Help--Winter garden withdrawal
Barbara L Brown,NL104 SS ,551-3080,3
Help me. What do all of you avid gardeners do in the winter? All summer
long I was surrounded by flowers in my garden. Now I miss them. Do you
all have indoor houseplants (preferably flowering) that you use to tide
you through the winter? I especially need suggestions for flowering
plants (if they exist) that can tolerate very little light, as I have no
truly sunny windows in my house. Thanks.
Barbara Brown
bbr...@dekalb.dc. peachnet.edu
--
E-mail address: bbr...@dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu
Jeff Oien
wrote:
>Barbara Brown
>bbr...@dekalb.dc. peachnet.edu
>--
>E-mail address: bbr...@dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu
I grow seeds and stem cutting in the basement during the winter.
Maybe you could set up one or two flourescent light fixtures
and at least watch the impatiens or African Violet or whatever
bloom during the winter.
--
Jeff Oien, WebDesigns
http://www.execpc.com/~jeffo/webdes/
je...@execpc.com
marvin...@cornucopia.digital.net
Forget indoor flowers unless your are willing to install some florescent
lights.
Joseph Robinson
>
> Help me. What do all of you avid gardeners do in the winter?
Savor my '96 seed catalogs.
Scrub down my starting area.
Look at the long-frozen morning glory vines threaded through the cyclone
fence and wish I'd made time to pull them before it got too cold to work.
Daydream.
Wait for my daffs.
Fpflowers
all
year round and are easy to care for. I also grow orchids under a 400 watt
metal halide lamp. Many of these bloom in the fall and winter thru
spring.
It gets me through the bleakest of winters! Also, there is a book put out
by Rodale called 365 Days of Gardening, that goes through each day of the
year, things you can do to prepare your garden, tools, planning and garden
related things that can stir your mind into doing something garden related
each day has an entry, all year round. Plus, I keep a journal and plan
for next year's garden.
fpflowers
Matt Kendrick/R. Ziesk
other bulb i want to try, blooming indoors in winter for me. It gives
you something to tend and watch over, and in the middle of jan/feb
things start to bloom for you! That helps! I also order seeds early and
start them indoors. You get a good jump to get your seedlings big enough
for outside, and it again, lets you grow and tend something.
I also look through catalogs and deceide what new plants i'll look for
at the gardening centers around here in spring. Sometimes i make a map
of my garden, and write down where i have what plants, thats also a good
way of knowing and remembering what you have.
Theres always something to grow!
RZ
Dave Kliman
>Help me. What do all of you avid gardeners do in the winter? All summer
>long I was surrounded by flowers in my garden. Now I miss them. Do you
>all have indoor houseplants (preferably flowering) that you use to tide
>you through the winter? I especially need suggestions for flowering
>plants (if they exist) that can tolerate very little light, as I have no
>truly sunny windows in my house. Thanks.
>
>Barbara Brown
>bbr...@dekalb.dc. peachnet.edu
>
>--
>E-mail address: bbr...@dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu
I'm to into gardening to let winter stop me!
This is the time of the year that I look around for interesting plants in
other people's gardens that I might like for myself...
I just came accross a southern magnolia, which is evergreen, with very
shiny leaves (top is shiny green with yellow veins, bottom is
reddish/brown and furry)... I thought it was so interesting, that I asked
the owner if I could take some cuttings for propogation...
Just today, I grafted the cuttings to rootstock I got from a normal
magnolia we have in the yard already.
As a matter of a fact, this is the right time of the year to make hardwood
cuttings from trees and many shrubs...
I've been adding plants with winter interest to my yard... like winter
blooming pansies... they are now in bloom in my front yard, and really do
seem a little out of place, as everything else is now going dormant... I
also now have some varieties of bamboo, which is evergreen... it comes in
so many colors, that I think it would really add to your garden if you
plant it responsibly. I made cuttings of Cornus last summer, and planted
it out last month... now the leaves have fallen off, and the stems look
cool.. (they are either bright green, yellow, red, or grey--depending on
variety)
It won't be too long (just 60-90 days, really) before it's time to plant
some summer annuals in the greenhouse.... I can't wait!
-Dave
--
dkl...@pb.net |He who gives up liberty for security ends up with niether.
