New England Gardener

Macrophylla or Mophead Hydrangea In Bloom

I have a hydrangea plant which I brought from my mothers garden in New York 6 years ago. It grows beautifully with healthy green leaves, but has never flowered. Any suggestions?
Sue

Answer:
Hi Sue,
I’m assuming you’re growing a macrophylla or “mophead” hydrangea because they’re the ones that can be finicky in our northeastern climate. It’s important to remember that older mophead varieties form buds and bloom on last year’s stems.

Here in New England, a late spring freeze can wipe out all the buds that have started to swell on the old growth. One way to determine if this is happening is by simply looking at the spring growth. If all the green is coming up from the ground instead of from existing branches, you’ve got a hardiness problem. I’ve seen this happen on a Nikko Blue in my yard. Some years I get blossoms. Some years I don’t.

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Why Sunflowers Are Worth The Effort

Question:
I love sunflowers and I know they’re among the easiest of all plants grow. Unfortunately, my cute little backyard friends–the rabbits, I believe, but possibly squirrels and chipmunks, too?–also love tender young sunflower foliage, making them extremely difficult to grow.
We’re dying for the cheer that sunflowers would bring to our yard, but frustrated by the devastation. Any thoughts on sunflower protection?
–Danny

Answer:
Hi Danny,
I’ve had problems with critters going after almost mature sunflowers, but never this early in the season. Bummer. Have you thought about using an organic repellent such a cayenne pepper spray?

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It is so nice to have the sun back! After Tim posted his water-logged sad roses, I thought I should follow up with some happier roses.

I added about five roses bushes to my flower garden this year. They are all doing very well. The rain did take its toll and I had to snip off a few dozen moldy rosebuds. But, in the past week, the bushes have all taken off with new growth and buds.

My collection consists of some expensive roses and some that I have bought on clearance at the garden center mid-summer. I can’t really tell the difference between them! Again, they are all thriving.

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Planting Pumpkin Seedlings for Fall Harvest

As much as I love Autumn, I’m always reluctant to flip the calendar forward for fear of jinxing summer. Don’t you just hate seeing those “Back to School” commercials when you’re heading out to catch lightning bugs?

And yet, mid-July is the perfect time to plant many vegetables for a September/October harvest.
Deals on seedlings are abundant right now. Many garden centers planted extra seedlings this spring hoping to tap into the vegetable gardening craze, and they’re anxious to get rid of leggy leftovers.

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As You Can See. Not Knee High.

You’ve heard the old farmer’s saying about corn; “Knee High by the Fourth of July.” Ha. Not this year. In my community garden, the corn is about as high as a Dunkin’ Donuts medium size cup. I apologize for the product plug. I didn’t have a measuring stick handy and figured most New Englanders are familiar with the dimensions of a DD cup. Translation: The corn is a little past my ankles.

While the corn, tomatoes and cukes are sun-starved and showing it, the peas did come through. They went in a week after Patriot’s Day and were ready for picking by the 4th of July. We didn’t do the traditional salmon and peas supper, instead opting for a tomato-cucumber-fresh pea vinegrette salad. The peas don’t seem quite as crunchy and sweet as year’s past. I wonder if the lack of sunlight has affected the sugar content on the snap peas?

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One of the hopes we have had for the question-and-answer parts of this blog is for you out there as members of the community to be a part of the community knowledge base. We can tell from your questions that you are active gardeners, as we are. So I am betting that *you* all have answers that we might not.

So if you see someone else’s question on the site and have a suggestion, put it in the comments!

And I’ll start with a new question, too. I have a new and lovely garden, with some pretty three-leafed greenery. Yes, poison ivy. If poison ivy was a cash crop, I could retire from blogging and make a small but comfortable living as an ivy harvester.

So what are your best suggestions for getting rid of poison ivy – the plant, not the itch. Bonus points for remedies that don’t involve chemicals that create dead zones in the garden/lawn.

OK, smart garden people – let’s hear from you.