Friday, November 03, 2006
Winter advice from a born gardener
Libba Wolfe
Libba Wolfe's column appears twice monthly in Extra.
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WARNING: If you are a modern, new parent adamant about following child-rearing rules to the letter, this story could make you queasy.
My family was coming home from a vacation in Florida. Daddy always kept the speed right around 80 mph (unsafe speed). The car was foggy with his cigarette smoke (second-hand smoke). Mama rode shotgun with her arm across the back of the seat so she could pop Daddy on the shoulder when he started swearing at slow drivers (bad language). She was also in a ready position to swat (physical punishment) whomever she could reach in the backseat when things got rowdy. Little sister Mary always sat in the front (favoritism). My sister Lou and I claimed the back window seats. We each traveled with an arm out the window to continue working on our tans (no sunscreen). Every hour we'd scramble over our brother Clay (no seat belts) and tan the opposite arm. Poor Clay was always stuck in the middle and would get bopped if he even breathed "over the line" (more physical punishment).
We were flying up Highway 17 near Jacksonville, N.C., when Clay screamed "STOP!" and Daddy nearly fishtailed into a ditch.
We jumped out and Clay led us to a boggy patch of Venus Fly Traps. We dug up some for Clay's terrarium (digging rare, endangered plants in the wild) and sped home. How had an 8-year-old spotted the plants through the cloud of smoke and high-speed blur?
We had a natural plantsman in the family.
He's a master gardener now and has taught horticulture classes and garden workshops. He is my "go-to-guy" when I have garden questions. He knows the rules and is not afraid to break them when it comes to trying something new or finding an easier way.
I called him this week with some last-minute questions about saving plants through the winter months.
Annual geraniums were first on my list. He advised me to dig them up before our first hard freeze. Bang the roots against the ground to get off all the dirt. Hang them in the basement or garage -- anywhere that's cool but not freezing -- and forget about them.
By next spring they'll be dry, brittle and brown, and I'll be thinking I wasted my time. But when other gardeners are buying expensive pots of geraniums, I can put mine back in the border or containers, water and wait for them to green up and bloom.
Last spring I planted several varieties of scented geraniums. They are huge now and the foliage is gorgeous. Clay says I can dig them up, pot them, water them thoroughly and put them near my basement window. He says to let them get very, very dry before I water again. Late next spring I can pop them back into the ground. I'm going to try the same thing with my beautiful sky-blue annual plumbago.
The trick, Clay says, is to try this method with plants that would be considered perennials farther south. I need to simulate a dormant season for them. Cool, but not freezing temperatures. Some light but no need to have hours of bright light every day. Some water when they are completely dry. Too much light and water and they'll be struggling to grow. They need a rest before they get geared up next spring.
He was quick to add his usual disclaimer. "It might work, it might not. But if some of them make it through the winter, you're ahead of the game next April. What've you got to lose?"
It can't hurt to try. It's that or the compost pile as soon as they freeze.
Plants and children have a lot in common. The rules change but somehow they keep on growing.
Correction: While I was writing my last column, our new grandson was born and I'm afraid my mind was on babies instead of gardening. The fabulous composted topsoil that has produced miracles in my yard is from Rockydale Quarries in Roanoke.
