zenofwatering.com

It is hard to believe it is winter here as this is the second day of mid-day temps in the 70’s, But it is winter One of the things that is most outstanding this time of year are the red berried plants . There arefour that grown in this area of Zone8-9 surprisingly, none is native.Two are considered invasive one terribly so. Commercial nurseries are discouraged from selling it ( see Ardesia in a soon to be posted note).

Today I will discuss the pyracantha. It is grown though out the South as a shrub or against walls. This is due to its hardiness and ability to grow so fast that it does well leaning on walls. This particular plant is a closeup of a well, but infrequently pruned shrub It shows the typical berry color is a brilliant red orange. seen on what the natives call scarlet firethorn. The berries are 6mm in diameter.(Pyracantha coccinea). The plants have thorns. They have tiny whiteblooms in dense clusters (corymbs) in the late Spring.Pruning should be done in the late winter before the blooming to maximze the berrry production. The plant tolerates full sun to partial shade. The more sun the more flower Though the berries are usually this color there are hybrids from red to yellow. I fertilize once a year with balanced fertilizer in the Spring. like everything I grow it gets well mulched. It tolerates neglect quite well. Though non native it is infrequently invasive. And though birds are attracted to large shrubs to nest they don’t prefer these red winter berries to the extent they do some of the others, conssequently they make for along showy winter

The garden has a way of tantalizing you. It is dead winter (zone8) and despite some very frosty mornings there are all tsorts of things beginning to poke their way through the cold ground. It is a reminder to me to get them a good dose of soluble fertilizer . And for all the other bulbs doing the same. I usually use a balanced fertilizer and sprinkle a time release bulb blooming fertilizer for the beauties to come. 

Today I and the Zen of Watering Your Garden were the feature story in the “Living Section” of the Tallahassee

Democrat a Gannett owned newspaper at

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=LIVING.

Or just go to the Tallahasee Democrat at www.tallahassee.com

and click on the word ‘LIVING’ in the left hand column of bars

then click on ‘Find Peace in the Garden’ just below the photograph of me and the entire story opens.

As promised here is a Johnny Jump-up that has done some growing and is interesting as a photo because it shows the flowers in all stages. these are easy to grow in my part of Zone 8. Surprisingly this plant survived two frosty mornings with temperatures below 20F. This may or may not be due to being under a partial over hanging canopy.

I initially intended to show photos from the book in the sequence that the photos appear in the book. But I broke that rule when I went to the pansy photo. And as you can tell some of the other photos are already out of sequence with the previous comments. c’est l vi ! I am learning to use the blog software so please be tolerant as I hope the photos are dazzling. I had to struggle to get the wet quince photo into the blog in a size that was not a postage stamp.That said, in addition to breaking the sequence rule I think it will be fun for the readers particularly those in zones higher than 8 to see what is going on in North Florida. Hence the pansies below and the viola above and if I master this, then some more violas and Johnny Jump Ups will follow!

Here in North Florida we have begun to experience Fall and Winter simultaneously. Suffice it to say that the Temperature has been as low as the high 20 and as hot as the low 70’s. One of our cold hardy hardy group of plants are the Pansies an their smaller relatives. Two weeks ago we weeded and churned the soil in an oft neglected flower bed. Then covered it with on average 10 layers of newspaper and then an inch of cypress mulch. Ads sprayed the bed with castor oil. If we don’t the armadillos tear the areas apart looking for grubs.

Last week we put in Violas, and Johnny Jump-ups. I will post those pictures when the plants get a little fuller. In the next bed over we will be putting pansies and something taller. But first It has to be prepared. I had cannas there but they never bloomed to my satisfaction

mmc

Beautiful shrub. One just has to be careful of its thornso