Hello Gardens,
I am a Newbie to the gardening world. Please bare with me on my
thousands of question that will probably pop up as I read all of
your comments on the gardens. Well, I think I will skip the snail
topic. yuk! I am going to have to get used to bugs. =\
My husband bought me an Eden rose climber for Valentine's Day.
I was wondering, How long before I can actually train it to go
across a fence? Should I gently turn it this first year or give
it a chance to grow before training it?
Also, I have a very, very small area next to my front entry.
It's about 10 X 10 that I want to make a little butterfly garden.
I want to be able to sit on my porch and enjoy the view.
I was thinking of planting Baby Breathe towards the back that
I can use for arranging flowers taken from the garden.
Does baby breath require a lot of room? The fence makes this a
sheltered area for my clematis. So far in this little cove I
have the Eden climber at the outer edge of the fence. I have a
dwarf butterfly bush, an iceberg rosebush, a Clematis, verbena,
lantana. Would I be able to place the baby breathe in the back
corner without it looking too crowded? I know this a lot to ask.
Oh, Oh, I almost forgot. My Mom gave me a White Wing Hibiscus
last year. I have it front of my house. It is a lovely plant. I am
scared that the frost might have damaged it. I have very little growth
on it. Should I be protecting the Hibiscus during winter?
Any suggestions? This newbie will take anything you are
willing to throw this way. Any suggestions on a good gardening
book or software to help me along on this new venture?
Thanks In Advance,
Della
Central California Zone 9
Welcome, Della. I'm in the S.J. Valley, too, and am fairly new to this
list, but old to gardening. :->)
Your little butterfly garden sounds very pretty, and it's sure going
to be full of flowers before too long.
The Baby's Breath has been hard for me to grow until last year when a
friend told me I was giving it too much water. She advised me to keep it
pretty dry and whatya know? It worked!
So if you can keep a dryer spot for the BB while you're giving the
roses more water? It might work out very well.
Most of the people on this list write in the morning so I'll bet
you'll have lots of good answers pretty soon. Great people and lots of
experience with all kinds of easy and tough plants. Enjoy!
Flora in Central CA also.
In a message dated 3/19/01 10:35:56 PM Pacific Standard Time, FeFumHo@AOL.COM
writes:
Tropical Hibiscus all can be damaged by frost or freezing temps (White
Wings is not any different). Just be sure that they do not get overwatered
(other than rainfall) the following Spring. There is a tendency to give them
some water to "make" them grow "better", but after being frost damaged they
can't use the extra. Prune in April to remove damaged branches. If they
haven't frozen their roots, they will comeback pretty strong when the weather
gets consistently warm.
As mentioned in one other post, the Sunset Western Garden book is very
helpful for gardeners on the West Coast.
Glenn
Hi, and welcome. I've found in my garden at home that butterflies also
like tall phlox, echniacea (purple coneflower) and asclepias (butterfly
weed--for food and nectar). Some visit the rudbeckia and zinnias. In
Florida I notice they also have the tall older type of pentas planted
(not the dwarf kind) as perennials and an ageratum that is an older tall
type (not the short bedding kind)as part of butterfly gardens. At home
butterflies seem to really love my buddleia davidii. I have 5 of them
(not dwarf). Since you live in a warm area, you might also try the
buddleia alternifolia, which can be trained as a standard (you can make
it look like a small weeping tree by pruning it right--looks very
attractive).
Karen (PA zone 5b/6) in Sanibel (zone 10)
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> My husband bought me an Eden rose climber for Valentine's Day.
> I was wondering, How long before I can actually train it to go
> across a fence? Should I gently turn it this first year or give
> it a chance to grow before training it?
I'd train it this first year. :)
Barb in Southern Indiana Zone 5/6 dorsett@blueriver.net
A root is a flower that disdains fame.
