Perennial Plant Association Plants of the Year, Dahlia Photos

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The Perennial Plant of the Year is awarded to plants that are special in their ability to withstand the onslaughts of the garden: Bugs, disease, erratic weather, gardeners leaving on vacation, mold, virus attacks, etc.

A new e-book (in Adobe pdf) from Doug Green summarizes the Perennial Plant Association picks and is available free at the link. The e-book covers PPA plant selections from 1990 to 2009. Each plant has its own page with photo, growing instructions and useful information such as propagation tips.

When you look at the the zone information, remember that Muskogee is cold zone 7 and heat zone 8. The zone information provided in the e-book is cold hardiness.


Photo: Blossom's Garden Center
in Muskogee - getting ready for spring
 Photo: Pelargonium in bloom at Blossom's

Sunset Magazine is the gardener's Bible on the west coast and their blog has a wonderful preview of dahlias. Click on this link and enjoy the inspiring photos on the Feb 15th entry.

Rain, snow and sleet combined with freezing temps will keep us out of the garden this weekend but we can consider which perennial seeds to start under lights for April 15th transplanting outdoors.

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