Brazoria County Master Gardener Association WHAT’S GROWIN’ ON OCTOBER 2009 Contents Ready, set, grow...cool season flowers BY ann mClain Cool Season Flowers 1 Now that our weather is Easter cards and spring scene here, naturalizing And take a chance, try BEES Buzz 3 moving toward cool and wrapping paper, and you easily and persisting these ―miniature‖ narcis- wet at last, it‘s time to have the classic variety even after the house sus from the jonquil Winter Weeds 4 think a bit about provid- called ‗King Alfred‘. they once surrounded is division: ing our flower beds with Enjoy the pictures – it gone. One old variety October Job Jar 5 ‗Minnow‘ – two-toned some cool season inter- isn‘t likely to appear in especially recommended yellow flowers on a Book Review 5 est. Although many of your garden. by TAMU‘s Dr. Welch is short, ten-inch stem. our favorite flowering ‗Grand Primo‘, with clus- Inquiring Gardener 6 On the other hand, we plants will continue to ters of cream and yellow ‗Pipit‘ – saucer is yellow have the classic south- produce right through flowers. At the Hous- and the corona is yel- Plants of the Month 7 ern narcissus, called the winter, others are ton low streaked with ‗Campernelle‘. It ap- Prez Sez 8 disappearing or settling Garden white; short plant. pears to be a hybrid of into a resting state. Club‘s ‗Trevithian‘ – golden Announcements 8 Narcissus odorus, with What can we do to have Annual yellow and fragrant. two to four bell-like a new interest for win- Bulb A sort of junior Cam- flowers per stem, ter and some early Mart, pernelle. sweetly scented, as the spring appeal? most of species name would sug- Narcissus should be the varieties offered In the temperate world, gest. planted in October or COMING UP are Tazettas. the ultimate sign of Sev- November, preferably in spring is the narcissus, eral Of course, Houston‘s well drained soil with FREE October Seminar also called daffodil or books growing conditions are good humus content. Sat, 10/10/09 jonquil. For us, the pa- claim not ours, but the Bulb References say that 10:00 am—11:30 am, perwhite narcissus pops that it Mart‘s list is a good both ‗Campernelle‘ and Lake Jackson Public Library up and into bloom so happily place to start if you ‗Tevithian‘ tolerate wet- ―Fall Flowers in the Garden‖ early that we should tolerates heavy, wet want to experiment with ness, but why not give BCMGA BOARD MEETING properly consider it a clay. One source men- Narcissus. Consider them the best you can. Tues, 10/13/09 sign of winter, although, tions a jonquil cultivar, these as annuals, and you Plant them 2‖ deep, 5:30 pm AgriLIFE Office surely, with a promise of ‗Trevithian‘, as a good may be pleasantly sur- which means with 2‖ of All members welcome! spring to come. substitute for it, al- prised. Some varieties: soil above the shoulder though it‘s not clear if it of the bulb. A layer of BCMGA MEETING Narcissus is a huge ge- ‗Grand Soleil d‘Or‘ – an is as tough. sand underneath is rec- Tues, 10/13/09 nus, so big that it has old variety, with deep ommended, too. Good 6:30 pm AgriLIFE Office been broken up into Varieties from the divi- yellow saucers and spacing is 6‖ apart. Fer- eleven subdivisions. sion Tazetta are our orange-red coronas. FREE November Seminar tilize after bloom, to Some of these sub- best bets for Brazoria ‗Inball‘ – white coronas Wed, 11/04/09 increase the chances groups won‘t grow well County. These are the and saucers. Suppos- 12:05 pm—12:50 pm, that they will return, here. Unfortunately, paperwhites, plus some edly the fragrance is Lake Jackson Public Library and leave the foliage on among those is the big, close relatives. What all less musky than the ―Winterize Veggie Gardens‖ until it turns brown. flashy trumpet division, of these varieties have older varieties, and FREE December Seminar which I grew up calling in common is that each the stems are shorter. Braiding or twisting the Wed, 11/04/09 daffodils. These have a bloom stem carries a foliage to make it die ‗Ziva‘ – white saucers 10:00 am—11:30 am, very large trumpet aris- cluster of flowers. The faster defeats the with gold coronas. Lake Jackson Public Library ing from the saucer of flowers have a short whole purpose, which is ―Holiday Plants‖ the perianth petals, and stubby corona sitting on ‗Erlicheer‘ – a double to store up plenty of each stem has one a perianth or saucer. flowered form; white energy for next year. flower. Picture the