Growing Concerns 716: Runaway plants, retirement garden, self-watering, tulips

This issue could really use a Sponsor!

In this issue:

When things we plant run amuck

The gardener's retirement plan, an easy care garden

Slow watering conserves resources, pampers plants

What happens to tulips cut back right after bloom

A sharp eye for odd growth reveals problems

Insuring new plants catch and hold adequate water

An alternative to annual planting marathons

(If a Search brought you here)

 

Grow716WickdPotS.jpg

A wick'd pot makes watering easy and conserves water

This excerpt from Slow
watering conserves
resources
in Growing
Concerns
716 will be
helpful to those who are
following our "leaky jugs"
and "self-watering" links.
As soon as we can
* we'll
convert the rest of this
issue and post it here.
You can make that
happen more quickly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*We have been able to convert this portion (above)
of an 8-page Growing Concerns issue into the format we can
post here. We'd love to bring the rest onto the site!  Eventually we will
post it, as we are posting all of our library here. Your Sponsorship
could make that happen for this or another issue sooner rather
than later. If our advice about aggressive spreading plants, designing
for the older gardener, tulips or problem solving have been of help
to you, consider Sponsoring this issue so others can read it, too.

 GearsSeekSponsor.jpg

Peruse the list of articles recommended by our Sponsors.

 

Did you arrive here by a search? Then your keyword is probably in this index for Growing Concerns 716 and you could find out more about it by reading this issue.

Index key words for this issue:

accessible flower beds
aggressive spreading perennial
airy mulch conserves water
amend with compost
anise
basal plate
borer, lilac borer
bronze fennel, Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum'
bulb life cycle
Canada anemone (Anemone canadensis)
Chinese lantern (Physalis alkekengi)
clump-forming, long lived perennials
containers with wicks, wick'd containers, self-watering pots
controlling perennials' spread
cool soil annuals
covered potting bench
creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens)
crowding annual plants
cut back tulips after bloom
design for older gardener
Detroit Zoo Adopt a Garden program
drought tolerant species
dwarf conifers and dwarf trees and focal points
dwarf knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum 'Compactum')
easy access compost
easy care retirement garden
false indigo (Baptisia australis)
gas pant (Dictamnus albus)
good groundcover
gooseneck (Lysimachia clethroides)
group plants by water needs
herbicide damage
hootenanny (Houttuynia 'Chameleon')
Hosta
hybrid daylily (Hemerocallis varieties)
irrigation system
Japanese butterbur (Petasites japonicus)
Japanese waxbell (Kirengeshoma palmata)
jug waterers
leaky jugs
lenten rose (Helleborus hybridus)
lilac (Syringa) curled distorted leaves
low care small shrubs with perennializing bulbs and 12" groundcover
mistaken for staff at garden center
Moroccan poppy (Papaver atlanticum)
naturalizes readily
odd growth includes distorted leaves, discolored stems
oriental poppy (Papaver orientale)

paths wide level paved
peony (Paeonia)
rainwater collectors
raised beds
root storage pit or cellar
rover bellflower, bell towers (Campanula rapunculoides)
runaway plants
saving desirable plants within aggressive spreading colony
shaded seating areas
spread by seed
spreads quickly
staggered annual planting
trial gardens to test new plants aggressiveness
tulip bulb formation
tulip development after bloom
vernal sweet pea (Lathyrus vernalis)
water connections
water immediately after planting
water saving techniques
watering ring for new plant
windbreaks conserve water

 

First published May 19, 2007