Plant Profiles: Pansies

Pansy-photo taken last
year in my flower garden

PANSY
What can I say other than I love Pansies! They are beautiful and there are so many different colours and varieties to choose from that they fit into many different spots in the garden or pots. They look like they are smiling almost don't they? They are grown as a hardy Annual but in a select few areas they are grown as a perennial. But oddly they do not survive well in very hot climates as they prefer cooler climates. Extreme heat will actually hurt or kill them. So I like them because they do well here in Alberta and they are so beautiful and cheery! Below is some information and facts that I have gathered from my own experience and from a few different sites and books. As always, I include the sources where I have gotten info from at the bottom of the post. Enjoy!
WHERE TO GROW
Pansies do well in Full Sun or Partial Shade
SOIL
They do best in Well Drained soil
FACTS
Pansies are very cold hardy annuals and can survive light frosts.
Pansies were developed from Viola which is a biennial.
"Pansies are winter hardy in zones 4-8. In zones 9-11 pansies can bloom over the winter" (from Wikipedia)
They often reseed themselves and come back the next year.
They can not stand too much heat.
Pansies germinate better if you keep them in complete darkness until they germinate and then put them out with the other plants. Just be sure to place them in an area that you don't forget about them and remember to water them!

"The word Pansy is traced back to the French word pensee, meaning thought or remembrance." *

Pansies originate from England in the 1800's.

They come in pretty much the most colour choices of any annual.

PESTS AND DISEASES

Stem rot, leaf spot, mildew, root rot, slugs, aphids, spider mites,

The variety I am growing this year



SWISS GIANT



Swiss Giants- "Swiss Giant is an old-fashioned European pansy bred in Switzerland. The large flowers on long stems are good for cut flower bouquets. Many of today's hybrid varieties were developed from Swiss Giants." * (quoted from http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/flowers/pansies.html)



Swiss Giant pansy seeds

Sources. Where I have gotten information from when researching the plants.

Annuals For Alberta By Laura Peters and Donna Dawson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pansy

*http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/flowers/pansies.html

Plant Profiles: Portulaca



Seed packet



PORTULACA

Portulaca is also known more commonly as Moss Rose. The leaves are succulant and add something to containers. They are so beautiful to have in the flower garden or pots. They are low growing- about 6inches tall. In my containers they flop over the sides a bit which I enjoy. My one complaint with these plants are that they are so delicate and the stems break quite easily. If you remember that and take care when handling them- they are wonderful. Despite the stems being delicate, the plants are tough and require little attention when they are planted in the ground. They store water in their leaves so they don't need to be watered often at all and overwatering will actually hurt them. Give them the care they need when they are small and then plant them and watch them take off. They are a very easy care plant.

WHERE TO GROW

They need Full Sun but I have grown them where they get about half a day of sun and they still flower, though not as well as in full sun.

SOIL

Portulaca likes well drained soil. In the book Annuals For Alberta, it says that they like soil of poor fertility and sandy. I grow mine in regular potting soil with the rest of the flowers and they do fine. Just remember to have soil that drains well and you should be good.

FACTS

Portulaca like dry areas and do not need to or like to be wet. They do well in my rock garden where it is generally pretty dry and sunny. They also don't like to be too wet so don't over water them. They are generally very easy care plants because they prefer less water and soil that isn't very fertile but still do fine in fertile soil too in my experience.

These plants have very tiny seeds and it is recomended to start them indoors so you can keep them from being washed away in a rain storm or something like that. They will also survive much better in my opinion if they get some extra care when they are smaller since they are more delicate.

They do fine grouped together and you don't have to worry about spacing like other plants.

They have a ton of seeds in their seed pods and are very easy to collect seed from. If you want to save some seed for the coming year, or save seed to give someone a packet for a gift-they are a great plant to do this with!

Portulaca is an annual but can self sow and grow back the next year if you let it. I grow them in pots so they don't usually get a chance to self sow. But in a rock garden or flower bed they could come back the next year if you want them to.



Portulaca seeds-very tiny!



Sources. Where I have gotten information from when researching the plants.

Annuals For Alberta By Laura Peters and Donna Dawson

http://www.vesseys.com/

http://garden.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Portulaca

Plant Profiles: Marigolds



African marigold-photo taken
last summer

 I thought I would do something a bit different and share more in depth about different plants. Today I want to talk about Marigolds! I am hoping I can uncover some new and different information for you that you do not already know. :) Marigolds are super easy to grow and look great in every garden!
Where to grow:

Prefer Full Sun but I have found they will tolerate some shade.

Facts

Marigolds are an annual.

