All the Dirt on Gardening

Any yard or patio with a bit of shade is a potential home for Native Bluebells.  Mertensia virginica is a perennial gardener’s dream plant. They are cold hardy from zones 3 to 8 with pink-turning-blue flowers for two months, avoided by rabbits and deer, require zero care, and spread slowly to form colonies.  The oval leaves come up early spring, followed by the tiny pink flower buds and then the multiple clusters of  1-inch long, bell shaped, blue flowers.   Virginia Bluebells are ephemeral, meaning that after they flower and the leaves gather nutrients for next year, they disappear completely. Every year, I intend to divide our 10-year-old clump but spring is so busy that they are gone before good intentions become an action item. Many gardeners over-plant their Native Bluebells with Hostas or Ferns but ours are just mulched, leaving their planting area empty the rest of the year.  They mature at 2-feet tall and each plant is about 9-inches ...

Bowman's Root or Indian Physic The flowers in the photo belong to a native perennial that is attractive to butterflies but not eaten by deer or rabbits. Called Indian Physic and Bowman’s Root, Gillenia trifoliata has loose clusters of star-like white flowers on dark red stems from late spring to early summer. Gillenia is a sub-shrub of the rose family or the spirea family, depending on which expert you consult. Native from the east coast to OK, Bowman’s Root is disease and insect free and cold hardy in zones 3 to 8. Since they prefer filtered shade and grow two to three-feet tall and wide, they are suited to the front of a shrub row or native plant bed. Bowman's Root is also widely used in bouquets and dried for arrangements. It only flowers once but the blooms last up to three-weeks. After the flower petals fade and fall, the red sepals (outer part of the flower) stay for a while. In the fall, the leaves become red-orange, adding another season of appeal.   The see...

Many gardeners consider the space under trees, next to solid fences, and close to buildings difficult to use because they lack of full sun. There are, however, many beautiful perennial plants and shrubs that can succeed in part-shade.. To increase the amount of sunlight available under trees, remove the lowest limbs and prune out some branches, allowing light to shine through to the ground. Tree roots and building foundations absorb a lot of available moisture and can also stress plants. Improve the soil moisture retention by adding organic materials and top dressing the area with mulch to reduce evaporation. A drip irrigation system can also be a big help. Five Star Hibiscus Shade-loving plants usually have roots, rhizomes, tubers or stems that store water plus they tend to lose less moisture through their leaves than other plants. The leaves of low-light varieties usually emerge early in the season before the trees leaf out above them. Garden centers plants have t...

When we think of pass-along plants we have received from family and friends, we think of daffodils, salvia, lilies, roses, daylilies, coral honeysuckle, hosta, lily of the valley, iris, crocosmia, blackberry vines, sedums, succulents and a dozen other plants that have to be divided to remain healthy. Those are some of the plants from our yard that now grow in others' gardens. Phlox paniculata in our garden Pass-along plants are divisions of gardeners' favorites that have been divided from their gardens. Most of us have a wide variety of these local favorites growing in our gardens, yards and borders.  The one reminder I have for you about pass-along plants is that they are being divided and shared because they spread in their previous garden home. In my case, that doesn't always mean they thrive in the conditions we have on our rocky soil and casual watering schedule. Pass-alongs are a great way to share and experiment with new varieties because they are proven t...

Bottlebursh Buckeye Cold hardy in zones 4 to 8, Bottlebrush Buckeye is a lovely addition to shade and rain gardens. Paige Nugent at A Girl in Her Garden said, "It holds dark green leaves in the summer and throws up white flower spikes over them in June to July. Unlike other buckeyes, it holds its leaves well into autumn when they turn a brilliant yellow. Late summer it makes buckeyes which begin by looking like bright yellow spiky pears on the plant. The seed is poisonous to humans so don’t try it as a snack."  Bottlebrush Buckeye is a southern native but can do pretty well in zone 4 or 5 climates with care, especially supplemental water during our drought months. Our shrub came from a home vendor at the farmer's market in Fayetteville , Arkansas. He dug it out of his back woods so I'm confident in saying it is not a hybrid  of the native variety. It's in its third year with us and this is the first year it has made such a nice flower. The first two y...

