A reader shares a tip about seed-starting with benefits anytime you plant this season. An article on design for outdoor container gardens has a practical bent. An overlooked ironwood tree is highlighted. All subjects in the June 2023 Fine Gardening magazine are available for browsing at the Yankton Community Library. We bring our twist to today’s Plant Exchange Blog.
>>>Tiny seeds can be hard to see and work with when planting them indoors for transplants. When you open a new flower seed packet, burying the specks “no more than twice their girth” deep in potting soil can be challenging.
By sowing the seeds on the surface of the potting soil and then covering them with a thin layer of vermiculite, the vermiculite swells with moisture, keeps seeds in place, and helps the soil surface stay moist when you bottom water with a tray beneath the seedlings.
>>>A container garden challenge is to look attractive all season. Flowers like these are beautiful in June but need later season bloomers for the container to look its best by August.
This container of flowers is well proportioned in early August, and flowers continue to bloom profusely, but how would you freshen its look for early fall?
By choosing ornamental grasses and vining plants that span the whole season, fall dazzling flowers such as marigolds could replace the begonias and petunia-like plants.
Herbaceous perennials or small pine evergreens could be the main structure of the container garden, with blooms or berries, or bark that adds changing interest. The Fine Gardening article shows several container gardens throughout the year.
>>>Golden BellTower ironwood tree (Parrotia persica ‘Chrishaven1’), USDA Hardiness Zone 4-8, is a columnar, sun-to-part shade tree for along street right-of-way and in smaller space yards. Golden fall color is an attribute. Ironwood, native to Northern Iran, has no known diseases or insect pests and has not been widely planted.
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