Steven A. Frowine - Gardening Basics For Dummies

Most perennials are slow starters. During their first year in your garden, they tend to invest in developing a good root system. Be patient! After that’s established, they grow and expand, and the flower show gets better with each passing year. You can hurry things along by fertilizing regularly during the height of the growing season (see Chapter 4for fertilizing details) and get a head start by planting in the fall (see the next section).

If you shop for perennials in late summer and get them in the ground a good six weeks or more before the first frost, those plants will definitely have a head start over their spring-planted counterparts. In fall, the soil is still warm and welcoming, and drenching fall rains can help water in the new kids. Depending on the severity of your winter, cutting back any new growth and mulching when winter is just around the corner may be good ideas.

Most perennials sold in the late summer or fall have been grown for an entire season so they’re generally bigger plants than what you’ll find for sale in the spring. Also, they’re many times on sale because the grower doesn’t want to overwinter them so you get a good deal. For much more on perennials, please turn to Chapter 7.

Bulbs, which store their food underground, are a richly varied group of plants. The best-known ones like tulips and daffodils are spring flowering, but these plants represent only the tip of the iceberg. Many others, like dahlias and lilies, are summer bloomers. What they all have in common is that they’re easy to grow and produce plenty of flowers. Just provide them a sunny, well-drained spot, stand back, and let them do their thing. See Chapter 8for info on bulbs.

Although bulbs are quite popular, roses are America’s favorite flowers for many reasons. They epitomize romance and come in an impressive range of flower colors, not to mention their inimitable delicious fragrances. Lucky for us, modern rose breeders have worked their wonders on this plant to produce roses that are not only stunningly beautiful but also tough as nails.

Roses are no longer the wimps that gardeners loved to think about growing but were afraid to try because of the reputation for being a magnet to every known plant disease and insect pest. Today’s varieties are also available in a range of plant habits, from upright to bush forms to those that are ground hugging. Chapter 9can fill you in on growing roses.

Increasingly for many gardeners, growing food is the real reason for gardening. There really isn’t quite anything like the feeling of satisfaction a gardener gets from nurturing and encouraging a tomato plant to put forth the most gorgeous and delicious tomatoes imaginable or harvesting a healthy and tasty fruit from a tree planted right in the front yard. And if you like to cook, there’s nothing quite like working with and eating freshly harvested produce that you know exactly what chemicals have been added or not.

Food-bearing plants come in all shapes, sizes, and types, from annuals and perennials, to trees and bushes, to vines that creep along the ground or climb to impressive heights when given the right support. Chapter 15gives you the information you need to get started on growing your own vegetables. Chapter 16is devoted to herbs and how you can grow them to enhance the dishes that come out of your kitchen.

When planning which plants to grow in your garden, check out native plants. In general, they’re easy to grow because they have been long adapted to your area, are frequently drought tolerant, and are usually low maintenance. Check out which plants are native to your area at http://www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder/plants .

Woody plants consist of shrubs, some vines, and trees. This group of plants is probably a more important garden element than annuals and perennials simply because of the space that woody plants take up over the long term. They serve as kind of the bones of your garden. You may have inherited some trees and shrubs when you moved into your present home, or you may be considering replacing what you have or installing some new ones. Whatever you’re thinking, choose and act wisely. Allow these bigger plants the elbow room, the deeper prepared soil, and the light they may need.

The reason trees, shrubs, and some vines are called woody plants is that the bulk of their stems, and branches, are, well, woody — not herbaceous. This growth doesn’t wither or die back in the wintertime, as it does with herbaceous plants. Yes, the leaves, flowers, fruits, berries, and seeds may fade and fall off, but the rest of the plant abides. And with each passing year, the main stem or trunk grows another layer thicker, and the plant may add additional branches or woody stems. No wonder woody plants are considered more-or-less permanent, and certainly substantial, parts of a home landscape.

You may choose flowering or evergreen shrubs. Both kinds are worthwhile in different ways. Just bear in mind that flowering shrubs tend to have a fairly brief period of glory, and then you’re left with only foliage, so pick a shrub whose foliage you like. Good fall color and attractive or exfoliating bark, leaves, and/or berries may also be a factor in your decision. On the other hand, evergreen shrubs, whether broadleaf or needled, are valuable for long-term, consistent green color, sometimes offer attractive flowers, and, in many cases, a denser-growing profile.

Favorite shrubs for home landscapes include

Flowering: Althea, deciduous azalea, broom, butterfly bush, daphne, deutzia, elderberry, flowering quince, forsythia, fothergilla, hibiscus, hydrangea, itea, lilac, mock orange, ninebark, privet, red buckeye, red twig dogwood, smoke bush, spirea, sweetshrub, sweetspire, various viburnums, weigela, winterberry, and witch hazel

Broadleaf evergreen (with spring flowers and more-or-less evergreen foliage): Andromeda, aucuba, boxwood, camellia, cotoneaster, evergreen abelia, gardenia, holly, laurel, leucothoe, mahonia, manzanita, mountain laurel, nandina, oleander, rhododendron, and rock rose

Evergreen: Arborvitae, boxwood, euonymus, some cedars, some false cypresses, hemlock, holly, juniper, laurel, some pines, some spruces, and yew

Take a look at some of the roles shrubs can play:

Foundation planting (around the base of your house to add architectural interest, insulation, and security)

Boundary and hedge plantings (possibly in addition to, or in lieu of, fencing — thorny ones, including shrubby roses, are popular as living fences)

Individual, solo spots of color (specimen plants)

Mixed-border citizens for more architectural interest (have a mixture of shrubs, or have a mixture of one type of shrub and roses or perennials or vines or all of these)

Backdrops for a flower border

Entryway, poolside, deck side, or privacy plantings

As food and shelter for songbirds

For much more on shrubs, please turn to Chapter 13.

Some shrubs can be extremely invasive and, in fact, are even against the law to plant in some cities or states. Some that you should avoid are Amur honeysuckle, autumn olive, barberries, burning bush, bush honeysuckle, common gorse, buckthorn, and multiflora rose. For a more complete list check out www.invasiveplantatlas.org/shrubs.cfm .