Fun Facts - English Gardening in Colorado

In the springtime in Colorado, one of the first perennials to flower is the iris. Everywhere you go you will see them, even in the wild in some places. Irises are one of the easiest plants to grow here. They are easily divided and can be transplanted almost any time of the year, with spring and fall being the best times. In fact, if you do not divide your iris, you will find that the roots will pop out of the soil in a rather unsightly manner and you will get barely any blooms or possibly none at all.

There are several different varieties of iris, including the Siberian, dwarf, and bearded. The Siberian iris grows very well in Colorado. They are smaller than the bearded iris and come in purple, blue, red-violet, and white. They are beautiful in a perennial garden. Be sure to plant them in a well-drained soil in a sunny to partly shady area. They are very cold hardy. 

The dwarf iris is about 6-8 inches tall. They flower around the same time as crocus and daffodils. They are best for the front of the garden bed, but like rock gardens where they will thrive. The dwarf iris will multiply if it is not in an area with poor drainage. 

The bearded iris is extremely popular and comes in many colors and combinations of color. They grow to be 36 inches tall and are amazing in a large group in the garden. Again, like other varieties of iris, it prefers a well-drained soil. This variety of iris blooms in May and June. After it has flowered, its sword like leaves are a beautiful addition to any garden. Irises are easy to divide. Just take a garden fork and dig a clump up, then separate the rhizome and break off pieces and plant them. Make sure you have a little leaf section (in a fan shape) so you can plant them with the leaves showing. 

I like to trim my iris in the fall to keep them tidy till winter comes. Some people like to leave them until they completely die off. Either way is fine as the iris is such a hardy plant. If you do not have any iris, it is quite easy to obtain. Just ask a friend or neighbor for a piece of iris root or rhizome along with some fan shaped leaves and plant.

You will be rewarded with many years of beautiful iris in your garden.

Images: courtesy of @theamericanirissociety

“When all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils.”

These words from William Wordsworth’s poem, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, always reminds me of England and the vast amounts of daffodils, also known as narcissus, growing wild all over the country. During March and April, daffodils can be found in almost every garden, field, and all over the banks around the motorways. They grow in the hundreds with little help, if any, from humans. The English weather is perfect for growing daffodils.

Here in Colorado, it is a slightly different story. Daffodils can appear in our gardens anywhere from March through May. However, they no sooner get their flowers than the April snows flatten them. Being rather hardy, however, they fight their way back through the snow and give us one of our first views of spring. Daffodils in Colorado are rarely seen growing wild in fields or along the banks of the highways due to our fluctuating weather and lack of moisture that they love.

If you are going to grow daffodils in Colorado, you will need to plant them at least eight inches deep in October before the ground freezes. If given the correct care, they will reward you by multiplying over the following years. If you have woods where you live, you can throw them in the air and plant them where they land. This will create a natural look to the daffodils and they will continue to multiply there. Daffodils are easily divided and transplanted. Daffodils in Colorado generally will not appear in the huge drifts as they do in England.

The leaves on the daffodils should be allowed to remain on the plant until they turn brown and die. Doing this “feeds” the daffodil plants so that they will continue to flower the next year. Leaving the leaves like this is sometimes hard to do as they can become a little unsightly. I like to tie them loosely with a piece of string until they are completely dead. Doing this keeps them a little tidier and one is not tempted to cut them off too early.

There are many different types of daffodils nowadays. There are large trumpet types, double daffodils, and small multiple flower types. There are now even miniature daffodils for planting in rock gardens.

Images: Courtesy of @denverbotanicgardens

Pansies are grown quite easily in Colorado, and who does not love pansies? With their sweet little faces, and multitude of colors, they are always welcome in anyone’s garden. Whether in the ground, in a rock garden, or simply in a pot, they brighten up every corner of the garden. 

Pansies can withstand the cold much better than other annuals, which is why one usually will find them for sale at garden centers and supermarkets early in the spring and the fall. Planted or placed in the shade, pansies will bloom from spring through to the hottest part of the summer. If they are left in their pot or area of the garden over the summer, many times they will self-seed and reward you with more pansies until the snow comes. In fact, pansies sometimes are seen peeking through the snow. They are a very versatile and tough little plant. 

