In Northern United States and Canada

Now is the time to check out seed catalogs and online along with placing orders. Early in the month sow seeds of Clarkia, Godedia, Larkspur, Stocks and other annuals for Spring bloom in the greenhouse. Toward the end of January sow in the greenhouse Wax Begonias, Lobelias, Vinca roses, Delphiniums and Pansies for Summer bloom outdoors…

Remove pots of bulbs, such as Hyacinths, Daffodils and Tulips, that are to be forced for early bloom, a few at a time, from the cool basement or sand bed outdoors where they have been rooting, and bring them into the greenhouse or house. Shade them for the first few days and give them lots of water at all times. Keep them cool at first; increase the temperature gradually.

As soon as dormant potted Amaryllis bulbs show signs of life, remove a little of the old surface soil, replace with rich new soil, water thoroughly and place the pots in a warm, light location in the greenhouse or house. Pot new Amaryllis bulbs in well-drained pots of fertile sandy soil.

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Landscape lighting is a design trend that has recently gained popularity. One explanation for this popularity is that landscape lighting has the ability to increases your property’s value, by preventing nighttime theft and vandalism. Another is that using lighting at night, you can create an outdoor landscape for safe evening entertainment and you are able to extend the use and beauty of your gardens into the post sun down hours. During hot summer nights, it is a great joy to be able to escape the heat of the house and relax in your well lit garden or outdoor entertainment area.

It is without doubt that landscaping increases your homes value. Many homeowners are willing to pay professionals thousands of dollars to haul in rocks and create dramatic garden features but often overlook the power of light. Light has asmost magical properties in an outdoor setting at night. Lighting gives you the ability to highlight the best features of your gardens, flowerbeds and other landscape features at all hours, allowing you the best return on your significant investment.

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People plant vegetables gardens in their back yards for two reasons, either because they feel an urge to till the soil and produce food for themselves and their families or because they have discovered that only by raising their own vegetables can they enjoy superlative flavor, succulence, nutritive value and healthfulness.

Undoubtedly vegetable gardens are occasionally started because the racks of colorful seed packets displayed in all sorts of stores every spring arouse a temporary enthusiasm to “dig and delve,” but such gardens usually deteriorate rapidly as soon as the weather becomes hot enough to spoil the fun. In the rare cases when such gardens are faithfully cultivated throughout the season, it becomes obvious that they were actually planted for the first reason mentioned.

Unless you really want to eat better vegetables than you can ordinarily buy, there is not much sense in saddling yourself with a back yard vegetable garden. There are easier ways to obtain outdoor exercise or to satisfy an urge to growing plants in containers or in a garden.

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Selecting Stock Plants - September is a good time to begin making cuttings for starting next year’s plants. Lantana cuttings should be made from seasoned wood before any lush growth occurs after the fall rains. If the cutting wood is soft, the cuttings will rot or blast instead of developing roots. The colorful Jacob’s coat (Alternanthera) can be kept as cuttings over winter as can other types of herbaceous plants such as hibiscus, geraniums, coleus, ice plant, sultana and wandering Jew. By September, these plants are conditioned properly for taking of cuttings.

Roses - The cool nights of September will stimulate new growth for a lush crop of bloom during early October. This means the last application of fertilizer should be made this month. Light liquid feedings will be very beneficial, or you may use your own pet brand of commercial fertilizer or rose food. Cottonseed meal is a wonderful food and should be used at the rate of one-half teacupful per plant and worked in lightly around each plant. Heavy watering should follow so that the rose plant may absorb the food. Throughout our section, the quality of fall roses often surpasses that of spring blooms, even though they are usually fewer in number. In watering, keep the water off the foliage and do not water after mid-afternoon in order that the plants can go into the night with surfaces dry. The usual disease and insect pests are prevalent during this fall season, so be on constant guard to protect these plants.

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If you’re a Northwesterner or a Northern Californian, put those dreaded memories of spring flood conditions behind you. Determine now to make this the year for a topnotch garden with bright flowers, finer shrubs and greener lawns.

Make this a year of changes. Dont be content with the same old flowers of yesteryear. Take a good look at the flower seed stands at your neighborhood seed store and select lots of those brightly colored packets.

One way to prevent your garden from looking just like every other garden in the block is to select some of the less familiar annuals.

The “big three” - petunias, marigolds and zinnias - may be planted heavily, but at the same time be adventurous and try plants such as the exotic bells of Ireland, linaria and nemesia (especially good for covering a bed where spring bulbs are planted), appealing dwarf dahlias, fast-growing cosmos for hedge effects, and mixed gourds for their wonderful harvest of curiously shaped fruits in the fall.

