California Plants

Daylilies are terrific, easy to grow perennials. They can be grown in all states in the US. The most important thing to find out about daylilies is to know if the plant is an evergreen, dormant, or semi evergreen. Evergreen daylilies keep their leaves all year, so they are ideal for California and southern states. Semi evergreen plants may work ok in warmer states as well, but it depends on their breeding as to how well they will tolerate cold. Dormant daylilies lose their leaves in the winter, so are best for colder states.

There are more than 40,000 varieties of daylilies, and they come in all colors but blue, perfect white, or black. There are small flowers, double flowers, spider flowers, and large flowers. Daylilies love full sun but can tolerate poar shade. They can be derought tolerant to a degree once established.

There are a number of tips I provide here to help you deadhead your annuals to get repeat blooms in your garden at home.

1. Use your fingers or pruner to pinch off your dead plant blooms. Depending on ths thickness of the plant, you can choose one or the other.
2. Not only does deadheading annuals help get repeat blooms, but it also keeps your garden more fresh and clean looking. The more often you deadhead plants by removing spent blooms, the more profuse your blooming will be in time.
3. As you deadhead plants, collect spent blooms and compost them. This will do three things, including keeping the garden in clean shape, providing compost in the future, and preventing seeds from sprouting.

Here are 5 watering tips to use when you water your outdoor and indoor plants.

• Do not water from above the leaves. Water at the base of the plant, just above the roots.
• Water in the morning or late afternoon so that the base of the plant can dry by evening. This timing of watering also allows the temperature not to be at peak. Watering in the morning gives the plant all day to absorb water.
• Do not water in the evening. This can prevent fungus and other diseases.
• Feel the surface of the soil as well as underneath the soil. If it looks dry from above, it may still be wet underneath.
• Plants that have been in your garden and established for more than a year will not need to watered as frequently as new plants. This is because well established plants will have stronger, more resilient root systems.

Here are some tips for bringing plants indoors for the winter from outside. First, examine the plant for insects, disease, and pests. Second, spray down the leaves of the plant with insecticidal soap. Third, isolate the plant for a couple of weeks so it doesn’t affect other plants. Fourth, after bringing the plant in with your other plants, go less on the fertilizer and watering so the plant can rest.

Here are my top shopping secrets you can use when buying new plants.

1. Shop when it is raining for smaller crowds.
2. Make sure plants you buy are nice and compact, not leggy and stressed.
3. Instead of buying a hanging basket all done, design your own hanging basket.
4. Instead of buying small single pots of plants, buy a flat.
5. Buy grass seed in bulk.
6. When buying plants, trees and shrubs, don’t buy them if they don’t look good. Also, don’t buy dying plants.
7. When buying trees, make sure they are straight and branches are balanced.
8. Take a peek at the roots by pulling the plant out of the pot, to make sure the plant has a good root system. If the plant is rootbound, it may need to be repotted after you buy it.
9. Note that most plants from garden centers come with 3 months of fertilizer so it is not needed when you get the plant home.
10. Save up questions and ask them in the garden center of the store you usually go.

When it comes to fertilizing annuals and perennials in your garden, these two kinds of plants can be treated differently. First, divide your plants into groups of annuals and perennials. They can be physically divided, or divided in your mind. Annuals and perennials have different nutritional needs.

Annuals prefer a water soluble fertilizer that is high in phosphorus (the middle number) for their blooms, such as 15-30-15. This is the perfect fertilizer (click here). The water soluble fertilizer gets nutrients to them fast.

For perennials I prefer a granular fertilizer, roughly 10-10-10. This is a good long lasting fertilizer (click here). You can put the granular fertilizer around the base of the plant and it will release into the soil.

For both annuals and perennials, fertilize every 2-3 weeks during the growing season, and every month at other times of the year. This is a great fertilizer for everything (click here), including diseases. This is another good fertilizer (click here).

When working to grow vegetables in your home garden, these are five useful tips to keep in mind.

1. Vegetables generally love at least 6 hours of sun per day.
2. Vegetables like well amended, good draining soil.
3. If you can mix in compost, cow manure, and peat moss when planting, vegetables will love it.
4. When selecting vegetables for your garden at home, talk to people in your neighborhood to see what thrives. You can also ask garden experts in stores and garden centers.
5. Generally, the easiest plants to grow include beans, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. One good way to plant your vegetables is to plant in a number of quadrants and rotate after plants are done. You can plant root vegetables such as radishes and carrots in one quadrant, vine vegetables such as tomatoes and squash in another, and so on. By doing this, different kinds of nutrients are pulled out of the soil, and as you amend the soil you have time to replenish important nutrients.

There are four tools every gardener needs. These include:

• A shovel. A good shovel is built well with a long handle to lower stress on the back. The blade should be thick. This is a great shovel.
• A rake. Look for a sturdy rake with a flat back so you can also level out your garden soil. This is an excellent rake.
• A trowel. Get a good trowel with a stainless steel blade. I recommend this trowel.
• Bypass pruning shears. Choose a pair that won’t crush your plants. You can get blades sharpened on bypass pruning shears. This is a great pair.

If you like, you can get a set of garden tools to save money and get more. These are my favorite three sets:

1. 4 Piece Garden Tool Set by Cutco
2. Deluxe 3 Piece Garden Tool Set by Apex
3. 10 in 1 Premium Lawn and Garden Tool Set, Made in Germany

When gardening at home, it is important to take into account plant hardiness zones. You should know your zone before buying plants. Here is the USDA plant hardiness zone map. There are 11 plant hardiness zones with zone 11 being the warmest. The plant hardiness zones are based on winter low temperature. When purchasing plants, check the plant label to find out the zone the plant is able to grow in. If you have a different microclimate you may need to experiment to see how plants do.

There is also a plant heat zone map. Use both maps to find plants that will thrive for you in your home garden.

I worked for Rod McLellan Company as their expert grower, hybridizer and more for 3 years. Before they were bought, Rod McLellan had been the world leader in Orchids for a century.

My personal experience with Orchids has led me to understand well what Orchids you can grow more easily with bright light. If you want a larger, heavy, strappy Orchid, go for a Cymbidium. If you want an Orchid that blooms a long time and likes bright light, grow a Dendrobium. This is the easiest Orchid to grow in bright light as it loves to dry out between waterings. Another good bright light Orchid is an Oncidium. Oncidiums and Dendrobiums bloom for 2-3 months with proper humidity.

More difficult orchids to grow in bright light are Cattleyas and Vandas. Cattleyas bloom on average for 2-4 weeks. Vandas need a lot of humidity.