Dear Helen: You mentioned in a recent column that, given a sunny site and fertile soil, growing sunflowers is a good project for children. What other flowers are easy-growing enough for a child’s garden? In order to draw our children into gardening, we want them to experience success with their first projects.
C.M.
Nasturtiums are a good choice for children. As with sunflowers, the seeds are large and easy to handle. They can simply be pushed into the soil, perhaps around sunflowers to create a flowering carpet around the larger plants. Nasturtium petals add colour and the young greens bring a tangy taste to salads. The blooms have a lovely honey-like, slightly spicy scent and they make cheery little bouquets for the house. As with sunflowers, nasturtium seeds can be planted this month.
Calendula (pot marigold) is another super-easy flower for direct seeding. The flower petals are also attractive additions to salads and the plants self-sow freely, as do nasturtiums.
Dear Helen: My partner and I have a longstanding “issue” when it comes to purchasing annual flower transplants. One of us prefers to buy large, already bloom-filled plants. The other would rather select smaller, compact transplants that have only one or two open flowers. We would be interested in knowing your preferences when choosing transplants.
D.D.
I look for transplants that are compact and sturdy, and generally avoid ones that have begun stretching out. Younger transplants settle into pots and garden beds more easily, and usually flower longer and more prolifically than older, overgrown ones.
When buying annual flowers, it is helpful to see one or two open blooms, in order to make a good colour choice, but I almost always remove opened flowers when I plant.
Dear Helen: We are new to Vancouver Island, in a home with established landscaping. We need advice on pruning and help with identifying plants and with ideas for new plantings, especially for shaded areas in the garden. Where is the best place to find that help?
A.W.
I’d start with seeking a knowledgeable source in the neighbourhood. A few conversations with neighbours should unearth the name of a person or couple nearby who are considered “experts” at gardening. Armed with a name, introduce yourselves and ask to see the garden. Most gardeners are pleased to share their knowledge. Local garden clubs are another wonderful source of excellent gardening advice. The Victoria Horticultural Society’s motto is “Share what you know, Show what you grow.”
More good advice is often available at garden centres. Once, when I was desperate for knowledgeable garden help, a centre near me gave me the name and contact of a person who turned out to be a wonderful help with taming many congested shrubs and generally cleaning up my wild garden.
Dear Helen: There is a small, persistent weed seen all over my neighbourhood. It forms small, leafy rosettes and little white flowers very early in the year. Everyone seems to have a different name for it. Is this description familiar to you? We’d like to know what it is and how to control it.
I.C.
Hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) is a common annual weed, often sprouting in January and sending up flower stems in February, followed by seed pods that ripen and shoot their seeds all over. The trick is to pull the plants up before they set seeds. The leaves are tasty additions to salads. Other common names are lamb’s cress, flick weed and shotweed.
GARDEN EVENTS
HCP plant sale. The Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, 505 Quayle Rd. in Saanich, is back with an in-person Spring Plant Sale on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. Come early for the best selection from among the many unique plants propagated from the HCP gardens. Master Gardeners will be on site to answer questions. Look for a list of available plants at hcp.ca.
Abkhazi Garden plant sale. Abkhazi Garden and Teahouse, 1964 Fairfield Rd. in Victoria, is now open seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the last entrance at 4 p.m. A plant sale on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. will feature garden gems such as Abkhazi Princess tree peony and Bella Bella magnolia, plants that can be purchased only at Abkhazi Garden.
