| The Garden Plot
Hosted by Adrienne Cook
Washington Post Garden Columnist
Thursday, May 30, 2002; 11 a.m. EDT Whether you remember her as the "Backyard Gardener" or know her as the "Gourmet Gardener," Post columnist Adrienne Cook is one of the area's authorities on organic horticulture. Cook will be online to field questions, concerns and comments regarding gardening. Submit your questions and comments before or during the discussion. A self-proclaimed "practical gardener," Cook's love for horticulture stems from her roots, starting with a grandfather who bred day lilies and camellias. An organic gardener, Cook has been putting her heart and soul into the soil for 30 years. In her job as a Post columnist, Cook has been offering "real and simple solutions for basic problems" for the past 20 years. Practicing what she preaches, Cook balances her time between her numerous backyard projects, including a batch of perennials, fruit trees, a cut-flower garden and a burgeoning green house. Currently she is growing apples, cherries, apricots and various berries, but her favorites are the veggies: peas, tomatoes and herbs. Over the years Cook has contributed her green-thumb knowledge to several publications, including Organic Gardening, Good Housekeeping, Southern Accents and Fine Gardening. Temple Hills, Md.: I would like to attract butterflies and hummingbirds to my backyard. Please provide me with the names of a few plants (native plants if possible) which will attract them. Thanks in advance. Adrienne Cook: Native plants include milkweed, which comes in a range of colors including pink, orange, white and yellow; Queen Anne's lace; columbine -- the native one is a single-flowered red & yellow and reseeds freely, very easy-care; Joe-Pye, which is difficult to grow from seed but is generally available at garden centers and herb specialists; mint, lavender, coreopsis. Hanging baskets that attract hummingbirds would have in them lantana and fuschia. Vines include the trumpet vine, which comes in yellow or orange, cardinal climber. You'll hear about the butterfly bush -- Buddleii -- which is indeed a big draw for butterflies. However, it threatens to become an invasive species in our area, so if you grow it, stay away from the white, which is the most invasive, and limit how many you plant. You should also make a habit of pruning buddleii back as soon as it has finished blooming and discarding all the blooms to prevent reseeding.
Washington D.C.: I have been trying to locate a company or a reliable individual to come to my home on Capitol Hill on a regular basis (twice a month) to to maintenance on my yard -- mowing, mulching, watering, cleaning, weeding, planting etc. I have been unable to locate a company that is willing to do it. Do you have any recommendations?? Adrienne Cook: There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of mom-&-pop operations in our region that do not advertise or advertise in local classifieds and never appear in phone books or other places that a person might be looking for such a service. They vary widely in their reliability and knowledge. If you are going to be around and can oversee the work, I'd suggest you get a high-schooler or college kid in your neighborhood. That's what's worked for me and, though there is a turnover since the job market for this age group seems to vary almost month by month, I have found that there is an ample supply of willing teens. Get the word out in your community that you are looking for such a service, talk to friends with teens and ask their kids (go direct to the kids, don't try to get their parents to ask them) to give you names of likely candidates. If you see a truck or a crew in your neighborhood working at someone's property, get a card or a name; however, a lot of "professionals," in the business already have most of their clients lined up by now if they are any good at what they do. Hope this helps!
Aspiring Green Thumb: Hi Adrienne, Is there a good veggie you can recommend that will grow in part shade -- actually mostly shade (some sun). Also, any good recommendations on where to go to buy flowers and such that isn't Home Depot or Target -- a nice local joint! In Arlington or Northern Virginia please! Thanks! washingtonpost.com: As an Arlington resident, just adding my two cents: You might try Merrifield Garden Center on Rt. 50, Mrs. MacGregor's Garden, off 50 on Park Street or the Courthouse Farm Market -- Saturday mornings across from the Arlington County Courthouse complex. -- Liz Adrienne Cook: A good veggies? Well, to me almost every veggie is a good one if it's home-grown. However, almost every veggie also needs sun, and plenty of it. Even radishes and carrots, which grow when it's cool and even downright cold, still need sun to make those roots swell. How about trying some herbs instead? Thyme, sage and parsley all tolerate shade, though they still need at least a half-day of sun. To find a good nursery, check ads in TWP and browse your Yellow Pages. If I go looking for an all-purpose, reliable nursery, I gravitate toward Merrifield, which is close to home in Merrifield, VA, or Behnke's, when I'm heading North toward Baltimore. Both of these are listed in the NoVA & DC phone books & have Web sites.