Dave Kliman |Long Island/Zone 7| --Ben Franklin
Laura James
perennials rest, so do I. You can't really dream if you don't get a
chance to sleep! If I'm not focusing on other interests, I spend
time reading about other people's gardens. I particularly enjoy the
garden essayists in winter, and try to keep away from the more practical
books except when the catalogs begin to drift in and I begin to plan
changes and additions. I love to walk the yard after a fresh snow, note
the animal tracks, watch the birds (and squirrels!) at the feeders, and
note possible improvements for next season.
<snip>
: In article <4a4d4l$7...@dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu>, bbr...@dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu (Barbara L Brown,NL104 SS ,551-3080,3) writes:
: |>
: |> Help me. What do all of you avid gardeners do in the winter? All summer
Jon LaBadie
In article <4a4d4l$7...@dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu>, bbr...@dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu (Barbara L Brown,NL104 SS ,551-3080,3) writes:
|>
|> Help me. What do all of you avid gardeners do in the winter? All summer
|> long I was surrounded by flowers in my garden. Now I miss them. Do you
|> you through the winter? I especially need suggestions for flowering
|> plants (if they exist) that can tolerate very little light, as I have no
|> truly sunny windows in my house. Thanks.
Gundi, my spouse is actually the gardener. However I can describe
what she does.
Lots of "house plants" are moved outdoors in the summer and back
indoors in the fall. Many of these continue to bloom or only bloom
in the winter.
Unlike Barbara we do have a great 40 foot, south facing wall of
glass. But still some areas and plants are supplemented with
"gro-lights"
Currently our Xmas cactii are in declining stages of bloom. They
should be called Halloween or Thanksgiving cactii. A camellia
is bloomin and 3 hibiscus too.
This year we have a greenhouse (put up last winter) and several
plants that would have been in our home are down there and some
are blooming.
In our "electric greenhouse" (an enclosed overhang with lots of
flourescent lights) Gundi is growing lettuce to serve at Xmas
dinner. There are also cuttings of geraniums (sp?) for next
summer, some trying to bloom.
But for the most part, what Gundi is doing is preparation for
next year. Cleaning pots and trays. Cleaning out perennial
beds. Covering bushes with burlap to protect them from the
deer.
This year, being colder earlier, we can not expect any more
produce from the veggie garden. Two of the last three years
we had fresh produce on Xmas. But spinach, lettuce, ... are
in and will be harvested early in the spring. Can't wait!!
What do avid gardeners do in the winter?
They garden and plan their gardens!
There is no "down season".
jon
--
Jon H. LaBadie j...@jgcomp.com
JG Computing j...@jgcomp.jvnc.net
4455 Province Line Road (609) 252-0159
Princeton, NJ 08540-4322 (609) 683-7220 (fax)
Slc.dennis Bishop
here in Waianae,Hi. everything grows all year round!
J. Zerbe
>Help me. What do all of you avid gardeners do in the winter?
As for me, I go to a local home/hardware store once or twice
a week that has a greenhouse showroom for houseplants. I
usually buy a couple smaller ones. I have one room upstairs
painted a semi-gloss green where the sun (when there is
some) comes in that I put the plants in. If I blur my vision or
face away from the windows. I can even pretend that it is summer
and that all is not dead or dormant outside! If I get real small
plants, they are cheaper than candy.
Beyond that, I play with the Flowerscape program.
(I started doing this when I was in shock from coming home
to Colorado after being in southern California visiting my
parents and my daughter for several months... I didn't even
get to see fall this year -- just landed from "summer" right
into Winter,)
Julie
Matt Kendrick/R. Ziesk
>Help me. What do all of you avid gardeners do in the winter? All summer
>long I was surrounded by flowers in my garden. Now I miss them. Do you
>all have indoor houseplants (preferably flowering) that you use to tide
>you through the winter? I especially need suggestions for flowering
>plants (if they exist) that can tolerate very little light, as I have no
>truly sunny windows in my house. Thanks.
>
>bbr...@dekalb.dc. peachnet.edu
Barbara,
I too, have very little light in my house. But i do,very successfully, grow house plants. I have spider plants and really nice large=
geraniums. These guys don't need enourmous ammounts of light, and they bloom for me all year long! I also force bulbs in the winter=
It's easy. Especially hyacinths and daffodils. Get some bulbs and put them in the refriderator for 6 weeks or so. Then i plants th=
em (you can plant a bunch of bulbs in one pot, putting the larger ones on the bottom and smaller bulbs near the top. You can put in =
as many as will fit without touching each other.
After they're planted i put them in a cool dark place until the leaves start to come up. Then bring them out to a window, and they w=
ill grow and bloom for you! It's wonderful to have something to watch and tend, that will bloom for you in winter. It's also wonderf=
ul to have a fragrant hyacinth blooming in jan/feb!!
