Garden advice: Thorny problems

Garden tips and advice from our resident expert Helen Yemm. This week: Gardeners' Question Time and pruning apple trees

The week beforehand the village was all of a-twitter. Tickets were like gold dust. Finally, after a 20-year wait, BBC Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time came to Wadhurst, East Sussex. On the night of the recording session, the great and the good of the Garden Society, and many more of us besides, assembled promptly in the Commemoration Hall (which had been lavishly decorated with the village's finest flowers and produce).
There were the customary trailing wires, serious young women with clipboards and headsets, glaring lights and, above all, a pervading sense of expectancy and bonhomie that is a quintessential part of a once-in-a-lifetime English village event such as this.
So, did Gardeners' Question Time live up to expectations? Did the village have its gardening questions answered and conundrums dealt with? We certainly worked hard at it: the Chosen Few shyly read out their questions; the rest of us applauded on cue during a recording session that lasted a buttock-numbing two and a half hours or more.
Yes, I suppose we did have our questions answered, if you take into account that questions about the nation's most notorious bugbears - slugs, snails and vine weevils - are just too humdrum to merit the panel's attention, and those about planting by the phases of the moon just too off-the-wall.
Cutting-edge horticulture this possibly wasn't - but, as a piece of light, slightly waffly, almost visual radio entertainment for people who love to garden, it more or less hit the spot.
Furthermore the panel showed absolutely no signs of experiencing déjà vu or boredom and seemed genuinely to engage with us. In the blasé, makeover-weary, celebrity-conscious 21st century, this familiar, comfortable old chestnut manages to gently inform, amuse and reassure and is still understandably revered after 60 years.
It makes you wonder who dreamt up Radio 4's latest gardening offering, The Garden Quiz - a dull affair that pits assorted clever-clogs against each other in round after round of horticultural boffinry. And how long it will last, I wonder?
Two o'clock on a Sunday afternoon, several weeks later: nothing was stirring in Wadhurst as residents huddled around their crystal sets (OK, I exaggerate a little) to find out who had been left in and who had been edited out.
In fact, a surprising amount of the stuff I recall survived intact - complete with mirth and applause. The weirdly orchestrated repeats had been seamlessly woven in and gaps magically filled with up-to-date weather reports to make it sound "live".
The most memorable pearl of wisdom? He Who Mulch-Mows should get out there a tad more often if he doesn't want his lawn to acquire that tell-tale "wet corn circle" look.
But it was all good, if long-winded, stuff. Gratifyingly, the hard-working ladies from the wool shop, the leading lights of the Garden Society who had brought the whole event to fruition and even baked a splendid anniversary cake that we all enjoyed with the panel after the show, had a question about their overbearing magnolia tree answered ("prune it" was the verdict) and thus enjoyed their deserved, long-awaited few minutes in the sun.

Rose sale witness a boom ahead of Valentine's Day

Krishnagiri (Tamil Nadu), Jan 29 : The business in roses is witnessing a mega boom ahead of Valentine's Day in Tamil Nadu's Krishnagiri District.
Krishnagiri, which is about 250 km from Chennai, has a climate that is ideal for rose cultivation. As a result of this, floriculture thrives and business in roses is witnessing a mega boom.
Pushpanchali Rose Garden, located in Krishnagiri is the largest rose production centre in the region, growing lakhs of roses in eleven varieties.
A one-hectare farm can grow as many as 70,000 rose plants. And each plant produces at least 20 to 22 flowers every year in ideal "glass house" conditions.
With Valentine's Day approaching on February 14, orders are pouring in from around the world for roses grown in this region.
"Our daily production of roses comes to around 15 to 20,000 roses. These are directly sold in the Indian market that is in Bangalore and New Delhi mainly. From this place, the deemed exporters are exporting them to other countries. The annual average rate of our roses is about Rs. 3 and the prices go as high as Rs10-15 per rose during the festive season," said Varghese, Manager, Pushpanchali Floritech.
During the Valentine season, grand gala and frost red colours are eternal favourites.
The owners of these farms are paying special attention to aspects like cooling, grading and growing coupled with the use of automated irrigation systems, the yield of flowers particularly the roses is at par with international standards.
"This yellow coloured flower is blooming and has not bent. This is because it has the support of the net. If there is no support of the net, these flowers won't be standing straight and will bend. This affects the quality of the flower," said Nand Kishore, horticulturist.
The domestic market is also witnessing considerable growth.
With Valentines' Day nearing, dealers expect a rise in exports as well as sales in the domestic market.
During this season, the flowers are mainly exported to the Middle East and European countries as well as Australia, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. (ANI)

