low-maintenance

Spring is that iffy time of year … warm days and garden center plant displays make you want to get outside and start gardening right away. But is it too early to sow seeds or plant/transplant seedlings or starter plants outdoors? Too late? Well, in the interest of low-maintenance, easy-care gardening – even now in the planning and planting stage – here's a zone map and planting guides from Burpee that can help:  

(Just in case you can't see the color key on this map too well, grey means a last frost/outdoor planting date of June 15; purple June 5; green May 25; yellow May 15; red April 26; beige April 3; orange March 3 and peach February 25.)

Unless you live in the colder areas with a last frost/outdoor planting date of June 5 or later, it might be too late to start seeds for the flowers and vegetables listed above (broccoli, eggplant, pepper, swiss chard, tomato, coleus, geranium, impatiens, salvia and snapdragon). That's because the general rule of thumb is that seeds sown indoors should be started about eight weeks before the last frost date in their area. Otherwise, they won't be ready in time. It's probably a safer bet, if you want to grow these veggies, to buy starter plants at the garden center. On the other hand, I hate rules – and in the garden, they can – and will – be broken.

If it's not already past your area's last frost date (see map), you can go ahead and direct-sow these seeds into the ground outside. If you live in a warm area, however, you can still grow these veggies in a cold frame protected by a shading material like burlap.

After your area's last frost date (see map above), transplant into the ground outside the following seedlings (grown indoors or bought from the garden center): bean, cantaloupe, cucumber, eggplant, pepper, squash, tomato, watermelon. Seedlings grown by you indoors, by the way, first need a week or two to "harden off." Not sure how to do this? Check out this great post on how to harden off plants by About.com's Gardening Guide, Marie Iannotti.

Hope this helps! For planting and weather information that's more specific to your area, it's also a good idea to contact your local agriculture or horticulture extension office. See you here next time on Your Easy Garden by Tesselaar!

When I’m choosing plants for my garden, I don’t have a lot of time or money to waste. That’s why every year, I check out the All-America Selections winners – flowers and vegetables that have been tested by a network of independent judges and proven themselves as easy-care plants offering superior performance.

And this year I’m especially excited, because for the first time, winning plants will be available the same year they receive the award. That means the following 2010 winners will be available as plants and/or seeds this spring.

Here’s a roundup of this year’s winners, perfect for low-maintenance or easy-care gardening. For more information on a particular plant, click on its name below or visit www.all-americaselections.org.

Gaillardia F1 ‘Mesa Yellow’ (upper right)

The first hybrid blanket flower with a neat, mounded habit and prolific flowering. Daisy-like, 3-inch flowers and globe shaped seed heads offer summer-long, superior presentation of color. Blooms appear two to three weeks earlier than competitors, attract butterflies and are great for cutting. Ideal for small-space gardens and containers. When placed near the inside edge of a container, it will cascade down the container. Relatively maintenance-free and wind- and rain-resistant. Recovers quickly in severe weather.

Marigold F1 Hybrid African ‘Moonsong Deep Orange’  

Intense, deep-orange, fade-resistant flower color that   makes other marigolds look more golden than orange. Long-lasting,  2½- to 3½ inch, fully double blooms “rank among the best of the class.” Easy to grow in a 5- to 6- inch pot and highly heat- and drought-tolerant. Erect plants grow 12-15 inches tall. Foliage covers old blooms, keeping the plants looking fresh.

Snapdragon F1 ‘Twinny Peach’

This double or butterfly-form snapdragon is unique because of its blend of soft peaches, yellows and light oranges, and because it doesn’t have the jaws or joints to “snap.”  Abundant flower spikes for cutting. Flowers all season long with little garden care.  Easy to grow and extremely heat-tolerant.

Viola F1 ‘Endurio Sky Blue Martien’  

This unique spreading/mounding viola looks delicate, but is tough as nails. In warmer climates, it flowers throughout the winter, laughing off wind, rain, cold and passing snowfalls. In colder climates, it offers two-season color – flowering well after first frost when planted in fall and again in spring after snow has melted and soil has warmed. It can also be planted in early spring. Ideal for window boxes and hanging gardens as well as balcony and patio planters.

Zahara Zinnias (‘Starlight Rose’ at right)

Crosses between zinnia species has resulted in this disease-resistant and heat- and drought-tolerant line of zinnias offering reliable, season-long performance. ‘Double Zahara Cherry’ and ‘Double Zahara Fire’ are both double flowering. ‘Zahara Starlight Rose’ (available as plants or seeds) is a new rose and white bicolor.

