Press Release

Summer bulbs, which are planted in the spring after danger of frost, extend the garden’s blooming season well into summer until frost.  Their glorious and often fragrant flowers and plants continue to provide nutrients and shelter for our treasured pollinators. 

Most bulbs planted in the fall that bloom in the spring are true bulbs and are planted ‘pointy-end-up’.  Many summer bulbs are corms, rhizomes, tubers, or tuberous roots.  Depending on your soil type, the timing of your rainy season, your winter hardiness zone and whether you have shade or sun, many summer bulbs are often more perennial than you might expect.  Even if they aren’t winter hardy for your plant zone, most are very happy growing in large containers outside until frost is expected.  Then that container and plant can be stored in the basement or some area that doesn’t freeze during the winter and can be brought back out next summer.   In our trials, we have found that most geophytes prefer extremely good drainage while they are dormant, which helps to increase their winter hardiness.  They like to ‘sleep in a dry bed’ just like we do. 

Many areas in the U.S. have almost tropical heat and humidity during the summer months, in which summer bulbs thrive.  The fabulous fragrance of lilies and Polianthes, huge tropical leaves of Colocasia and a kaleidoscope of colors of dahlias, gladiolus and caladiums planted outside your backdoor, will make you feel like you ARE in the tropics. With a sprinkler added to the end of a water hose creating a ‘run-through-fountain’ – you and your children can enjoy a ‘stay-cation’ and have a fabulous, bonding time right in your own backyard without spending a fortune on fuel!  Give them a try!

Becky Heath is co-owner and President/CEO of ‘Brent and Becky’s Bulbs’, located in Gloucester, Virginia.  She’s a gardener, teacher, an author, and a Past-President of GardenComm:  Garden Communicators International.

The National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (NICH) is a consortium of industry leaders who are promoting the benefits and value of horticulture. NICH brings together academia, government, industry, and nonprofits to cultivate the growth and development of a healthy world through landscapes, gardens and plants — indoors and out.

Please feel free to share or adapt this article in your newsletter or other customer communications.

In the past, we only wanted our yards to be pretty.

Now we know what we plant in our yard affects the environment, and it can be frustrating for gardeners who try to find the right plants. Supporting life, sequestering carbon, feeding pollinators, and managing water can be lofty goals for gardeners.

Planting native plants in landscapes is now more crucial than ever. Native plants provide food and shelter for animals and need little care. They can defend themselves against drought and pests, reducing the need for pesticides and irrigation systems. Root systems of native plants filter sediments and improve water quality in local streams, ponds, and watersheds.

February is National Bird-Feeding Month and it is celebrated to bring attention to birds during the coldest part of year when food can be scarce. Urban sprawl has taken over wildlife habitats and many new subdivisions are typically landscaped with non-native plants. Incorporating native plants with the well-behaved non-native plants in yards that are already established can be a great compromise.

The Audubon Society helps to promote “Plants for Birds” by advocating for native plants that support birds in our landscapes by offering a list of plants recommended on their website that have been known to attract certain species of birds. Visit their website for a list of native plants based on your zip code to bring more birds to your home. https://www.audubon.org/native-plants

Colette Dean is a Master Gardener and Master Naturalist based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (NICH) is a consortium of industry leaders who are promoting the benefits and value of horticulture. NICH brings together academia, government, industry, and nonprofits to cultivate the growth and development of a healthy world through landscapes, gardens and plants — indoors and out.

Please feel free to share or adapt this article in your newsletter or other customer communications.

We all know the holidays are supposed to be festive and joyous, and we also all know the reality is they can hold a large amount of stress. This year’s supply chain disruptions threaten to turn even the annual hunt for a holiday tree into a source of anxiety. But don’t worry—plants to the rescue!

Plants are already proven to be a reliable source of good feelings. In the infographic #PlantsDoThat Where We Live, NICH (consumerhort.org) points to research showing that plants stimulate both a physiological and psychological relaxation response. Even if you can’t get outside to destress with forest bathing, indoor plants psychologically link us to nature. 

If you are having trouble finding a big, traditional tree, or just want an updated idea for your decorations, try one of these options. 