GARDEN PARTY

This year's garden and flower show at Balls Plantation, Christ Church, was another big success.
Jennifer Weetch, president of the Barbados Horticultural Society, said yesterday members had decided to start the show earlier at 10 a.m. instead of 2 p.m, and they were reaping the benefits.
"We just thought people might want to participate earlier so we tried it and it worked. It was time for a change," she said.
In attendance was Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Haynesley Benn, a former judge of the fruit and vegetable section and a regular visitor to the show in years past.
Benn said: "So far I'm impressed and fascinated by the variety but they need to pay more attention to fruits and vegetables and get more people involved for next year."
Also on display were art and craft and presentations on pest management. The flower show continues today at Balls Plantation. (CA)

Easy-to-grow rudbeckias liven up gardens

Each year the board of directors of the National Garden Bureau selects one flower and one vegetable to be showcased. They are chosen because they are easy to grow from seed, widely adaptable, genetically diverse and versatile.
The NGB flower selection for 2008 is the rudbeckia, commonly known as the black-eyed Susan. Native to North America, rudbeckias can be found growing as wildflowers in fields and along roadsides across the country. These reliable plants shine in the garden with an abundance of brightly colored flowers reflecting the brilliant yellows and oranges of the summer sun.
Maine gardeners interested in growing native wildflowers should focus on forms of Rudbeckia hirta, a short-lived perennial that is best grown as a self-sowing annual in Maine gardens. The cultivars described here all bloom from July until frost.
‘Indian Summer,’ an All-America Selections winner from 1995, produces stunning 5- to 9-inch flowers, double and semidouble, on plants that reach about 3 feet tall. The golden-yellow flowers, borne on sturdy stems with vigorous branching, are ideal for cutting.
Another AAS winner is ‘Cherokee Sunset,’ with semidouble and double 2- to 4-inch flowers in shades of yellow, orange, bronze and mahogany. Plants reach about 30 inches tall.
Several shorter varieties are available for growing in containers and in small gardens. ‘Becky’ produces dwarf 10- to 12-inch plants with large, 3-inch flowers in orange, yellow and cinnamon bicolor. ‘Toto’ is dwarf and compact with smaller flowers covering the 12- to 15-inch-tall plants. Several single colors are available as well as a mix. Other popular varieties are ‘Corona,’ ‘Cordoba,’ ‘Sonora’ and the fully double ‘Maya.’
Looking for something different? The 2003 AAS winner ‘Prairie Sun’ produces spectacular 5-inch blooms with golden-yellow petals tipped with a brush of lighter primrose yellow surrounding a striking, light-green center cone. The 3-foot-tall branching plants can be grown in gardens and large containers.
Experts at the NGB offer the following advice for growing rudbeckias:
ä Soil — Rudbeckias tolerate a range of soil types but prefer a moist, well-drained soil that’s not too rich. Excess fertilizer can make plants weak and cause flower stems to flop. Water when the soil is dry to maintain even moisture.
ä Sunlight — All rudbeckias thrive in full sun. They grow well in light shade, but flowers may be smaller and fewer in number.
ä Spacing — The mature size of the plant determines the correct spacing. Allow 8-12 inches between rudbeckias being grown as annuals. Dwarf varieties can be planted closer together with 4- to 6-inch spacing between plants.
ä Plant care — To promote blooming and extend the flowering period, remove or deadhead faded flowers by pinching off blooms at the base of the flower stem. Be aware that rudbeckias often self-seed, resulting in new seedlings sprouting up around the garden. Extra plants may need to be removed or transplanted to prevent crowding.
Rudbeckias are a must for the pollinator garden, attracting native bees and butterflies. If you want to attract birds to the garden, allow the old flowers on the plant to go to seed.
Look for plants of the newest Rudbeckia varieties at garden centers this spring. Or grow your own plants from seed. The Johnny’s Selected Seed catalog for 2008 lists both ‘Indian Summer’ and ‘Prairie Sun.’

