Always Growing

This post, “They’re Back” was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

When winter comes, there are certain plants I just hate to lose.  I will move them to a protected spot, mulch them heavily, or cover them completely until the cold spell is over. 

The hibiscus is one of those plants that I have been able to save for several years now.  I only have the doubles - red, peach, yellow, and pink.  When a freeze is predicted, I will move them all together and cover them with plastic.  If the freeze is going to be for many hours, I will put a light under the plastic for warmth.  This process has enabled me to keep the same hibiscus plants for at least 12 to 15 years.  When they first start to bloom in the spring, they usually only put out single flowers, but it isn’t long before the fertilizer kicks in and they are back to doubles.  Today, I noticed the first bloom since January.

Last year I planted several blue daze plants around the patio, and they did extremely well.  When the cold weather came, I mulched them heavily.  If a freeze was predicted, I covered them with newspaper and sheets.  They survived with just a little damage, which I trimmed off a few weeks ago.  Last week I hit them with some water soluble fertilizer, and today, I noticed the first flowers since December.

Finally, the bougainvillea.  That plant is in a very large container.  Since I am small, I can’t move this heavy thing easily.  With all its thorny branches, to save this one from freezing temperatures, I just gently place the pot on its side and cover it with sheets and plastic.  It started blooming about a week or so ago, and this is the best it has looked since I got it.

One of the reasons I like to try and overwinter tender perennials is that the plants have a large root system, and so they bounce back bigger and faster.  If I would buy new plants, even in a quart or gallon size, they would not bloom as fast and be as big as the overwintered ones.  And, of course, I save money.  Which allows me to spend money on other new plants.  See, there is a method to my madness.

This post, “Rain, Rain, Go Away” was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

It was rainy and cold again today.  The kind of day when all you want to do is stay indoors curled up in a blanket with a bowl of hot soup. The ground is awfully soggy.  I could only take a quick walk around the garden this afternoon.  There is going to be another freeze here tonight.  Even though it is not supposed to be a hard freeze, I did cover up most everything again.

The temperature today was not that low (42), but with the rain and the wind, it felt like it was much colder.  We have had almost 5 inches of rain in the last two weeks.  I know that come July, I will be wondering where all the rain is.  But, right now, we have had enough.

When the weather is as rainy as it has been lately, you really understand about good drainage for plants.  I garden where the soil has a lot of clay.  As I have started garden beds, I have added garden soil to raise the beds and also add compost.  Each year after that, I add compost, and lately I have started adding a thin layer of soil.  Since south Louisiana tends to get a great deal of rain at once instead of a little all year long, I’ve learned drainage is a must.

The drainage also helps with fungal diseases.  When the occasional deluge does come down, I have lost some plants to “the rot” as I call it.  I now plant things that are more adaptable to this climate.  Louisiana irises and calla lilies, for example, are plants that can take the water.  If it is a plant that doesn’t like sitting in water, like dahlias, I make sure to plant them high in a raised bed.  So far I have been lucky, and have not lost any since I have been doing that.

Powdery mildew can also be a problem here.  After a few bouts with this, I realized I needed to make sure there was good air circulation around the plants.  Also, esp. in the summer, overhead watering is to be avoided.  I found that out the year my hydrangeas had a severe powdery mildew problem.  Since I do not like to use any sprays, the plants looked pretty poor for a while.  To help combat this, I use soaker hoses now.

Tomorrow is not looking too good, but Saturday does hold some promise of better weather.  So to try and put a positive note on this cold, rain day - I can look at gardening books and dream, I have a good excuse for not weeding, and at least there are no mosquitoes.

This post, “Cold, Rainy Day” was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

Today it rained most of the day, and tonight it should be freezing by midnight.  We are expecting a low of 27.  The rain gauge shows 1.29 inches of rain fell.  It was a slow, soft rain which means that there was no run off, and all the rain has to soak into the ground.  There are still puddles in the yard tonight, and it stopped raining around noon.

With the low temperatures that are expected tonight, I had to protect the tender vegetation.  I had not moved very many plants since the last freeze, so I just had to cover them again.  There is supposed to be a light freeze again Sunday night, so I won’t really uncover anything until Monday.

Because of all the rain and the ground being so wet, I hated walking around the yard when I was trying to protect the plants.  Of course, I had no choice, but it is annoying.  The ground gets compacted, and it doesn’t help the grass any.