Deer do not like Marigolds and they avoid them. My hope is that maybe if I plant more of them in the flower beds that it might deter the deer from entering the flower beds.

Marigolds are great in the vegetable garden as well as companion plants. They are great help in repelling insects like the Mexican bean beetle that can cause problems with beans and they discourage nemotodes which attack potatoes. They repell many more insects as well as what I have mentioned here.

Marigolds (Calendula officinalis) have medicinal uses as well. They can be used to treat stuff like burns and bruises and ecxema.

They are edible and can be used to make tea which can help with digestion and even menstrual cramps.

There is a hybrid marigold called a Mule Marigold which is a cross between the African marigold and the french marigold to decrease the pungent smell and help the flowers last longer. These Marigolds do not produce viable seed though because they are a hybrid and the reason for the name Mule Marigold.

Marigolds have been used in the past for dyes to colour things like fabric.

Below is a bit of information of the Crackerjack (African) marigold and the French Marigold.

MARIGOLD -CRACKERJACK.  These Marigolds are also called African marigolds and they are quite large. The height on the package says they get 30-36inches tall which is a bit taller than mine got last year. I think mine were about 2ft/24in. This is a new variety to me as I have only grown them the last couple of years. Two years ago we bought them already started from a greenhouse and I fell in love. lol Last year I sought out seeds and was happy to find them at Butchart Gardens. The flowers take longer to open but they stay open for quite a long time as well. The flowers last longer than the usual french marigolds. The flowers are long lasting. Apparently they do well as a cut flower but I have never tested this out.  This particular variety of Marigolds is better in a flower bed or larger pots due to their size. I like to use them in the back of a pot and plant smaller plants in front.

African Marigold seeds

 MARIGOLD - FRENCH



French Marigold-photo taken last year
 from one of my hanging baskets

 These are more compact and bushier than other marigolds as they get about 8inches tall. The flowers can be single or double. These are the more common marigolds that you will find in stores where you buy bedding plants. I love these marigolds as well. As you can see, the seeds are pretty similar to the African marigolds so it is good to not mix them up if you have both as seed. lol These are great for pots and containers and the flower garden-I don't think there is really any area they don't look good. They do prefer full sun though to be happy.



French Marigold Seeds



 

Sources. Websites I have visited and used some information from while looking up information for marigolds.

http://www.theflowerexpert.com/

http://www.phytochemicals.info/

http://www.bonsaigardener.org/

http://www.butchartgardens.com/

http://www.vesseys.com/

Carrots love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte

Talking Green: Seeds photos

Hi again,

Here are some photos of some seeds to give you an idea what they look like and I will add a brief description as well.

ALYSSUM : Alyssum does well in full sun or part shade. They are low growing-about 4inches tall. When planting-do not cover seeds as they need light to germinate. They are very easy to grow and grow rapidly. I enjoy using Alyssum in my rock garden as well as containers/hanging pots. Do not confuse Sweet Alyssum with regular Alyssum though. Sweet Alyssum is related and has most of the characteristics of regular Alyssum but is a different plant. Sweet Alyssum comes from the family Lobularia where regular Alyssum comes from the family Bassicaceae. When you are in doubt with flower seeds-they should contain the family name as well so you know which one you are getting. Sweet Alyssum is a bit hardier apparently than regular Alyssum and has a honey scent to the flowers.. They are great fillers between other plants and as a border or edging. A little known fact about Alyssum : It apparently used to be used in folk medicine where it was used for treatment of Rabies.

ASTER: Butchart Gardens says "One of the most popular cut flowers, this mixture features large, chrysanthamum type double flowers on 2 foot high stems." Asters are a bit trickier to transplant because they do not like their roots disturbed or bothered so you need to take care when transplanting. Try to avoid transplanting as much as possible to have happier plants. They like full sun. There are many varieties of Asters-they come in Annuals and Perennials. This Aster below is an annual. Many types of asters are actually native to Canada which is quite interesting.

 COSMOS: Cosmos are definitely a favorite of mine here in Alberta. They grow quickly and I had one plant get 6ft tall one year! It was interesting because the plant was also in a container. lol When they are happy, they are full of flowers. I love the ferny foilage of the Cosmos as well. Cosmos can be anywhere from 1-6ft from my experience depending on the conditions. They love full sun but do grow in the shade but don't really flower in the shade as much. In the shade, I find they are still a nice plant for their neat foilage. One thing that can be a bonus or a headache is the self seeding quality of Cosmos. If this is considered a headache to you, you can dead head the flowers before they go to seed. Something interesting to note is that overfertilizing and overwatering actually causes fewer flowers so be careful with that. They are super easy to grow and the taller plants need some staking to keep from falling over. They flower right up until frost and often still flowering quite beautifully in the fall when other annuals are starting to look sad. There are different varieties of Cosmos and below I have the Candystripe variety but there are also single colour cosmos which are gorgous as well. The name Cosmos comes from Greek meaning Harmony. You can't go wrong with these!

