Charlie’s Mid December Newsletter
It’s been an adjustment for me getting used to the cold, cloudiness and shorter days of December after spending 3 weeks in Australia. Of course, it’s summer “down under”, so the memory of the tropical and temperate climate flowers blooming is fresh in my mind. But it’s beautiful in Vermont this time of year as well. The snows have come and gone, but the holidays decorations, trees, wreaths and cheer is permeating the landscape.
Plus, there are holiday plants, and many others, that are shining in our home. Poinsettia is one, shown here as a landscape plant in Australia. Another classic holiday plant for this time of year is the amaryllis. The bulbs make perfect holiday gifts and the flowers are big, gaudy and prolific. There are many flower colors and some interesting shapes and sizes as well. I talk about selecting amaryllis bulbs and getting them to rebloom in coming years. I have some amaryllis that have rebloomed 4 years in a row! Learn more here.
Violas and pansies are great early spring annual flowers, but they can be perennials as well in many gardens. I always try to have some violas and pansies on hand for late winter, but I also know that some, such as the Johnny Jump Up, overwinter outdoors in our climate and can surprise me with winter blooms once it warms up. I even have one blooming outdoors right now. I talk about growing and enjoying violas indoors as houseplants and outside in this newsletter.
The cold has finally taken down some of our herbs. We’ve protected the lavender, but many other herbs are finished for the season. However, parsley and chives seem to just keep growing, especially in our unheated greenhouse. I talk about growing and using these herbs for the holidays and having them indoors for winter cooking in this newsletter.
And finally, as you probably guessed from my emails, my annual End of the Year Gardening Webinar Sale continues until the end of December. For those who are unfamiliar with my webinars, I have a library of 20 gardening webinars on a range of topics from Houseplants to Pollinator Gardens. You certainly are welcome to purchase individual webinars, but as an end of the year sale, I created packages of themed webinars. You can purchase them, at a greatly reduced price, from now until the end of the year. Check out the packages below.
Have a great holiday and until next time, I’ll be seeing you in the garden.
Charlie
There’s one flower that always surprises me in the garden in spring. That’s the viola or pansy. We grow pansies in spring and early summer like many gardeners. Often I pop them into the garden to keep flowering until it gets too hot. But if I’m smart, I plant them where other perennials will shade the violas. This, and some water, will keep them alive in summer and they often return and flower in fall with the cooler weather. I could just leave them outdoors and often the small flowered violas will return in spring. But sometimes I pot them up and bring them indoors.
These small flowered violas can be quite a delight indoors and outdoors. ‘Etain Violet’ is a beautiful variety with pale yellow colored petals edged in purple. They look beautiful in late spring next to species tulips. ‘Halo Sky Blue Tufted’ (Viola cornuta) features soft blue and yellow petals on scalloped foliage. The flowers are fragrant as well. These low maintenance flowers are like ‘Johnny Jump Ups’ in that they overwinter regularly in the garden and can spread over time. For overwintering and indoor plants, I’d look for the smaller flowered violas. The large flowered pansies don’t seem as hardy in our garden.
Plant violas in containers for easy viewing on a deck or patio or in the garden. They grow best in full to part sun on well-drained soil. If you plant in full sun, place them near taller flowers that will shade them come summer. We often grow violas in containers in spring and move them into the garden under roses and other shrubs for the hot times of summer. In fall we bring them out again and they will bloom well into fall.
You can bring pots of violas indoors to grow as well. Place them in a summer window or under grow lights and they should continue to flower in fall. Come this time of year they may slow in their growth and flowering, unless they are under grow lights. But by February you should see new growth and flowers soon after to enjoy and to eat as well.
Go here to learn more about Growing Violas
How to Growing: Amaryllis
While poinsettias are often thought of as the Christmas flowers, I think amaryllis are a close second. During these end of the year holidays, it’s nice to celebrate the return of longer days with some color. Amaryllis are native to the Southern Hemisphere and found in South American and South Africa. These large bulbs back a punch and actually don’t even need soil to grow and flower. In fact, one of the recent trends in amaryllis is to dip the bulbs in wax. They come with a pedestal for the bulb to stand on and sold without a pot or soil. The waxed amaryllis will flower without skipping a beat. However, the bulb will be less likely to flower again next year.
