), Tanacetum vulgare, Aegopodium and Boltonia asteroides. Others are invasive in certain areas.

Maintaining a perennial garden

Though most flowering perennials are dependable, easy-care performers, all perennial gardens require some maintenance. Here are the eight most important steps to ensure a healthy and floriferous garden:

Fertilizing
Most perennials are not heavy feeders and they will be happy with one spring application of a low-nitrogen, high-phosphorus, all-purpose granular fertilizer (5-10-5). For established plantings, scratch in a good handful of fertilizer around each plant. Annual or biennial applications of aged manure or finished compost will restore trace elements and improve soil texture and water retention. Natural soil amendments for perennial gardens include greensand, kelp meal and rock phosphate.

Watering
A perennial garden does not require as much water as a vegetable garden. Depending on where you live, if you select plants suited to your site, and mulch them well, you may not need to water at all. If you live where summers are very dry and you do need to water, try to water deeply and avoid getting water on the foliage (soaker hoses and drip irrigation systems are great for perennial gardens).

Mulching
By early summer, a densely planted perennial garden will shade out most weeds. But a new garden, a spring garden or a garden that is more sparsely planted, will benefit from some kind of mulch. The mulch will keep weeds to a minimum and help retain moisture in the soil.

In a perennial garden, the aesthetics of the mulch are as important as the function. Your garden will look best with a finely textured material such as shredded leaves, dry grass clippings, peanut shells, cocoa hulls or shredded bark. The big chunks and coarse texture of bark, newspaper or straw will overpower your plants.

Neat Edges
A neat, cleanly defined edge between your lawn and flower bed will give your garden a professional look. You can achieve this in one of two ways: get a nice sharp edging tool and recut the edge several times during the growing season, or install some permanent edging. A defined edge will also help keep grass and weeds from growing into the bed.

Pinching
Some kinds of perennials, including asters, chrysanthemums, phlox and salvias, benefit from being pinched back. Pinching creates a bushier plant that produces more blooms and is less likely to flop over. Pinch back the growing tips--using thumb and forefinger--once or twice during late spring. Not all kinds of perennials should be pinched. If in doubt, pinch a little here and there, and see what happens.

Deadheading
Some plants drop their spent flowers and seed heads. Others hold onto them for months, or even right through the winter. Removing spent flowers will keep your plants looking their best, and often stimulates reblooming. It also prevents plants from expending their energy on seed production. After bloom, some plants should be shorn rather than deadheaded. This is true for creeping phlox, nepeta, hardy geraniums, daisies, pinks and lavender.

Staking
Many tall or weak-stemmed plants need support when they reach blooming size. Delphiniums and hybrid lilies are two prime candidates. But other, shorter plants can also benefit from some kind of support. Supports should be as invisible as possible. For individual stems, you can use bamboo canes. For entire plants you can use wire grids or support rings. For loose and airy plants, try using a few thin branches. For best results, put the supports into position in early spring. That way the plants will hide the supports as they grow.

Dividing
If your perennials are happy, most of them will need to be divided every few years. They may become too large for the space; the center or oldest part of the plant may die out leaving a bare middle; or the growth may become so dense that the plant is no longer blooming well.

Use a shovel to remove the entire plant from the garden and place the root ball on a tarp. Then you can either pry the plant into pieces using two forks, tease the pieces of the plant apart into different sections, or use a shovel or knife to cut the plant into several pieces. Plants should not be divided when they are in bloom or in full growth. In all but a few cases, this is a job for early spring or late fall.

Perennial Tips

• When planting a new perennial garden, prepare the soil well at the outset. That may be your only opportunity to loosen the soil, remove rocks, and add organic matter.
• If you start plants by seed, put your first-year seedlings in a "nursery bed" rather than directly into your flower garden. They will not bloom or have much of a presence until their second year anyway, and a nursery bed will allow you to keep a better eye on their performance.
• Eventually, most perennials will need to be divided. Do it in early spring, when new growth is only a few inches high. If you miss your chance in the spring, wait until fall.
• Keep newly transplanted perennials well watered for the first few weeks. Water deeply to saturate the entire root ball and establish good contact between the roots and the surrounding soil.
• Most perennials prefer a pH of about 6.5, although, some prefer more alkaline or acidic soil. If you have trouble with a particular plant, check its pH requirements and the pH level of the soil in your flower garden.
• If your plants look stressed during the growing season, or if you see disease or insect damage, feed your plants with a quick-release organic fertilizer (try a blend of seaweed and fish emulsion).
• All plants die eventually, and some will die sooner than others, no matter what you do about it. If a plant performs poorly, try moving it to a different location. If it still is not happy, give it away or send it to the compost pile.
• When designing a perennial garden, think about how you'll get access to your plants to stake, deadhead, or divide them. Flat rocks can be used as stepping stones within the garden. A walkway created at the back of a border will be hidden during the growing season, but will make the bed accessible for spring and fall chores.

If you have any questions, contact us at:

 

For new gardeners:

• Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Perennials by Ellen Phillips and C. Colston Burrell (Rodale, 1993).
• Better Homes and Gardens Complete Guide to Flower Gardening by Susan A. Roth (Meredith, 1995).
• Perennials for Dummies by Marcia Tatroe and the editors of the National Gardening Association (IDG, 1997).

For intermediate and experienced gardeners:

• The Random House Book of Perennials by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix (Random House, 1992).
• Perennials for American Gardens by Ruth Rogers Claussen and Nicholas H. Ekstrom (Random House, 1989).
• The Undaunted Gardener by Lauren Springer (Fulcrum, 1994).
• The Perennial Gardener by Frederick McGourty (Houghton Mifflin, 1989).

Papa Geno

Looking for seed potatoes and onion sets?  I don't sell them - yet - but I have a couple of friends who do.  I met both guys through the Mail Order Gardening Association, the trade

 association for folks who make their living growing or shipping gardening products.  For onion sets, go to Onionman.   For seed potatoes, go to Wood Prairie.  Both are family-owned companies. I use the products from both companies in my own garden.  In fact, I placed orders to both companies this week.  I've never been able to grow leeks successfully here in Nebraska, but I'm going to try once again, and I've been dying to try fingerling potatoes.  I'll let you know how they did about September.

Tip: Be sure to read the informational material on both websites. That stuff about long-day, short-day, early season and late season is important.

Papa Geno

It's easy to see why the Victorians were so fond of scented geraniums. Bursting with the scents of citrus, rose, spice or mint, these native South African plants are easily grown inside and offer an olfactory treat to winter-weary gardeners. They also lend themselves well to culinary uses, such as herbal-scented sugars.

 Scented Geranium Sugars

To make scented-geranium sugars, use plants that have not been sprayed with chemicals. Select leaves that are clean and dry.

Place a few leaves into a clean, dry glass jar. Cover with two inches of granulated sugar. Continue to layer leaves and sugar until you reach the quantity you want. A cup of sugar is a good amount to start with.

Cover tightly and store in a cool, dry place. Check the sugar in a week. Depending on the strength of the scented geranium leaves, the sugar already may be infused with the herbal scent. Remove the leaves when the sugar has the level of scent you desire. Store the sugar in a cool, dry place. (Hint: you can save the leaves and add them to your next cup of tea!)

To quickly make scented sugars,add a few leaves to about two-thirds of a cup of granulated sugar. Use a blender to finely chop the leaves into the sugar.  It's ready to use!

Note: This method works best with strongly scented plants, such as Rober's lemon rose, lime or Frensham's lemon scented geraniums. 

Try sprinkling the scented sugars over fresh fruit, hot or cold cereals, and desserts. They can turn common beverages, such as tea or coffee, into uncommon treats.

Scented sugars and cookies were made for each other! Here's a recipe to try out.

Lemon-Rose Sugar Cookies

Yield: 5 dozen

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup regular white sugar

1/2 cup lemon-rose scented geranium sugar

2/3 cup butter

2 eggs

2 1/2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg white, beaten with 1 tablespoon water

More lemon-rose scented geranium sugar to sprinkle on top

Place all ingredients (except egg white and sugar for topping) into large bowl. Beat batter at medium speed until mixture is well mixed but crumbly.

Shape dough into ball. Place in glass or metal bowl. Cover with plastic, or wrap with waxed paper. Chill in refrigerator for three hours. When dough is chilled, preheat oven to 400-degrees Fahrenheit and lightly grease cookie sheets.

Roll half of dough at a time onto lightly floured surface. Keep rest of dough refrigerated. Roll out dough thinly for crisp cookies; roll out dough 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick for soft cookies.

Cut dough into desired shapes. Place cookies a half-inch apart on cookie sheets. To glaze, brush tops of cookies with the beaten egg white and water mixture, and sprinkle with lemon-rose scented geranium sugar.

  Bake at 400-degrees Fahrenheit for six to eight minutes, or until cookies are light brown. Remove cookies to rack; cool completely.

Leslie Coons is a New York-based food and garden writer who has a special interest in culinary herbs.

A few days ago, Mary wrote: "Great Blog - but - it sure would be nice if after each article there was a "print" icon."

I agree, but I don't think this blogging software has that capability. Or if it does, I haven't found it yet. I did some experimenting, and it is very easy to highlight what you want to print, and copy-and-paste it into MS Word.  Photos and links copy perfectly too.  Remember, I'm still new at this and discovering things about blogging every day.

I have hundreds of pages of  "gardening content" on my site and server, and my web guy Rob and I are trying to figure out how to make it all accessible to anyone who visits either the website or this blog.  sounds easy, but that  "ain't necessarily so."

Papa Geno

I've been working on recipes quite a bit lately and it occurred to me that some of you guys might be interested in in a couple of places that I have found very helpful - and VERY interesting.


Click here to visit a food blog by Mark Tafoya, who serves as Executive Chef  for the test kitchen at  GildedFork.com.  They're doing blogs, podcasts, all sorts of "new media" things, but more important from my perspective is that they are creating wonderful new recipes, many of which use fresh herbs.

Mark and I have talked about him doing a major lavender culinary production later this Spring.  Stay tuned . . . I'll let you know when his masterpieces are ready. He's a busy boy this week. A personal chef to prepare a fabulous Valentine's Day dinner for two - now that would be something to warm the heart of the hardest of the hard-hearted women!

Since I don't do chocolates or flowers for V-Day, I've gotta come up with a special dinner real fast. You don't suppose my wife Dorrie will go for the rattlesnake fillets and alligator meat I have in the freezer, do you?

Papa Gene

Yes - cooking with lavender.  Lavender flowers, that is!  From the venues of the Four Star restaurants of Europe and America, to the tables of professional food writers, to the kitchens of ordinary gardeners who like to eat well, lavender is making a comeback as an essential culinary herb! It is actually more retro than it is new - our foremothers and fathers used lavender as a seasoning from ancient times until well into the 20th Century. And not just for sweet stuff, but also for meats and main courses of all kinds.

Some of the recipes below have been floating around for a long time on my hard drive or in a manilla folder in my old-fashioned file cabinet. Others have come from Beth at Essencedeprovence.com and Robyn at Herbsearch.com.  I've never met Robyn, but have visited her site often. Beth and I used to be across-the-street neighbors and I have enjoyed many lavender delicacies at her kitchen table. This is a tiny sampling of the lavender recipes I have collected over the years. If you want more, let me know in the comments section at the end of this blog.

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Dried Herbs de Provence Blend

Every good cook in France has a different recipe for Herbs de Provence. This is  a good basic recipe to start with. Experiment with the proportions and find the flavor blend that suits your palate best. All herbs should be dried and coarsely crumbled.  We make ours in ten-pound lots and my calculations to translate this into  "average kitchen size" quantities may  not be precisely correct. But no matter - Herbs de Provence is a matter of taste and nuance, not of being able to measure correctly.  If you don't like the flavor of oregano, reduce the proportion; if you love rosemary, double the amount. And don't get hung up on the formula below.   Beth and I both keep a supply of herbs de provence on the back of the stove year round and use it every day - sometimes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Combine and mix well. Store the mixture in small airtight jars in a dark cool location. Makes about 3/4 cup.

