Joan Swenson: Late start for sweet peas no big deal, and please toss those poinsettias
| Monday, Dec 22 2008 09:01 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 01:49 PM
Even though I planted my sweet peas terribly late this fall — at the very end of October — they came up and are doing well, thanks to warm, sunny weeks in November. The recent rains have benefited the seedlings, too. My plants aren’t quite ready for their trellises, but if you planted promptly in September, your plants are probably eager for something to lean upon.
Sweet pea vines must have trellises. If you planted your sweet peas against a fence you have only to attach some bird netting, the fine black plastic stuff, to give the tendrils of the vines something to grip. Bird netting is not pretty, but by February it should be covered well with vines and you won’t see it any longer.
If you have no fence, you can put up a temporary support. I drive heavy metal fence stakes into the soil (how perfectly timed the rain has been to soften the soil) and run two parallel wires, top and bottom, between the stakes. I attach bird netting to the wires with twist-ties. By the time the vines go crazy with flowers and greenery, you wouldn’t know what’s underneath.
TOSS THE POINSETTIAS
Bah humbug, I say. It’s time to toss your poinsettias. Don’t hesitate, just drop the plant and its soil into your city green waste bin and don’t feel a smidgen of guilt about it. (Recycle the plastic pot — it shouldn’t go in the bin.) Once Christmas is past and a new year peeking around the corner, it’s time to look toward spring and put away the green-and-red decorations.
CAMELLIAS BLOOMING
You might call a camellia a wallflower in July, but from the fall to spring the camellia is a garden stand-out. Camellias produce pretty flowers in a variety of shapes in pure white, many shades of pink, red and stripes.
It’s a good time to shop for camellias while they are blooming; planting now, while the plants are actually dormant, is perfect. (If you have camellias that need to be relocated, this is also a good time to do the job.)
You have three types of camellias from which to choose — japonica, sasanqua and reticulata.
Probably the most popular is the japonica, a good-looking, sturdy plant that can grow to great heights and produces long-lasting flowers.
Sasanquas grow more slowly, have smaller leaves and softer flowers that fall more quickly than the japonica. One of my front-yard camellias has flowers that shatter when they are mature and leaves me with a pretty ground cover of snow-white petals tinged with pink.
I think camellia fanciers are most likely to appreciate the reticulata camellia with large flowers and a less vigorous-looking growth habit.
Some camellias can take the sun, but most prefer a protected spot in the garden, protected by taller trees and shrubs. The camellia, like the azalea, is a forest under-story plant. Eastern and northern locations are perfect. A camellia will appreciate 50 to 70 percent shade in the summer. Our house has some camellias that get southern sun, but a wooden shade cover offers protection.
Camellias should be planted so that the root ball is not any deeper in the soil than it was in the nursery container. Putting mulch on top of the soil and replacing it as needed will benefit the camellia. Fertilize two to three times during the year; March, June and September are fine. Keep fallen flowers picked up in order to avoid transmission of petal blight fungus, which causes brown spots to develop on flowers.