There are many varieties of amaryllis and often are sold in containers with the pot and soil or in bulk. I always get a new variety each year because there are so many cool ones to try. There are some with flowers shaped like spiders. There are double flowered types and dwarf types that stand only one or two feet tall. With amaryllis bulbs, the larger the bulb, the better. Many large bulbs will produce 2- or 3-flower stalks with 6+ flowers per stalk. That’s quite a show for a long period of time.
You can grow the bulbs a number of ways. I mentioned buying ones in wax. That’s probably the easiest way to grow them. You can place a bulb in a large vase with stones on the bottom and water filled to the top of the stones. The amaryllis will grow roots into the stones and flower beautifully. And you can always pot them up in a container with potting soil. That’s what I do each year. This insures I can grow them beyond just the holidays and have them for many years. Support the flower stalks with Velcro® Brand Plant Ties and tall sticks to keep the flower stalk vertical. Keep well watered and deadhead the spent flower stalk after it finishes blooming. Leave the leaves.
To get amaryllis to flower next year, after flowering is finished this year, remove the flower stalk, place the pot in a sunny window and keep watered until spring. In spring, fertilize the bulb and place it outdoors in a part sunny location for summer growing. Fertilize again in midsummer and allow the plant to grow strong. In late September, bring the pot indoors, stop watering and cut back the foliage. Place the container in a dark, cool room until November. In November or December bring it out into the sun to start growing and flowering again.
Go here to learn more about Amaryllis
Cold Hardy Herbs
While most of our annual herbs, like basil, dill, and calendula, are dead and the perennial herbs, such as oregano and thyme, have gone dormant, there are a few hardy perennial herbs that still look good.
Chives and parsley are two, tough herb plants. Chives is a long-lived perennial, while parsley is a biennial. They both can tolerant cold and, if protected, are can be harvested into winter. We often bring a plant of each indoors in November and December to have for the holidays and to harvest from into winter. All it takes is a sunny window in a warm room and they seem happy.
Chives are very common and an easy plant to divide and share. The foliage is quick to grow in late winter with a warm spell and it will flower a month or so later. The common purple flowered chives is widely available, but also look for the white flowered garlic chives for a stronger taste. It’s best to cut back chive plants regularly in summer. We often wait until the flowers fade to cut them back. That’s because pollinators and butterflies love the flowers for nectar and pollen. Chives regrow quickly and the new foliage is more tasty and tender than the older leaves. The leaves and flowers are edible and make attractive additions to a winter salad or soup. You probably won’t get flowers, though, this time of year unless you grow them under grow lights.
Parsley comes as curly leafed and flat leaf varieties. The Italian flat leaf has a stronger flavor and is a bigger plant. We use that one for soup making. The curly leafed parsley is great as a garnish, in salads or used to make tabbouleh. Parsley is a great landscape and container plant. The dark green leaves look beautiful as a backdrop to more colorful annual flowers. In containers they complement other herbs, such as basil, well, and even tomatoes and lettuces. Parsley loves well drained, moist soils. In fall we bring in a plant to grow in a sunny window. We harvest until there’s little left. That’s because parsley is a biennial and will send up a flower stalk in spring and die soon afterward. Enjoy it while you can!
Go here to learn more about Growing Parsley
In Our Garden: Gardening Webinar Sale
Many of you know every year I present and record Gardening Webinars on a variety of topics. I’ve been doing this for many years and now have a library of 20 Gardening Webinars. I’m actually planning my webinars for 2025, so if you have a topic you’d really like me to cover that I haven’t already, let me know!
To celebrate the end of year, and encourage more people to garden better, I’ve created three Gardening Webinar Packages to purchase at a reduce rate. These packages are grouped by theme; Organic Food Gardening, Flower and Shrub Gardening and The Whole Gardening Library. The prices for these webinar packages are discounted up to 40% of the regular price, so they’re a great way to get lots of gardening information to watch and learn all winter long. However, this is an End of the Year Sale and will be discontinued come January 1, 2025.
So, consider purchasing a Gardening Webinar Package for yourself, for a loved one or for a friend as a holiday gift. You can also just have them for future reference.