Click here  and then click on "Kitchen Gifts" to see this herbs de provence grinder.

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Easy, easy, easy!  My only caution is to take care that you don't burn them. They are very delicate.

Lavender Cookies

Ingredients
1/2 Cups Unsalted butter softened
1/4 Cups Superfine sugar
1 Egg
2 1/2 tbl Dried lavender flowers chopped finely or ground in a grinder
1 1/2 Cups All-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cream butter, sugar, and egg well in a mixer
Add lavender and mix  thoroughly
Add flour a little at a time, mixing as you go. Cover and chill for at least 15 minutes.
Roll out batter on floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness, cut with cookie cutter.Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet on top-shelf in oven.

Check for golden brown edges. Cool thoroughly.

You can add or subtract lavender flowers to suit your own taste.

Perfect with a pot of Earl Grey tea at 4:30 on a cold February afternoon!

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These, on the other hand, are perfect on a hot July late afternoon!

Lavender Margaritas

1 cup tequila
1/3 cup triple sec
1/4 cup limeade concentrate
1 cup canned coconut milk
2 cups frozen unsweetened raspberries
2 cups frozen unsweetened blueberries
4 ice cubes
1 teaspoon dried lavender buds

In a blender, combine the tequila, triple sec, coconut milk, and lime juice. Cover and turn to high speed, then gradually add berries and ice. Whirl until smooth and slushy. Pour into glasses. You can rub glass rims with lime and dip the rim in salt. Add a lavender sprig for garnish!

For properly contemplating the gardening you've just completed or the dinner that you are planning to prepare.

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You will definitely want to prep this recipe before you drink 3-4 of the tasties described just  above. I would suggest sipping one margarita while you study the recipe, then prep the chicken, and avoid turning on the blender again until the bird is safely in the oven. And by all means place the oven timer between the patio and the blender - you'll never hear it otherwise.

LAVENDER LEMON CHICKEN

Serves: 4

1/3-1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons dried culinary lavender
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 large onion
1 (4-7) pound chicken
1/4 cup dry vermouth
1/2 cup chicken stock
1-2 tablespoons flour or Wondra

In a small bowl or mortar and pestle coarsely crush lavender and thyme.
Then stir together with butter, zest, and salt and pepper until well combined.
Spoon mixture onto a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a 4-inch log.
Chill compound butter, until firm, at least 30 minutes, and up to 3 days.

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Rinse chicken; pat dry. Reserve 2 tablespoons herb butter for gravy.
 
Slide hand under skin of chicken breast to loosen skin from meat and place in slices of the herb butter. Spread remaining herb butter over outside of chicken.

Truss chicken. Place the chicken in a flameproof roasting pan.
Slice the onion into large pieces and scatter around the chicken.

Arrange birds in a flameproof roasting pan.
Roast bird in middle of oven until an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part
of a thigh (be careful not to touch bone) registers 170° to 175° F. It will take roughly
55-65 minutes for a four pound chicken and 8 minutes more per every pound
over that. Lift chicken and tilt, emptying any juices from cavity into roasting pan.
Remove the chicken to the platter, cover loosely, and make the following sauce.

Add vermouth to pan. Place pan over high heat; bring vermouth to boil,
scraping up any browned bits and onions. Strain the mixture into cup with pan juices.
Spoon fat off. Pour back into the pan. Bring to a simmer; melt reserved
2 tablespoons herb butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
Add flour or Wondra; whisk until smooth. Serve with gravy.

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If you found the recipe immediately above intimidating, here is one that even a beginning cook can manage.  The best scones I've ever baked started with this recipe, but I added couple of handfuls of fresh wild blueberries and reduced the quantity of walnuts a bit.  And if you don't have walnuts, chopped hazelnuts or almonds will work just fine. I've used toasted pinenuts too, but getting them toasted just right can be a pain in the butt and can add a half hour to the prep time. (I always seem to burn the first batch and have to start over!)

Lavender Walnut Scones 

Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl: cut in margarine with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Add buttermilk or soy milk and vanilla, stirring with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened.
Drop dough by 2 heaping tablespoons, 2 inches apart onto baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with walnuts and remaining sugar.  Bake 400 degrees for 15 to 17 minutes or until golden.
Yield 1 Dozen

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Tell me what you think of these recipes and let me know if you want me to publish more of them.

Papa Geno

The question above is probably the question we are most often asked by phone or e-mail. It’s variations are apparently infinite:

Can I grow peonies in Central Florida near the coast?

Is basil hardy in southern Nevada?

Can I grow daylilies in Northern Maine?

Will scented geraniums bloom in Texas?

What Zone am I in?

Unless you live in Zones 4, 5 & 6, more-or-less in the central part of the country, I’m not going to be able to give you advice based on my personal exeprience. Both my partner Sharon and I were born on farms in Nebraska, and most of our growing experience is in an area that is borderline Zone5/Zone 6 in mild winters and Zone4/Zone5 in harsh winters.  Since only 1% of our customers are in Nebraska, and maybe 6-7% in the entire Great Plains region, my personal experience isn’t going to be nearly as helpful as advice you can get free (and quickly) much closer to your home.

If you don’t know what Horticultural Zone you are in, Click here for an interactive USDA Zone Map.

If you have a question about whether a particular plant will grow in a specific area,  click here  for a Directory of Cooperative Extension Offices in every county in America. The Cooperative Extension System is a nationwide, non-credit educational network. Each U.S. state and territory has a state office at its land-grant university and a network of local or regional offices. These offices are staffed by one or more experts who provide useful, practical, and research-based information to agricultural producers, small business owners, youth, consumers, and others in rural areas and communities of all sizes.

Based on my own experience, these guys and gals know a lot more about what grows and doesn’t grow in their local counties than I do.  I read the guidebooks and the promotional literature about the plants I sell, but the Extension Agents deal with ordinary gardeners in their geographic areas every day.  Jut to give you a couple of examples: Nebraska has more than sixty Extension offices spread throughout the entire state, New Jersey has 21 – one for each county, Florida has at least 75 offices, and California has about that many.  The Directory will provide addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses and in many case websites.

And they do a LOT more than sit around and answer gardener’s questions. Most are actively engaged in researching and writing about topics of interest in your locality, and will have lots of free gardening information to share with you, via the Internet or ink on paper. 

You pay for this stuff – you might as well use it.
 
Click here for an interactive Hort Zone look up. (Thanks to the  Arbor Day Foundation!)

For horticultural information about your specific city or county, click here.

Papa Geno

Edible Container Gardens - Growing Herbs in Pots. A lifetime of living in small houses, flats and apartments has, of necessity, made me into a container gardener. I have been known to choose an apartment for the direction and size of its windows alone, ignoring all other considerations. That is why when my customers ask me if they can grow herbs indoors, my response is always: "What direction do your windows face?"

                                           

Light.The amount of available light will determine what you can grow. In most areas south and west windows are best for Herbs - especially in the winter. However there are a few other variables to consider. Where you live is a consideration - high in the Rockies where there are many clear days of uninterrupted sunlight is one thing; near a seacoast where the days are often cloudy and overcast is something else again.

The actual color of your walls is a consideration - even if your rooms face south if the walls are dull and dark - non reflective - that room is not as good a home for plants as the light bright room with gloss or semi-gloss paint on the walls. Keep in mind - does sunlight actually shine into the room? Does your hand cast a distinct shadow?

What kinds of herbs? I have found chives, basil, thyme, corriander, rosemary and parsley will all grow well indoors if there is enough light. Most mints, Lemon Verbena and Rue also do well. However sages, angelica, majoram and oreganos are more problematical. Partial shade lovers like basil, mints and chervil can actually make pretty and decorative indoor plants.

Air. All indoor plants need good air circulation - this is a factor often overlooked by indoor gardeners. Good air circulations will help cool the plant on a hot sticky summer day and warm it on a cool one. It will also help in the neverending fight against insect and fungus attacks - the bane of every indoor gardener.

                                 

Pots. Most herbs will thrive in 6" pots but do not expect them to be as big as they would be in the garden - and remember - only repot them when they are ready. Putting a small plant in a large pot will not give you a bigger plant - the chances of root rot caused by pockets of water in the excess soil are more likely to result in a dead plant. (For more about Pots, check out the Basil article, dated 1/16/2006, in this series.)

Feeding. When your herbs are growing vigorously, fertilize with water soluable fertilizer every two weeks or so because plants in pots quickly exhaust the soil nutrients. Havest the young new sprigs, generally pinching back to ensure a fuller plant with lots of new growth. When planting your seeds, always use fresh new potting medium - you could be transferring who knows what from old pots where the plants or seeds have died.

Pests. Many people are surprised when their indoor plants, including herbs, are invaded by insects. Spidermites, white fly and aphids often arrive with the plant then thrive and multiply in the slightly stressed indoor environment. The key here is - don't wait! The problem is not going to go away, it will only get worse.

All three of these pests can be easily treated with Insecticidal Soap. If the plant is small and manageable, carefully dunk the whole plant, upside down in a bucket of the solution about once a week. Otherwise liberally spray the entire plant. Keep in mind that you want to eat these plants so read the instructions on products and don't use anything poisonous. Check your plants every time you water especially under the leaves and in the axials of the stems - that is where these baddies lurk.

My final tip is this - mist your plants. If you live in one of the drier parts of the world or have forced air heat mist your plants every day. They will love you for it and produce lots of fresh and tasty herbs for your enjoyment even without an outside garden.

Thanks to Joi Beckett for this contribution.

Click here to return to Renee’s Garden Seeds on Papa Geno’s website.

Click here to see live plants suitable for growing in containers.

Click here to return to Papa Geno’s Herb Farm home page.

Papa Geno

Container Gardening

You can plant almost anything in containers. Even though I have large outdoor trial gardens both behind and below my home, I really enjoy planting a cheerful profusion of flowers and savory herbs in containers of all sizes and shapes on the patio outside my kitchen door . For many urban gardeners, container gardens on a small deck, patio or rooftop may be the only option available. Whether you have a little space or a lot, container gardening is an easy way to create an


 inviting and relaxing outdoor room, grow first-rate vegetables and add enjoyment to the summer season. Your garden area can be a patio, balcony, terrace, rooftop or any undeveloped site where the soil is not suitable for in-ground gardening. In fact, one of my favorite gardening pen- pals grows her eggplants in big pots on board the converted tugboat she and her husband live on! For those who do not have the time or whose physical capacities are limited, container gardening is a special source of satisfaction. If you are a cooking oriented gardener, you'll find having containers of your favorite culinary herbs really close at hand to snip at will is a real advantage.

                                  

Container Herbs

Even though I grow an extensive backyard herb garden, I still plant my favorites for everyday use in 4 or 5 pots set outside the kitchen patio so I can get to them quickly whenever a recipe needs a little herbal zing. Best of all, container herbs need little weeding and no hoeing and can be moved easily. I always plant several kinds of basils in a big deep pot so I can use them in salads and sautés and, late in summer when they start to flower, I enjoy them as fragrant ornamental edibles. Strappy mounds of flowering chives and garlic chives or shiny broadleaf parsley are also delicious and attractive container plants as are low mounding shrubby perennials such as thyme, oregano, and marjoram. Blue-green leafy dill fronds are pretty as a picture and in a nearby container you can snip them off to top salads and stews anytime. I grow clumps of cilantro in containers to add to grilled shrimp, chicken or mix into fresh salsa, keeping them in clear bright shade rather than full sunlight in the heat of summer so the plants stay leafy as long as possible.

Container Flowers

Free-flowering annuals are perfect choices to bring out the artist in every gardener. Choose varieties not only for their individual beauty but for the way they'll look in combination. Look for flowers that spread and mound in habit like cascading nasturtiums, soft alyssum, perky pansies or old fashioned varieties that have a wonderful perfume, such as heliotrope or the little trumpets of jasmine-scented nicotiana. Don't neglect old favorites like low growing varieties of zinnias, signet marigolds, phlox, and cupid’s darts, or dwarf cosmos and dwarf bedding sunflowers. Little “Angel Wings” roses or delicious Alpine strawberries are wonderful in containers.

