Moxie Gardener

Bridal wreath in full bloom.

Bridal wreath, or spirea, is a spring flowering shrub that has been planted in cities all over the world.

They grow well in almost any soil and once established, tolerate drought and neglect.

Their delicate white flowers on graceful branches bloom dependably every spring.

Plant spring blooming bridal wreath in partial shade. Prune lightly right after the flowers fade. They will bloom next year on wood that grows this year so prune sparingly.

The classic bridal wreath bush is Spirea vanhoutte. This variety has been planted extensively in the United States for a least a hundred years. It grows 6 to 8 feet tall and produces pure white flowers in late May and early June.

Its flowers look like mini-bouquets. For centuries they were twisted around themselves to make a garlands or bouquets for weddings. Its Latin name, Spirea, comes from an old Greek word that means twisted or spiraled.

The bridal wreath in the photo is growing in the yard of an abandoned apartment building. It sits partially in the shade of a maple tree and the grass in the yard is knee high. Yet it is blooming as though it is tended to by a conscientious gardener.

Every garden needs a few plants that are low maintenance.

Pink lily of the valley found growing in the neighborhood. Thanks to a generous gardener, it's now growing at my house.

Lily of the valley is one of the many sweet-scented, spring-blooming flowers. Its Latin name, convallaria majalis, is derived from the Latin convallis, “valley” and majalis, “May-flowering.” It’s the official birth flower for the month of May.

I happened upon a patch of the less common pink ones (convallaria majalis Rosea) and stopped to take their picture. The gardener saw me and insisted on giving me some for my garden. I’ve planted them in a bed that gets shade for part of the day.

Lilies of the valley prefer a shady location that gets only a few hours of sun each day. They like moist soil but don’t like standing water. Make sure the area you plant them in is well-drained and no water sits there after a rainfall.

Grow lily of the valley from “pips,” which are small bulbets that form underground along the roots. They spread easily and will fill up an area in just a few years.

Plant the pips 4 to 5 inches apart in moist, rich soil. Fertilize with a granular fertilizer in spring and mulch with leaf mold in fall. Other than that, your lilies of the valley will pretty much take care of themselves.

Divide them every five years so they don’t choke each other out. Do this in early autumn. Dig up the entire bed. Cut apart the roots so that there is only one pip per plant. Replant 4 to 5 inches apart in all directions and water well. In late fall, mulch the bed with leaf mold or autumn leaves. Remove the mulch in early spring.

Pick bouquets after the first few “bells” have opened, like the one in the photo. That way, the buds near the top of the flower stem will be more likely to open up in the house.

One small bouquet of lilies of the valley will perfume an entire room. Their charming, petite size blossoms are perfect for small vases set on nightstands or the bathroom vanity.

If you have a large patch and enough patience, you can also dry them to use in potpourri. The dried flowers will hold their scent for many years.

Morels found near the Mississippi River in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Morels are the elusive wild mushroom that appears in spring in woodlands from Maine, south to the northern areas of the deep south, west to northern Texas and Oklahoma, and north to Minnesota with a few outposts in the Dakotas.

If you’ve never tasted a morel, it’s hard to understand the earnest obsession morel hunters have with finding these wild delicacies.

Last spring I found one in my yard in the middle of the city. This spring my son developed an obsession with finding them. I’ve seldom seen such singleness of purpose and stick-to-it-ivness. We hunted for the better part of a week and only found three small ones.

Yesterday he took his son and went out along the banks of the Mississippi near St. Paul and found a baker’s dozen. Score!

He took the above picture in situ of a couple morels they found.

My son made pasta with sauce from a jar for the two of them for supper. He snuck a diced-up morel into the sauce and his son pronounced it delicious. Only then was the child informed that the sauce contained morels.

Son of son has since decided that he likes morels.

We’ve decided to dry some of the morels and use them to make a side dish or appetizer to serve on Christmas. We’ve also decided that we’d like to make that a yearly tradition.

And I’ve been informed that this year’s hunt for morels is not yet over.

That’s my boys.

Lilacs are perhaps one of the most-planted bushes in urban areas.

The lilacs are blooming. All over the city their sweet fragrance permeates the air. Everywhere you look their delicate lilac-colored flowers light up individual lawn specimens or hedgerows of this hardy bush. The brief, two-week period that lilacs bloom every spring almost makes up for freezing winter weather.

Almost.

Lilacs are classified as Syringa vulgaris and are reliably hardy in USDA Zones 3 to 7.

Native to both Europe and Asia, lilacs are now grown around the globe. They have adapted well to urban environments. You’ll find stands of lilacs growing alongside highways and freeways, as well as the property lines of city and suburban lots.

Lilacs grow best in full sun, although they’ll do fine with as little as four hours of direct sun a day.

Plant lilacs in well drained, slightly alkaline soil (add pulverized lime to sweeten). They don’t like their feet wet, so don’t plant them in low lying areas where the water stands after it rains.

Lilacs live for 100 years or more. If you live in the city, chances are the lilac bush in your yard has been growing there since the automobile was a “curiosity” and travel by horse and buggy was the norm.

If you’re lucky enough to have well-established lilacs growing on your property, you probably already know that they’ll continue to grow and bloom every spring with very little help from you.