Sex satire 'Teeth' provides feminist bite

"Teeth" is the "Incredible Hulk" of sex satires. When boys take advantage of sweet, vestal Dawn (Jess Weixler) they lose their penises. This girl might have a flower. But the flower has mandibles.
As amateurishly made as it is, "Teeth" runs on a kind of angry distrust toward boys. It doesn't think a lot of them, in much the same way certain teen comedies and horror films don't think highly of girls. The reversal is a lot more satisfying to watch, both as a laughing feminist critique of horniness and as a gleeful inversion of the vagina dentata myth. It's all the more striking because the movie has been written and directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein, a 51-year-old man.
Dawn is an enthusiastic young voice in a high-school chastity group. It's treated like a cult. She preaches the sanctity of holding out, wearing a little red promise ring on her finger. Her one sex fantasy is set on her wedding night. The groom hikes up her dress, but then the image of the snapping jaws she saw in an old science-fiction movie pops into her head. When one nice kid suddenly forces himself on Dawn, Dawn's jaws force themselves on him. She's horrified, does an Internet search, discovers she might actually have the fabled vagina dentata, and consults a gynecologist.
Until that gynecologist visit, everything about the movie is forced. For about 40 minutes or so, "Teeth" is a comedy whose gags don't work. One shot in a forest starts by staring into the hollow part of a tree, and when Dawn and a chaste suitor go swimming they wind up exploring a cave. The movie's early tone isn't outlandish enough to get a real laugh. Having that little house of Dawn's nestled at the foot of a smoking nuclear reactor is a touch that's simultaneously discreet and too much. (Is that why Dawn's mother is dying?) For about an hour you're desperate for the cheap irreverence of John Waters, which is there once Dawn tries to flee the doctor's examination table while the doctor's arm is still stuck in her teeth.
Part of the reason you're nervous to find this funny is because you're waiting for Dawn to find it funny, too - or you're waiting for Jess Weixler to. And for almost 40 minutes, it seems like the movie might be humming along at the expense of both the character and the woman playing her. But eventually Lichtenstein hands the movie over to his star, who proves remarkably game for the silliness she's required to perform. Weixler gets a joke that initially seemed to be on her. She delivers the cues for the movie's comedy.
Lichtenstein is the son of the artist Roy Lichtenstein, and that oversize, sometimes-funny-sometimes-not sensibility must be genetic. As a director, Mitchell's glee in showing actual severed penises probably owes more to the Troma film house than to anybody else. But watching the movie, I thought about the taunting, damning work of certain artists labeled as "feminist" - Georgia O'Keeffe, Barbara Kruger, and Joyce Wieland, for starters. In that vein, there's something almost subversive about Lichtenstein's affection for his heroine and the pleasure she ultimately takes in re-appropriating a misogynistic myth. By the end of the film she's not some virginal damsel. She's on the verge of becoming a vaginal vigilante.

Orchids: Caring for works of art

We're a bit stuck in our ways with orchids. The moth orchid, the phalaenopsis, is a staunch and reliable house plant. Yes, it flowers for four or five months and, yes, it suits the modern, centrally heated way of life - but I'd urge you all to be a bit more adventurous. There are other cool-growing, equally easy, more beautiful and certainly more interesting orchids to grow, and they are becoming much easier to find. I've just walked out of McBean's Orchids in East Sussex with an incredible selection.
Cymbidiums
The first family I went for were the cymbidiums. I'd always thought these - with their vast bulbs, great strap-like leaves, and, in my view, rather rubbery, slightly coarse flowers - were too big for a house plant, but that's all changed. Recent breeding has produced miniature varieties and many of them are fantastic.
Miniature can mean twee, but not in this case. The flowers are spectacular, most of them about 5cm across, with a plant growing to no more than 45cm.