You can plant one variety to a container and cluster them all around your patio to take advan- tage of different microclimates – 3 medium sized pots placed together will make a beautiful combination of color and form. Or you can plant a mixed bouquet of 3 or 4 plants in a big container at least 18 inches wide. In combining flowers, keep their final heights in mind, planting low trailing plants at the outer edge, medium ones inside and the tallest varieties at the center. Space plants closely, about 4 inches apart, so they will grow to cover the container's surface. Be sure to feed them regularly to encourage lush growth.

Container Vegetables

Growing an edible container garden is easy and rewarding. Tomatoes, peppers, egg-plants, chiles, cucumbers, beans, and squash will reward you with beautiful plants and abundant harvests in warm weather. In the cooler seasons of spring and fall, you can grow all kinds of glorious salad fixings or nutritious leafy greens like pak choi, chard and kale -- all are wonderful ornamental edibles.

Container veggies need a good rich soil mix, and plenty of room for an ample root system with careful attention to regular watering and fertilizing. Their attractive foliage and colorful harvests are decorative as well as delicious!

                                  

Gardening in containers--a quick course

Remember that all container plants need more attention than plants in the ground, as they rely solely on the gardener for all their needs. Confined to a limited space, they will quickly become stressed if essential water or fertilizer isn't available regularly. It's not hard to provide a good growing environment; just remember the essentials:

• properly drained soil mix
• adequate and regular supplemental fertilizer
• enough but not too much water
• the right amount of light
• some protection from temperature extremes

Use a properly drained soil mix - don't use garden soil for containers! A good commercial potting mix will give consistent drainage, is free of weeds and pests, and it won't compact to a rock-hard mass that water can't penetrate by mid summer. I always replenish the soil mix for containers at the beginning of each season to restore the tilth of the soil in my pots and ensure the best conditions for young plants.

Gardening in containers isn't very complex or complicated. Start by using the right sized containers for plants you mean to grow through the summer. Containers can be whatever suits your eye and pocket book, from fancy big clay pots, lightweight pots, and window boxes, to wine barrels, recycled pulp containers, wooden boxes or even big drain tiles you may have available. Just be sure you have large enough containers to hold the full-grown plants and their root systems and provide good drainage, air circulation, and season-long root space.

Water and Fertilize

Water and remove spent blooms on container plants regularly and make it a part of your everyday routine. In the heat of summer, containers may need water every day. I put my forefinger in the soil and if it is dry beyond the first joint, I water immed-iately. Feed your container plants throughout the season with ½ strength liquid fertilizer solution, applying it to the soil about every 3 weeks. ( Being an organic gardener, I use a mix of equal parts of diluted liquid fish emulsion and kelp, and recommend it.) I also adjust for the blast of summer heat by keeping my containers on casters so I can move them around. You should be able to find these little wooden or plastic platforms to set your plants on - square or round and fitted with wheeled casters - at a local nursery. Another advantage is that the platforms keep containers from staining the patio (or deck). And, if I go away for the weekend, the containers can easily be wheeled and grouped in a cooler, shadier space so they won't dry out while I'm away.

Moveable feasts of color

Consider your container plants as design accessories of your "outdoor rooms"; move them around through the season and rearrange them as suits your fancy or their need for sun or shade all season and place them where you'll enjoy them most to enjoy a new flush of bloom or scent. I love to have blooming, leafy containers next to my patio and lawn chairs, on my picnic table and along my daily pathways to delight all my senses throughout the gardening season.

Click here to return to Renee’s Garden Seeds on Papa Geno’s website.

Click here to see live plants suitable for growing in containers.

Click here to return to Papa Geno’s Herb Farm home page.

Papa Geno

 

Stem cuttings are the easy way to multiply many plants!
 
Trimming a beloved and established herb or perennial does not need to be traumatic or even wasteful. Time to propagate and make lots of little offspring. This technique will work for Lavender, Rosemary, Dwarf Myrtle, Curry Plant, Santolina, Bay Laurel, Scented Geraniums and many flowering perennials. The vast majority of plants that we grow are propagated by this method.

                       

Take your cutting from an actively growing tip, about 1.5" long and strip the leaves from the lower1/3 of the cutting. If your parent plant is flowering remove any blossoms from the cutting. Dip the lower end of the cutting in rooting hormone and plant it in a very small pot (we use plug trays or 2" pots for this) filled with damp, sterile potting medium. Never, ever use garden soil. I always make sure that there is enough rooting hormone on the cutting so that a little is visible above the soil line. Rooting hormone, beside stimulating the cutting to root, contains a fungicide that should stop diseases that will prevent your cutting from rotting.

Keep the cutting evenly moist and out of the sun. Over a number of days gradually introduce the cutting to more sun. If you are doing this in a sunny window remember to rotate the pot occasionally. Bottom heat is advisable; try to maintain the temperature around 68F to 72F. Rooting should occur in 4 to 15 days on soft cuttings of new growth, but scented geraniums will take 2-3 weeks, and woody plants like bay laurel or caper bushes can take 2-3 months.

You will know that your new little plant has rooted when, if you tug gently on the stem, you encounter resistance. Don't pull too hard or all this effort will be wasted. Stem cuttings are best taken in the spring or mid-summer from mature plants - that is what all the gardening books say. However sometimes we do not have that option - and generally we have found that as long as we did not over or under do the watering in the winter they will survive at any time of the year.

That said, there are certain plants that can be propagated from stem cuttings at only specific times of the year.  French Tarragon, for example must be propagated during the late winter and spring when the days are getting longer.

Don't forget that there are lots of plants that can be started from stem cuttings rooted in water. Basil is a good example of this. It will root within a 4 to 7 days just standing in water. For sterile hybrids like African Blue basil this is a simple way to propagate midsummer when your parent plant is a good size. Change the water daily or add a piece of charcoal to keep the water sweet.

Other herbs that will root in water are: catnip, mints and pineapple sage, but it is probably safer and perhaps a bit faster overall to root them in a sterile medium as described above.

Further Reading: Propagating Herbs by Thomas DiBaggio. Interweave Press. Available at Amazon.com on 1/31/06.

Papa Geno

Basil, Dill and Italian Parsley make life worth living! Having lots of fresh herbs is a source of continuing delight for me every season. Most culinary herbs are both easy and reliable to grow. Using them in abundance for everyday cooking is a delicious luxury every gardening cook will savor with pride and pleasure. Besides enhancing the flavors of most foods, cooking with herbs is a good way to cut down on fats and salt without sacrificing taste. They're great for the health of your garden too, as blooming herb plants attract beneficial insects and pollinating honeybees.

Even if you don't have a large garden space, you can grow your favorite herb plants in windowboxes or containers close to your kitchen, where you can easily snip them with abandon when you fire up the stove or dress a salad. You'll find herb plants are seldom bothered by disease or pests and yield abundant harvests all season if you tend to their basic need for good fertile soil and adequate moisture. Here are three of my favorites that I wouldn't be without each season.

 

Basil - Surely one of summer's most indispensable flavors, this Mediterranean native adds its bright green color and spicy sweet perfume to most summer vegetables, is the soulmate of fresh sliced tomatoes, and the chief ingredient in delicious fresh pesto sauce. It's easy to grow from seed if you are meticulous  about waiting to plant when the soil is warmed and nights and days are consistently above 55 degrees. Keep seed beds evenly moist for best growth of this tropical heat lover.

Thin plants and use the thinnings in early salads. Pinch the plants at about 6 inches to encourage early branching. Put stems of newly harvested leafy basil in a vase of water to keep them fresh in the kitchen. If summers are long where you live, make several sowings of basil several weeks apart right up to the beginning of July for long, extended harvests. Keep flowers pinched off at bud stage to prolong plants' productive leafy growth. Be sure to try several different varieties of basil in your garden so you can enjoy their varied flavors and fragrances - I promise you'll love them all!

   

Italian Parsley - this imported parsley has broader, flatter, darker green leaves than ordinary curled parsley. I love its wonderful mild sweet flavor, juicy texture, pretty glossy leaves and handsome luxuriant plants. Italian parsley is easy to start in spring when the weather is settled but still cool. Be sure to keep the seed bed evenly moist while waiting for germination as parsley comes up slowly and unevenly over several weeks. Once established, parsley grows easily if kept well weeded and watered. Begin harvesting sparingly once plants have about 8-10 leaves. Feed frequently to encourage the growth of graceful sprays of shiny dark leaves. Be sure to let some of the lacy plants flower and set seed as both flowers and seed umbels attract predatory insects to help control garden pests. Biennial parsley plants can handle frost and will winter over in mild climates and often self-sow the next generation for you.

Use mellow, full flavored Italian parsley combined with fresh lemon if you are cutting back on salt. The freshly snipped, rich tasting leaves are a treat sprinkled on green salads, over cucumbers, steamed summer squash and green beans. Its uniquely delicious flavor enhances most vegetable dishes and accents all grains and cooked beans. Combine with chopped clams for a wonderful pasta sauce or use half parsley and half  basil for a really fresh tasting pesto sauce. Combine fresh chopped Italian parsley with a little garlic and lemon to finish any grilled fish dish to perfection.

Leafy Dill - Look for varieties like Dukat that hold their leafy fronds longer than other cultivars so you can enjoy the especially aromatic sweet flavor of dill for many weeks. You'll find dill plants' fine cut leaves are a lovely garden accent.

An American gardener’s view of plant hardiness.

It's the first warm, sunny day in April. You go out to your garden, gardener's caddy in hand, to welcome your plants to the new growing season. Surprise! The "perennials" that you bought last spring are now black and shriveled. The "annuals" you planted just to fill in the bare spots now carpet the entire garden. Nothing is as you thought it would be. If you're frustrated about plant hardiness you're not alone. There's a great deal of confusion on this subject. Hopefully, I'll be able to clarify it enough that the average gardener will be a little less confused and frustrated.

Click here for an interactive Hort Zone map. (Thanks to the National Arboretum!)

Click here for an interactive Hort Zone look up. (Thanks to the  Arbor Day Foundation!)

The problem is multi-faceted. First off is the overwhelming number of gardening books written in Britain by British authors/gardeners. The climate of most of Great Britain is similar to that enjoyed by our friends in the Seattle and Vancouver area, very mild with neither extreme cold nor extreme heat. Many gardeners in western Scotland and southern Ireland are even able to confidently grow sub-tropical plants which we Americans would normally associate with Florida or San Diego.

So, when you look, for instance, in your copy of Everything A Gardener Needs To Know by the renowned Mrs. Edyth Pettibone, and see a plant described as "unquestionably hardy," the books never include the footnote "in Britain." We here in our Zone 5 and 6 gardens read "unquestionably hardy" and think that applies to us. Unless a book makes specific mention of either USDA Hardiness Zones or refers to a plant being grown successfully in your area, never assume that "hardy" actually means "hardy in your garden."

Then there is the confusion about the terms "Annual," "Biennial" (sometimes written as "Bi-Annual"), and "Perennial." These are botanical terms which have nothing to do with climate hardiness. These terms refer to the plant's life span. Each species of plant, just like each species of animal, has a certain life span; some very short, some infinitely long.

An "Annual" is a plant species that sprouts, grows, flowers, and dies all in one year - common Sunflowers and Dill are good examples; a Sunflower will grow, flower and die in one summer whether it's growing in the Florida Keys or Bangor, Maine. Annuals from temperate regions of the world produce seeds which are able to survive severe winters; these are sometimes called "Hardy Annuals."

"Biennials" are usually from temperate regions where, to compensate for short growing seasons, the plants have evolved to grow one year and bloom (and die) the second -- Parsley, Money Plant (a.k.a. Honesty) and Queen Anne's Lace are good examples of Biennials.

"Perennials" are plants with more lengthy life spans. Trees and shrubs are technically Perennials but the term is usually applied to herbaceous (non-woody) plants. Like everything else, though, each Perennial plant species has its own particular life span. Some are "Short-Lived Perennials" which only live 2-4 years - Hollyhocks and Foxgloves, for example, which are frequently sold as Biennials, are actually in this group. Other Perennials have indefinite life spans, such as Peonies.