This weekend is one of the times native plant vendors will all be available for you to buy plants for your garden. Garden Tour  9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday 24rd Wildlife Habitat Garden Tour & Plant Sale Cost: $6 per person and children younger than 13 are free; tickets can be purchased at any of the featured gardens Garden locations:546 N. 27th W. Ave., 1424 W. Easton Pl., 639 N. Cheyenne Ave., 1135 N. Denver Ave. and 636 N. Denver Ave. Vendors will be located at each garden as part of the plant sale. Information: tulsaaudubon.org or call 918 521-8894 NATIVE PLANT NURSERIES AND ORGANIZATIONS AT HOME SITES Wild Things Nursery Oklahoma Native Plant Society Monarch Watch Duck Creek Farm WING-IT Utopia Gardens Bird Houses by Mark Pine Ridge Gardens Oxley Nature Center Oklahoma Wildcrafting Missouri Wildflowers Nursery Tulsa Audubon Society Northeast Oklahoma Beekeepers Assoc. http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/wildlife...

Love for cottage gardens has grown as we move away from manicured British garden design and make our own American style gardens. North Carolina is zones 6 and 7 , much like our area so their native plant advice is always good to check. NC has a much more active Extension service for home gardeners and as a result they post many more advice and plant-specific articles of interest. You'll find their 4-step Go Native planning site here , complete with how to think about the process and plant guides. Another resource we can use is the Missouri Botanical Garden's link called Selected Perennials for Oklahoma Gardens. Oklahoma Garden Clubs posted an assortment of native plants for home gardens on their website , too. Their selections are primarily ornamental grasses. The OK panhandle, Oklahoma City, Southeast, south central and northeast OK all have different soil, annual rainfall and temperatures so do some more research for your specific climate when deciding what to plan...

There are six main types of Hydrangeas: Bigleaf, Mountain, Panicle, Smooth, Climbing, Oakleaf. Click over to this page to read more from Proven Winners. These are the photos from our garden this week - Limelight Hydrangea paniculata More details and availability - click here Cityline Bigleaf  Hydrangea macroyphylla Bigleaf Hydrangea is called the florist's hydrangea - click here for more information Silverback Native Hydrangea radiata For more information about this native click here  and here 

 Beautiful blue flowers are on the Polemonium reptans in the shade garden. Planted just a year ago, they emerged this spring a little larger than when they came out of the pots. The flowers have lasted a week so far. They are native to MO and are seen throughout the eastern US. They are cold hardy in zones 3 to 8. My hope is that they like where they are planted enough to make and spread seed all over that bed! In colder zones they prefer full sun but here in zone 7 they definitely need a shady spot. Plant them in  a place that stays moist from humus rather than from being watered all the time. Its other name, Creeping Jacob's Ladder imply that it spreads by stolons but they do not spread by underground growth. The Jacob's Ladder name comes from the arrangement of the leaves that resemble the rungs of a ladder. In nature they thrive in woods and along streams. While they have no insect or disease problems they can be killed if their roots stand in water or if the...

Jack in the Pulpit looks way too exotic to be cold hardy in USDA zones 4 to 9 but it is! Give it dappled shade, moist, peat-moss enhanced soil and a place it can grow undisturbed. Native to the Midwest and East regions of North America they grow to 1-3 feet tall and 1 foot wide, with 2-large, green leaves comprised of 2 leaflets each. A member of the Araceae, Arum, plant family, my little guy is planted in the same area with other Arums though Jack is one-of-a-kind in our garden so far. From what I've read, we would have to plant several to get male/female sex-change, pollination, seedheads, etc. Its many other names includ Indian Turnip, Indian Almond, Pepper Turnip, Marsh Pepper, Bog Onion, Priest's Pentle, Wood Pulpit, Little Pulpit, Cuckoo Flower, Starchwort, Memory Root, Devil's Ear, Dragonroot, and Brown Dragon according to Phagat's Garden . Wildwood Web says that the cylindar that we think of as the flower is not the flower "Jack-in the-pulpi...