Pepper ‘Cajun Belle’

There’s Cajun flavor –- sweet and savory — in this small bell pepper (1 oz., 2-by 3-inches). Compact plants are early to mature, show no disease problems and at 2-feet tall and wide, perfect for containers.

Watermelon F1 Hybrid ‘Shiny Boy’

This red-fleshed, 20 lb., globe-shaped melon won a taste test against comparisons with its sweet tropical flavor and crisp texture. Earlier than other varieties, it’s also healthy and tolerant of severe weather. It can be grown vertically in small spaces and produces high yields.

Echinacea purpurea ‘Pow Wow Wild Berry’

Differs from all purple coneflowers for flower color, branching and plant size. Deep rose-purple, 3- to 4-inch flowers that keep their color longer. First-year-flowering perennial is basal branching, which means more flowers. Grows 20 to 24 inches high. Thrives with few insect or disease problems.

So as I mentioned in my previous post (on vegetable container gardening), I just moved to a new home with a completely blank slate in the back for gardening.

And seeing how it’s still winter here in western New York (and probably will continue to be for what feels like about six more months), I’m grabbing some of my 2 ½-year-old daughter’s paper and crayons, and remembering the best gardening (and landscaping) advice I ever got:

Start with raised beds, and be sure to use conifers (cone-bearing plants, mostly evergreens). The raised beds give you good “garden bones” and the conifers provide fantastic foliage and year-round texture, color and shape.

Of course, this advice came from conifer enthusiast, master gardener and former neighbor Jerry Kral, who has turned his Rochester, NY property into a terraced conifer dreamland featured in Better Homes & Gardens (see image at right, from the Genesee Valley Rocks! gardening blog at www.gvnargs.blogspot.com).

Building your raised bed

Before you stick any plants in the ground, Jerry taught me, the idea is to create a frame for your “art.” 

First, determine the shape of your bed (a natural, organic form looks best – try something like a kidney bean). You may want to spraypaint the border on the grass and then run a course of bricks or stone (about $200 a pallet) on top of them. For the lovely terraced look you see (above) in Jerry's garden, you can feel free to go a few courses higher.

Next, plan on filling in that border with dirt (sorry, gardeners – “soil”) about 3 to 4 feet high and 4 to 6 feet wide (landscapers can provide the fill dirt for about $30 a cubic yard). If you plan to use dwarf or miniature conifers, (an especially good idea if you want low-maintenance or easy-care gardening), maybe go a bit smaller. Or, if you're putting in plants that are going to expand a lot as they grow, go a bit larger.

Next, just wheelbarrow the dirt from the delivered pile (usually on a tarp in your driveway) to your raised bed, and just shovel it right onto the grass within that border. No need to kill or dig out the turf below.

Designing your raised bed

Try to start with taller trees for a high leaf canopy. Add bushes and shrubs for a midlevel canopy. Then, fill in the bottom part with groundcovers and lower-growing perennials, bulbs, annuals, ornamental grasses, gnomes, flamingos - whatever it is that floats your boat.

Then, consider putting a tall, dark plant (like juniperus scopulorum 'Skyrocket') in the center or back and two weeping conifers (like Golden Cedar) on each outer edge. Fill in the space between with round- or bun-shaped conifers (like chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Green Globe') and a few tall, skinny ones (I'm a big fan of 'Sky Pencil' holly). Arrange smaller plants at the front, from shortest on the outside to tallest in the center.

Then, add a big rock. Or three. Or five. Odd numbers are better. If you're using three, get one small, one medium and one large. For a more natural effect, try to find stones that are native to your area.

For a high-impact look, try contrasting colors. Blue-green and yellow-variegated conifers go great together. So do dark green varieties with those variegated white.

Also contrast textures — stiff, sharp needles of spruce or pine, for instance, with the cup-shaped, ferny Hinoki cypress or the stringlike chamaecyparis pisifera.

Next, mix it up for a more natural look. In nature, notes Jerry, you won’t find straight lines or a mass of just one kind of shape, color, texture or kind of plant. So mix in some deciduous trees and shrubs as well as herbaceous perennials, annuals, bulbs, ground covers and ornamental grasses.

I’ll get more into planting when spring gets here. But now’s my time for dreaming, and I’m checking out mail-order sites such as Arrowhead Alpines and Greer Gardens and garden blogs such as The Amazing World of Conifers, The Garden Years, A Way to Garden and Daniel Mount Gardens. You can also find images of conifers and cultural information at the American Conifer Society Web site.

Are you a conifer lover? Let me know some varieties and plant compositions that have worked for you! And please feel free to post some pics!