Ideas & How To's
Perennials in Bloom: Month by Month
Not sure when your favourite Perennial will flower? Check out this handy guide below!
Tips for this Strawberry Season
Ah, the beginning of summer: sunshine, relaxing days on the patio, and strawberries. Whether you like them on top of cereal, salads, or ice-cream-these bright red berries are sure to put a smile on your face.
Plant a Hot Pepper Garden
Want to bring on the heat this summer? We have a range of hot peppers to satisfy your inner daredevil! Be adventurous, try growing a pepper you’ve never had before.
Not only do they spice up dishes, they are also packed with vitamin D, vitamin C, potassium, fiber and beta-carotene.
Best Time to Harvest
Quick Fresh Tomato Sauce Recipe
Too many tomatoes to eat in a salad? Make a quick and easy tomato sauce. This sauce is perfect for a savoury meal during the harvest season.
Perennials for Ground Covers
Ground covers are both decorative and problem solvers. Many thrive in shade or where lawns will not grow; others are ideal for preventing soil erosion and weed control.
Perennials for ground covers are not usually the herbaceous types that die down in winter but rather evergreen types, woody sub-shrubs and those with winter persistent foliage.
Rose Care
Spring & Summer
- Plant the bud union 5 cm below the soil line.
- Fertilize with Transplanter 5-15-5.
- After three or four weeks, change to a brand name rose food. Established roses should be fed every week from early spring to late August. On the premise that prevention is easier than a cure, spray once per week with insecticide/fungicide.
Fall or Early Winter
- Change from rose food to 0-0-20 (straight potassium) for overwintering vigour. Let the last flowers go to seed; do not prune.
- When the ground is frozen, (not too early, mid- to late November) hill up the rose canes with soil, which you have kept unfrozen for this specific purpose, to a height of 45 cm. Do not prune at this time, unless the canes are so tall they could whip about in the winter winds, thereby damaging themselves or disturbing the hill of protective soil. Leave as much cane as possible. In beds or in mass plantings, rose collars are a must, — they are easy to use and reduce the amount of soil required. Where collars are not used, the hill of soil, once frozen, should be covered with evergreen boughs after Christmas so that the soil remains frozen and does not thaw in mild spells.