LOBELIA : As you can see in the photo-these are one of the tiniest seeds and the tiniest I have ever dealt with and can be interesting to plant. They need to be started much earlier than other seeds as they take awhile longer to sprout and grow. They are a little more difficult to grow than the easy to grow plants like Alyssum or Cosmos. But not impossible to grow. I love Lobelia because they do well in the sun as well as the shade. We have alot of shade here so it is so nice to have such a beautiful plant that grows in the shade. They do better in the sun and will look much better in the sun but they still do good in the shade as well. They do not like afternoon sunshine as much which is something to keep in mind. Lobelia are low growing (about 4-6inches) and do great in hanging pots and they cascade down the sides which I love. They also do well in flower beds as edging/borders and I put them in my rock garden as well.

LAVATERA: This is a flower that I didn't even discover until a few years ago. Awful huh? They are so beautiful and it is too bad I didn't see them till I did. The picture on the packet really doesn't do them justice in my opinion. These flowers love full sun and do not do as well in the shade.This plant is another one that doesn't like transplanting/having it's roots disturbed so it is good to keep that in mind. I like to grow them in bigger containers right off so I can avoid transplanting till they have to go into the garden or hanging pots. Depending on the variety they can grow from 10inches to apparently 10ft. Something to keep in mind when you are shopping for Lavatera that you get the variety you want. You would not want to get a variety for your hanging pots that gets 10ft tall! lol In my experience, I have never had the Silvercup variety grow more than a foot or so tall and this is the first year that I am trying the "Loveliness" type. I am thinking I won't be dissapointed!

I have more seeds that I would like to share about but will stop here for this post. These are all flowers I grow here in Alberta and are favorites of mine. I hope this information is useful. I find it very useful myself to be able to identify different seeds the best I can so that if they get mixed up-I can tell which are what seeds. Happy Gardening!

Talking Green: Planting the seeds-photos

Hello again
Today I would like to go a little more in depth on how to plant the seeds. At least how I find it works best. Something I forgot to mention in earlier posts is that it is important to plan out what seeds you are planting and write it down so you know which seeds are which. What I like to do is make a table on the computer that represents the tray and then mark down exactly what I plan to plant where. You can use markers in the tray of seeds but sometimes they fall out or are too tall so it becomes difficult to place the plastic cover over top. I like to have a written record where I can record when I plant, what I plant, when it comes up, how many come up and when I transplant. I do this so I can look back on it the next year and know what seeds came up good and how long it took for them to sprout and it helps me to plan how to plant the coming year. You do not have to record all of this to grow good plants but it does help keep you organized. Here is a photo of one of my tables. I have all the cells marked as well so it is easier to keep track of stuff. :)

Now on to filling the trays with dirt. First you should moistin the dirt a bit so that it isn't completely dry. Sometimes potting soil is already moist and if that is the case you do not have to add more water. After the dirt is moistened, you should put the dirt in the trays. I find the easiest way to do this is to first fill all the holes up and take something with a straight edge and level it off so it looks like this.

After you have the tray filled and leveled off, you need to press the dirt down slightly so it is slightly packed. I push just a little bit so it isn't packed too hard because then it won't drain. I find that with most potting soils, when it is pushed down it is still about 3/4 full. It should look something like this. On the left side I have pushed down the dirt and on the right side it still hasn't been pushed down.

After you have pushed the dirt down, it is a good idea to add some more water before placing the seeds in the dirt. You can use the spray bottle or a watering can since there are no seeds in the tray yet. Next you can put the seeds in the dirt. When doing this, make sure to refer to your chart or your markers to make sure you put the right seeds in the right spot. For larger seeds like 4 O'clocks, you can just drop them on to the dirt like this. (I usually put two per cell)

Next you cover up the seeds that need to be covered and spray the dirt some more with the spray bottle and you are good to go! Then comes the waiting for the seeds to come up which is tough for me-I am rather impatient. lol I want to see if stuff is growing or not and if I give in then I end up disturbing the seeds and causing problems. When covering the seeds, the rule of thumb I go by is to add enough dirt to be about the same depth as the width of the seed. This also means that you only need a sprinkle of dirt on top of the teeny tiny seeds. On most packages it states 1/8inch for the really little seeds. In my next post I will show some photos of the different seeds I have planted to show the different sizes. :) Happy Gardening!