Washington, D.C.: Adrienne, My kitchen window looks out 10 feet or so to my garage wall. Not very interesting. I'd like to put up a trellis on that (north) facing of the garage and grow some sort of climbing, flowering plants. I'll have to put in a container to hold them, since its on a brick area. The area gets bright shade, with very little direct sunlight. Any recommendations for something that would thrive in D.C. and be attractive much of the year? Thanks for taking the question. Adrienne Cook: You and I have a similar problem only mine is outside a small living room window. Begin by investing in really pretty trellising. You can find some beautiful trellis work -- arches, fans, etc., -- made of wood or metal and of different colors by going on line. Kinsman is one firm that specializes in French and English trellises that attach to walls. This will define the space and give you something to look at even if there's nothing climbing on it. If you are going to plant something in a container, get the largest one you can afford/find attractive for that space. For year-round color, pyracantha is very pretty and comes in yellow, orange and, now, red. It is a thorny evergreen that bears a profusion of white flowers in the spring, followed by berries -- their best color -- in late summer through winter. Pyracantha is an easy and fast grower that can be sculpted by pruning into a formal appearance and is beautiful that way, or left to look more natural and wild. It grows in sun or shade. There are, of course, many other climbers, including roses and clematis, trumpet vines and several kinds of American (not Japanese!) honeysuckles that behave much better than the one that we see rampant in the woods. Stay away from English ivy, which is a terrible invasive, Boston ivy, which is beautiful but will gobble your garage in a couple of years, and wisteria, another invasive on the native-plant hit list.
Washington, D.C.: We have a newly constructed tree well just waiting for a tree in a partially shaded backyard. We'd like to put in a dogwood -- do we have to wait until the fall? Adrienne Cook: Of course that will be the best time to plant a young tree. However, builders and landscapers plant trees year-round and many survive, especially if they are pampered. That means keeping them watered. Make sure your tree has a healthy root ball, that the hole is twice as big as you think you're going to need, and that when you plant it, your add compost to the soil as you cover up the roots. Invest in a 'Gator, a green plastic bag that fits around the base of the tree, is filled with water, and releases the water gently into the soil over a period of days.
Roses in Bloom -- Now What?: Hi -- My rose bush is in bloom. Do I prune the bush at all during the season? Adrienne Cook: If it's blooming, why would you want to prune it? No, no, let it alone. Prune roses in the fall, or when they need it to control growth (like climbers) after blooming is done. I also prune mine back if they get attacked by Japanese beetles. Oh, you could prune in late June or early July to try to get it to bloom again in September, but if it's a newly planted one, don't even do that. Give it a heaping shovel or two of compost -- horse manure is always recommended, if you can get it.
Herndon, Va.: Hi, I have a Clematis vine (Nelly Moser) that I have trained up a piece of string tied to a nail in front of my townhouse which has northern exposure. There are also some very high but narrow trees about 30 feet in front of my house. The vine is blooming but not as much as I see in catalogs or as much as another one I saw yesterday in someone's yard that was just loaded with tons of blooms. Any ideas? Thanks. Adrienne Cook: How long has it been in? It takes clematis a good four years to get going. I don't think that the trees have much to do with anything; does your Nelly Moser get some sun?
Alexandria, Va.: Hello! I have a community garden plot -- full sun, good drainage, no pesticides. I have one question. Should I pick off the flowers on my sage plant (I plan to use the plant in cooking)? Thank you! Adrienne Cook: Sure; pick them in a large bouquet and bring them indoors to enjoy for a few days. Oh, did you mean will leaving them on your plants effect the production of sage leaves? Not at all! Also, the bees love the salvia and will return the favor of having something to feast on now by pollinating your zucchini when it comes in.