Although pansies are considered an annual (meaning they die after the summer is over), they quite often act as if they are a perennial (meaning they come back every year). They will usually come back up in the spring if Colorado has had a mild winter. I had two hanging baskets of pansies and put them in my vegetable garden after they were done blooming for the year. Imagine my surprise the next year when my vegetable box was full of pansy seedlings!

One of the varieties of pansies that can be grown in Colorado is the viola. It is a much smaller pansy than others and is usually a very bright purple. It can also be found in white and yellow. A tri-colored (purple, yellow, and white) viola is also known as a Johnny Jump Up. It is well suited as an addition to a little rock garden if it is given some shade throughout the day. Violas work nicely as a ground cover too. Pansies and violas both need regular watering to bloom and do not like clay soil.

Pansies come in a variety of colors, such as red, white, yellow, blue, purple, and even black, although the black pansy does not have a face it has a little yellow eye in the middle. 

Pansies’ little faces are extremely popular with children. And, because they are so easy to grow, they are a great plant for a child who wants to plant their own little garden. Teach your children how to pinch off the spent blooms and they will have a little garden of pansies to be proud of.

Images: courtesy of @Gardeners world magazine

Growing lavender in Colorado is quite easy even for beginner gardeners. Lavender grows very well in a border garden or along the side of a patio or deck. It is a tough little plant and likes the dry Colorado weather and loose soil. It does not like too much moisture and should not be covered with moisture holding mulches or it will rot. It is a sun-loving plant. 

Lavender should be pruned back to half its height every two to three years in the spring. It blooms in the summer months and has a wonderful fragrance. Many people harvest their Lavender flowers for sachets, soaps, teas, and even baked goods. 

There are two main types of Lavender in Colorado, the English or Hidcote Lavender and French Lavender. English Lavender grows about 12-18 inches tall (sometimes taller) and is more compact than the French. English lavender has pretty little spikes of purple flowers. French Lavender has more compact flowers at the top of the flower and is not quite as fragrant as the English Lavender. It is much taller and is great in large drifts in a perennial garden. English Lavender will grow for as long as 15 years because it tolerates the cold weather well. French Lavender does not tolerate the cold weather very well and will usually only live for up to five years. 

Lavender is a beautiful plant to use in companion planting with roses and many other perennials. It comes in colors ranging from deep purple to pale pink and white. Once your Lavender plant is established, you can take cuttings from it and root them in a little planting medium to be planted in your garden when large enough. So, if you really like fragrant flowers in your Colorado garden, be sure to get a Lavender plant or two.

I am sure many of us remember holding a buttercup up to a friend’s chin to see if they liked butter. The bright yellow of the buttercup always reflects under the chin, so of course, everyone liked butter!

Buttercups can be found all over the world and there are some 600 different varieties. The most common buttercup in Colorado is the creeping buttercup. The creeping buttercup flowers mostly in the spring, but does occasionally have a flower or two pop up in the summer and fall. It is a very hardy low growing plant and will spread (creep) quite swiftly throughout a garden bed. They are extremely easy to transplant. They are also easy to remove if they should grow where you don’t want them. Pretty as it is, the buttercup is actually classified as a weed. It is also classed as a perennial and will come back the following year even larger than it was before.

Buttercups can cause dermatitis if rubbed against. One should wear gloves when tending them. They can cause paralysis and even death in farm animals if eaten by them. Usually farm animals will only eat them as a last resort if they do not have enough food to eat. 

Buttercups look beautiful in front of a garden bed or in an area that is difficult to get something to grow. They are often found in woods and fields where they grow quite freely. They like moisture but not too much. If they get too much, they will suffer from root rot, and if they get too little, they will just shrivel up and die. They also do not like too much fertilizer. 

I personally have found buttercups to be one of the easiest perennials to grow. They look really lovely with purple pansies. They are beautiful in the spring and keep the front of the garden beds nice and green throughout the growing season. 

Image’s courtesy of Pinterest.com

#coloradogardening #coloradogardeners #buttercups

Who doesn’t love marigolds in their garden? This easy-going plant is available in many shades of orange, yellow, red, and various combinations of these colors. Marigolds come in a few different sizes, the most popular being about 6-12 inches. They do however come as tall at 1-4 feet if you can find the African variety. 

