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Health & Fitness

Spring Flowers!

By Master Gardener Amy Weis

With the Philadelphia Flower show and the snow (hopefully) ending the other week many people are starting to contemplate the flowers and plants they will be adding to their gardens this spring.  It may still be in the 30’s in the Lehigh Valley but the perennial and flower plant farmers in our area have been hard at work for the last several months; preparing and growing the plugs, bare rooted plants and seeds which will become full, bountiful and blooming plants by the time we purchase them in April or May.

We have a lot to choose from in the Lehigh Valley as we decide which plants to put in our gardens.  However, the plants we will eventually buy will fall into one of the following categories.

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Woody plants are plants that have woody stems that persist above ground even through seasons that don't favor growth, due to low precipitation or temperatures. Woody plants include mainly trees and shrubs.

Annuals are plants that grow from seed to flower in one year and then die. Usually you buy annuals in the spring and know they will die in the fall.

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Common annuals include marigolds, petunias, geraniums, impatiens, and zinnias.

Biennials are plants that require two years to complete their life cycle. First season growth results in a small rosette of leaves near the soil surface. During the second season's growth stem elongation, flowering and seed formation occur followed by the entire plant's death. Common biennials include foxglove, hollyhock, and pansies, black-eyed Susans and Queen Anne’s lace.

Perennials are plants that persist for many growing seasons. Generally the top portion of the plant dies back each winter and regrows the following spring from the same root system (e.g. Purple Coneflower). Many perennial plants keep their leaves year round. Common Pennsylvania perennials include peonies, sedum, asters, coreopsis and phlox.

When I begin my spring search for annuals and perennials, one of my first stops each year is the perennial nursery of the dynamic mother - daughter duo of Emma and Roxie Richards of Richards Gardens, off a quiet back road in Quakertown, Pa. Emma Richards has been growing and selling plants for 35 years, starting with field grown pansies in the 1970’s. Her farm has been in the family for many years belonging first to her grandfather, John Roth, in the latter part of the 19th century. Emma and Roxie’s customers come from the entire tri-state area and include grandchildren of Emma’s original customers. Their only real form of marketing for thirty-five years has been word of mouth and it seems to have worked quite well.

The Richards, along with other perennial and plant farmers in the valley, are now in the process of putting out plugs and bare roots in their greenhouses and starting their potted seeds. The pictures below are of their greenhouses now. Look for the same greenhouse pots in a few weeks in this blog to see the plants you and others in the Valley may be buying come spring.

Learn to Grown Your Own: Every home gardener will find something of interest at Workshops for the Gardener!  Workshops for the Gardener is scheduled for Saturday, April 12th from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the PPL Walbert Training Center.  The event kicks off with a lively discussion about growing the very best heirloom tomatoes with expert Steve Bogash, one of our own Penn State Extension Horticulture Educators. Choose from sessions on home garden topics taught by our Master Gardening volunteers. Topics include:  Growing Great Cut FlowersYear-Round Garden MaintenanceTicks, Mosquitoes, and West Nile VirusTen Plants That Changed the WorldAfrican Violets; and Shade Gardening.  For the final session, participants will have a chance  to choose a demonstration to observe and interact with the instructor. Demonstration topics include: Herb GardeningRain Barrels, and Garden Photography.  You can peruse the garden fair to find books, plants, jewelry, soaps and more for purchase.  The conference will also feature a silent auction to benefit the Master Gardener program. The conference costs $50 with lunch included.  To register online go to http://www.cvent.com/events/workshops-for-the-gardener/event-summary-c76210525d4e4b04b6d8a170ec0a8e84.aspx

 

References:

aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu  

Woody plants of Utah, Renee Van Buren

Herbaceous Perennial Production, A guide from Propagation to Marketing, Dr. Leonard Perry – University of Vermont

www.uky.edu/Ag/NewCrops/introsheets/nurserybiz.pdf

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