Talking Green: Foot Candles

Hello again,
So now that I have finally finished talking about the different elements needed for starting seeds, I can talk about other interesting things. Now you may be wondering what the heck are foot candles and how on earth does this have anything to do with plants?? lol Well I would like to explain.
Foot Candles is the measurement of light a plant needs to grow properly. The abbreviation for foot candles is Fc which I will use from here on in. For some reason I can not remember why it was called this but I will check it out and let you know. :) To give you an idea of how many fc's come from different light sources I will give some examples.
Foot Candles
Light Source             FC (approx)
Starlight                    0.00011 FC
Moonlight                 0.02 FC
Overcast Daylight     1000.00 FC
Direct Sun                10,000 FC

As you can see, direct sun has about 10 times the amount of Fc's than on a cloudy day. To give you an idea how much a plant needs, vegetables need at least 1000 fc's. Also the taller a plant is the more fc's it will need. So different plants require different amounts but no need to worry about figuring out how much each plant needs or anything-this is just some interesting information to share with you. It can help to know this if you are growing plants in a greenhouse and I hope to expand further on it sometime but for now you can use this to impress your friends that may not know about this measurement. lol :)

Talking Green: Starting at the beginning. Part 5

Today I would like to talk about the final element needed in starting seeds which is sunlight. When starting seeds indoors, you have a couple of options. You can set the trays by a window to get natural light or you can use grow lights.
Natural light
This is probably the easiest option and the least expensive because all you need is a window which everyone should have. While the seeds are sprouting and still small, a window works fine. But when they get bigger they will actually start to reach for the light. If you are starting seeds where you can't put them outside, this is something that is possibly difficult to get away from. One way to help your seedlings grow up straight (or straighter) is to turn the tray when they start to lean a bit towards the window. One interesting question my sister had was if it matters if the sun isn't out and if the seeds will still get enough sunlight. I assured her that they would be fine. Even on cloudy days there is still sunlight. :)
Grow Lights
This is possibly a better option to help your seedlings grow more like they would outside but it can also be a bit of an investment. Grow lights are basically full spectrum lights. What this means is that they have both the red and the blue spectrum. I have heard that you can copy this by getting two flourescent lights-one blue spectrum (cool white) and one red spectrum (warm white) and place them both above the trays. I have never tried this but apparently it works and can be cheaper than buying special lights. The other cost for grow lights is the electricity used to power the lights which can also add up. I do like grow lights because they help plants look much better and less spindly but I don't like the cost. I also have places with lots of light in the house that keeps the plants from reaching as much.
The positive is that once it gets about +10 celcious that it is fine to put the plants outside in the sun for small amounts of time so they can enjoy the wonderful sunshine. The only downside is that +10 is still a little chilly and the plants will likely not grow too much. They sort of shut down a bit if it is chilly. But taking them outside for short periods of time will also help to harden off your plants which is basically getting them used to the outdoors after being inside in a sheltered environment. Happy Gardening!

Talking Green: Starting at the beginning. Part 4

Hi again,
Today I want to cover watering your plants. After planting the seeds, it is important to use a mister bottle or a spray bottle so you don't wash the seeds away. When the seeds sprout it is important to use the spray bottle so that you don't damage the delicate seedlings. New seedlings can be super delicate unless they are something like a sunflower which is pretty strong. Larger seeds have larger sprouts which are tougher and also require more water so it is safer to use a watering can. when the seedlings get to a point that they don't bend over so much when you mist them then it is safe to go to a watering can.  One common mistake people make that I want to point out is over watering plants and actually drowning them. You can kill them with too much of a good thing I suppose. Plants need water but the roots also need to breath a bit unless they are supposed to grow under water. When you over water a plant, the roots sort of suffocate I guess you could say. So the next question you may have is how to know how much is too much or too little. This was something I had difficulty explaining to my sister without showing her but I will give it a shot. First clue to over watering is that the dirt goes mouldy. lol Also if it is mud then it is too wet. I like to see the top dry out a bit before watering again. But something else to point out is that the top dries out first so just because the top is dry does not mean it is dry lower down. With young seedlings it can be tough to put your finger in the soil to see how wet it is but when they are older there is a neat gadget that I love to use that is very handy. It is called a moisture meter and it is something inexpensive and it has a probe you stick in the dirt and it has a meter at the top that tells you how wet the soil is. This is so handy for me! One tip I can give is if you have one of these, you can stick it in dirt that you don't have seeds into and water the soil and check it to see how wet the soil is. Then you can get a visual idea of what soil looks like when it is too wet or too dry. That way it is easier to know if the seedlings need water or not because sticking a probe into the soil where there are seeds is tough. It is tough because you don't always know where unsprouted seeds are that you might disturb and push down and the probe can damage the delicate roots of the seedlings. Once the seedlings are older then it isn't such a big deal. That is the best way I can describe how to know how wet to make the soil. I hope this helps. :) Happy gardening!