Even though marigolds are considered an annual, they do self-seed and sometimes will reappear the following spring. Marigolds are perfect for children or a beginning gardener to grow.  They can be grown by seed by distributing about an inch apart on the soil. A little water and they will germinate in just a few days and within forty-five days, will flower. If marigolds are deadheaded, they will bloom continuously from late spring to late fall. You can also buy them as small plants at supermarkets or nurseries.

Marigolds love to be in full sun with a little afternoon shade in the midafternoon in areas with extremely hot sun. Gardening books will tell you that they prefer to be watered around their roots vs. watered from above. I do however, water mine from above and have not had any problems.

Marigolds can easily be grown in flowerpots and have the added benefit of keeping mosquitoes away when said pots are placed on a patio or porch. 

One of the many benefits of marigolds is in companion gardening with vegetables. They deter tomato hookworms and other bugs from eating tomato and other vegetable plants. They also attract bees, butterflies, and ladybugs.

For such a little and inexpensive plant, the marigold certainly earns its place in the flower and vegetable garden.

Images: Courtesy of @balconygardenweb #balconygardenweb

How many of you own Christmas cacti? Did you know that there are three different types of Christmas cacti? There are Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter cacti. Most people however know them all as Christmas cacti, mainly because they are usually sold in the grocery store or nurseries around that time of the year. 

The difference between the three is all in the leaves and the time they bloom. 

The Thanksgiving cactus has jagged leaves, the Christmas cactus has a more rounded and smooth leaf and is almost tear drop shaped, and the Easter cactus has rounded leaves. 

All three types of cacti bloom pretty much when their name suggests. (Mind you, I have had a Halloween cactus in years past.) The reason they bloom at different times is due to the amount of darkness they receive during a twenty-four-hour period. The Easter cacti need 8-12 weeks of short days, and Thanksgiving and Christmas cacti need 6-8 weeks of short days. A short day is defined as 10 hours of light and 12 hours of dark. Putting a bag over your plant for 12 hours a day works well as does putting it in a closet.

The cacti come in many different colors such as white, pink, peach, yellow, purple, and different shades of red. Your cacti can live outside during the summer months if it is kept in the shade. The sun will burn its leaves. It should be watered as soon as the soil is dry. 

Cacti should be repotted in a good quality soil every year after blooming. With good care, your plant can be handed down over the years. There are some cacti that have been handed down in families for 100 years! 

Images: courtesy of @theoldfarmersalmanac

One of the prettiest and easiest to grow biennials in Colorado and many other areas of the world is the Sweet William plant, which is a member of the dianthus family such as carnations. The plants grow in so many different shades of pink from dark to pale, that they are often referred to as Pinks, along with other dianthus varieties. However, they can also be found in white, red, and variegated pinks. 

Though they are considered a biennial, meaning they only grow for two years, Sweet William will often return each spring for several years. They like to be in a partly sunny area, and do not like to get too wet. I have found that if they get too much intense Colorado sun, they tend to dry out and their flowers are extremely small, and do not open up fully. Watering more regularly may help with that. In another state where the sun is not as intense, they do perfectly fine in the direct sun. 

Sweet William can be purchased at any grocery store or nursery in the early spring. Planting them shortly after Mothers’ Day is best in Colorado because the usual heavy spring snow is usually over by then. 

The best place for Sweet William is the front of a border garden or rock garden. They will spread out nicely in a flower bed, and also grow well in pots. Sweet William self-seeds if allowed to, but I have not had great luck with mine doing that. You can also dig up the plants carefully after blooming and separate them into two or three new plants. They are very reasonable to buy as tiny plants though and will reward you for several years.

After blooming for the first time in May or June, the dead blooms can be clipped off, and you will be rewarded with another set of blooms a few weeks later. 

Images: Courtesy of @OHBAonline 

Just for fun, I've included this unusual and fascinating garden in England. (Don't try this at home...) 

"The Alnwick Garden is one of north England's most beautiful attractions, where acres of colorful plants invite visitors to wander through rows of fragrant roses, manicured topiaries and cascading fountains. But within Alnwick's boundaries, kept behind black iron gates, is a place where visitors are explicitly told not to stop and smell the flowers: the Poison Garden, home to 100 infamous killers."

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/…/step-inside-worlds-most-d…/

Images courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine