Pansies brighten up the yard
Published Thursday May 14th, 2009
Last Saturday's warm temperatures and sunny skies brought gardeners out in flocks to newly opened greenhouses to savour and purchase those first most colourful flowers to appear on our local scene, the humble and happy pansy.
In no time at all, these brightly-coloured blooms can brighten up a corner of a yard and with very little care and attention, they continue to provide flowers throughout the entire season.
They are the first examples of the season of ways to add colour to your garden. But many gardeners wait until more varieties appear, determined to introduce colour into their beds in more subtle ways or in different palates.
Remember that when you consider adding colour to your beds, the eye is drawn to the warm colours of reds, yellows and oranges. Put these attractive blooms in areas where you want people's eyes to focus first.
Alternatively, if you are trying to fill up a less attractive corner of the yard, group together a large collection of orange or yellow flowers in the opposite corner and it will grab every visitor's attention.
Clusters of yellow blooms around front doors send a colourful message of welcome and influence visitors towards cheerfulness. Around conversation areas of your garden, however, you might consider red blooms since the colour stimulates conversation. Red begonias in the corner of a long, narrow property will bring it in more, make it appear cosier, as opposed to white blooms, which will exaggerate its length. Blue tones make a garden bed appear wider and longer.
On the other hand, a cluster of white blooms gives a crisp, well-planned look to a garden bed.
Among the most colourful and easily grown blooms in our area are pansies, petunias, alyssum, marigolds, wax begonias and chrysanthemums. For elegant splashes of colour here and there, add some sunflowers, some delphiniums and tall snapdragons.
Make sure to separate your colour for effect with foliage and clusters of white flowers.
Tip for cut flowers: If you're cutting daffodils and tulips in your garden these days to bring some springtime inside, remember a tip from the Westmorland Horticultural Society's newsletter. Don't place the daffodils with other flowers, especially tulips, immediately after cutting, because their sap can block the stems of other flowers, causing the other flowers to collapse. Separate the daffodils for an hour or two, then seal the stems by dipping them in boiling water before adding them to other arrangements.
The same source has information about another issue I was asked about this week, which is what's to be done with tulips that have really short stems. If they are blooming right down in the foliage, this is known as "blasting" and is caused by a lack of cold weather. You can't fix it, so just plant more tulips in the future.
For your diary:
May 16 -- Seminar at Corn Hill Nursery on Spring Perennials. 10 a.m. to 12 noon. Free but pre-registration is required. Call 506-756-3635. May 9-31 are Rhododendron Weeks at Corn Hill Nursery located near Anagance.
May 21 -- Meeting of the Greater Moncton Dahlia Cloub at 7 p.m. at Mapleton Park Rotary Pavilion. Guest speakers are Roger and Jacdinthe Savoie of Dieppe, renowned dahlia growers.
May 26 -- Meeting of the Westmorland Horticultural Society at Lewisville Middle School, at 7;30 p.m. Paul and Rose Boudreau of La Cave a Vin Boudreau Vinyards will be guest speakers on the topic of planting, pruning and training grape vines. There will be a plant auction as well.
n The Gardener, written by Bill Robb, appears each Thursday in the Times & Transcript. Bill can be reached by e-mailing to contemplativegardener@hotmail.com or by writing to him care of the Times & Transcript, 939 Main St., Moncton, N.B. E1C 8P3.
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