Another activity you might try. Spring catalogs will start comming any day now. Look through them, think about what you'd like to gr=
ow next year. I always get seeds early so i can plant them inside, and watch them come up and start growing. Makes me feel better to=
see small growing things in the dead of winter, and it gives me a jump on putting out decent sized seedlings in spring. Also, there=
is nothing like looking at a blooming plant in your garden, and thinking, i grew that from seed!!! I tend to hold those plants very=
dearly!
Hope this helps. I know how you feel, i need to have those growing blooming things around me or i get depressed!
Rachel
John Woodworth
>long I was surrounded by flowers in my garden. Now I miss them. Do you
>all have indoor houseplants (preferably flowering) that you use to tide
>you through the winter? I especially need suggestions for flowering
>plants (if they exist) that can tolerate very little light, as I have no
>truly sunny windows in my house. Thanks.
In Minnesota we make an effort to enjoy winter, though it's difficult on
days like today (high of 0F with windchill of -50F). I miss digging,
pinching back, planting and just touching things. But I use winter to:
1. Enjoy my winter landscape. I've planted my back yard so it's as
interesting in winter as it is in summer. Right now my spruce are heavy
with snow, the dogwood twigs are a brilliant red and the snow devils are
playing in the drifts. It's a fine few with a cup of coffee in your hand
(or cognac) and a fire going (as it is right now).
2. Enjoy the winter catalogs. And plan, plan, plan.
3. Enjoy other yards, especially Nature's. I learned cross-country
skiing last year. I plan to ski through our state and national parks and
enjoy watching Winter's subtle beauty. Snowshoeing is fun too and it
give one the chance to get off the trail.
4. Read rec.gardens and fantasizie about english/BC/NC/Australian
gardens.
5. Tend wildlife. I have a pair of cardinals and troops of chickadees
who visit my feeders all day long.
Ooops, the snifter is empty. Got to refill.
Opinions expressed herein are my own and may not represent those of 3M.
Janet Wintermute
[big snip]
>I just came accross a southern magnolia, which is evergreen, with very
>shiny leaves (top is shiny green with yellow veins, bottom is
>reddish/brown and furry)... I thought it was so interesting, that I asked
>the owner if I could take some cuttings for propogation...
>Just today, I grafted the cuttings to rootstock I got from a normal
>magnolia we have in the yard already.
Hi, Dave. I think I understand the mechanics of doing a graft like
you describe with the special magnolia. But how do you go about
getting the "rootstock" from the currently growing magnolia in the
yard? In the case of grafting roses, I just always imagined the
grafter would whack off most of the mother (root) plant's top
structure, graft the scion onto the stub, let the thing grow a while
to make sure the graft took, and then dig up the whole shooting match
to move it to its final home. In effect, this procedure destroys the
mother plant. But here, doing the comparable thing would mean you
have destroyed your current magnolia in orer to graft the newbie onto
it. You didn't do that, did you???
--Janet
mgr
>
>Help me. What do all of you avid gardeners do in the winter? All summer
>long I was surrounded by flowers in my garden. Now I miss them. Do you
>all have indoor houseplants (preferably flowering) that you use to tide
>you through the winter? I especially need suggestions for flowering
>plants (if they exist) that can tolerate very little light, as I have no
>truly sunny windows in my house. Thanks.
>
Got the same problem, but I'm signed up for a horticulture course all winter to tide me over.
At least we can dream about the spring.
Twichell Family
(except when it is really icy like today) and make a point of observing
the small changes and the subtle colors of winter. There really is an
astonishing range of browns, grays and even some greens (lichens are
very pretty) this time of year. I like seeing how the ice is
progressing on the ponds and what weather is blowing in. One reason I
enjoy New England is because of the seasonal changes so I have been
making an effort to appreciate the season I've got instead of
impatiently waiting for the next one. When I was a kid I remember that
seasons seemed to last forever - Christmas would never seem to come and
summer was almost eternal. Now they come faster and faster. Kristi
dr deb
give my garden that slightly out-of-focus look that it needs to blend
those hard edges, and turn those weeds into foliage.
The Armchair Gardener:
http://www.fsu.edu:80/~dansley/
Barry Fowler
In Ca, I planted winger vegetables (lettuce, broccolo, cabbage, onions,
brussels sprouts). Yesterday, I tilled in some mulch in one of my
raised beds and am drying my habeneros in the oven. Planting
color plants and watching the bulbs some up but it's so damned dark
all of the time that I only see the flowers on the weekends.