Provide them with water in times of extreme drought and feed them with an all-purpose fertilizer in late spring after they finish flowering, although they’ll most likely thrive without your intervention.

Prune for size and shape at the same time you cut off the spent flower heads, right after they finish blooming. They’re very forgiving. I once watched a well-meaning neighbor “prune” his lilac bush by ripping off several of the large branches. I was convinced that the bush was history, but it bounced back and bloomed again in a couple of years. Go figure.

Just to be on the safe side, prune out no more than 1/3 of a lilac’s branches at a time. If the bush requires more pruning than that, wait until the following year and again, prune out no more than 1/3 of its branches.

Lilacs seem to last only a few hours as a cut flower before wilting. Here’s what to do to keep a bouquet of lilacs that will last longer: cut short branches, not individual flowers, making sure to cut them at the woody part of the stem. Lay the stems on a cutting board and smash the woody ends with a hammer. This will enable them to more easily draw up water and they will last indoors for several days in a vase. Change the water daily.

Add a few tulips and/or peonies for a spectacular looking spring bouquet.

No flowers smell as sweet as spring-blooming flowers.

Asparagus is the "princess" of all vegetables. Why else would their roots be called crowns?

Asparagus officinalis is thought to originate near the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor where it has been cultivated since about 200 BC.

The only perennial vegetable commonly cultivated in the home garden*, asparagus has been prized as a spring delicacy ever since.

Start with healthy, disease-free roots. Purchase one-year-old roots from a reputable nursery or catalog. Properly planted and cared for, an asparagus bed will produce spears for 20 to 30 years.

Space asparagus roots 12 inches apart in rows (trenches) 30 to 36 inches apart. Don’t give in to temptation and plant them closer together to increase yields; asparagus needs a lot of room to grow leaves over the summer. This helps the plant store energy to produce spears the following spring.

Dig a trench about a foot deep and loosen the soil at the bottom. Add peat moss, well-rotted manure, and slow-release granular fertilizer. Mix these in well with the loosened soil at the bottom of the hole.

Create a slight ridge down the center of the trench and place the roots at the peak of the ridge. Spread the longer roots out along both sides of the ridge and cover with about an inch of soil. The plants will be below the surface of the surrounding soil. Fill in the trench over the next few weeks, covering the tips of the spears as they emerge until the trench is level with the rest of the garden.

Do not pick any spears the first year. During the second year, pick sparingly for just one week. Pick for two weeks the third year after planting. For the fourth year, pick for four weeks. Beginning the fifth year after planting, you may harvest as much as you like for a full eight weeks. Once asparagus season is over, allow the plants to put on as much top growth as they can and you’ll be rewarded with a good crop the following spring.

Keep your asparagus patch well weeded. Mulch with straw or cocoa hulls to discourage weeds and help hold moisture in the soil. Provide plenty of water. Every other week, water enough so that the soil is completely moistened eight inches below the surface.

Depending on your location, the first spears will appear from early April to early May. For the next eight weeks, your patch will provide you with fresh asparagus daily.

Roast them, steam them, grill them, or stir-fry them.

Just don’t overcook them.

Please.

* * *

*Yes, I know rhubarb is technically a vegetable and it is commonly cultivated in the home garden. But we think of it and use it as a fruit.

A rhubarb plant growing in the neighborhood. This plant is so large that it caught my eye as I drove by. The gardener was kind enough to let me pick some and invited me to return for more.

For most of recorded history, rhubarb was only used medicinally. Native to China, it is thought that Marco Polo brought rhubarb back from his travels there.

Rheum rhabarbarum wasn’t used as a food source until the late 1700′s. Its first recorded mention is as a pie plant.

Rhubarb was planted extensively by pioneers in the United States and descendants of many of those original plantings survive in our northern cities today.

Hardy in USDA Zones 3 to 8, rhubarb grows 2 to 3 feet tall, depending on the variety. It needs temperatures below 40 degrees to break its winter dormancy and begin new growth in spring.

Plant rhubarb in full sun in rich garden soil. Space the plants 3 to 4 feet apart in rows 3 feeet apart. The plants will grow smaller and be less productive if planted closer together. Place the crown about 2 inches below the surface of the soil. Water well.

Provide newly transplanted rhubarb with water for its first year in your garden, thereafter it will withstand drought fairly well.

Don’t harvest rhubarb the first year you plant it. Like asparagus, it needs to put all its energy the first year into building a strong root system.

Harvest sparingly the second year. Only harvest stalks that are at least an inch thick. During its third year, harvest for about a month in spring. Thereafter, harvest stalks as they mature for the entire rhubarb season, which runs for about six weeks from the time the first stalks are ready to harvest in early spring.

Cut the stalks at the soil line or grasp a stalk near the surface of the soil and twist it away from the crown.

Rhubarb is known as the pie plant; it is primarily used as a fruit in pies, crisps, compotes, and jams. Made into a smooth sauce, it is also a good companion for seafood.

One of my earliest childhood memories is of picking a stalk of rhubarb fresh from the garden, dipping it into sugar, and eating it raw. Of course, that was before scientists discovered that sugar was bad for you.

I practice selective amnesia when it comes to such discoveries.