yel- saucers and creamy Narcissus prefer sun, Some of these varieties low daffodil printed on yellow coronas. Really have long been on the (Continued on page 2) pretty. WHAT’S GROWIN’ ON P ag e 2 Cool season flowers (continued from page 1) but they can tolerate a little bit acquired, but don‘t count on them whatsoever...there‘s nothing at all. new varieties tolerate pretty of shade. Be careful where you to return next year. Some will, much full sun, as long as the tem- The old fashioned rule of thumb put paperwhites – not everyone most won‘t. But they are gor- peratures are cool. Pansies have for planting ranunculus is to put finds their powerful fragrance geous while they last. There are big faces, while violas are smaller them out on Thanksgiving. Actu- pleasant. If the bulbs do natural- forms of freesia which are likely and more dainty looking, although ally, it may be better to aim at ize, you will need to dig and divide to stay with you awhile. One is they are plenty tough. early November, hoping to hurry every four years, or else they will the species Freesia laxa var alba, growth along. These bulbs need push themselves up out of the also known as refracta. The flow- to get into flower while it‘s still soil. ers on this species are said to be cool, because warm weather will creamy white, and they are very Another old-timey bulb for our melt them. The main thing is that fragrant. I was given a clump of cool season is the snowflake the heat of summer must be over what I think is this species, al- (Leucojum aestivum). Like the before you plant. Soak ranunculus though to my eye it is more yellow oldest paperwhite varieties, this bulbs for at least twelve hours in Another good choice from the than white. Its fresh looking is naturalized around many old warm water. You can add a bit of garden center is sweet alyssum. foliage is green from October home sites. The Latin name root stimulator to the water. This occasionally decides that it is through May, and it blooms for means ―summer snowflake‖, and it Then plant them with the gnarly a perennial, and blooms right about a month in spring. must bloom in ―fingers‖ pointing down, in well through the summer and on for summer some- Freesias should be planted after drained soil and full sun. Plant another winter. It comes in where. But the weather cools, which probably them 1‖-2‖ deep. You could space white, and here it will pop means November for us. They them out to come up through a also in a out its nodding should be set pointed end up, ground cover, which would make a range of little 1‖ white about 1‖ deep and 2‖ apart. Re- bigger show of a few bulbs. But if pastel bells about the member, you‘re planting a mass of ranuncu- shades. same time the when you lus, put them about 6‖ apart. But, if you narcissus ap- can‘t tell Mark where you plant this one – want those pastels, you‘ll have to pear, in January. There is a which end the emerging foliage looks exactly get seeds and start them yourself named variety not readily avail- of a bulb is like a weedy relative we all have – local garden centers have only able called ‗Gravetye Giant‘ that‘s the top, (see page 4). You don‘t want to white. Oh well. The white tends not very different from the spe- plant it on pull out your expensive bulb be- to be tougher, and more fragrant, cies. If you order bulbs, be sure its side. fore it gets to the good part. anyway. that you are getting ―aestivum‖; Freesias Now, having planted these bulbs, Lately, I have been trying another there are other species, but this prefer a cushion of sand under how about adding a nice annual little sprawler. This is toad flax, is the only one that can bloom in the bulb, and they want very well groundcover to surround them and or linaria. You will probably have our mild winters. drained soil in full sun. dress them up? I have a few to get seeds for this, although Snowflakes should be planted in There is one more bulb that I like suggestions here, too. One possi- October or November, too. They to plant. It‘s a bit pricey, espe- bility would be to plant dianthus, would like to be in a semi-shady cially since it absolutely will not in some complementary color. spot, and they tolerate dampness. return for a second year, but I These can be perennial, of course, Put them 2‖ deep, and 4‖ apart. just love the flowers. This is the but they will suffer in the sum- They look especially good in ranunculus, or Persian buttercup.