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Garden
Some northerners can't adapt to Florida
By JOHN A. STARNES JR.
Published January 14, 2006
Q. I spent a lot of money on mail-order lilacs, peonies, bearded iris, rhubarb and forsythia like the ones I grew in Ohio - just to have a touch of home now that I've retired in Florida. They grew like weeds back home, but here they died in short order. Did I purchase unhealthy plants? Should I ask for a refund?
A. The mail-order company should have told you that those plants need a deep winter dormancy in cold, if not frozen, ground in order to rest, grow and bloom properly. Plus they would be very vulnerable to the microscopic nematode worms in the soil here.
Soft water hard on plants
Q. I have always been able to grow potted houseplants easily, but ever since we moved into our new home they look sickly and have lots of brown leaf tips even though I am doing nothing differently? What's going on?
A. Be sure you are not using softened water on them as the dissolved salt is harmful to the majority of plants. You can catch rain water in a barrel, or buy 1 gallon jugs of bottled water. Some new homes even feed softened water into outdoor spigots, so check the lines leading away from your water softener if you have one. If your spigots dispense non-softened water use it on all your plants.
Bouquets beget bouquets
Q. Each winter I grow pansies, snapdragons and petunias. They thrive, but after several weeks they bloom less often. I feed and water them well. What else can I do?
A. Try dead-heading (pinching or snipping off newly spent blooms) each week to keep the plant from wasting energy on seed pods.
There is also an alternative to dead-heading: treat yourself to a weekly bouquet; bring the beauty of your plants indoors and thwart seed pod production. Either approach should give you oodles of blooms.
- John A. Starnes Jr., born in Key West, is an avid organic gardener and rosarian who studies, collects, cultivates and hybridizes roses for Florida. He can be reached at johnastarnes@msn.com
[Last modified January 13, 2006, 14:43:55]
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