Unfortunately, these terms have fallen into common use among both gardeners and nurseries to refer to climate hardiness rather than a plant's natural life span. Peppers and Impatiens, for example, are sold as "Annuals" but in fact are Perennial plants; pot one up, put it in a greenhouse, and it'll live for years. Although they are Perennial, they are not winter hardy north of Zone 9. Sometimes, where tropical Perennials are concerned, you'll see the phrase "grown as an Annual in northern climates." This is one of those phrases which does more to create confusion than to resolve it. It would be a lot less confusing if local nurseries would simply list plants as either "Winter Hardy" or "Not Winter Hardy" rather than to create confusion by mis-use of the terms Annual, Biennial and Perennial.

When dealing with a mail-order nursery, first look up their location on a USDA Hardiness Zone Map. If the nursery is in a Zone equal to or lower than your own Zone, check to see if the particular plants are "field grown" out in the open, grown "with protection" in lathe houses or similar protected sites, or grown in a greenhouse. Many mail-order nurseries do not list this information in their catalogues -- if they don't, call and ask. If a mail-order nursery is in a higher numbered Zone than your own consider as questionable any use of the term "hardy" as it applies to your own situation.

The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map was devised by the United States Department of Agriculture for use by the Horticulture industry in the U.S. and Canada. These Hardiness Zones are based on average low temperatures (Farenheit). They do not take into account rainfall, snow cover, prevailing winds, duration of low temperatures, or extreme high temperatures. Hence you may have noticed that the Hardiness Zones are not always entirely reliable. (Remember, the USDA is the same group who brought us the genetic time bomb of Monoculture -- everyone across the country raising the same variety of corn, tomato, potato, etc.)

In an effort to provide a more accurate guide, the USDA has recently revised this Map and now divides each Zone into "A" and "B" sections. These Hardiness Zones should only be used as a basic guideline, combined with the other information specific to your particular area. For example, a plant may be able to survive a single zero degree (F) night but it may not be able to survive two or three weeks of zero degree weather. Statistics based solely on average low temperatures wouldn't provide this information. If you don't know which Hardiness Zone you live in, many gardening books and magazines have copies of the USDA Map. For more specific information about your area, contact your state's department of agriculture office or local extension office.

When considering winter hardiness, It's also important to consider the native origin of a specific plant. Many of our traditional European herbs, such as Sage, Lavender and Thyme, are from the Mediterranean region where they've evolved to withstand occasional periods of extreme dryness. These plants are able to withstand our extreme Zone 5 and 6 winters as long as their soil is well-drained. There are many species of Cactus and other Succulents from mountainous regions which are also able to survive extreme cold temperatures as long as their roots are dry and their soil well-drained. On the other hand, many plants from woodland and other moist areas won't survive any period of winter dryness. Mulches, windbreaks, even a blanket of snow, can help regulate these conditions.

With some plants it's also important to consider, especially for those gardeners in Zones 9 and 10, the average extreme high temperature. Some plants from colder regions will not tolerate high temperatures, which is something we sometimes forget to think about because we're always worried about the cold killing our plants. Examples of heat-intolerant plants would be Sweetfern, as well as Birch and Aspen trees. A gardener has to do his/her "homework," which should always include talking to other gardeners about their own experiences with particular plants.

A final subject is "Microclimates." This is a term used to describe growing conditions in a specific spot, such as your yard. Many things determine the climatic conditions of a particular spot. They could be natural things like hills or mountains, bodies of water, heavy stands of trees, even large boulders, or they could be man-made things such as buildings, paved streets and parking lots, brick or stone walls, even such things as styrofoam rose cones and upturned bushel baskets. Any of these things can slightly alter the conditions of a certain spot, providing protection either from extreme cold or extreme heat.  

If you find out a plant is "usually, but not always, hardy" in your area you may be able to create better odds by placing the plant near a south facing brick wall, for instance. Boulders absorbing the winter sun often keep the surrounding few inches of soil slightly warmer than soil a foot or more away. This slight difference may be just enough for certain plants to survive the winter.

Ultimately, the only tried-and-true method of determining winter hardiness is to plant something in your garden and see if it's still alive the following spring. For those "wish list" plants that you're unsure of and don't want to risk the financial outlay of a large specimen plant, consider buying smaller, less expensive plants to use as "test subjects." Sale tables at the local nursery are an excellent source of "test subjects." And let's not forget the age-old tradition of "swapping" plants and seeds with other gardeners, whether local or in other parts of the country. Who knows? You may find yourself the only person in your state with a ______ that lives successfully outdoors, year in, year out.

This article was submited by another gardening friend, Dean Sliger, from Michigan.

Below is the "standard" USDA Hardiness Zones map.  For details, use the links just below the map.

                  

Click here for an interactive Hort Zone map. (Thanks to the National Arboretum!)

Click here for an interactive Hort Zone look up. (Thanks to the  Arbor Day Foundation!)

Papa Geno

 

This is the second of two postings on Scented Geraniums.

Outdoor growing - Scented geraniums (Pelargoniums) are a great addition to any area of your garden. We've used them in beds with brightly colored annuals like marigolds and zinnias, combined with standard geraniums, and in beds dedicated solely to scented geraniums. With few exceptions they need 5-6 hours of direct sun per day. Peppermint (and a couple of other "fuzzy" varieties) can get sunburned, and love light shade. At least a dozen varieties make attractive hanging baskets, and we use several varieties for creating topiaries and espaliers.

 

Growing scented geraniums indoors - Scented geraniums are not picky about temperature, but prefer to be cooler than standard geraniums. A range of 55 to 70 ° F is ideal. If you have them in a south window, sheer undercurtains are the perfect screen to prevent sunburn in summer.

Planting your scented geraniums
Any pot that provides good drainage will do, but we think unglazed clay (terra cotta) is a natural complement to these plants. Start with a 5" or 6" pot, and use a light commercial potting mix, or make your own using lots of perlite and/or sand. These plants are indigenous to a cool, semi-desert area and do not like wet feet, so water them well, and then let them dry out before watering again. In warmer areas (Zones 7-10), you may plant them outdoors after a period of acclimatization.

Scented geranium care tips
Give your geranium at least four hours of direct sunlight a day. Night temperatures should be 50° to 65°; day temperatures are ideally 68° to 72°. Allow the soil to dry out somewhat between thorough waterings. Fertilize every two weeks from March through October and once per month during the rest of the year. Pinch the tips of plants that are not branching on their own in order to avoid tall, leggy plants.

Fertilizing
Take care to not overfeed scented geraniums; overfeeding will diminish their fragrance and they actually don't need a lot of fertilizer. Any well balanced commercial plant food will do; natural fish emulsions and seaweed fertilizers are great for outside use. Use all of them at about 1/2 the strength recommended for houseplants. As with most plants, fertilize more often during periods of active growth, and not at all during the winter months.

Pruning
To prune or not to prune? Prune! Some plants may arrive looking as if they have just had a haircut, which is probably true, particularly late in the spring shipping season. These plants are not damaged - in fact, pruning encourages dense, lush growth. To truly appreciate these plants, you need to prune them on a regular basis.

Propagating
Starting new plants to add to your collection or to share with friends or neighbors is very simple. Use the plant material which you prune off your plants! Put the cut ends in damp sand and you will soon have new rooted plants. Plant into containers or into your garden when they're well rooted.

Winter care
Keep them indoors when it's cold outside! As they are easy to grow inside, scented geraniums make great fall and winter houseplants. They need only a sunny windowsill or a flourescent light and seem somehow to thrive on neglect. If you use a light, keep it turned on 12 hours per day during the winter. Some scented geraniums are large and bushy and will need regular pruning to keep under control.

A couple of weeks before it is time to move them outdoors in the spring, prune them back to a nice shape, repot if rootbound, and fertilize. Because of their lack of fussiness and tolerance of hot, dry conditions, scented geraniums are naturals for American summers. Plant them where and when you would plant standard geraniums - after danger of frost is past. Dig and re-pot about 3 weeks before the first fall frost, and gradually acclimatize them to the house before moving them inside for the winter.

Troubleshooting

Why are my geranium's leaves discolored?
If you notice mottling, streaking, curling, or abnormal color patterns on the leaves of your geraniums, they may have been infected with a viral disease carried by insect pests. Once infected, there is no cure; infected plants should be destroyed to prevent the spread of the virus. A regular program of watering and fertilization will keep plants healthy and best able to ward off viral infection.

What diseases affect geraniums and how can I treat them?
The first step in combating a plant disease or pest is to identify it. Here are some descriptions of common geranium diseases and their recommended treatments:

Southern root-knot nematodes: These microscopic, soil-dwelling worms can attack geranium plant roots and cause stunted growth, wilting and yellowing. Infested roots will display knots or swellings. These worms are most troublesome in warm-winter climates and sandy soils. Nematode infestation can be prevented with a regular program of watering and fertiliztion in conjunction with the use of compost to introduce beneficial soil organisms and crab or shrimp wastes to amend the soil. These wastes contain a substance which encourages the growth of nematode-attacking organisms. Once infested, a plant cannot be treated; however, the organisms remaining in the soil can be killed by solarization. Cover bare soil with clear plastic sheeting for three to four weeks. The build-up of solar heat under the sheeting will kill most pests and weed seeds in the top few inches of soil.

Leaf spot: Leaf spot diseases develop during warm, moist weather and cause leaves to display brown or black spots with yellow edges. Eventually, the leaves may drop and the stems may rot. Cut off and destroy infected plant parts as well as seriously affected plants and any soil their roots touch. Since the diseases overwinter on plant debris, if leaf spot occurs, keep the beds clean and replace the mulch. Because the diseases can spread via water, infected tools, or unwashed hands, avoid splashing water on the foliage and keep your hands and tools clean. Spacing plants widely will promote good air circulation.

Botrytis blight: Also known as gray mold, this fungal disease is spread by wind-brone spores and thrives in cool, moist weather. Stems and flowers will rot and develop gray mold, especially during damp, cloudy weather. To prevent its spread, destroy diseased plant parts. To prevent infection, space plants widely to promote good air circulation and allow the soil to dry out between waterings.

Pelagonium rust: This fungal disease causes small, yellow spots on leaf surfaces or powdery, orange spores on the undersides of leaves. Badly infected leaves and plants should be destroyed. Plants with minor infections can be sprayed with sulfur. Watering early in the day, widely spacing plants, and avoiding overhead watering will help prevent infection.

What pests commonly attack geraniums?

Some common geranium pests include the following:

Geranium aphids: These tiny, soft-bodied, pear-shaped insects suck plant juices and can spread viral diseases. They can be controlled by knocking them off the plants with a strong stream of water, an application of insecticidal soap (pay special attention to treating the undersides of leaves), spraying with horticultural oil, and releasing beneficial insects, such as parasitic wasps, ladybugs, green lacewings, and aphid midges.

Caterpillars: Several species of caterpillars chew geranium leaves. Caterpillars can be handpicked and destroyed or they can be controlled with an application of Bt (Bacillus thuringeinsis) which kills caterpillars, but does not harm beneficial insects. Cultivating the soil in winter will kill overwintering pupae. Attracting or releasing beneficial insects such as ladybugs and parasitic wasps will also help to control caterpillars.

Other pests: Common garden pests, such as mealybugs, whiteflies, and spider mites, can easily be controlled by knocking them off the plants using a strong spray of water, watering plants well during dry spells, and attracting or releasing beneficial insects. More severe infestations can be treated by applying insecticidal soap or neem.

What is the best way to overwinter geraniums?
It is almost impossible to overwinter geraniums outdoors in Zones colder than Zone 8, but quite simple to do so indoors. To overwinter entire geraniums or scented geraniums, dig them out of their beds or window boxes and place them in a bright spot inside. Make certain not to overwater your plants during their stay indoors. Some gardeners prefer to grow cuttings of their plants indoors rather than try to overwinter entire plants. To start to root cuttings, remove bottom leaves and place in a glass of plain water on a windowsill. Make sure to protect all overwintering geraniums and new cuttings from freezing temperatures which can occur if your plants are left too close to icy windows.

