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Bernadette Moyer 610-283-7530 phone 610-825-1660 fax Completed Landscape Design Certificate Program at Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania Graduated Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Tree Tenders program Member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers Actively participating in courses in horticulture and landscape design Designer of vendor displays featured on QVC
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Unearthing Possibilities ..For Your Seasonal Dream Garden
~Garden Post~ Winter 2009
“The best garden plans are often made in midwinter when yearning for the delights of spring and summer, you stare out the window and find a landscape devoid of color…and fragrance.”
Jane Pepper’s Garden: Getting the Most Pleasure and Growing Results From Your Garden Every Month of the Year Jane Pepper, President The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society While trying to find some inspirational information for all of you, I came across my copy of Jane Pepper’s Garden: Getting the Most Pleasure and Growing Results From Your Garden Every Month of the Year. As President of The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society since 1981, Jane provides a wealth of information about gardening in and around the Philadelphia area. In an effort to get you psyched for SPRING, here are a few suggestions from Jane Pepper’s Garden: q If it still looks decent, keep on watering your Christmas poinsettia and providing it with the occasional dose of fertilizer. But if it’s turning ugly, do us both a favor and put it in your compost heap, which is where it has to go before winter is over. (Yes, you can keep poinsettias around, watering and fussing over them all summer, but only the really dedicated gardener with special lighting can get a poinsettia to look even halfway decent for a second year). q You can bring a little early spring cheer into the house by cutting branches of shrubs and trees to force into bloom. Forsythia is the best-known plant for this, but try other early spring-blooming plants such as fruit trees and pussy willows. Bear in mind that you should cut only those (branches) that you won’t miss for the rest of the season. In other words, do a good pruning job as you cut. q Curled leaves, malformed buds and a “honeydew” or sticky substance on houseplant leaves indicate aphids. Spray plants weekly with an insecticidal soap. Buy the combined spray with soap and pyrethrins. Follow directions on the container. q Got a few ratty-looking Boston ferns around the house? First, check them for scale. If scale is evident, you’re probably better off tossing them, but if they’re not infested, rejuvenate them by pulling each one apart and repotting the more vigorous-looking sections in fresh soil. q During the latter part of February as the days are longer and the light is brighter, resume fertilizing the houseplants. If you want to fertilize every time you water, use one-quarter the recommended strength of fertilizer. If you plan to use full strength, use it once every couple of weeks until April, when you may want to give some plants more nutrients by fertilizing weekly. q With only a few weeks to go before St. Patrick’s Day, the day by which you should traditionally (and, weather permitting) have planted your first row of peas, it’s time to sketch out your vegetable and flower gardens on paper. Once these plans are done, you’ll find you can be more economical in your seed ordering or when purchasing transplants. q Check perennials. If frost has heaved them out of the ground, wait for a thaw and then firm them gently to make sure roots are in contact with the soil. q If your evergreens have suffered damage on odd branches, prune them out whenever you can. If the whole shrub or tree appears dead, don’t remove it until late April, just in case new growth starts to sprout. q Fragrance is a wonderful addition to any garden. Early in the season, many of the best scents in your garden will come from daffodils, hyacinth and other bulbs. Among the summer-blooming bulbs, some of the lilies provide wonderful scents in the garden, and the flowers will last well when picked and brought into the house. Sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritime) makes a wonderful, sweet-smelling border for the flower garden. The shrub group has a wide range of possibilities for fragrant flowers, including such old favorites as lilacs, roses and many azaleas and rhododendrons. In early spring – often in February and March – the Chinese witch-hazel (Hamamelis mollis) has small, highly fragrant, spidery flowers with ribbonlike petals. This small tree may eventually grow to 30 feet tall and has an attractive, rounded shape.
If you ever think it would make sense to enlist the help of a professional, Your Dream Garden, Inc. specializes in bringing affordable design solutions to clients in the greater Delaware Valley. Centrally located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, we work closely with our clients through every step of the design process and integrate form and function into every design. Through personal attention and on-site consultation our design process helps clients take their dreams further and make it a thriving reality. And remember...
There is no spot of ground, however arid, bare or ugly,
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