By Month/Season:

October Garden Tips

September Garden Tips

Summer Garden Tips

June Gardening Tips

May Gardening Tips

April Gardening Tips

March Gardening Tips

Winter Gardening Tips

By Garden Topic/Plants:

Poinsettias . . .
A Traditional Symbol of Yuletide Cheer!

Poinsettia Care Tips

Getting Ready for Winter

Garden Mum Care

Pansies - Cool Season Bloomers

Growing Pansies

How to Select Pansies for Planting

Garden Mum Care

To keep your garden mums looking their best pinch off blossoms as they turn brown. To over-winter, add a thin layer of mulch or leaves. Next Spring cut off dead stems as new growth appears and keep plants pinched low to avoid early blooms and splitting. After mid July, all them to grow for beautiful FALL blooms.

Pansies – Cool Season Bloomers

Pansies are cheerful flowers that grow best in cool weather. They are one of the most loved annuals, with jubilant faces in a rainbow of colors that are among the first blooms that welcome spring!

Often customers ask what is the difference in pansies, violas and Johnny-jump-ups? They’re all in the same plant “family” but each has individual traits.

Pansies are the largest in this family, both in leaf size and flower size. They are great companions to early spring bulbs, such as daffodils and tulips. They also mingle well with ivy when planted in pots. Their smiling “faces” are a true delight at a time when other flowers cannot survive outside.

Violas are often called mini-pansies because they look so much like pansies, only on a smaller scale. Leaves, stems and flowers are all smaller. The smaller size of viola blooms reminds many of violets – perhaps that is where their name came from!

The smallest of the family: Johnny-jump-ups is also known as Good King Henry. They often reseed, and end up in surprising places - between stones, in gravel or between cracks of a driveway! Their colors range from white, lemon yellow to violet blue.

October Gardening Tips:

Keep leaves off of newly seeded areas

Plant bulbs for spring blooms

Plant pansies for fall, winter and early spring color

Begin clean-up of annual, perennial and vegetable gardens

Empty containers and store for the winter (remember clay and ceramic pots will crack if left outside where water can settle then freeze)

Leave a few spent roses for new seeds to develop

Aerate and overseed lawns as needed-also a good time to fertilize

Pick large green tomatoes just before frost

Dig Banana Tree and other tropical bulbs/roots to store for winter

Don't cut back cone flowers, black-eyed susans, and ornamental grasses.
The birds love the seeds!

September Gardening Tips:

Plant some mums for beautiful fall color!  They prefer sunny areas and should be planted in well drained soil.

Remove tired summer annuals and fill your garden spaces with frost tolerant annuals such as pansies and ornamental cabbage and kale.

It’s a great time to
divide and transplant perennials
that are crowded from a
full season of growing. 
Be sure you “know your plants” because not all perennials need to be divided.

It’s time to stop fertilizing roses.

Early September is the best time to fertilize your lawn.  This is the most important application of the year that will keep it looking healthy and lush.

Re-seed bare or sparse areas
in your lawn.

September is the perfect time to plant trees and shrubs.  Warm days and cool nights will get roots well established to winter-over.

Summer Garden Tips

• Deadhead spent blooms on annuals and perennials. 

• Use a liquid fertilizer to perk-up annuals and vegetable plants.  This will give them a boost for the rest of the growing season.

• Don’t give up on any annuals that look a bit tired!  Cut back if needed, and keep them going!   As night temperatures cool-off, blooming annuals will get a second chance to put on a show until a hard frost.  This is especially true for geraniums and petunias.

• Trim Hydrangeas and Crape Myrtles as they finish blooming.  This will improve performance next year.  Waiting too long to prune may impair next year’s blooms.

• During hot, dry periods, be sure to water established lawns and shrubs.

• Keep up with weeding! 

• Enjoy the harvest from your vegetable plants!  There’s nothing better than home-grown tomatoes on a BLT  -  yummmmm!

June Gardening Tips

• Deadhead annuals and perennials to keep the blooms coming all season.

• We recommend liquid feed fertilizer every 10 days – 2 weeks for all your plants, unless you used a slow release fertilizer when you planted them. Check out our full line of fertilizers and root stimulators in our store.

• Check hanging baskets and containers for watering – even when it is rainy they often need watering even with all the recent rains. The deep roots still need watering to assure they get the required moisture.

• Plant pumpkin seeds in late June or early July in time for harvesting at Halloween.

• Evaluate for pests.  If Japanese Beetles are present, place traps for collecting them. For the Garden has Japanese Beetle traps and other other eco-friendly pest control items in stock.

• Stake and tie tomato plants to support the new growth and the ripening harvest.

• Plant heat loving annuals – vinca and wave petunias will look beautiful all summer. For the Garden has a fresh crop of summer annuals available.

May Gardening Tips

• Prune spring-flowering shrubs as soon as the blooms are finished.  It’s also a good time to remove broken or dead stems and branches.

