Moxie Gardener

Happy 4th of July

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Perennial baby's breath spilling over a hillside onto the sidewalk below.

Perennial baby’s breath adds a light, airy presence to your urban garden. The tiny flowers and delicate stems of Gypsophila paniculata seem to hover in the air like little fairies.

In the language of flowers, baby’s breath stands for everlasting love, pureness and innocence. It is often found as a filler in bouquets of flowers, particularly red roses.

Baby’s breath is native to Eurasia but has escaped cultivation and become naturalized in much of North America. In the Great Plains it is considered an invasive plant because it can take over fields, vacant lots and roadside ditches.

The baby’s breath in the picture above is a single plant growing on a small hillside in a front yard. It has outgrown its allotted space and landed on the public sidewalk below.

Perennial baby’s breath is usually grown from seed or division. Double forms are grafted onto seedling rootstock because the seeds do not reliably come true to their parents.

Plant these delicate looking wildflowers in full sun with moist, moderately fertile and well-drained soil. Add limestone if your soil is at all acid. Let them dry out between waterings, but don’t let them get overly dry.

They will grow slowly the first year and begin to produce showy blooms like in the accompanying photo after the second year. Unlike most other flowering perennials, they only need to be divided every 5 or 6 years.

Cut them back after they finish blooming in late June or early July. Keep them watered and give them a side dressing of compost and they will most likely bloom for you again later in the summer.

Ginkgo flowers fading at midsummer.

Ginkgo trees are living fossils that are not related to any living plant. Fossil records of related species end after the Pliocene era everywhere except a small area of central China.

The ginkgo tree lives for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years. There are specimens growing near monasteries in China that are believed to be 1,500 years old. Other specimens in China are known to be over 3,000 years old.

Four ginkgo biloba trees survived the nuclear bomb at Hiroshima and are alive in that city today.

They are one of the toughest, most resilient trees alive today and are widely planted in urban areas throughout North America. Few pests or diseases bother them and they can grow to over a hundred feet tall.

Their only downside is a foetid smell associated with their seed pods, which can smell like rancid butter or even feces.

The ginkgo tree is dioecious, which means it produces both male and female plants. Because the females produce the smelly seed pods, cuttings from male trees are grafted to seedlings and are planted more often than females. They still flower, but do not produce seeds.

The ginkgo tree turns bright yellow in autumn. They have an unusual quality in that their leaves turn yellow and fall off within a short 10 to 15 day period.

Ginkgo trees grow in full sun to part shade and will grow well in virtually any type of soil, as long as it is adequately drained. Their columnar shape and upright growth habit make them a natural as shade trees planted along city streets in USDA Zones 3 to 8.

They bloom in late June here in Zone 4 and their blooms last only a few days. The picture above was taken at midsummer, just when the flowers were starting to fade.

Honeysuckle is a prolific vine whose flowers contain sweet nectar.

Honeysuckle vines, belonging to the Lonicera species, are easy to grow, heat-tolerant, vigorous and nearly indestructible. They are commonly used to climb up a trellis, fence, or other framework. Less well known is their use as a ground cover for erosion control.

Said to protect your garden from evil, honeysuckle is known as the “love bind” because it symbolizes a lover’s embrace with its clinging growth habit.

They prefer full sun, but will tolerate partial shade. They are drought-resistant once established and only need supplemental fertilizer in early spring and again at midsummer.

Plant honeysuckle in early spring, when all danger of frost has passed. Prepare the planting area by adding peat moss and compost. Dig the soil to a depth of about 6 to 8 inches. Mulch well after planting. Honeysuckle like their leaves in the sun and their roots in the cool shade.

Prune for shape after they finish blooming but only prune lightly until the vines are in their third growing season.

Aphids love honeysuckle and you’ll need to be vigilant in washing them off with a strong spray from your hose.

Notorious for its sweet scent, honeysuckle vines attract both bees and hummingbirds, who feast on the nectar deep within their elongated blossoms.

Honeysuckle will climb up anything with just a little help from you. Get the vines started climbing by loosely tying them to their supporting structure. They will soon grow and fill it in so much that the supporting structure will virtually disappear.

Folklore tells us that if you bring honeysuckle into your house there will soon be a wedding.  And if you sleep with a sprig of it under your pillow, you will dream sweet dreams.

Of your impending nuptials, no doubt.

A clump of Asiatic lilies blooming at midsummer.

Lilies come in several different varieties with blooming times from midsummer through early fall. Plant some of each variety for a continuous supply of blooms throughout the growing season.