When I used to live in Colorado, there was no winter gardening as there
is here.
Kate Hunter
> Barbara L Brown,NL104 SS ,551-3080,3 wrote:
> >
> > Help me. What do all of you avid gardeners do in the winter?
>
> Scrub down my starting area.
> Look at the long-frozen morning glory vines threaded through the cyclone
> fence and wish I'd made time to pull them before it got too cold to work.
> Daydream.
> Wait for my daffs.
I found that I was in dire need of some kind of list of what plants I have and
where I planted them and how they were doing, so I spent a little time last winter
creating a very simple data base with plant name, date obtained, source, location
in the garden, comment on culture. I found that when I was placing orders in
February it was invaluable for keeping me from 1) ordering something I already
have 2) ordering something again which had died a horrible death two years ago.
I also use it to find things Ive "lost" out there in the garden. I can sort in
on any of the fields and then print out copies to keep around during the gorwing
season to track plants, make notes on what to move in Fall etc.
Also - find out what your library has for garden reading - especially look for
two books by Henry Mitchell - One Man's Garden & the Essential Earthman.
Keep warm!
|\ _,,,~~~,,_
/, .-'`' -. ;-;;,_
|,4- ) )-,_. ,\ ( `'-'
'-~~''(_/--' `-'\_)
Kate Hunter
Gardening in East Central Illinois
Zone 5b
Scott M. Petty
> >
> >Help me. What do all of you avid gardeners do in the winter? All summer
> >long I was surrounded by flowers in my garden. Now I miss them. Do you
> >all have indoor houseplants (preferably flowering) that you use to tide
> >you through the winter? I especially need suggestions for flowering
> >plants (if they exist) that can tolerate very little light, as I have no
> >truly sunny windows in my house. Thanks.
>
> days like today (high of 0F with windchill of -50F). I miss digging,
> pinching back, planting and just touching things. But I use winter to:
>
> 1. Enjoy my winter landscape. I've planted my back yard so it's as
> interesting in winter as it is in summer. Right now my spruce are heavy
> with snow, the dogwood twigs are a brilliant red and the snow devils are
> playing in the drifts. It's a fine few with a cup of coffee in your hand
> (or cognac) and a fire going (as it is right now).
>
> 2. Enjoy the winter catalogs. And plan, plan, plan.
>
> 3. Enjoy other yards, especially Nature's. I learned cross-country
> skiing last year. I plan to ski through our state and national parks and
> enjoy watching Winter's subtle beauty. Snowshoeing is fun too and it
> give one the chance to get off the trail.
>
> 4. Read rec.gardens and fantasizie about english/BC/NC/Australian
> gardens.
>
> 5. Tend wildlife. I have a pair of cardinals and troops of chickadees
> who visit my feeders all day long.
>
> Ooops, the snifter is empty. Got to refill.
>
> Opinions expressed herein are my own and may not represent those of 3M.
Beautifully said...
Scott
--
Scott M. Petty
spe...@roanoke.infi.net
.
ktco...@bslnet.com
activities
--
Katie Baird Prescott, AZ.
"This writing business...pencils and whatnot...overrated if you ask me"
-- Winnie-the-Pooh
Rhea Worrell
>In article <4a4d4l$7...@dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu>,
>bbr...@dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu (Barbara L Brown,NL104 SS ,551-3080,3)
>wrote:
>>Help me. What do all of you avid gardeners do in the winter?
>> I have no truly sunny windows in my house. Thanks.
>>
>>Barbara Brown
Dear Barbara:
Unlike Dave, I can't look outside & see anything growing in
the winter. from Nov to March or April, NOTHING IS GREEN
(this is zone 4). I have some strategies, however
1) Forcing bulbs: Quite easy & its amazing how many bulbs
can be forced successfully. Very rewarding.
2). Creating dried arrangements & potpourri using flowers
& foliage, berries & seed pods from my garden.
3) Catalogs, catalogues, catalogues
4) Bird feeding. Every year I put out more feeders & the
crowds of birds & squirrels increases.
5) WAnder aimlessly around garden shops & florists.....
Like you, I haven't enough light to do much in the way of
flowering houseplants. I have a couple of spiderplants &
ferns & that's about it. (In spite of all this, the winter
seems longer every year....)
CT
the window as the snow is falling and thinking about flowers, birds and
butterflies.