• Trim spent blooms from spring flowering bulbs but do NOT cut back the foliage until it turns brown (this is how bulbs store food for next year’s blooms).

• Add a layer of mulch around trees and shrubs with bare ground.  This will help with weed control and moisture retention.

• It’s time to plant annuals-at last!  Nothing adds color to garden spaces and containers like blooming annuals, and it’s unlikely we will experience a hard frost during the rest of the growing season.

• Divide perennials as needed, and move plants if needed before the weather turns hot.

• Amend soil as needed in garden beds and containers. If you have to go to much effort to dig a hole for planting, then your soil probably needs a bit of help.

April Gardening Tips

• Late March and early April is the perfect time to transplant shrubs and trees-if the soil is workable.  It’s important that they make the move before buds have swelled or broken. 

• Acclimate plants that have been protected all winter with mulch by gradually removing the much-a little today, a little more next week etc. This allows for a gentle introduction to sun, wind and light instead of a shock all at once.  It’s better to remove mulch later if night temperatures are still falling into the 30’s.

• If you enjoy planting seeds and taking your own cuttings, it’s time to get busy!

March Gardening Tips

• This is a great time to do some housekeeping around the yard in preparation for spring planting.  Rake any leaves remaining in ground covers or beds, cut back ornamental grasses to a few inches above the ground, and remove any tree branches and twigs from your lawn.

• When your yard has dried out a bit from melting snow and rain, you can prepare garden areas for planting.  Adding organic matter to soil will improve its structure and increase air space, a key to successful growing.  Organic matter includes compost, manure and peat moss.

• Thawing and freezing (you know, 78 degrees today, 10 inches of snow tomorrow!) can force plants right of the ground.  If you notice plants that have heaved, gently push them back into the ground to help re-establish roots and protect plants from further damage due to extreme changes in temperature.
  

• PLANT SOME PANSIES!!! They love the cooler weather, and can survive when temperatures drop below freezing.  Did you know that all pansies grown at For The Garden have already been acclimated to cold weather?   They’ve been grown outside whenever possible to get used to wind, sun and cool weather.  They’re ready for your gardens and containers!

Winter Gardening Tips

Even though it’s cold outside, there are some things you can do now that can make a
difference for the upcoming growing season.

Spread ice melt and salt carefully to avoid damage to shrubs. Sand may be a safer choice for sidewalks close to plants.

Carefully remove snow from evergreens as soon as possible after a heavy snow. This could help minimize damage to branches.

It’s a great time to turn and lightly prune houseplants—don’t forget to check for bugs too!

Protect poinsettias from cold drafts and keep moist to enjoy their color longer and keep them healthy—they make great patio plants next spring.

Have fun looking at gardening magazines and catalogs! It’s not too early to make some plans for your spring gardens.

Poinsettias . . .
A Traditional Symbol of Yuletide Cheer!

Holiday decorating has almost become an art, and with the color choices now available for poinsettias, it seems there should be something for everyone! There’s a color for every décor and mood.

It used to be when you thought of a poinsettia, the color red is what came to mind. But growers have responded to consumer trends and now offer them in a variety of colors, including pink, white, marbled, burgundy as well as several shades of red, just to name a few.

Did you ever stop to think of where poinsettias are grown, and how they show their colors just in time for the holidays? In the St. Louis area, tens of thousands of poinsettias are grown in various sizes and colors by local growers. The process begins in April, when they receive cuttings from suppliers (most come from California). These cuttings grow all spring, summer and fall, being trimmed, transplanted and attended to as necessary. Then in late October, they begin to appear in a few retail stores. The majority are carefully shipped to stores between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Because poinsettias need long, dark nights to set their buds, some are “shaded” with black cloth during the growing process to allow them to obtain their colorful bracts earlier than they naturally would. (These are the poinsettias you see early in the season.) The rest of the crop catches up with the shaded poinsettias as nights naturally become longer, and days are shorter. So, just in time for the holidays, these glorious plants are ready for decorating and gift giving!

Poinsettia Care Tips

• Provide at least 6 hours of natural light.
• Avoid cold drafts from exterior doors and
  warm drafts from radiators or heating vents.
• Water thoroughly when soil surface is dry
  to the touch—discard excess water.
• After the holidays, apply a balanced fertilizer monthly.

Getting Ready for Winter

Before cold winds begin to blow and you need your heavy winter coat to be outside, take a look around your yard to see what needs to be done.  Think of the work you do this fall as a jump on work to do next spring!  And, some attention to your landscape now can make a big difference in how your yard looks all winter.

Container Gardens

Most annuals that grew outside all summer long will not do so well indoors.  There are a few exceptions (some customers say they bring their tropical hibiscus, lantana and geraniums inside to winter over in their garage or basement).  Generally it’s best to start over next season with fresh annuals.

If perennials were used in your containers, get them in the ground while the soil is still warm.  Assume the winter will be severe enough to kill them if left in pots.