In a recent blog post, consumer plant brand Monrovia suggested several smaller alternatives to the traditional tree, including dwarf conifers like Alberta spruce or mugo pine, fragrant culinary plants like sweet bay (also the perfect gift for a cooking enthusiast on your list), or even a large houseplant. Abdijan Rubber Plant (Ficus elastica) has bright red spathes on new leaves for a cheery holiday hue. 

Poinsettias are another classic holiday plant. Upsize from one or two by the fireside by stacking them in a tiered or pyramid shape. One of those trendy tiered ladder shelves can help you create your display, or simply stack your plants on a series of gift-wrapped (empty) boxes. 

Or take the vertical garden idea farther and create a tree wall mural with hanging wall planters. Plenty of styles are available from your favorite retailer, and can be used for potted plants, houseplant cuttings in water, or even air plants.

Succulent trees took Pinterest by storm last year and are a fun craft project for an afternoon. Start with a florist foam cone shape from the craft store and cover it in damp sheet moss. Using florist pins, attach small succulents to cover the cone. To keep costs down, try using hens and chicks or cuttings from sedum. Keep it misted during the winter to keep it fresh. You can even replant the cuttings in the garden next year if they root. 

More findings on the the benefits of plants can be found in the infographic, “#PlantsDoThat,” available for download, reprint, or adaptation at consumerhort.org. When posting on social media, please use the hashtag #PlantsDoThat.

The National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (NICH) is a consortium of industry leaders who are promoting the benefits and value of horticulture. NICH brings together academia, government, industry, and nonprofits to cultivate the growth and development of a healthy world through landscapes, gardens and plants — indoors and out.

Please feel free to share or adapt this article in your newsletter or other customer communications.

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Across history, people have found comfort putting their hands in the soil, growing their own food, and planting flowers. This has certainly been the case through Covid. Nationally, we’re experiencing a proliferation of first-time and returning gardeners, planting vegetables, curating flower collections, and generally finding peace in the garden. Today, many gardeners come to this beloved activity with very little gardening background. Fewer new gardeners have a family history of farming or grow up on large parcels with subsistence gardens. So, for those seeking support in acquiring a green thumb, where do they turn?

Enter the Extension Master Gardener program. In each state, land grant colleges have a Cooperative Extension system, through which the college provides research and education in local communities. One impactful program of Cooperative Extension is the Extension Master Gardener program. Through this program, members of the public are trained in research-based food gardening, sustainable landscaping, and extension teaching practices. In exchange for training, Extension Master Gardener volunteers donate their time to answering gardening questions from the public.  In 2018, Extension Master Gardener volunteers gave 6.5 million hours of their time to the program and educating the public.

The almost 90,000 Extension Master Gardener volunteers share something special – they all have a passion for gardening and a desire to share their gardening knowledge in their local communities. April is National Gardening Month and this week is National Volunteer Appreciation Week. It is also the ideal time to recognize and celebrate the incredible Extension Master Gardener volunteers who support our neighbors, community and school gardens, and more.   

“Extension Master Gardener volunteers are such an important part of our consumer horticulture community! Volunteers share information and resources grounded in science. By doing this, they connect university research to practice. They support the success of gardeners and inspire a lifelong practice of growing plants that supports healthy people, communities, our environment and our industry.” – Missy Gable, UC Master Gardener Program Director and NICH member

Through the pandemic, Extension Master Gardener volunteers rose to the new virtual challenge of addressing gardening questions that were flooding into offices and email. As new gardeners proliferated, so did virtual classes, video-based plant diagnostic services, garden-at-home kits, and more. We are grateful for Extension Master Gardener volunteers and their service to support gardeners. Despite the chaos of the pandemic, gardeners seeking support, inspiration and ideas had (and continue to have!) a strong resource with the Extension Master Gardener Program. Curious about the program in your state?  Connect for more information!

The National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (NICH) is a consortium of industry leaders who are promoting the benefits and value of horticulture. NICH brings together academia, government, industry, and nonprofits to cultivate the growth and development of a healthy world through landscapes, gardens and plants — indoors and out. 

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Many people think that fall is the end of the growing season, and in many parts of the country, it is quite the contrary. Depending on your planting zone, fall can be an ideal season for planting trees, shrubs, and other ornamentals. The key is encouraging good root growth. Planting trees and shrubs in fall enables the root systems to grow before the hot summer returns.