Arlington, Va.: Hi Adrienne! I know this is tough for you to diagnose online, but here goes -- Something's eating some of my young perennials. The affected plants include plains coreopsis, anise hyssop, ironweed and joe-pye weed. They were all planted either last fall or this spring, so their shoots are nice and juicy. The damage occurs fairly high on the plant, and the critter is munching out small-to-large holes in the leaves or stripping the stems of leaves entirely. There are no slug trails around the plants, and I haven't noticed any critters. (One exception -- I have seen a lot of gnat-looking things with red heads.) Also, it doesn't look like aphid damage. I haven't used pesticides of any sort, so the beneficial insects should all be healthy. (In fact, we've seen lots of ladybug larvae and lacewings.) Any idea what the offender could be? Thanks! Adrienne Cook: I've had the same prob;em and I can't figure it out either; I have not even spotted any red-headed critters like you are describing. Given the timing of the damage, I can only surmise that it is caused by the larval stage of something -- perhaps gypsy moths, whose caterpillars I have seen lower to the ground recently. However, gypsy moth caterpillars are not reputed to eat these things, though with the reduction of oaks, they may be looking for unusual food sources. I cut back my Joe-Pye to about 12 inches and so far the new growth has not been the source of food for anything so I am keeping my fingers crossed. I have not seen it on the hyssop or the coreopsis, though I would probably do the same thing with these since they are also pretty tough plants. They should survive this damage and, if my hunch ir right about a larval attack, it should stop fairly soon and new growth on any of these plants should be fine. However, if you want to try something, go for Bt, which is low-impact and only effects caterpillars. You may lose a few welcome butterfly larva along the way, however, so you'll have to decide.
Bethesda, Md.: My children were asking me about growing carrots this year. I assume it's too late to put them in now, but is the early fall a good time to try? Thanks! Adrienne Cook: It's not too late; go for it. You can also sow them in August for a fall crop.
Washington, D.C.: Hi Adrienne, I have a question about roses. You just told someone not to prune them now, while they are in bloom. Does that mean I shouldn't cut off the dead blooms now either? I have been doing this and now wonder if I am harming the plants. Any other rose care tips? Thank you! Adrienne Cook: No, no, you are doing just fine. Cutting off the dead roses is called dead-heading and this encourages blooms to continue. Pruning is quite different, it means taking off canes.
Alexandria, Va.: My chamomile plant looks great and smells like an apple in the ground. But it tastes awful (e.g. tea)! In error I used Miracle Gro on the plant over a year ago. What can I do to improve the taste? I don't know if this means anything, but at one point it looked like the plant would flower, but I pinched them off before they started. Thank you! Adrienne Cook: Actually, it's the chamomile flower that has the flavor for teas. The scent of chamomile foliage is quite different from the flavor of the flowers, but both are pleasant. Let them bloom.
Takoma Park, Md.: Can you recommend a fast growing evergreen that will make a good screen between my yard and my neighbor's yard, but that isn't prickly? Adrienne Cook: Privet; euonymous; white pine.
Arlington, Va.: Are those little wild strawberries all over my yard edible? Adrienne Cook: To birds. They taste pretty terrible to most people.