Be sure to clean out your containers.  If they are ceramic or clay you will need to bring them inside to assure they won’t crack.

Ornamental Grasses

They are tough and do not require care at this time of the year.  It’s best to cut them back next spring when new growth appears.  Enjoy the movement and texture they bring to your landscape during the long winter.

Water

We’re still below the average rainfall for the year, so it’s a good idea to give your evergreens, shrubs and perennials one last big drink before a hard frost.

Mulch

If you like mulch around trees in your yard check to be sure the mulch isn’t piled up next to the trunk of the tree.  This will help keep voles, mice and other creatures from making a cozy home.

Garden Beds

After a killing frost remove all damaged, diseased or frozen plants.  This will help avoid potential problems during the next growing season.

Roses

Hybrid Tea, Grandaflora and Floribunda roses need protection from the cold and strong winter winds.  After a killing frost and before the ground freezes, remove all debris on the ground around each plant.  Tall canes can be cut back 30-36 inches and tied together to prevent wind damage.  Apply a 15-18 inch mound of mulch around each rose.

Fountains

Drain fountains completely and either bring them inside (smaller ones) or cover them completely with plastic.  You may want to tie the plastic at the base to keep it in place.   It’s important to avoid water from collecting, which will freeze and crack the concrete.

Garden Mum Care

To keep your garden mums looking their best pinch off blossoms as they turn brown. To over-winter, add a thin layer of mulch or leaves. Next Spring cut off dead stems as new growth appears and keep plants pinched low to avoid early blooms and splitting. After mid July, all them to grow for beautiful FALL blooms.

Pansies – Cool Season Bloomers

Pansies are cheerful flowers that grow best in cool weather. They are one of the most loved annuals, with jubilant faces in a rainbow of colors that are among the first blooms that welcome spring!

Often customers ask what is the difference in pansies, violas and Johnny-jump-ups? They’re all in the same plant “family” but each has individual traits.

Pansies are the largest in this family, both in leaf size and flower size. They are great companions to early spring bulbs, such as daffodils and tulips. They also mingle well with ivy when planted in pots. Their smiling “faces” are a true delight at a time when other flowers cannot survive outside.

Violas are often called mini-pansies because they look so much like pansies, only on a smaller scale. Leaves, stems and flowers are all smaller. The smaller size of viola blooms reminds many of violets – perhaps that is where their name came from!

The smallest of the family: Johnny-jump-ups is also known as Good King Henry. They often reseed, and end up in surprising places - between stones, in gravel or between cracks of a driveway! Their colors range from white, lemon yellow to violet blue.

Growing Spring Pansies

Deciding which pansies to grow is hard! With well over 100 varieties to choose from growers have to pick out ones that they feel will grow the best in their particular climate, and will offer their customers the traits and colors they want. One of our seed suppliers offered 11 new pansy colors for this spring! The palette continues to grow with awesome new colors each season.

Seeds for our pansy crop were planted last October (about the time you were here to learn about pumpkins). Right after Christmas, they were transplanted (taken out of the seed trays) and put into the containers they are in now.

We place all of our pansies in greenhouses on benches that can be rolled outside. Beginning in mid January, each day that the temperature is above freezing (32 degrees F) we roll the benches outside so the pansies can get used to cooler temperatures. Then we roll them back inside the greenhouse during the night so they do not freeze after the sun goes down.

In mid February, if the weather is not too cold, we will leave the benches full of pansies outside all night to get them used to a light frost. They stay outside, unless it will be below 20 degrees F. By mid March, the pansies are used to cold weather, so we take them off the rolling benches, place them on the ground where they will grow until they are ready to be shipped to this greenhouse.

When leaving pansies outside during the night, one of the biggest problems we have faced is deer eating the pansy flowers. When deer see and smell pansies, they love to eat them, because there are not many other “leafy” things around for them to eat. We have to be very careful how we handle this problem.

The pansies we have here are “hardened off” and can be planted now, even if it snows, or if it gets cold. If you were to compare these pansies with others that are in some of the stores now, the other ones may have bigger leaves and flowers. It is unlikely that those pansies have been introduced to cold temperatures, and probably will not hold up as well if the weather turns cold.

How to Select Spring Pansies for Planting

Look for pansies that are used to cold weather, or hardened off.
Decide what colors you like – you have many choices!
Look at the roots. Are they well formed? Do they look strong?
Avoid leggy looking plants. They have stretched from being in a greenhouse too long.

When planting pansies, if they are going in pots or other containers, be sure to use potting soil. When planting them in the ground, make sure to dig in some organic material such as peat moss. Pansies will grow best in well-drained soil.

Because pansies are low growing plants, they make great borders and edging that delivers brilliant color. They’re also a great choice for pots and window boxes, and are delightful for cut flower bouquets!

If they just liked hot weather, they could possibly be the perfect plant to perk up any garden!!!

Check back soon for more helpful tips from For the Garden!