OLD FASHIONED PLANTS -
BY GLADYS JEURINK Some of the
plants you hardly ever see anymore are the favorites I grew up with. The
new hybrids and tropical plants have taken over. But if you have a
grandmother who is gardener, ask her about her favorites and why. One I
try to have every other year or so is the FOUR O’CLOCK which stays closely shut until afternoon. I like ten
to fifteen plants fairly close together and go out to smell them.
For me it is later than 4:00 pm but then they
come from Central and South America which might change their timing.
“MIRABILIS
JALOPA” is an annual
and comes in many colors. They are also called MARVEL
OF PERU and can be invasive farther South as they form tubers to
come again in spring. But here in Nebraska this doesn’t happen so
seeds go out every spring after frost date. My favorites are the ones
with striped petals and some flowers of more than one color. Since they
open late they have perfume to attract the pollinators.
Another perfumer is the honeysuckle
but be careful because some of them are a little “vigorous” and will
cover things you might not like covered. A chain link fence is one place
to cover. “Lonicera species”
are many and people are working to produce more.
GOLD FLAME is popular
in Lincoln. HALLS is noted
for its aggressiveness. DROPMORE SCARLET is another favorite. All of them can be started
from tip cuttings. Be sure and start several to assure success. Some Honeysuckles
are shrubs, others are vines, so check the label to be sure which you
are getting. Hummingbirds love them but watch out as the berries can
make you ill if you eat them.
I very seldom see TUBEROSES here in Lincoln but I like to have a few every summer,
mostly for their perfume. Bulbs do best planted in clusters and need to
be started early if possible. Otherwise they my just be blooming when
our first frost comes. I
bring mine out of storage early and put them in damp sphagnum peat moss
in a big pan in the basement to give them an early start. There is a
double one but I think the singles do best. Just do not separate the
clumps until they are quite large as the singles do not do as well. One
bloom in a room can dominate the air!!
SWEET PEAS are not as
popular as they should be. They
require something to climb on, tend to flop, and do not like hot
weather. “LATHYRUS ODORATUS” were grown in England during the 1800’s
and were not the big blossoms we know now. They were small blooms of
only purple and blue. After
they became popular, breeders started changing them to produce larger
peas, and more colors, but they lost most of the perfume. They are still
working to improve their ability to bloom after it gets very warm.
We get best results by planting them every early, even helping
them climb a string or trellis, in full sun, in a protected spot from
the wind. It is easiest to give them a string, enjoy them as long as you
can, and then cut the string at the top and bottom to drop the plant and
all into the compost pile. Since they wrap all around their support,
untangling just the vine is a little “messy”. One of the prettiest
displays I have seen was a clothesline wire strung with strings very
close together and backed by evergreens which protected them from the
wind and made the colors stand out. George’s wife is growing them this
year up into a mock orange shrub which protects them and helps make the
shrub look better.
CASTER BEANS
may not be very popular because it is poisonous. If you
don’t have kids around, it is a tall 6 to 8 foot coarse plant with
huge leaves of either green or red. The seed pods are bright red in long
clusters. They can be used as a tall background to your other plants.
The ground seeds are advertised as a mole chaser and the oil is
in several preparations as a mole deterrent (Recinus
communis).
Once you have LARKSPUR (Consolida ambigua)
you will always have it unless of course you harbor rabbits. The last
two years I have had to protect mine with Liquid Fence as the ones in
the backyard were completely eaten to the ground.
But I found enough growing in the parkway to make a deep blue bed
with a few pink or white ones. I
try to rotate my rabbit chasers and will use blood meal which becomes a
fertilizer with rain, Liquid Fence, and “deters-all” so the rabbits
won’t get used to any one of them. LARKSPUR
does not transplant easily and prefers being planted in the f all.
They will come up and remain happily under snow banks all winter
about 2 inches high.
One of our natives that is well able to take care of itself but
used rarely is the WILD PETUNIA (Ruellia species).
I got my start at a garden club sale and now it appears in
various places in the yard. It only reaches about 12 inches, has a soft
furry leaf, and never seems to need water. Mine does best along an edge
where it is not pushed out by a taller plant. Ruellia blooms in June with lavender blue flowers, will root very
easily from cuttings, and forms a small, perennial clump. Since I carry
all my frozen plants to the chipper at the compost pile, I am probably
the one who has dropped a seed along the way so in the spring I watch
carefully when I am weeding to see where it will be for that year.
Copyright July 8, 2006 |