MASTER GARDENER
HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?
JEAN LAIRD
Dear Fellow Gardeners and

The Happy Gardener

Future Gardeners,

The Easter "snap" is behind us, (I hope), and the spring weather before us. How refreshing and surprising are the seasons' changers. Spring has brought fourth a palette of colors. I looked at my seemingly desolate garden at the side of my house, and found numerous plants reviving and reaching for the sun. What pleasure to see last years' plants surging upward and even multiplying. I put a 2 inch cedar mulch on this bed last fall. It seems to have protected all the perennial plants.

I want to continue with the "plants to Try" that I began last week: Carolina Moonlight "False Indigo". This is a striking plant with 18 inch tall spires of buttery yellow flowers late in spring with beautiful green foliage. Long-lived and tough plant. It is adaptable, makes good companions for ornamental grasses and easy to grow.

Pretoria Canna. Loves damp locations- one of the pretties variegated cannas and best for hot, humid, sunny gardens. 5 feet tall, 3 feet wide. Will grow at the edge of ponds in shallow water as well as normal conditions. Will come back each year. Has deep tangerine flowers.

Western Bleeding Hart-zone 4-8. 12 inches tall, needs partial shade, moist, fertile soil. It is a hardy, herbaceous perennial, spreads slowly from rhizomes. Attracts hummingbirds. In late spring, pink, heart-shaped flowers form.

Bearded Iris-Full sun- will tolerate some shade-average well-drained soil. Large, showy spring and early summer flowers, topping 2-4 foot tall stem. Irises are rhizomatous, and must be divided after flowering to maintain their beauty. Don't plant where children play. They can cause skin irritation and stomach problems if eaten. Irises are a little trouble, but worth it.

Delphinium is a perennial. Mark the spot where it grew during the summer so you won't think it is a weed coming up in your garden next spring. Strikingly, beautiful plant.

As you plant, consider the colors, the texture of the leaves and the shape of the plant, and you will have great results. If not, enjoy your mistakes. I like to plant, then decide if I like ti. Sometimes, I have to move everything and other time I am satisfied. Nature, itself will furnish criticism of my mistakes. Like me, you will make mistakes, but enjoy and learn from them.

Now, go, plant your garden, enhance you soil, water, fertilize and watch it grow!

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth- no culture comparable to that of the garden--But though an old man, I am but a young gardener. Thomas Jefferson.