 

Why won't my geraniums bloom?
A common reason many flowering plants refuse to bloom is an overdose of nitrogen. Many commercial fertilizers are extremely high in nitrogen. While nitrogen is an essential element for vigorous plant growth, too much nitrogen encourages leafy growth at the expense of blooms. Try supplementing your soil with a balanced organic fertilizer such as our Rose and Flower Food. You might also consider having your soil tested through your local county extention agency. This is a free service which will help provide you with valuable soil improvement suggestions.

What should I do to get rid of the spent blossoms on my geraniums?
The best way to deal with old and withered flowers is to deadhead the plants. Deadheading can be done at any time of year, by cutting or pinching dead buds. You can use any hand tool, pruning shears, or even scissors -- just be sure to avoid new buds and blooms. Deadheading will freshen the appearance of your garden, as well as promote longer lasting and more abundant blooms.

If you are really interested in SGs, I know of one good book – Knowing, Growing and Enjoying Scented Geraniums by Jim Becker and Faye Brawner.  It is available both new and used on Amazon.com as I write this. (January 2006).

Click here to see our 140 varieties of Scented Geraniums.

Papa Geno

 

 

This is the first of two postings on Scented Geraniums.

Scented Geraniums is the fastest growing category of our little business. In their native habitat of the Cape of Good Hope, the scented geraniums (pelargoniums) are perennial, but in most of the US, they are treated as annuals or tender perennials. The leaf form is highly variable and the leaf texture can be smooth, velvety or even sticky. It is the back of the leaf that releases scent for which each geranium is named. I have personal experience with about 150 named varieties, but I am sure that there are others which I do not know.

 

Cultivation: Scented geraniums are well suited for growing in containers, but can also be planted in the ground. They thrive in sunny location in evenly moist soil. They are occasionally grown from seed but do better from rooted cuttings. Water them well several hours before taking cuttings. Cut “slips” 3 to 5 inches long with a very sharp knife or nurseryman’s clippers, sterilized with alcohol. The best cuttings are from a stem that “snaps.” Cut below an internode at an angle and remove lower leaves and stipules. Lay the cuttings out for 24 hours to “callus.” This stimulates the growth of new cells on the wound. Filtered light, a dry atmosphere, and no more than 70oF assures the best callusing. Placing cuttings in a frost-free refrigerator for 12-to 36 hours assures good callusing. It is not necessary to use a rooting hormone on geraniums. However, if you are going to root them in sand or soil, the fungicide contained in rooting compound may prove helpful. Stick the callused cuttings upright into the soil medium. Put this in a warm place in filtered light. In two weeks or so the cuttings will develop roots. Certain varieties do better in a rich loam as opposed to ordinary potting soil: Mint (Tomentosum), apple, apricot, strawberry, Mabel Grey. Transplant to garden if desired, adding soil amendments as necessary. Remove any leaves as they yellow.

History: These geraniums (pelargoniums) are grown for the scent of their leaves as opposed to their flowers. Native to the Cape of Good Hope, they were first introduced into Europe in the early 1600s. And by the late 1800s there were over 150 varieties described in American catalogs. In their native habitat and parts of the south, these geraniums are perennials. In most of the country, they are treated as annuals or tender perennials. Some can reach a height of four feet and the scents range from rose, pine, mint, fruity and spicy. Flowers are small. Other uses are potpourri, paper making and body care products.

Using scented geraniums

Obviously, scented geraniums are a diverse group, so it's not surprising that their uses as diverse as well. Here are some suggestions:

• Plant three of the smaller varieties in ceramic pots on a windowsill.
• Fill a large clay pot with a specimen plant of Lemon Rose on the patio.
• Combine them with flowers in a whiskey barrel.
• Tuck a mid-sized Peppermint into a shady nook in the garden.
• Plant a row of pruned Lemon Crispum as a border.
• Place a matched pair of standards or topiaries at the front door.
• Use them as backdrops or foundation plantings.

Combine them with vinca vine as an elegant hanging basket. Your imagination is the only limit, but remember to place them, indoors or outside, where you will be able to touch them and enjoy their fragrance. There are myriad uses for the fragant and flavorful foliage of scented geraniums. for some suggestions.

Culinary Uses:
Not all scented geraniums have tastes that complement cooking. Recipes call for either rose, lemon, or mint. Most often their flavors are infused into the dish and they are removed and discarded before serving, although fresh leaves can be used as a decorative garnish. The leaves are used fresh. Scenteds are typically used in sweet dishes. Rose varieties add a delicate but stimulating flavor to sugar which is then used in baked goods or to sweeten teas. Stack clean, dry leaves in a large canister between 1 inch layers of sugar. Place the canister in a warm spot for two to four weeks, and then sift out the leaves. Some cooks recommend first bruising the leaves to impart more flavor. The sugar can be substituted for all or part of the plain sugar called for in recipes for white cakes or icings. Small rose- or lemon scented leaves can also be candied by dipping them in egg white and coating them with sugar to create impressive cake decorations. Dry them on a rack before using. The leaves can be arranged in the bottom of a lined or buttered baking pan and pouring cake batter over them. Jellies flavored with rose scenteds can be used as a filling for sponge- or angel-food cake layers. Apple and crab-apple jellies are most commonly used for this purpose.

Other uses include fruit punches, wine cups, ice cream and sorbets. Use lemon and rose scented geraniums in sweet vinegar recipes, they combine especially well with lemon verbena, lemon basil and mints.

Scented Geranium Jelly

4 lbs cooking apples

3 1/2 cups water

White or preserving sugar

Juice of 2 lemons

15 scented geranium leaves

Chop the apples roughly, leaving the skin, stalk and pips. Put in a large pan with the water and simmer until soft. Strain for several hours through a jelly bag or muslin; do not squeeze the fruit pulp through or the jelly will be cloudy. Measure the juice into a preserving pan and for every 2 cups of juice add 1 pound of sugar. Add the lemon juice and the geranium leaves. Stir over a low heat to dissolve the sugar, then boil rapidly until set, for about 10 minutes. Quickly remove the leaves and pour into clean, warm jars. Cover the jars while the mixture is still hot.

My thanks to Maureen Rogers at the Herb Growing and Marketing Network for part of the above content.  See next Scented Geranium posting on this blog for additional information about caring for them.

If you are really interested in SGs, I know of one good book – Knowing, Growing and Enjoying Scented Geraniums by Jim Becker and Faye Brawner.  It is available both new and used on Amazon.com as I write this. (January 2006).

Click here to see our 140 varieties of Scented Geraniums.

Papa Geno

The Lavenders - Removing the Mystery

The flowers and leaves of the Lavender have been used as herbs for at least 3000 years, and probably much longer. It probably originated in Asia Minor and followed the spread of the great Middle Eastern and European civilizations. The Greeks and Romans certainly grew and used it, and gave it its common name, which has persisted through the millennia. The Romans took it with them into Spain, across France, and into England and Central Europe.

Throughout most of its history, until well into the 19th Century, lavender was used both as a culinary herb and as an important medicinal plant. Today, its principal uses are in cosmetics and perfume, potpourris, wreaths and similar products, although there are many culinary recipes that call for lavender.  Perhaps it is most widely used in America as a decorative plant, for that it is.  I regard lavender as one of the "must haves" in any herb garden for which I am responsible.

 

The "English" lavenders

There are many different species, varieties and cultivars of Lavender; I have grown more than thirty in and around Lincoln, Nebraska, and in Northern Wisconsin.  Certainly the species most widely grown in America is Lavandula angustifolia (or L. spica and L. vera if you consult some British herb books). It is often called English Lavender, but those words are usually not enough to tell you what you are getting. Among the English Lavenders available today are such cultivars as Hidcote Blue, Munstead, Rosea, Jean Davis, Lady, Twickle Purple, Nana Compacta, Croxton’s Wild and Grappenhall. I regard 'Lady' and Nana as true dwarfs - 8-10 inches high and about as wide.  Hidcote and Munstead are listed as dwarfs in some catalogues, but I have grown, and seen others grow, specimens that would not qualify as "dwarf" as most of us understand the word. Rosea, Jean Davis and Twickle Purple have regularly reached 2 - 2.5 ft in my gardens, while standard English Lavender regularly exceeds 3 feet.

Two popular herb books on bookstore shelves today refer to the English lavenders as "hardy, evergreen perennials." They may be in Coastal New England, California or England, but they certainly aren't evergreen over much of America! I have pretty good success getting them to survive our winters, but not once have they remained "evergreen," and they get trimmed back every April.  In many of the herb picture books are gorgeous photos of lavender hedges and borders, three to four feet high, but those are only possible where the plants are truly evergreen, and don't have to start over every spring.

 

The Non-English Lavenders

After the English lavenders, common names for lavenders really get confusing. Lavandula stoechas, which I call Spanish Lavender is also called French Lavender and Dwarf Lavender. L. dentata, which I list as French Lavender, is also called Spanish Lavender, Fringed Lavender and Dentate Lavender. L. dentata candicans, which I list as Grey French Lavender, has the same array of names as its cousin.  L. latifolia is generally known as Spike Lavender, although I have seen it called Camphor Lavender in Europe, presumably because of its strong odor. I have never seen L. lanata called anything but Woolly Lavender, but that doesn't mean some clever marketer won't come up with a new name next spring. Similarly, I have never seen L. multifida listed as anything but French Lace Lavender, but then again, I have never seen it at all outside of a very few specialists.

At least a few true hybrid lavenders are worth mentioning. L. hortensis (or L. x intermedia) is a hybrid of L. angustifolia and L. latifolia.  The most common name in America is Provence Lavender, but in Europe, it is also known as Lavandin and Dutch Lavender. I have seen it here listed as Spike Lavender as well, and I assume that is because one of its parents is L. latifolia, but it is not the same plant that I have called Spike Lavender in the preceding paragraph. The other hybrid widely grown from cuttings is L. heterophylla, most likely a cross of L. angustifolia and L. dentata. It is usually listed only by the Latin name, but lately I've seen the name Sweet Lavender used, and may adopt that name as well. However, there are some herb growers who refer to the whole L. angustifolia group as Sweet Lavender, as did many 18th & 19th Century British romantic poets. Other hybrids reasonably widely available in America, and well worth growing are Grosso, Fat Spike, Goodwin’s Creek, and Alba.

Hardy/Tender

Your head must be swimming with Latin and English names by now, so I'll switch subjects.  None of the non-English Lavenders are supposed to be perennials, but I have had most of them over winter in my garden on occasion.  The one notable exception is L. lanata, which has great difficulty thriving under my care in any circumstances, summer or winter.  I believe that a reasonably experienced gardener, who has raised healthy plants, will be able to over winter some lavenders, at least some years, by cutting them back by 1/3 in the fall and providing plenty of mulch.  The best candidates for overwintering in most of temperate America are Munstead, Hidcote, Nana and Croxton’s Wild.

That said, I must tell you that I believe - contrary to the prevalent opinion among American growers - that it is not so much the temperature, per se, that raises havoc with lavenders, but rather a period of thawing and freezing at either end of the winter season. I have planted exactly the same cultivars in Zone 5 Nebraska (which often has Zone 6 winters) and at our summer place on an island in Lake Superior (which is borderline Zone 3/4), and invariably I have a better survival rate “Up North.” On the island, the snow comes early and often and usually doesn’t completely melt until well into April. Thus providing crucial insulation to keep the ground from “heaving” with repeated thaws and freezes. Many times I have found clear signs of life in lavenders in my Nebraska gardens in January only to find them deader than a doornail in late March. And when I dug them I discovered that the roots were pretty much torn up from the Spring heaving. Lesson? Mulch well any lavender that will be exposed to below-freezing weather!