I guess I am finding everything about the weather today annoying because with a three day weekend, I was looking forward to being out and working in the garden.  I may still be able to work on Monday, at least I hope that things will dry out enough that I can do something.  There is still a great deal of yard work to do.  Winter weeds need to be dealt with, some pruning needs to be done - you know, a garden is never finished kind of things.  The kind of things that a good three day weekend would allow to get done. 

Because of our mild winters, Gulf Coast gardeners never really have to stop working their gardens.  It is during the hot summers that we don’t do too much.  I don’t know if I could live in the northern latitudes.  I can understand how anxious those gardeners must be to get outside and work in their gardens.  Our long growing season allows us to garden almost year round. After working inside all week, being able to garden or just go outside and walk around the garden is important to my mental health. I guess I miss that, and that is why I am so grumpy tonight.

I know I won’t be able to work outside tomorrow, so I am planning on starting all my seeds.  If I am able to do that, I’ll post an update on what I plant.

This post, “Another Cold Night” was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

Well, the garden seemed to survive last night’s cold temps.  It got down to 30 degrees, not as cold as the weather forecasters said, but it was below freezing for several hours.  The only thing that seemed to have been damaged was the sweet potato vines, but they were unprotected.   I am not too worried though because the tubers have always survived with enough mulch.

Tonight is supposed to be colder with below freezing by 8pm, so I’m crossing my fingers that I won’t lose too many plants that are marginal in this zone.  I do have many plants that will survive in New Orleans’ climate, but here, even though we are only 30 miles north of there,  it is different. But having grown up there, I just can’t resist having those tropical plants.  I also know I have a problem letting go of some annuals and tender perennials.  I try to over winter plants that are just not that hardy here because often when I try to replace them I can not find them again in the colors I want.  Another problem replacing some of these plants is that the nurseries sell them in mixed colors, and I like to plant in sweeps of color.  So I have ended up many times going from store to store to try and find enough of the right color.  So if I can, I’ll try to “save” those plants which should in reality end up on the compost pile.

However, if I do lose some plants, it will just give me another opportunity to grow something new or change things around.  After reading the article “Welcoming Entrances” in the current Louisiana Gardener magazine, I think I need to change things around my front entrance.  If the cold weather does in some of the plants there, I’m going to be more careful about plants that take over and about matching available space with the right plants.  The entry garden did look lush and colorful, but I found the pineapple sage and the lady in red sage grew too big for the space I allotted them.  Also the ageratum that I planted in the spring took over once the cooler weather of the fall began.  It has covered just about everything, esp. the gerber daisies. The Marguerite sweet potato vine was also a problem.  This was probably because the tubers are several years old and huge.  The Ace of Spades sweet potato vine wasn’t as vigorous, but it also wasn’t as old.  I found I was cutting back large amounts of plant material every weekend.  So, this spring I am going to plan better. 

Hard to believe that I took this picture on Saturday.  Temperatures were mild.

This post, “Getting Started” was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

First Post.  After reading many gardening blogs for months now, I have finally decided to join in.  I garden in South Louisiana just north of New Orleans, which means Zone 8b.  Santa gave me a digital camera for Christmas, so now I will finally be able to post the pictures of my plants and garden.

 I spent most of today covering up plants as we are expecting our first hard freeze tonight.  Tomorrow night is supposed to be even colder.  It is supposed to get into the low 20’s, and if it does it will be the first hard freeze here in over two years.  I have many tropicals that I have had for a long time, and I do not want to lose them and have to start over.  I have some hibiscus plants (9) that I have sucessfully overwintered for over 10 years now and am very attached to them.  I am sure they will survive, but tomorrow night they will have to have additional heat.

I had to cut back many plants so I could cover them up with pine straw and overturned containers.  It is a shame because just two days ago I was out photographing flowers and now they are on the compost pile.  Well, if I am able to save them it will worth it.  To protect my garden plants I cover them up with plastic garden containers. If they are nursery pots, I line them with newspaper first and just stick them over the plant.  It is surprising how many plants I have saved this way.  For my container plants, I have to group them together next to the house and cover them with plastic.  I know plastic is not the best, but when faced with that or losing plants, I’ll opt for the plastic.  I really haven’t had much damage to plants from the plastic touching them, but then I am usually dealing with temperatures in the mid 20’s.

Fall color finally comes to the Gulf South - by the end of December.