I would like to mention that I am not saying it is necessary to get a moisture meter and I am not trying to sell them or anything. I just find that they are very useful to me and that other people may benefit from them.

Talking Green: Starting at the beginning. Part 3

Hello again,
Wow the week flew by! This past week I had my birthday and I had a lot of coupons for free meals so I went out alot and didn't manage get on here. I would just like to apologize for that.
After you have your trays and growing medium picked out, you will need to think about seeds. Today I would like to talk about that a bit. What seeds do you plant, how many, how far apart, how deep to plant them etc.
What Seeds should I plant?
If you are just starting out, it is good to pick seeds that are easy to grow and not too finnicky. Generally it will say on the package if it is easy to grow but if it doesn't there are some ways to pick them out. I have found that the larger the seed, the easier it is to grow. So seeds like sunflowers and Nasturtiums, 4 O'clocks, and sweet peas are pretty simple and easy to grow. Unless you do like I did one year and plant them directly in the dirt but not deep enough and then the birds came and ate them. lol After awhile I started to wonder why they were not sprouting so I dug around in the dirt.... there were no seeds left. lol So to avoid that I start them indoors first and give the birds a bird feeder with seeds I don't mind them eating. lol The size of seeds varies greatly though and they go from the very big ones like sunflower seeds to the incredibly tiny ones like Lobelia. One question my sister had for me about the tiny seeds is how many to plant and whether it was important to control where they fell. Tiny seeds like Lobelia are so small that it is next to impossible to control where they land unless you are incredibly careful and patient. If you are like me, then you don't want to spend hours trying to plant seeds so I reccomend sprinkling some on the dirt and it's good to plant a few extra because not all seeds germinate. Then later when they sprout you can do something called pricking out that I will cover in a later post. One other rule of thumb I follow is the larger the seed, the fewer you plant per cell. A cell is basically one container or one part of the tray you plant seeds in. In the greenhouse kits, I like to buy the 72 cell kits and for each of those cells I tend to plant between 5-10 tiny seeds. For large seeds I tend to plant just one per cell.
How deep do I plant the seeds?
Something else you need to think about when planting seeds is how deep to plant them. Generally I look at the size of the seed and place it about the same depth down under the dirt. What I mean is that if a seed is 1mm wide, I will place about 1mm of dirt over top. Yet not all seeds should be covered with dirt. There are some seeds that require light to germinate and need to be placed on top of the dirt. I learned this the hard way years ago the first time I attempted snapdragon seeds. I could not figure out why they would not grow! lol So I googled snap dragon seeds and discovered they don't grow if they are covered with dirt. oops. If seeds require this, it should say on the back of the seed packet. I don't know all the seeds that need this but 2 I know for sure are alyssum and snapdragons. Most should be covered though.
How far apart should I plant the seeds?
The nice thing about buying seeds is that there is usually most of the info you need on the back of the packet in terms of depth to plant and how far apart. So if you are new at this, it is good to look at that. Each seed is different and it is hard to list on here how far apart each one should be planted so I reccomend looking at the packet. If you have any questions-feel free to contact me!
When do I plant the seeds?
Lastly I would like to cover when to plant the seeds. This can be very tricky if you live somewhere where you get snow and frost because it is hard to predict when it will be gone. If there is ever a crystal ball to know when the last frost will be-I will be first in line to get one! lol Yet it isn't impossible either to figure out. Something to keep in mind is that the bigger the seed is, the faster it will sprout and grow so it needs less time to grow. The faster seeds grow also means if you start late then it isn't too big of a deal because you can usually just plant them right outside. Sunflower seeds can be started even a week or two before you put them outside. If you are planting really tiny seeds like lobellia, these take quite awhile to sprout and grow and generally need 8-10weeks before the last frost. It is a good idea to check what zone you live in because this helps to know when it stops freezing. Here in Alberta, I plan to have them ready by mid May or beginning of June because it seriously freezes up to that point some years. lol We are zone 2 though and live in the country which are important to factor in the equation as well.
I hope I have covered a bit of what to do with the seeds and helped a little bit. I would like to set up something where people can email me questions and I will answer them once a week so that I can help people as much as possible. Also if there is anything people are interested in me covering then you can let me know and I can cover that specific topic. :) I really want to help people become successful in the garden! Happy Gardening!!!