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After the spring holidays are over, colored eggs found and eaten, lamb, pork and brisket feasted upon, family celebrations enjoyed, and religious services attended, what remains is an abundance of fading potted plants received as gifts.
Unfortunately, many people throw them away like stale Peeps, unaware they can be planted in the garden.
Gift plants -- those wrapped in colorful foil and cellophane and commonly sold in supermarkets and big-box stores -- are forced to bloom under greenhouse conditions so they’ll be in peak form on a specific date, like a holiday. And all that forcing causes them to spend all their bloom energy in one shot. Forced plants are pretty much depleted for at least a year after their initial display.
Sometimes, they become so stressed after being forced that they never reach their full potential, but I’ve conducted many experiments over the years with good results. If you have patience and treat them properly, many of your gift plants will return to impress you for years to come. First, some guidelines:
Remove cellophane wrapping and poke holes in the bottom of foil (if pots are wrapped) to allow excess water to drain.
Ensure plants get adequate sunlight, and water as needed.
Allow them to complete their bloom cycle indoors, caring for them as you would any houseplant.
When blooms dry up, keep watering, but only minimally, until the danger of frost has passed.
Then follow these plant-specific instructions:
Easter lilies
Cut off spent flower heads with scissors, leaving the stems and leaves intact.
Remove each plant from its container and plant them 12-18 inches apart outdoors in a sunny spot, retaining the soil depth of the pot, typically around 6 inches. Water well, mulch and apply a slow-release, balanced fertilizer (10-10-10) at planting time and again monthly throughout summer.
New shoots may grow, but the plant will not likely bloom again this year.
Hydrangeas
Whether mophead or lacecap, most gift hydrangeas are of the macrophylla species.
When the flowers have faded, snip them off and remove the plants from their containers. Plant in the garden at least 18 inches apart, depending on variety, and apply a slow-release, balanced fertilizer (10-10-10).
Although most hydrangeas prefer partly shady conditions, an increasing number of new varieties now available as gift plants, such as ‘Strawberries & Cream,’ perform well in full sun (read the plant tag for details). This year you may notice some growth, but basically what you’ll have is a shrubby foliage plant. Expect blooms next year.
Results in the garden can vary, but I’ve seen these grow up to 4 feet tall after a few years.
Hyacinths
Snip off spent flowers and stems but let leaves stay on the plant until they turn yellow or brown (the leaves are necessary to produce food for energy the bulb will need to bloom next year).
Dig a hole deep enough to accept the plant at the same depth it was in its container.
Add a handful of bone meal to the planting hole and sink the whole plant into the ground, covering it with soil. Apply a balanced fertilizer (10-10-10) once a week until August, and remove the foliage after it has withered.
Tulips
Tulips are wonderfully reliable, repeat-blooming perennials -- in Nepal, Armenia, Northern Iran and Turkey. Elsewhere, not so much, even under the best of conditions.
They practice what accountants call “diminishing returns” until one year, all you get are stems and leaves and wonder where the party went. Then it’s time to plant more.
You certainly can plant your gift tulips, but you should know that their unreliability is even more pronounced if they began life as a forced plant. Still, what have you got to lose? Treat as you would hyacinths and hope for the best.
Daffodils
Daffodils are the most reliable perennial bulbs; they even multiply every year.
After their flowers have faded, plant them in a sunny spot as you would hyacinths and daffodils. Water as needed and fertilize weekly with a 10-10-10 product all summer long.
📬 Ask Jessica
DEAR JESSICA: This weed, which makes little white flowers, is taking over my flower gardens and the lawn. I pulled a lot out last summer. What can I do to eliminate them? Thank you for your help. I’m glad you’re back!! — Rita Stasi, Miller Place, NY
DEAR RITA: Thanks, it’s good to be back!
That’s hairy bittercress, a common nursery weed. Over the years, it has been transported to residential gardens in potted plants. And once it makes itself at home, it spreads with reckless abandon, thanks to its exploding seed pods, which “pop” when mature, spewing seeds everywhere.
The weeds you’re seeing now likely grew when those seeds landed in your garden last fall.
If you’d like to eliminate them, you have a few choices:
Because the weed dies right after spreading its seeds, running over it with a mower or weed whacker before the seeds mature will prevent its spread.
You can also pull it out by hand. Its roots are shallow, so they come up easily.
Although hairy bittercress responds to post-emergent herbicides, I’m not a fan of chemicals, so that would not be my choice. Still, if you want to go that route, apply the product early in the season before the seeds ripen.
Or you can eat it! Despite its name, the plant, a member of the mustard family, has tender, mild-flavored, nutritious leaves that make a nice addition to a sandwich or salad. Obviously, don’t eat it if it’s growing in a chemically treated or otherwise polluted area. And make sure you’re 100% certain you identified it correctly.
Hairy bittercress likes moist, worked soil, so it’s more likely to grow if an irrigation system regularly waters your lawn and garden.
New infestations can be prevented by ensuring a thick lawn. Do this by applying seeds over existing lawns (and repairing bare patches) now and again in late summer.
A late fall application of mulch in garden beds will smother the weed and slow its spread.
💡 If you do one thing this week…
Remove stamens, which include pollen-coated anthers, from the centers of gift lily flowers to prevent staining tablecloths and other surfaces.
👏 Sunday shoutout
Giving this a re-do because of the photo display issues in last week’s newsletter.
Barbara Silpe of Lido Beach, NY, writes: “I decided to follow your advice on planting native flowers [last year], as well as ones that attract bees, hummingbirds and butterflies. I planted this pincushion flower, and tada! Within just two weeks, a buzzing friend came by for a buffet meal! Thank you for your proactive suggestions.
Send in your photo, and you could be featured next!
📰This week in my Associated Press gardening column
I write a weekly gardening column for the AP, so you might have seen my byline in your local paper (or news website) — wherever in the world you happen to be. In case you miss it, though, I’ll post the most recent here every week.
This week, I wrote about five free apps and phone features to help you identify plants, flowers, weeds, insects and diseases. I hope I didn’t write myself out of a job…
Before that, I wrote about cherry blossom trees in Washington, DC, the do’s and don’ts of spring cleanup, Bradford pear woes, and much more.
You can read all my AP gardening columns here.
📚📺🎵 📚📺🎵 📚📺🎵 📚📺🎵
Random things I enjoyed this week
“Beef” on Netflix: I love a good A24 movie, so when I heard the company was producing a Netflix series, I put it on my queue. It turns out the “beef” in question isn’t meat but a gripe that grows between two strangers who encounter one another during a road rage incident. One thing leads to another, things escalate, and, well, it isn’t pretty. I give it a 5 out of 5.
I spend hours every week writing this newsletter, answering your questions and sharing advice to help you achieve the garden of your dreams. If you enjoy reading The Weekly Dirt and would like it to continue, please consider supporting my work by buying me a coffee!
This newsletter was made possible by the generous support of Bob, Joyce C., Joe P., John Del Grosso, Lynn Parks, Heidi C., Richard Cowan, Pamela Joan, Lblomrn, Bill Weresnick, Beth H. Brenner, PattiBee7, Rob, Maria Poveromo, and others who chose to remain anonymous (you know who you are)! Thank you so much!
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I welcome your comments and suggestions, so please send them along — as well as any topics you’d like to see covered and questions you’d like answered in the Ask Jessica section.