FEBRUARY GARDENING

With this fantastic weather I'm sure that everyone has been outside and working with their existing plants and/or putting in some new cold-enjoying flowering plants.

I've even been to nurseries scouting for plants for the Plant Sale. Warmer weather does put an interest in outside things into the air. Unfortunately, we still do have to keep an eye on the weatherman's predictions. I saw where we may even have in the thirties late Sunday night/early Monday morning. While that isn't necessarily a frost, it isn't weather that the true tropicals like so put a cover over or take inside your orchids, heliotropes, or other extremely tender plants if you have already put them out to enjoy the VERY warm weather that we've been having.

The wind has been very strong so check for drought conditions in any container plants or plants that are in areas of strong winds. You may need to move specific plants if after you plant them you realize that they don't do well in a windy spot---even though the sun/shade is right and the soil is good. OR conversely you may need to prune or thin certain plants/trees since they're not blooming or growing well because they need more circulation of air in the foliage. Crepe myrtles and holly trees are some plants that come to mind that respond well to being opened up for circulation.

One of the nurseries that I visited was Connie's Nursery. Connie spoke to the club in November about Brugmansias and she wondered if any of you who bought the "Adeline" variety from her had had blooms. One of her "Adeline's" had a very different bloom from the usual so she wonders if any of the others did.

This is the month to begin checking for insect infestation in your yard and/or plants/shrubs. Termites can be swarming soon so be aware of what they look like and take precautionary steps to protect your house. Look on the Information Table for pictures of good and bad insects so that you can suppress the bad and leave the good. This is the time for pre-emergent weed treatments for your lawn also, but don't fertilize---YET. Cut back mondo grass and liriope before the new leaf shoots appear, but for some of you the new leaf shoots have already popped up. If you have too many remember to dig the extra and save for the Plant Sale!

While walking the other day we saw the air potato fruits all over the ground so look around and pick up as many as you can and burn them if you can. Otherwise put them into the garbage rather than the yard trash since they can sprout. If you have the plant you need to try to find the big underground tuber that is the mother plant and dig it out. Wherever even a tiny sized "potato" lands it can sprout and grow another. This plant and the stink weed plant are vines that some think are attractive, but are invasive and very difficult to eliminate. I've been working on pulling the skunk vine/stink vine from our lakeside in February so that even though I won't eliminate it entirely, at least I'll have kept it from having a good start for the summer.

I put a bench at one spot where it was rampant and each time I go out to admire the sunset or the birds on the lake as I sit there I follow the vine and pull out as much as I can. Progress is being made albeit little by little.

While our Plant Sale is foremost in our hearts, there are some other Plant Sales that can be very interesting to attend. They are the USF Botanical Garden sale, April 8 & 9(shortly after our sale), the Harry P. Leu Gardens Sale, March 29-30, and the Kanapaha Gardens Spring Garden Festival, March 29-30.

After reading the wonderful book on Hibiscus last month I found a great book about Sage. Pineapple sage(Salvia elegans), Scarlet sage(Salvia coccinea), Mexican sage(Salvia leucantha), Perennial Salvia,or Mealy Cup sage(Salvia farinacea), Autumn sage(Salvia greggii), Sapphire sage(Salvia guaranitica), common sage(Salvia officinalis) and many more that are somewhat less familiar.

It seems that there is a sage for every garden, shady, sunny, partly sunny, etc. Sages come with many colored blooms and with many different fragrances and uses. Hope that all of you have at least one sage in your garden since historically sage has been associated with the restoration of health or staying healthy in mind/body and spirit.

Just saw a note in the newspaper about some grocery stores charging a fee for plastic bags now. Some of us have had the mesh bags from several years ago, but, unfortunately, they didn't hold very much. Other grocery stores do sell a cotton based bag for .50 which is reusable, but, of course, advertises their store. For the Environmental Studies Course which is being held here in Citrus County in early March, several of our extremely capable seamstresses fashioned 25 bags for the Environmental students to have for all of their information for the course. Of course, the Environmental Studies planners couldn't have their students using plastic bags which won't ever deteriorate so clog landfills and waterways. Perhaps if we all remembered to take our cotton bags or boxes to the grocery store we could help reduce the amount of plastics and if we had one with the FCGC logo, we could also advertise gardening instead of the store. Just thought that I'd throw that in for some discussion.

Have some questions ready for the Q & A at the meeting. We all learn something from the discussions.

Happy Gardening. llb