Soil

Some lavenders are more picky than others with regard to soil conditions, but none of them like wet feet.  All except possibly the Provence Lavenders are susceptible to root and stem rot. They do best in well-drained, well limed soil (to raise the ph.)  All of them need as much sun as you can give them, and will tolerate limited periods of drought much better than they tolerate unlimited periods of rain. None of them do well in even partial shade.  Some of the most gorgeous lavenders I have seen - on both sides of the Atlantic - were growing in what most American gardeners would regard as terrible soil. Rocky, sandy, desert-like stuff!  And they do not do well in even the richest “black dirt” soil unless lots of humus and sand have been added. If they are to be grown in a container, use only top quality potting soil, to which lime and perlite or vermiculite has been added, and be sure that the drainage hole is unobstructed. I cannot overstress the importance providing good drainage. Virtually every lavender I have autopsied has succumbed to root rot!

Flowers

Ah yes, the flowers! Every commercial plant publication will provide you with glowing descriptions of the lavender flower, and if they have a good selection of lavenders, they will run out of adjectives to describe the color.  It's just as well, as the color of the blooms differs as much within cultivars as between them in most cases.  I can state safely that Lavandula flowers range from soft white through every shade of pink, violet, and lavender to the deepest purple.  Jean Davis and Rosea are predictably white to pink to rose, varying somewhat with location and season. That is about as much as I can say with certainty about flower color.  The Provence lavender cultivar ‘Alba’ is almost always a creamy white, but I have one plant in a rocky spot that produces pale, pale pink blossoms.

Every description of L. dentata I can find states that the flowers are purple, but I have never grown one that had anything but white or the palest blue, pink or violet flowers.  One would think that 'Hidcote Blue' would yield blue flowers, right? In the summer of '99, I planted two 'Hidcote' plants from each of three suppliers, side-by-side in the same bed. In July, I had four distinctly different hues among the six plants, ranging from a pretty fair deep blue to a deep, deep purple.  Munsteads are usually bluer than the Hidcotes, but there is still a fairly wide range of color. L. angustifolia usually produces flowers that match my definition of the color lavender.  I suspect (but have not done the necessary research to prove) that the color of lavender flowers is strongly influenced by acidity or some other soil condition. 

The truest blue lavenders I have seen are grown only (to my knowledge) on one lavender farm in the highlands of Provence. I have grown plants from cuttings taken from that farm in Nebraska, and the blue is not nearly as clear here.  So . . . I have to settle for lavender wands and buds, which I get from Provence every September.

Propagation

You will find lavender seeds for sale in garden centers, hardware stores shopping malls and all manner of seed catalogues, but unless you are a pro with a sense of adventure, or someone who doesn't much care what kind he/she grows, don't try to grow them from seed. Why do I write that?

1. You never know what you're going to get out of a seed packet unless you buy seed from a legitimate herb specialist. Even the most reputable generalist seed companies in the U.S. apparently don't have a clue when it comes to herbs. If you want seeds true to type, order them from a specialist firm like Renee’s Garden, or Richter's.

2.  Relatively few types of lavender seeds are available. Some cultivars don't produce seeds at all.

3.  Lavender is difficult to germinate and slow to grow from seed. 

4.  It is easy to propagate lavender from stem or heel cuttings.                              

5.  There is usually a pretty good selection of lavender plants available from catalogs and Internet sites.

To see lavender plants, click here.

Using Lavender

Most varieties of lavender can be dried and used for culinary, medicinal and decorative purposes year round.  However, the English and Provence varieties are the only ones suitable for culinary use.  The other varieties - L. stoechas, L. dentate, L. multifida, etc. – produce flowers with a strong, almost camphor or eucalyptus scent and taste.

The dried flowers and buds of L. angustifolia and L. intermidia hybrids are useful in the kitchen. We use them in delicate desserts like pound cakes and cookies, as well as in our classic herbs de provence blend and our grilling herbs for meat.  In due course, I will post a blog containing several lavender recipes.

By far the most important uses of lavender in the 21^st Century involve its use to impart fragrance to toiletries and beauty aids, and its use as a decorative item.  Despite the fact that we are primarily growers, our best selling items for years have been Lavender Wreaths and bouquets.

 

To see lavender wreaths and bouquets, click here.

Good luck with your lavender garden!

Papa Geno

The culinary herb Sage carries a history as rich as the flavor it brings to food.

Botanically known as salvia, sage has been treasured since ancient times for its medicinal properties. Today, it’s a traditional addition to poultry and game stuffing, pork and cheese and is thought by many to contain properties that aid in the digestion of fatty foods.

 

The International Herb Association chose sage as its Herb of the Year for 2001 because of its culinary, medicinal and ornamental properties.

With its two-lipped flowers, square stems and opposite leaves, sage is considered a member of the mint family. There are more than 900 species of salvia and hundreds more cultivated and natural hybrids, according to Betsy Clebsch, author of A Book of Salvias: Sages for Every Garden (Timber Press, 1997.)

Roman historian Pliny the Elder first used the name "salvia" in his Natural History of the vegetable kingdom. The term derives from salvare (meaning to heal or save) and refers to the plant's believed medicinal values. In the 16th century, noted English herbalist John Gerard wrote that sage "is singularly good for the head and brain; it quickeneth the senses of memory."

Not all salvias are appropriate for culinary use, and quite a few are not hardy enough to survive cold winters.

Most common among the culinary sages is garden sage, known botanically as Salvia officinalis. Hardy enough to grow in most of North America as a perennial, the subshrub has woody, wiry, square stems and pebble-grained grayish leaves. It's the sage most often found in dried poultry mixes.

Other varieties of S. officinalis worth trying in the kitchen include Berggarten sage, with broad, round blue-green leaves and Purpurea, or purple sage, with reddish-purple leaves. Several varieties of garden sage are available as seed

Click here for Sage seed.                   Click here for Sage plants.

Given full sun, good air circulation and well-drained soil, S. officinalis is generally an easy plant to grow. It also comes in gold (Aurea), green and yellow (Icterina) and white, purple and green (Tricolor) forms.

Another type of sage, Salvia elegans, has special value on the dessert table. Varieties include pineapple sage, a three-foot-tall plant with sweet, pineapple-scented leaves and scarlet flowers, dwarf pineapple sage, and honeydew melon sage.

Leaves of S. elegans can be used in teas and other beverages, or finely chopped into salads and dessert batters. The flowers work nicely as a garnish and add color to cookie and cake batters.

S. elegans is generally not hardy enough to survive cold winters, and gardeners must either grow cuttings inside over the winter, or buy new plants each spring.

Although the flavor of sage is most intense when fresh, nearly all varieties of S. elegans and especially, S. officinalis, keep their scent well when dried. Stored in an airtight container in a dry, cool location, the dried herbs will help sage-hungry cooks survive until the next growing season.

Leslie Coons ia a garden writer friend of mine and writes for numerous magazines and Web sites. Sage is featured in her eBook, "Fast, Easy Ways to Use Culinary Herbs," an 88-page cookbook, gardening book and resource guide available through www.Booklocker.com.

Papa Geno

Basil must be the all time favorite herb for most of us. It grows easily from seeds; it will grow in most soil and climate conditions, either in the ground or in pots; there are numerous varieties with which to experiment; and best of all, there are scads of great recipes that call for this fragrant and delicious herb. (Evidently "scads" translates as "a bazillion" in America.)

What kind to grow?  Depends on how you want to use it. A quick perusal of four or five seed catalogs reveals at least 25 varieties for sale this year, but I suspect many of them are nothing more than a marketer's new name for an old variety. We can recommend the following varieties as being distinct from one another, and as covering most conceivable uses of Basil.

Main Crop (Italian Basils) - for pesto, sauces, soups, etc. - Napoletano, Genovese, Italian Broad Leaf, Fino Verde, Red Rubin (Dark Opal)

Scented Basils -Cinnamon, Anise/Licorice, Siam Queen (Improved Thai variety) and Maenglak (Improved Thai Lemon variety.), Mrs. Burns Lemon Basil, and more

Small varieties for patios - Greek Miniature, Spicy Globe, others

Special basils - African Blue, Aussie Sweetie, Purple Ruffles, Variegated, Magical Michael

Seeds vs starter plants? Depends on your circumstances. If you are a decent gardener and have the space, starting basil from seeds is a no-brainer. Just follow the instructions on the packages. Some varieties are sterile hybrids and available only as cuttings. (See below.) And unless you live in a town with a real herb grower, you probably will not be able to find more than 2 or 3 varieties available as plants.

Click here to see basil seeds for sale.              Click here to see basil plants for sale.

If you choose to grow from seed.  Damping off is the most common problem with very young seedlings - this can be readily avoided by using a sterile starting medium, not overwatering, and making sure the young plants are in a warm enough location - around 68F daytime temperature and at least 60F at night. The young plants are very prone to sun scorching and should be shaded from the hot midday sun; otherwise the tender leaves will burn easily. Frequent pinching promotes bushiness. And while the flowers are perfectly edible most people agree that it is better to pinch off the forming flowerheads rather than let the plant flower and go to seed. I personally find that the leaves seem bitter or tasteless in many varieties after it has flowered.

Pests and problems. Basil is remarkably problem-free in most parts of the U.S. Outside in pots or in the ground they attract the usual summer pests - grasshoppers, slugs - especially if the location is too damp, and of course, rabbits. While white fly may be a problem indoors, there are other plants they prefer outside. I have never seen basil attacked by aphids. Mosquitoes ignore it and the neighbourhood cats are uninterested - they know far more interesting plants to annoy. Basil needs well drained soil; doesn't like rainy periods. Like most herbs it does not need lavish fertilizing although I feed plants in pots every two weeks or so.

The really bad problem with basil - the occasional plant whose stems turn streaky brown, then almost black followed by almost total exfoliation and plant death - apparently is not repairable. A disease called Fusarium Wilt has infected seed stocks in the Old and New worlds and there is no known cure. Gene informs us that the prognosis among commercial growers is not good. If you have this problem, do not plant basil on the site where previous plants have died - the contagion is very long lasting. If you grow in pots, you should never re-use any potting soil - especially soil that housed a diseased plant. And don't forget to clean your pots thoroughly before you use them again. (See Joi's Gem below.)

 Annual or perennial?

 There is a great deal of debate as to whether or not Basil is a perennial or an annual. The simple, direct answer is that most basils are "Tender Perennials." Many varieties will live for years in a pot getting bigger, thicker and gnarlier every year. However most of us, because of climate and space limitations, discard them at the end of each growing season. There are some varieties that are sterile hybrids and as such cannot be grown from seeds, but grow very easily from stem cuttings, such as the famous African Blue Basil or Papa Geno’s Variegated Basil. Small-leafed varieties such as Bush or Greek Basil seem more tolerant of harsh conditions. The subtle nuances of the numerous varieties are too lengthy a topic to go into here but I would recommend planting at least three different varieties - for your own personal investigation.

Basil in Containers  

Basil is one of the most perfect pot herbs. So before I talk about their cultivation in pots, I would like to say a few things about pots and their care. Herbs in pots are more exposed to the air and as a result the roots can get a lot hotter than herbs in the ground. That is one of the many reasons I advocate terracotta - you know - plain old clay pots. But terracotta can look really well used in a season or so. People ask me what is all the fuss about cleaning pots - in a word - Disease. Fungus spores, insect eggs and numerous deadly and most unpleasant lodgers can lurk in dirty pots. Be aware of this especially if the previous tenant of your pot died of known or unknown causes. Some people soak their pots in bleach but this is a bit of a pain because you then have to soak the pot in plain water to soak out the bleach. I use a strong solution of vinegar and water - 1 to 5 - and let the pots soak overnight. Then I scrub them with an old brush. I might lose some of the well aged charm of my pots - but my new plants don't inherit any problems. They make enough of their own.

I generally grow about five varieties each summer - with half of my plants in pots - they range from 4" Long Toms to 8" Standards. A four inch pot is a bit small but it is beautifully convenient on my kitchen window when I don't feel like going down to the garden to pick basil. My personal pet peeve are those very cute sets of little pots, often sold in a container or with a tray, that are marketed as 'herb pots'. No herb is going to grow successfully in a 2'" or 3" pot - no matter how pretty it is.