Adams Morgan, Washington, D.C.: You've helped me with my beginner questions in the past and I'd like to thank you for that. I have another basic question: My basil plants are growing well and I'd like to start using some of it. What is the best way to pick the leaves so it keeps growing? Do I pick from the top or sides? Only big leaves? Symetrically, i.e., leaves from both sides? Thanks! Adrienne Cook: You basil plant should be at least 12 inches tall before you start snagging leaves. This has been a weird spring for these warm-weather lovers. Basil doesn't really take off and stretch until the weather consistently remains above 60 -- 24/7 -- and the soil has warmed up. Plants grown in pots are at an advantage in this since their little pocket of soil will warm up much quicker than that in a garden bed. However, there's still the question of chilly nights, and we've had a few even in the last week, so I'm guessing that most people have basil plants that aren't ready to be robbed yet. When that time comes -- and you will know by how your plant looks -- you can cut it any way you like: Whole stems to keep it nicely shaped, pinched at the top and sides to make it bushy, or individually leaves if you only need a little. Basil, once launched, does not mind this treatment a bit. In July, which it wants to bloom, don't let it; keep a pair of scissors handy and brutally snip off any emerging buds. The plant will keep budding, but, as long as you snip them off, it also will keep producing more foliage. Let it bloom, and you won't have any more of these wonderful leaves to pick by August.
Washington, D.C.: Please help! Just when I thought I had "mastered" gardening after only one year and a half, I am in despair: (1) vegetable garden -- I started tomatoes, okra, squash, basil, bell pepper inside. They developed little stems and then I transplanted them in mid-May (after seven weeks inside and one week hardening off) Then several days later the temperature drastically dropped. Now none of the plants are emerging and even the little stems are gone. What should I do?
Is it too late to direct sow? Should I just by seedlings from the nursery?
(2) I have holes in some of the leaves of my purple and white coneflowers. I thought that slugs were perhaps munching the leaves, but I've been told that I may have some other pest or bug because slugs do not munch leaves. I would rather not use a chemical to get rid of the bugs because, so far, I have avoided using chemicals and pesticides in my garden and use organic fertilizer. Can you suggest something, please? Adrienne Cook: I am so sorry you had such miserable luck, though you are not alone. I lost several things to that late cold snap too. Seedlings have to be pretty strong before they go outside and then they need to be protected with covers, etc., until the end of May some years. It's not too late to get in your summer annuals; check out what's available at your local nurseries; lots of farmer's markets also are still selling seedlings and they may your best bet. Don't direct-sow; it's really too late for that. Your coneflower can probably handle a bit of damage; I wouldn't worry too much. There is nothing on the market that is organic and kills everything. If you are really concerned, you could try a product that contains neem oil, which coats foliage so that insects, including slugs, find the foliage unappetizing. Rose Defense is a fairly widely available product that contains neem oil and you can use it on any plant.
Arlington, Va.: Help! I forget -- do you prune azaleas now after they have stopped blooming or wait until fall? Adrienne Cook: You can prune them now.
Fungicide?: An arborist told me that my crabapple needs fungicide treatments. Of course, he wanted a ridiculous amount of money. I have found basic fungicide products that I can apply. Is there some trick I'm missing that would make this more difficult than I can imagine? Adrienne Cook: Well, not really. But it's kind of like a doctor telling you you need an antibiotic but not what for. Did he diagnose the problem or only tell you what he would do to make it go away? In other words, did you get the right kind of fungicide?
Washington, D.C.: My tarragon plant always flops over after reaching a certain height. It's just sort of splayed outward from the center, leaving and ugly gap in the middle. Should I stake it up or is it supposed to act this way? Adrienne Cook: Prune it back before it does this and it will develop into a more bushy plant.
Suburban Maryland: Red Clay -- I've started gardening for the first time this year. I noticed that the ground in my flower beds is very thick consistency, like a red clay. Is this ok? If not, how can I improve it? Thanks so much for your help. Adrienne Cook: Organic matter and more organic matter. That's the trick to breaking up red clay, which, by the way, is a fine thing to start with -- to many gardeners criticise red clay, but they haven't gardened in sand, so they don't know what "bad" soil is! Your flowers will not thrive long-term in the red clay without being able to draw on organic matter, so get the compost going, get it in there, and add anything else that you've got handy or are willing to find/buy. Add lots every year and after about 10 years or so (not really!), you'll have fine, loamy soil in which even a stick will grow.
I've got to get out to the garden while I can. It's been great fielding these questions and I hope you all will be back soon. Thanks!
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