Carolina Country Gardens
Get Ready for Gardening By Carla Burgess
The North Carolina Botanical Garden has picked Piedmont Barbara’sbuttons (Marshallia obovata var. obovata) as Wildflower of the Year for 2009. The Botanical Garden praises this Southern wildflower as “simultaneously sturdy and delicate, cheerful and elegant, petite and eye-catching.” The tiny white flower petals give each button-shaped flower head a lacy appearance. Single flowers about 1 inch h across are borne atop upright stems in April and May. Stems may reach 2 feet tall, but the plant is typically shorter. Fire-pink (Silene virginica) and lobed tickseed (Coreopsis auriculata) are good d landscape companions with similar stature and preference for well-drained d 10 MARCH 2009 Carolina Country
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The summer melon ‘Lambkin’ and fall squash ‘Honey Bear’ took top honors in the 2009 All-America Selections annual competition. p The AAS orgag nization’s mission aselections.org
Free seeds of the Wildflower of the Year
New sweets for the garden
is to promote new seed varieties with superior garden performance judged in impartial trials in North America. ‘Lambkin’ is lauded as a 2- to 4-pound melon with a thin rind and sweet, white, juicy flesh. It is ready for the table earlier than most other gourmet melons, maturing in 65 to 75 days. Because of the early harvest, the vines produce more melons. ‘Lambkin’ is classified as a “Christmas-type” melon because of its long storage life. The oval melon has attractive yellow skin with green mottling. Seeds and plants should be available in retail stores this spring. Like other melons, ‘Lambkin’ should be planted after the last frost date and after the ground has warmed. You can get a jump on the season by starting seeds in pots a few weeks before the desired transplanting date. Or lay black plastic in the planting area to help heat up the soil before direct-sowing.
a Selections, www.all-americ
Many perennials and some annuals benefit from a head start indoors. People often start seeds in a sunny windowsill, but seedlings will grow straighter and sturdier if grown under lights. Incandescent bulbs do not provide the proper spectrum of light for plant growth, so you must use fluorescents. The setup need not be fancy. For most purposes, standard fluorescent tubes will work just as well as the more expensive grow lights. Choose a fixture that fits your space (home improvement stores stock these) and select lights to fit. Hang the fixture with a chain so the lights can be raised as plants grow. The lights should be no higher than 4 inches from the top of the seedlings. To know when to start seeds, check the seed packet. Most will say how many weeks in advance of warm weather (usually after the last frost date) to sow them indoors.
soils in full sun. The natural habitat of Piedmont Barbara’s-buttons is dry, open woodlands and sunny edges, such as power line rights of way. It ranges primarily in the Piedmont of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia. To receive free seeds of Piedmont Barbara’s-buttons, along with growing instructions, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: 2009 NCWFOY, North Carolina Botanical Garden, CB 3375 Totten Center, UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3375. The Botanical Garden and the Garden Club of North Carolina Inc. are co-sponsors of the Wildflower of the Year program, now in its 28th year. The project’s aim is to actively promote attractive Southeastern wildflowers.
Photo courtesy of All-Americ
Starting seeds for spring
es in 65 to 75 days, mu tur ma n' bki am 'L cy jui d an eet Sw than other gourmet melons.
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