Basil will also grow very contentedly in a larger pot or window box, sharing space with other herbs or annual flowers. Basil, chives, oregano and parsley in one big pot, with perhaps a big bronze fennel in the center makes a statement - and it's all right there when you are making a fresh pasta sauce.

 Joi Beckett

PS: Now for you who think that Long Tom is some sort of obscure British dirty joke - let me assure you that it is a perfectly respectable Pot. Generally they are called Rose Pots in the New World - those slightly taller than standard pots, so good for deep rooted plants.

Note: Joi is a Welsh friend of mine, now living in the United States.

If you would like to peruse some dry academic information about basil, try this link:
 http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1644.html

Enjoy your basil!  Would you like my recipe for Herb Grower's Pesto?

Papa Geno

There is a difference between hybrid and heirloom seed. Growing delicious vegetables from seed is one of the most rewarding of all gardening activities and this is the season. We gardeners get started doing it with great anticipation and relish. Choosing seed varieties can be a little daunting because there are lots of choices. To further complicate things, both the gardening press and the marketing arm of many of the seed catalogs sing the virtues of older

open pollinated, heirloom varieties or sleek new hybrids, implying that one kind is better than the other or even more politically correct. What’s a gardener to do! Looking more closely at how open pollinated, heirloom and hybrid seeds are developed and come to market may bring some degree of clarity to the subject.

                                                    

A few basic definitions are in order to begin any discussion. The term F-1 hybrid means the first filial generation made by crossing two different parent varieties, the offspring of which produce a new, uniform seed variety with specific characteristics from both parents. For example, breeders may choose to cross two tomato varieties to make an F-1 hybrid that exhibits the early maturity of one parent with a specific disease resistance of the other.

The unique characteristics of an F-1 hybrid are very uniform only in the first generation of seed, so seed saved from F-1 plants will not come true if replanted and may exhibit many distinct types in the second generation, often reverting to various ancestral forms. To produce consistent F-1 hybrids, the original cross must be repeated each season. As in the original cross, this is done through careful and controlled hand pollination and seed production is often offshore, where labor is cheaper. Many common home garden tomatoes, such as Early Girl, Celebrity, or Carmello are F-1 hybrids, and most commercial fruiting vegetables seen in supermarkets like eggplants, tomatoes, melons and bell peppers are grown from F-1 hybrid varieties.

Open pollinated seeds are a result of either natural or human selection for specific traits, which are then reselected in every crop. The seed is kept true to type through selection and isolation; open pollinated or O.P. seed varieties are pollinated by having bees or wind pollinate the flowers. Their traits are relatively fixed, within a range of variability. For example, if I grew the Brandywine variety of open pollinated tomato in dry Northern California summers year after year and saved seeds only from the best tasting, earliest ripening fruits in my climate zone, I would have a locally adopted strain of Brandywine, varied from the Brandywine seed saved by a gardener in humid, rainy Alabama who has been saving seeds from fruits that produce very well in Alabama, rather than my California conditions.

All heirloom varieties are open pollinated, but not all open pollinated varieties can be considered heirlooms. Unfortunately the definition of "heirloom" has been somewhat of a moving target recently, but, generally; it means a variety, that is at least 40-50 years old, no longer available in the commercial seed trade and that has been preserved and kept true in a particular region. So, for example if a particular kind of open pollinated pepper has been grown in Vermont or Maine for 5 or 6 generations and seed has been selected and saved by local growers and gardeners, it would be considered an heirloom variety. Obviously, heirloom varieties have been saved because they have some real virtues. The classic examples are heirloom tomatoes which often have superior flavor, color or texture for home garden situations but lack the holding ability, disease resistance or early maturity, etc., that would make them commercially viable.

Seed saving organizations, specialty seed companies and home gardeners have been the agents that have kept heirloom varieties in existence over time, as larger seed companies generally focus on varieties (both O.P. and F-1) with commercial qualities. Fortunately in the last few years the popularity of heirlooms like Mortgage Lifter, Brandywine, and Marvel Stripe tomatoes has been growing rapidly, and some seed producing companies have started to make them available to home garden seed sellers once again.

I think that both hybrid and open pollinated/heirloom varieties deserve a legitimate place in any home garden. Hybrids can offer uniform fruit often with superior disease resistances, reliable productivity and a particular maturity range. So, if I garden in an area that has a very short season with serious soil nematodes, I can choose a tomato hybrid developed to produce ripe fruit early and whose plants resist nematodes. If I garden in containers, I look for F-1 hybrids bred to grow into a short spreading bush with concentrated harvests.

                                                        

With tomatoes, it is often said that F-1 hybrids lack flavor, but that depends on which ones are planted. It’s true that many commercial tomato varieties have not been bred with top flavor as a priority in the USA. But some home garden varieties do taste great, and some hybrids from Europe, where flavor has been more commonly a commercial breeding goal, are quite delicious! Brassica family F-1 hybrids are a first choice in my garden because they are much more resistant to pests, disease, and weather fluctuations, and have been bred to be space saving and compact.

Open pollinated fruiting vegetables also have a lot to offer. If you enjoy saving seed, you can choose those open pollinated varieties that produce the best tasting and easy growing harvests and save seed from their best plants to use every season. It’s fun to become a backyard breeder this way and develop your own selected cultivar. Heirloom, open pollinated varieties usually have a beloved local history and may exhibit unusual colors, shapes or flavors. They may ripen over a prolonged season or been selected to do well in a specific area. One of my favorites is Moon and Stars watermelons. These plump big beauties have pretty little yellow moon and star shapes decorating their dark green rinds. They need a long season to properly mature, but if you can offer them long hot summers, they are a true pleasure to grow and taste exquisite. I also love planting a rainbow of tomatoes, so by choosing heirlooms, I can go way beyond ordinary red tomatoes and grow big, juicy orbs that ripen up to yellow, orange, pink, bicolored, cream or even purple/black! All have colorful histories and while they may not produce as plentifully or as reliably as F-1 red slicers, I wouldn’t be without them every summer.

In the home garden and farm stand arenas of the seed industry, consumers can really influence the market. When gardeners demand lots of choices and make that known to the nurseries or catalogs where they purchase their seed packets, more kinds of open pollinated heirlooms are once again grown out and seeds become available. Chefs and restaurants have also given much more visibility to old varieties by featuring them, as vegetables have moved to the center of the plate in food fashion over the last decade.

                                                                 

As in most areas of life, gardeners can and should celebrate diversity. Ask for and grow both the best hybrids and exceptional heirlooms. Enjoy the process of seeing what successes each growing season produces and keep experimenting with both new F-1 introductions and revitalized old favorites. In the end, gardening is an art in consistent evolution in everyone’s backyard, and a full palette of variety options are its tools.

Click here to see Renee's seeds, both heirloom and hybrid.

Click here to see heirloom and hybrid tomato plants.

Papa Geno

Italian Oregano is a hybrid resulting from crossing Greek oregano (Origanum prismaticum) and sweet marjoram (Origanum majorana). It combines the pungency of Greek oregano with the sweetness of marjoram. It is a sterile hybrid, meaning it can only be grown from cuttings. Spreads to form a clump 2–4 feet in diameter. Has tall white flowers in early summer.  It is not the same as Greek Oregano or common American oregano, which is little more than a weed.

Culinary Uses: Because it's a cross, Italian oregano tastes sweet and savory at the same time and is thus a versatile herb that can be used to season meats, eggs, soups and vegetables. It blends well with other savory herbs like basil and tarragon. Can be used like either oregano or marjoram.  It is not as “hot” as Greek Oregano and not as sweet as marjoram.

Propagation: It is very easy to dig and divide the plant in early spring and autumn.  Larger divisions can be planted out directly into their permanent positions. It is better to pot up the smaller divisions and grow them on in light shade in a cold frame until they are well established before planting them out in late spring or early summer. One can also take cuttings of young stems all spring. Pot them up into individual pots and keep them in light shade in a cold frame or greenhouse until they are rooting well. Plant them out in the summer. It is hardy to zone 7, sometimes Zone 6.  It flowers from June to September. It may occasionally set seeds that germinate in sandy soil, but if there are any oregano cousins nearby, you could get hybrids of unpredictable quality. The plant is usually harvested as flowering begins and can be used fresh or dried. Cut back after flowering and new growth will come from the base. It should be pruned periodically even if you don’t want to use the prunings.

Tomato and Eggplant Parmigiana

1 large eggplant

1 lb ripe red plum tomatoes

1 Tbsp Italian oregano

3 oz fresh parmesan cheese (grated)

2 tablespoon olive oil

salt & pepper

fresh chopped parsley

Cut the eggplant into 1/8 inch slices and place into colander and rinse with water and drain fro 30 minutes. Take eggplant out of colander and place on paper towels and pat dry. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fr y the eggplant in batches until golden brown. As eggplant is ready to take out of frying pan place on paper towels to drain off olive oil.

Take the plum tomatoes and cut them into wedges and arrange with the  eggplant into alternate layers in a shallow ovenproof dish, sprinkle each layer with Italian oregano, salt & pepper and parmesan cheese. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and parmesan cheese.

Thanks to HERBALPEDIA™, a publication of The Herb Growing & Marketing          Network.

Buying tips: Be careful! Very few non-specialists offer real Italian Oregano, and the stuff labeled simply “Oregano” at 99% of America’s garden centers is a weedy plant that you will regret putting into your garden. If you don’t have a specialist herb grower in your area, click here.  We stock it every Spring.

Click here for Italian and other oreganos

Papa Geno

This is a recipe for Pork Tenderloin a Provence that I have adapted and “improved” over the past decade. Please forgive me if I fail to observe any cook book conventions; this is the first recipe I’ve posted.

You will need a couple of similar sized pork tenderloins (not loins).  They are usually sold in a package containing two around here, and weigh only 2-3 pounds together.  They are tapered, with the large end maybe two inches in diameter, and the small end about one inch.

Fresh rosemary - 3-4 tablespoons, chopped finely

Garlic - 3-4 cloves, minced finely

Lavender flowers - 3-4 tablespoons dried (organic culinary, not florists') lavender

Dijon mustard - about half of one of those little jars of Grey Poupon

Balsamic vinegar - enough to make a thin paste of the above

Cotton butcher's string

Mix the rosemary, garlic, lavender and mustard in a small bowl. It will be really thick and "grainy" at this point. Add just enough balsamic vinegar to make it an easily spreadable paste.

Lay the two tenderloins facing opposite directions. (That is, the skinny end of tenderloin # 1 should line up with the fat end of tenderloin #2.)

With a spatula, spread the herb paste thickly on the flat side of one of the tenderloins. (You will have plenty of paste left.)

Position the second tenderloin so the flat side is facing the flat side of the other.

Cut  5 - 6 pieces of butcher string about 8" long.

Start at one end and tie with string so that the whole thing looks like a mini rolled roast, about 3" in diameter, maybe a little smaller, and probably about 8" - 10" long. Trim off the excess string ends.

Smear the whole roast with the remaining paste, wrap in saran wrap or put into a plastic bag and put in the fridge for 2-8 hours to marinate.  Take it out now and then and squish it around to make sure the paste is in contact with all surfaces of the meat. Do NOT marinate this at room temperature - any botulism spores present will multiply a million-fold in six hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Place meat in a shallow roasting pan, coated with a thin film of good quality olive oil. (You won't need a rack, since there is no fat at all.) Roast at 375 F for 20 minutes or so, and then reduce heat to 325 F and roast for another half hour or so.  (I use a meat thermometer so I've never really timed it after the first twenty minutes.)

Remove roast from oven, let sit for 5 minutes and slice into 1/2 inch slices, removing the ties as you go.

Hints and cautions from my own experience.

1. Be sure that you use lavender flowers you've grown yourself or have gotten from a natural foods store. 99% of the lavender flowers sold in this country are treated with a fairly strong insecticide just before packaging!)  (Lavender apparently sounds yucky to most Americans as an herb for meat, but it is definitely what makes this entree special!!!  If you can't find organic lavender, or can't stand the thought of cooking with lavender, you can substitute 2-3 tablespoons of fresh English or French thyme, but it will not be the same.)