The cool weather annuals such as calendula, sweet alyssum, larkspur and nasturtium, can be sown in the open ground now. The seeds will germinate quickly if the ground is kept moist.

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There is still time to hunt around your garden, salvage the stray seedlings of hardy flowers and line them out in cold frames. I particularly look for those of Cardinal-flowers, the giant lobelia, for they seem to prefer to seed in my paths rather than the beds where I want them to grow. You may want to look for seedlings of delphiniums, gaillardia, coreopsis, or any other hardy flowers that self sow here and there around your garden. Put them in the cold frame under sash and you will get an amazing amount of growth on them before things freeze up this fall.

Start Woody Plants

It seems odd this fall not to be gathering seeds of trees and shrubs for propagation meetings during November. But you can do it for yourself. Whenever you see an interesting woody plant that has some fruits on it, gather a few seeds. Some time before Christmas you can plant these. I like the system of using small pots. Fill the pot with a mixture of about one-third sand and two-thirds soil to within half an inch of the top. Remove all the pulp from the seeds and plant a dozen or two seeds to a 4 inch or 6 in pot. Cover them with a quarter inch of soil. Label them. If you want to read them next spring use a pot label and write on it with a sharpie pen.

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The average homeowner today buys his house from a building contractor. The house is already placed on a rectangular lot and the contractor usually does the rough grading of the lot and perhaps sods the front.

If a few details can be considered before the house is begun, it will help to create a more pleasant property. The most important are the shape of the lot, the direction that the house faces on it, the grade relationship between the house and the street, and the location of trees, if any.

Choosing the Lot

A corner lot may be considered a position of importance, yet it leaves most of the property exposed to one street or the other with little opportunity for privacy. There is also more lawn to cut, for the benefit of the neighbors. The same applies to a lot that is wide in the front and narrower in the back. From a garden point of view, it is better to have a lot that is narrow in front and wider or irregular in shape in the rear.

Dividing the Property

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When weather conditions are favorable flower seeds can be sown outdoors. The topsoil should be raked level and all stones, clods, and roughage raked from the seed bed. Make sure that the topsoil is raked thoroughly so that it is quite fine and into- this sow the seeds in drills. Cover the seeds not more than three times their depth and firmly light. Water with a fine spray. Thin the young seedlings when large enough and cultivate. Those that are thinned out can be transplanted along the row or to some other part of the garden.

A few flowers due to the nature of their root system are not adapted” totransplanting, however, as a general use most kinds will transplant without difficulty.

For the purpose of simple classification Flowers are divided in three groups; Annuals, Perennials and Biennials.

Annuals flower the first season, ripen seed, then die. As a rule Perennials blossom the second year from seed and thereafter continue to live for an indefinite number of years. Biennials as a rule require two years to blossom. They are short lived after that time.

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Hardy Perennials

Unlike annuals, perennials are more or less permanent, flowering annually from the same plants, and do not require to be resown or replanted each season. Seedling perennials, as a general rule, are more vigorous than plants propagated by means of divisions, cutting, etc. They need a longer period of growth to come to maturity than do the annuals, and may be sown from early spring to early autumn, according to their various requirements.

A fairly rich and well prepared seed bed should be made in a sheltered and sunny position, and the seed sown thinly in drills, watering the drills before sowing if the soil is dry.

As a rule, no further watering is necessary, but should a dry spell set in when the plants are tiny like the dwarf banana, it is wise to water them as they need it. Keep free from weeds and pests, and when large enough to handle transplant them carefully to a bed. In October, or alternatively in early spring, according to the size of plants and weather and soil conditions, move them to their permanent quarters.

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When planting Peonies plant as soon as they are obtained, being careful to set the division so that the top of the buds will be from 1-1/2 to two inches below the final soil grade after the plants are watered and have finished settling. If planted too deep you will probably get pretty foliage with a few or no blooms, and if too shallow, the buds will be exposed and are likely to get broken off by Old Shep when he serves notice on a stray cat or rabbit.

You should expect blooms from three to five eye divisions the first season. Only seven of the 60 varieties I planted in my garden a few years ago failed to bloom the first year. The plants made a splendid display of flowers the third season after planting.

Digging and dividing large, old peony clumps is no easy task, as most gardeners have learned. If the freshly-dug clump is left exposed to the air for a while, the roots will become less brittle and are more easily handled without breaking. The soil which is tightly held by the roots is best removed with a stream of water from the hose.

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