April 17, 2021 - Issue #509

Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better. -Albert Einstein.

ARTICLES TO READ

Planning for Lettuce from Spring to Fall

The first homegrown salad of the season is an eagerly awaited treat, made from tender lettuce picked fresh from the garden.

Weeds: Lambquarter

Lambsquarters (Chenopodium album) is a fast-growing summer annual.

Your Guide to Salvias

Salvias are a large group of garden plants that includes annuals, biennials, perennials, and shrubs. The perennial salvias are mainstays of the midsummer garden border. Another common name is sage.

Growing Bleeding Heart (Dicentra)

Bleeding heart has attractive mounded foliage with arching stems of delicate, heart-shaped flowers in spring. It thrives in moist woodland gardens along with ferns and other shade-lovers.

Care Guide: Irises

Irises are grown throughout the world. Perhaps the most commonly recognized is the bearded iris with thousands of registered cultivars. But there are many other types of irises, too, as you will see in this database

Care and Harvest of Strawberries

You won't be idle until your first harvest. You must not let the new plants set berries in their first year. They will try to fruit, but you must pick off the blossoms as they appear. This way, instead of fruiting, the mother plants will produce vigorous daughters that will yield well the following year.

Growing Basil

Featured in cuisines across the globe, basil is an indispensable flavoring. Plant seeds or transplants after all danger of frost has passed and soil is warm, and it will yield an abundant harvest within weeks.

FAMOUS CHARACTERS IN YOUR ROSE GARDEN

By Carole McCray

Are you a lover of roses who also enjoys English literature, classical music and people of the theater? You might consider a garden full of roses named for the likes of the famed flutist James Galway, the renowned English gardener Gertrude Jekyll and the amazing Barbara Streisand, just to name a few.

David Austin, an English rosarian, began breeding roses as a hobby. It slowly evolved into a global business where today lovers of roses can purchase roses named by Austin that relate to characters in English literature, actors and actresses, musicians and well-known historic spots in England. The choices are many since Austin named close to 250 roses each with a distinct title.

Emily Bronte - With soft blooms of pink and tinges of apricot, Bronte is a shrub rose that honors one of England's beloved authors.

James Galway - This is a wonderful climbing rose with mid pink flowers named for the Irish flutist.

Gertrude Jekyll - The famed garden designer's climbing rose, often described as the quintessential rose fragrance known as the Old Rose scent, has bright pink blooms.

Monet - A hybrid shrub rose with a display of stripes and patches of yellow and pink blooms is ideal for fans of Claude Monet.

Mozart - One of David Austin's most popular roses, Amadeus lovers will be delighted with this hedge rose, especially those who love to make rose hip jam from this rose that grows to nearly six feet.

Elizabeth Taylor - As its namesake, this rose is a gorgeous, long blooming hybrid tea rose in deep pink tones.

Winchester Cathedral - Continuous blooms of white with buffs of pink on a tree rose is named for one of Britain's most beautiful cathedrals.

The choices are many since David Austin who was a keen writer, poet and lover of the classics honored many people, places and things with his beautiful roses. There are roses with distinctive names to please the most discerning rose lover, even roses that celebrate Freddie Mercury and Paul McCartney.

About Carole McCray

Carole has been writing for nearly 20 years. A recipient of the Garden Writers Association Award for newspaper writing, her monthly syndicated column reached almost 1,000 newspapers across the US and Canada. We're delighted to have her join our newsletter with semi-regular articles for your enjoyment, inspiration and education.