San Mateo - “Gardening Tips for Spring”

“Gardening Tips for Spring”

Mary, Mary, How Does Your Garden Grow? by Mary Crowell

Some of you may be curious to know where I get information for this monthly garden column. Along with my own 45+ years of gardening experience, first in Sacramento (3 years), Brazil (2 years), SF (12 years), SSF (14 years), and currently San Mateo (14 years) I grew up with my father’s gardening experience. I get ideas everywhere. I receive the local nursery and garden center’s monthly handouts, have saved all of the past gardening columns from the SMTimes, go to lectures whenever possible, read Sunset, Garden Gate, Fine Gardening and love searching the web. I have my father’s gardening log where he kept track month to month what to do. Believe me, I am not that organized. I no longer run a plant hospital and nurse those sick ones back to health, or try to save my friend’s castaways; what lives with us better not like a lot of water or babying. Also, since I am a flower show judge, judging horticulture, cut flowers and floral designs, I do get to see well-grown plants for our bay area. Belonging to local and state garden clubs also gets you in touch with fellow gardeners and they generously give away cuts and starts of unusual plant material.
    April is a great planting time, especially geraniums and pelargoniums (try some of the scented ones), campanulas, iberis (candytuft), penstemon, phlox, delphinium, hellebores (I saw some gorgeous ones at the SF Flower and Garden Show), asters, including Michaelmas Daisy, coreopsis, armeria, aquilegia, (columbine), achillea (yarrow), geum, althaea (hollyhocks), chrysanthemum (marguerites), artemisia (Dusty Miller), bergenias, and salvias (Mexican sage and other sages), my personal favorites. Now is the time to plant those summer bulbs such as gladioli, watsonias (if you have the room), agapanthus (Queen of the Nile), anemones, cannas, callas (try the Green Goddess variety), dahlias (tubers), and ranunculus (rhizomes). Divide the older perennials already in your garden. It is surprising how quickly your garden can be transformed simply by deadheading and getting rid of the dead branches, plants, leaves and twigs. I have managed to work a few days for a few hours each time in between the rains and it is amazing the difference it can make in the garden=2 0and my disposition. This is also a great time to pinch out tips of shrubs and plants to make them more shapely and bushy. Many things do bloom on their end tips, so know your plants before pruning. Plant frost tender tropicals including strelizias (bird of paradise), citrus, hibiscus, lantana, hydrangea, and protea; try leucodendrons for beautiful rewarding plants as they are drought tolerant.
    Sometimes I think it is quite unfair to live in such a yummy gardening climate, when other states have horrible weather problems, aahhh, no I don’t!! It might get cold again., so watch the weather report. Hope some of you made it to the SF Flower and Garden Show at San Mateo, what spectacular gardens, garden jewelry, along with great free lectures and some wonderful floral designs from California Garden Clubs right there in the expo hall including two of yours truly.
    Some of my favorite plants in my garden right now are succulents (in bloom), Green Goddess callas, birds of paradise, leucodendrons, alstromerias (just getting ready to flower), pelargoniums, both scented and zonals, citrus, New Zealand flax, salvias, hebe, gardenias, iris, daffodils, kangaroo paws, black bamboo, cymbidiums, loropetalum and lavender.
    If you are short on space in your garden as I am, and love roses, try some of the miniature rose introductions mentioned in the San Mateo County Rose Society’s newsletter, The Rose Digest. Some names to look for are Amber Sunset, Carolina Lady, Best Friends, Gala, Halo Sweetie, Hilde, Michael Cholet, Mini Tango, Montana, Orange Parfait, Petite Perfection, Ruby Ruby Baby, Sweet Caroline, Sweet Diana, Y2K, Merlot, Jilly Jewel and Ralph Moore.
    You may ask me questions at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , put, in the subject line, Q. mary, mary or write to me, Mary Crowell, c/o San Mateo Garden Center, 605 Parkside Way, San Mateo, Ca, 94403.

Mary, Mary, How Does Your Garden Grow? by Mary Crowell

What is that old adage, “April showers bring May flowers?” Hasn’t the weather been superb, windy but sunny, in between the unexpected showers? We can now finally enjoy the color, the beauty, being out in our gardens more than a few hours at a time without the winds, rain and cold of the last few months. Finally we are able to weed and prune our garden to where we are no longer embarrassed to have someone stop by. BBQ seas on is upon us. It is really amazing the transformation of the garden by deadheading, pruning judiciously and cleaning out debris. There is nothing quite as cathartic as a peaceful sunny day working in the dirt and gathering those pots that are crying for help. What do you have in bloom at the moment? Those roses are something else, they really loved the rain this early spring. I love taking different routes to and fro in my local area, looking at what is in bloom. Today (tax day to be exact), I have cala lilies, both green and white, bromeliads, cacti, succulents, wisteria (oh wow!), birds of paradise, bearded iris, leucodendron, loropetalum, clivia (my first bloom of a yellow one), ranuncula, camellia, lots of cymbidiums (still), viburnum (snowball tree), geraniums (actually pelargoniums), lavender, and roses (we only have two large rosebushes, a space crunch problem in our yard, one variety called ‘Betty Boop’ and a beautiful single petaled red ‘Altissimo’, but we do have many miniatures, as they take up little space).
    Yesterday, I received a small book from my garden gate magazine called Ultimate flowers for sun and shade. Wow, it is so inspiring. One of the chapters is called Flowers Plus which discusses pla nts that give all year, blooms, berries, interesting foliage and then lovely seed heads. They called these plants multitaskers! Some of the suggestions are: rugosa rose with it’s beautiful long lasting flowers and in the fall bright red hips (seed pod), big-leaf hydrangea, canna hybrids such as ‘Tropicana’, Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica) which has fall foliage to die for and long wand like white spires in late spring. Some other suggestions from the book are a Peony-flowered poppy (Papaver somniferum) which has gray green seed pods in the fall and a plant called Prairie smoke (Geum triflorum).
    Remember the chimney flues I mentioned a few years back that I found on the street and hauled to my front yard and placed on the lawn.? Last year we had tomatos all summer long and yesterday I bought 4 new tomato plants to put in them. I love growing veggies and didn’t think I had any room, but think vertical. I also dragged home some metal fencing that I am placing in the front lawn to grow peas and beans to crawl up them.
    It is also time to feed the citrus and the roses again. Attracting beneficial insects and birds such as bees, hummingbirds and butterflies to the garden is both an art and a science. Do Not Spray Insecticides if you want to attract bees and butterflies. This is also a great time to pinch out shrubs and herbs to make them lush and full.
    There are some great sales this month, watch the local papers, starting with the San Francisco Botanic Gardens 42nd Annual Spring Plant sale, May 1 members only 5-8 PM, May 2nd, public sale, 10-2, at 9th and Lincoln, cty fair bldg., in Golden Gate Park. The San Mateo Garden Center will have its annual plant sale May 9th, 10-3 PM, volunteer propagated plants very reasonably priced at 605 Parkside Way, San Mateo.
    You may ask me questions at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , write to me c/o the San Mateo Garden Center News, 605 Parkside Way San Mateo, 94403

Mary, John and >^..^< >^..^<>^..^< in San Mateo, CA