There are several benefits to fall planting. Trees planted in the fall are better equipped to deal with summer heat and drought. Another great reason to plant your shrubs in the fall is because you can pick your trees and shrubs by the fall color they produce! Smaller plants will be established before winter sets in, and get a head start over shrubs in the spring. Larger plants will also get a head start in becoming established during the winter and early spring months.

Fall officially begins with the autumnal equinox in late September. The ideal time to begin planting trees and shrubs is six weeks before the first sign of hard frost. September through November is the ideal time for tree planting because it allows the roots to become established before the ground freezes and winter sets in – and in the south, the planting season can extend for several months beyond November.

Cooler, wetter weather is the perfect time for tree planting. Your tree will require the same care no matter what time of year you plant. Always mulch a two to three-inch ring of mulch around the base of your tree—but don’t pile it against the trunk. Water your tree right after planting, even if it is cold outside. With an increase in rainfall and cooler temperatures in the fall, less watering is required, but pay attention to rainfall levels and water as needed. As tree shoot growth halts, the trees require less water because the days are cooler and shorter and the rate of photosynthesis decreases. Stable air temperatures also promote rapid root development. Soils stay warm well after the air temperature cools, also encouraging root growth. During shoot dormancy, trees grow to establish roots in new locations before warm weather stimulates top growth.

Your local county cooperative extension service can provide you with recommended trees to suit your planting zone, sun, shade, and soil requirements.

When you think of fall, what color do you think of?  When I think of fall, I think of orange in all its bright, burnt, saturated and earthy tones coming at me from every corner of the landscape and supermarket aisle.  I think of expansive greenish-brown fields loaded with oversized orange pumpkins ready for the pickin’, handfuls of candy corn with its unnatural orange stripe and my aunt’s orange sweet potato pie destined for my belly. 

Many people may think of the colors of turning leaves, from green though the range of yellows and oranges to finally red, but I grew up in inner city Houston, where this was not a thing.  Most often the leaves were green one day and gone the next. To give our home an autumnal feel, my mom would haul a load of orange mums from the local garden center.  Always the mums, because they were the easiest to care for and had the best fall color, and that’s what was available.

So, beside mums and marigolds, why are there so few great orange plant offerings in garden centers in the late summer and into fall?

Well, there are a few reasons for this.  One has to do with the color orange itself.  Orange is a tricky color to breed for. To create orange, the color pathways which lead to the creation of specific anthocyanin and carotenoid pigments (think carrot color) must be already present in the plant genetics.  If they are, then the breeder must create crosses that increase the expression of these pigment genes, while maintaining the desirable shade of orange (can’t be too red, pink or brown), while decreasing expression of unfavorable genes such as those that encode for disease susceptibility traits. To further complicate matters, there are many traits that act in ways that are detrimental to breeding for a good orange that are not obvious at the moment of selection.  The color orange can be very pH sensitive, so while the plant selected may be bright and beautiful and the color of a mandarin, get that baby in substrate over 7.2 and now you’ve got a great plant that blooms the color of a pink grapefruit. Orange flowers can also be very UV sensitive, getting a nice ‘put through the hot wash cycle’ look after periods of high light.

Someone along the way saw the issue with breeding for orange flowers and devised a shortcut via transgenic modification.  Some very nice orange petunias were able to be bred using this technology, though the use of the foreign genetic construct most often was unknown to the breeder.  The inserted maize gene was eventually discovered, and the revelation forced growers and breeders to toss much of their plant material since it was banned by the USDA and other agricultural agencies around the world.  In 2021, the gene technology was deregulated and can now be used in breeding and sold.

Traditional breeding for better oranges is still the rule though.  Us breeders are working hard to get deeper and brighter oranges in many of your favorite flowers.  Neon orange and pumpkin colored Calibrachoa and Coleus that can be started in the heat of the summer to grow throughout the fall is this breeder’s dream, and I am striving hard to get there so that the consumer can have a more expansive palette to dabble in when creating their fall garden.

Laura Masor is a Vegetative Annual Flower Breeder at Ball FloraPlant focusing on Calibrachoa, Verbena, Angelonia, and Coleus. Laura is responsible for the conceptualization and development of the Cha-Cha series of calibrachoa in less than four years! Laura has been selected as a member of the 2021 Garden Product News’ (GPN) 40 under 40 — a well deserved recognition. You can find Laura on LinkedIn.

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