Although you can plant lily bulbs in spring, fall is the best time for planting as it gives them time to develop a strong root system before breaking into vegetative growth the following spring. Potted lilies in active growth can be planted in your garden at any time during the growing season.

Lilies are grown from bulbs with fleshy overlapping scales with no protective covering. Plant them soon after purchasing and don’t allow them to dry out.

Plant them in well drained soil in a site where water does not stand after rainfall. Dig down 12 inches and remove rocks. Add peat moss and compost to improve the soil and help with drainage. Add a little bone meal to the bottom of the hole according to the manufacturer’s recommended quantities and scratch it in with your garden claw.

A pleasing way to display lilies in the perennial garden is to plant them in groups of three or five bulbs, spacing the individual bulbs 8 to 12 inches apart. Space the groupings 3 to 5 feet apart. Small bulbs should be planted 2 to 4 inches deep and larger ones 4 to 6 inches deep, as measured from the top of the bulb up to the surface.

Spread an organic mulch like cocoa hulls over the bed. Just before the ground freezes for the winter, add a layer of protective mulch of evergreen boughs, hay, or fallen leaves.

Asiatic lilies start the lily season when they bloom around midsummer. The picture above is of Asiatic lilies blooming right now in Zone 4. Most types have flowers that face upward and have few markings on the petals. Hardy in Zones 4 to 9.

Trumpet lilies begin blooming at midsummer. They are named for their trumpet-shaped flowers and are hardy in Zones 5 to 9.

Tiger lilies bloom from midsummer on. They have freckled, pendulous blooms with petals that curve back on themselves. They multiply prolifically and will form large clumps in a few years. Each stem produces many flowers in warm colors from golden yellow, to orange, to red. Hardy in Zones 3 to 9.

Rubrum lilies bloom in late summer to early fall. They resemble Tiger lilies but come in cool colors from white to deep pink. Their blooms are sweetly fragrant. Hardy in Zones 4 to 9.

Oriental lilies start blooming in late July with some varieties not coming into bloom until late August or September. They are intensely fragrant with flowers that are up to 10 inches across. Hardy in Zones 4 to 9.

Orienpet lilies are a cross between an Oriental and a Trumpet lily. They bloom from mid to late July into mid August and can reach eight feet high. Flowers come in both warm and cool shades, with some varieties extremely fragrant. They prefer dappled sunlight or morning sun with afternoon shade. Hardy in Zones 4 to 9.

Plant a variety of lilies so you have a continuous supply of blooms from midsummer through fall.

The sweet fragrance of datura flowers can envelope your whole yard on a calm evening.

Members of the genus Datura are half-hardy perennials that are usually grown as annuals. Their flowers appear in mid to late summer and continue until frost.

Many varieties are native to the Americas, with a few varieties native to Europe and Asia.

All parts of the plant contain psychotropic chemicals that can be deadly if used improperly. It has a long history of use in witches’ brews and love potions, as well as causing delirium and death.

Remains of datura used in a ritual context have been found in archaeological sites in southern Texas dating to 2000 BC. Petroglyphs in the region dating from 2200 to 950 BC depict shamans holding datura “staffs.”

The varieties of datura native to Eurasia have been used in shamanic practice for centuries and appear in Chinese and Sanskrit herbals.

Some common names of Datura are Thorn Apple, Jimson Weed, Hell’s Bells, Devil’s Weed and Apple-Peru, among others. The word “datura” comes from the Hindi dhatura (thorn apple).

Datura are easy to grow from seed. Many varieties re-seed themselves prolifically and can become invasive if the seed pods are not removed

While they are prolific re-seeders in the garden and in the wild, starting datura seeds indoors usually has mixed results. Start seeds indoors about 8 to 10 weeks before frost free weather in your area.

Provide bottom heat to hasten germination and increase your chances of success. Some claim that soaking the seeds prior to planting helps increase germination rates. Others claim chilling in the refrigerator for six weeks and then scarifying the seed with an emery board increases germination rates. The seeds can take 3 to 6 weeks or more to germinate, so be patient.

Plant transplants in the garden after all danger of frost has past. Datura like dry, sandy, well drained soils in full sun and will not grow in wet, heavy soils. They will grow in partial shade, but the plants will be much smaller and produce fewer flowers.

Space the plants 6 to 8 inches apart and water regularly until they are established. In areas with mild winters, datura will die down to its roots in winter and re-grow in spring.

It has been said that when you sleep in the presence of datura flowers you have intense nightmares caused by the psychotropic properties of their scent.

No wonder they’ve been associated with magic for thousands of years.