2. Do not use polyester string or any cord made from man-made materials. It will melt and totally ruin the taste of the food.

3. This is a small piece of meat; do not overcook.  I take it out of the oven when the internal temp is 160 degrees F.

If I am preparing it as a main course, I usually continue the "Provence" theme, and serve it with small red potatoes roasted with herbed olive oil, garlic and rosemary and steamed haricots verts with savory butter. (By which I mean finely chopped summer or winter savory blended with softened butter.)  It will make four nice servings.

If I am preparing it for a buffet or cocktail party (which I go to maybe twice a year) I serve each slice of meat on a thin slice of baguette with a dollop of moutarde de lavande. (Dijon style mustard made with lavender flowers.)

For rosemary and lavender plants, click here.  We usually have organic lavender flowers on hand, but not always. We’re apparently one of the very few places in America that sell them, and occasionally a customer will buy all that we have.  If you can’t find it locally, feel free to e-mail or phone.

Enjoy!

Papa Geno

 

Creating a butterfly garden.

It is an easy and pleasurable task to create a garden for butterflies by providing them with their favorite flowers. Planning a habitat especially to attract these beautiful, ephemeral creatures allows the gardener to behold their intricate wing patterns up close as well as play a role in conservation in the home garden's environment. The presence of butterflies flitting and frolicking in carefree flight indicates a healthy and well integrated horticultural habitat.

                                  

Butterflies inhabit gardens to seek nectar from flowers for nourishment and as fuel for flying. With each sip from the heart of a flower blossom, grains of pollen also gather on the butterfly's body, and it then helps pollinate the garden as it flutters from blossom to blossom.

Flowers advertise their unique personal attributes of color, scent, and shape to lure butterflies to land upon them, thus ensuring the spreading of their seeds.  successfully designed habitat for butterflies includes food, water, shelter, and warmth. Since butterflies are attracted to both flower colors and shapes, group plants in great masses to provide large splashes of brilliance to draw them instead of isolating a single flower here and there throughout the garden. Sunny days in the garden are synonymous with a busy freeway of flying butterflies. The hot sun warms their wing muscles, enabling them to soar and fly while going about their job of pollinating, so situate the butterfly garden in the warmest, sunniest area. On gusty summer days, they need protection from the wind which is easily provided by arranging tall  flowering plants at the back of the border to make it comfortable for the butterflies while they are "nectaring."

The shiny, fern-like, coppery foliage of "Smokey Bronze" Fennel with its golden umbrella-like flowers is a stunning backdrop for the lower growing plants in the mid- and front border. A long dramatic row of "Torch" Tithonia planted at the back of the border makes a blazing hedge of brilliant orange-red landing pad blossoms, and provides both a convenient perch and windscreen for winged visitors. For the mid-border, air-waltzing butterflies will be attracted to the searing scarlet and orange colors of "Persian Carpet" Zinnias. Charming semi-dwarf "Musicbox" Sunflowers shine at waist height in a full range of bright colors: from cream yellow and deep gold to wonderful bicolors in shades of bronze and mahogany over gold. Plant the front of the border with the restful white fluffy pillows of "Snowdrift" Alyssum to create a welcoming effect.

These flower selections are excellent choices not only for butterflies, but for gardeners as well, for they are all beautiful long blooming garden flowers through the season. As children are attracted to puddles of water, so are butterflies. A shallow water element in the form of a bird bath, decorative stone water container, or small water garden situated in the ground will serve their needs and add interest to the garden.

You can start a butterfly garden from seed or potted plants.
For seeds, click here.
For herb plants, click here.
For flowering perennials, click here.    

My thanks to Renee Shepherd at Renee's Garden Seeds, both for her seeds and for the heart of this posting.

Papa Geno

Geez - first comment I get is someone asking me if we're legit.  I guess the best I can do is to invite you to come visit us at 5835 West Roca Road, two miles northwest of Martell, Nebraska.  Call first to make sure we're here - 402-794-0400.  You will soon see that we are as real as dirt.

Papa Geno's Herb Farm and Prairie Home Perennials are small, family-owned businesses located in Lancaster County, Nebraska. Papa Geno's is not a name made up by some corporate PR flack to make us sound quaint. When my kids and grandkids gave me a hard time about the (somewhat pompous) original name of this business several years ago, I invited them to come up with a better one and "Papa Geno's Herb Garden" was their choice. (The kids and grandkids call me “Papa Geno”.) About the same time, the business had grown enough for me to ask my “silent” partner Sharon Rose to quit her day job and join me in the plant business. A few years ago when we bought a small farm, we changed the name to Papa Geno’s Herb Farm to reflect that growth. And now we have sold the original farm, bought a larger one to handle the ever-growing business, and provide homes for Sharon and her fiancée and my wife Dorrie and me. (As well as a pleasant place to visit for our numerouskids and grandkids.)

                                

Twelve years ago, I rented a couple hundred square feet in a friend’s greenhouse, and sold a few thousand dollars worth of herb plants to gardeners in Lincoln, NE. The following year, I leased half a greenhouse, and then an entire greenhouse, and then another, and then I built one, etc, etc. Along the way we gradually shifted our focus from local retail to mail order and now to the Internet. Right now we have four large greenhouses, a huge barn for shipping, and we remodeled a horse barn into offices. We’ve also been “lining out” thousands of hostas, iris, daylilies, peonies and other flowering perennials, both as propagation stock and to supply our growing bare root business.

Sharon’s role is primarily that of operations manager and money-minder, but we both do anything that needs to be done. Sheila (Sharon’s fiancee’s daughter) is our greenhouse production manager, Dale and Scotty are mainly “plants persons” but they – like everyone else here – helps with the shipping during busy seasons. We have other office, garden and greenhouse helpers as the season demands. Tulo, Max and Levi (Shihtzus) and Zack (Border Collie) are our official greeters and watchdogs. At the moment, we have two greenhouse mousers and barnguards – Jack and SixToes.   There are photos of all of us on the website, but I haven’t yet figured out how to include photos in this blog.  I’ll try to include a photo of the farm in the gallery part of this blog as soon as I figure out how it works.

Papa Geno

About Bay Laurel (Lauris nobilis)

Bay Laurel is called for in many recipes, and is widely popular for American kitchen use. In French and Italian kitchens, it is indispensable. The leaves can be used fresh in soups, though they will have to be picked out of the soup before serving, as they remain hard even with long boiling. I prefer the subtle fragrance of fresh leaves but the flavor is more

                                               

concentrated if they are dried beforehand. Once dried they keep for months (if stored in a cool, dry, dark place.) If it is a hassle to fish out the leaves from a stew or soup before serving, dried leaves are easily broken up to fit inside a stainless steel tea-ball or tied into a little cheesecloth bundle, perhaps mixed with other herbs and spices. Bay laurel is present in almost all “Bouquet Garni” recipes that I have seen.

They can be started from seed, but it is VERY difficult to obtain fresh seed in America, and “fresh” is the operative adjective for Bay. The seeds absolutely cannot be allowed to dry out, and they have to be planted at exactly the right stage of development.  Very tricky business – it took me about five years to learn how to germinate bay seeds effectively!

It is much easier - not to mention reliable - to purchase bay laurel seedlings, or well rooted cuttings, from a trusted herb grower.  The reason I emphasize “trusted” is that a couple of years ago I found a display of fairly large plants labeled “Bay Laurel” in a big box store, only to discover on closer examination that they were not Bay laurel at all, but Laurus californica, which looks kinda sorta the same, but which is truly nasty tasting, perhaps even toxic.  Totally useless as a culinary herb.  I wonder how many Americans are now turned off of growing and using Bay Laurel because of their experience growing California Laurel.  (This big box store is one of hundreds of the same name in every State in the Union. I can’t believe that they intentionally misled tens of thousands of customers, but they certainly got screwed by an unscrupulous grower somewhere.)

If you can’t find small starter plants where you live, I generally have them on my website from January-June, and then again from late August-mid October. Click here and go to "Kitchen Herbs."
 
Bay Laurel likes deep watering to get started, but wants to dry out entirely between waterings. In Zones 4-7, it needs to be treated as a “tender perennial” – that is, brought inside before the first frost in autumn, and kept indoors in a sunny place until danger of frost is past in the spring. It becomes somewhat drought-hardy when long established, especially in the Northwest where rainfall is sufficient except at high summer. They require very well draining soil or they're at some risk of rotting during wet winters. They don't like temperatures below 25 degrees Fahrenheit, but usually bounce back from mild winter damage come spring. In a protected spot, it does very well outdoors in most of Coastal California and Pacific Northwest locations. And of course it will grow well across the southern part of the U.S. in non-soggy spots. Wherever it is protected both from summer sunburn & winter wind-burn it will look dark green and fresh year-round.

Bay Laurel (Lauris nobilis) can sucker as a large multi-trunked bush outdoors, easily reaching fifteen feet in ten years or sooner, or suckers can be removed & it will slowly reach 20 or 30 feet as a tree with one or two “trunks.” In its native Mediterranean setting and at least in Southern California it reaches sixty feet.  The largest one that I have grown here in Nebraska reached 7-8 feet tall and 4 feet in diameter in four years. (As in – it goes outdoors in late April/early May, and comes back into the greenhouse the third week of September.)

It doesn’t have many pests, but it is susceptible to scale. My eight-footer was gorgeous when I put it outdoors in May of 2004, but when I went to move it indoors in September, it was covered with scale, notoriously difficult to eliminate on large plants.  With great sadness, I consigned it to the burn pile, so that the scale would not infest other plants.

You can read more technical information about bay laurel at:

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/med-aro/factsheets/BAY_LAUREL.html

Click here for herb plants.

Papa Geno

Will gardeners use a blog to get information about plants, seeds and help with their gardens?  We will soon find out.

This blog will be pretty tightly focused on gardening and natural things – flowers, herbs, scented geraniums, heirloom veggies, organic gardening, wild critters, the weather, wild birds – stuff like that.  You will not read about rude retail clerks, politics, dirty jokes or the progression of my daughter-in-law’s pregnancy. I will try to present information useful to gardeners – not only about the things I sell, but also generic subjects like “How to grow lavender” or “How to use scented geraniums.”  I will probably include a recipe now and then, but only as an adjunct to using produce from your herb and veggie gardens. There will not be much on medicinal uses of herbs in this blog because I don't know much about it. Perhaps a "guest blog" now and then.

Some entries will be brief, some will be longer. I will attempt to check the blog every day and to answer questions in a timely fashion, but (unlike many bloggers) I have a life and work other than this blog.  I am primarily a farmer, not a computer geek, and I am a 61 year old geezer, not a 22 year old whiz kid.  I’ve got a lot to learn about this stuff, so please be patient.

Please don’t hesitate to suggest topics – within my general area of knowledge – that we could explore in this blog.  I hope to be able - fairly regularly - to post contributions written by gardening friends, colleagues and customers, some of whom are much better wordsmiths than I am. I will give appropriate credit when I use somone else's work.

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Here is a starter – How to plant a little herb garden indoors, while you are waiting for it to warm up enough to start your outside garden.

Start a windowsill garden by sowing readily available seeds or taking cuttings from some of your favorite indoor and outdoor plants and rooting them in water. Use a sharp knife to cut a 3- or 4-inch stem; strip off the bottom leaves and place the cut stem in a small container wet and sterile potting mix.

Few traditional outdoor plants are as easy to grow indoors as herbs. Raise them from cuttings or seeds. Place the plants in your sunniest window (preferably one facing south or east, where trees and buildings don't obstruct the light). A kitchen windowsill keeps the herbs within easy reach when cooking, and pots of herbs make great centerpieces in the dining room on a temporary basis. Some herbs, such as various mints, tarragon, and thyme, grow well in hanging plants. Mints tend to produce smaller leaves when you grow them indoors, but they are just as flavorful. Tarragon succeeds best if you make root divisions or take stem cuttings instead of digging up the whole plant from the garden and attempting to move it indoors.

When it gets warm enough to plant outdoors, it is easy to transplant these herbs directly into the garden or into larger containers for the patio. Don’t forget to harden them off gradually.

Papa Geno
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