phalaenopsis, these will fit easily on a window ledge. And that's where Jim Durrant, head horticulturist at McBean's, recommends they grow, either on a cool windowsill (nowhere near a radiator), or in a cool greenhouse (see details overleaf).
As ever, the ones I liked were rich dark crimson or sharp acid green, but there are varieties in almost every pattern and colour except blue. As for named forms, that's not in the main how it works. Each and every nursery tends to breed and create its own seedlings, so unlike with cloned varieties, natural variation takes place. This means that you're buying not so much a named variety as a character and type.
Zygopetalums
The other family I went for were the zygopetalums. These are easy to look after - as easy, if not easier, than the phalaenopsis crew - and have lovely sweet scent, ranging from slightly camphory to gardenia-like, so sniff before you buy.
This group flowers from September onwards, right through the winter. The individual flower spikes don't last as long as a phalaenopsis but they will sometimes produce two flower crops in one year. I loved the flower form of these, which has a soft, less-waxy texture than the cymbidiums and lightly ruffled edges.
The colours were all my favourites - greens, crimson-blacks, deep purples with stipples and splotches on the lips in a strongly contrasting tone.
Slipper orchids
Paphiopedilums (slipper orchids), which have a flower form very similar to our native lady's slipper orchid, are the most exotic of the lot. These need good shading and a warm, humid spot. I've seen them do well in bathrooms.
They are very shy rooting, so little watering is the key. Slipper orchids divide into two groups, the plain-leaved, larger-flowered types and the fascinating mottled-leaved lot (see front), which have extraordinarily intricate flower shapes and colours.
Odontoglossums
The final group for the real plant enthusiast is the odontoglossums. They have a great depth and variation to them: "Real class," says Jim, "and a relaxed grace and beauty." They grow at 12,000ft in the Andes and need lots of shade and a slight chill in the air to thrive.
"Think of walking into a cathedral or a wet milking parlour and that's where they'd like to grow," says Jim. He also showed me a delicate, small-flowered Osmoglossum pulchellum, which you grow in much the same way. Like the zygopetalums, this variety has a lovely scent, which is why it is known as the lily of the valley orchid.
Only 35 years ago, a tropical orchid cost as much as the average weekly wage - "about £400 in current money". Those I bought ranged from £15 to £25, and each and every one will be in flower for at least a month or two.
A note on cymbidiums
It's important to put cymbidiums outside in the summer. They need a good contrast between day and night temperatures in June and July to initiate flower spike formation, which are then produced the following late winter and spring. Without this, your orchid won't bloom.

How to grow
Water only when the pots are properly dried out and give them very little food.
Water with rain water. Tap water is too salty.
Their ideal temperature is 14C in the day and 10C at night.
To increase humidity, fill a saucer with pebbles and water, then put an upturned saucer on the pebbles and stand the orchid pot on top.
Cymbidiums, zygopetalums and most other cool-climate orchids prefer dappled light to bright sun.
Reader offer
Telegraph Gardening readers can buy one slipper orchid for only £19.99 or one cymbidium for £20.99. Plants are supplied in 11cm and 12cm pots respectively. Dispatched from February 2008. All orders acknowledged, advising dispatch date.
Send orders to: Telegraph Garden, Dept. TE665, PO Box 99, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2SN. Make cheques/postal orders out to Telegraph Garden, or phone 0844 573 6015 for credit/debit-card orders, quoting ref. TE665. Delivery to all UK addresses.

Better Shasta daisies

Everyone loves the simplicity of bright, white Shasta daisies -- they are the kind of flowers a child might draw. But of the varieties available today, which are the best performers?
The Chicago Botanic Garden set out to answer that question in 1999 when it began conducting trials of 36 cultivars of this favorite flower, botanically known as Leucanthemum x superbum. Earlier this month, the garden published its report on Shastas and the related oxeye daisies, Leucanthemum vulgare.
Top-rated plants were the Shastas 'Amelia' and 'Becky,' and the oxeyes 'May Queen' and 'Filigran.' All won five-star excellence ratings, meaning they were consistently healthy and produced a heavy crop of flowers.
'Becky' already is the most popular Shasta daisy in the United States due to its sturdy habit and dependability. It was named in 2003 as the Perennial Plant Association's "Perennial of the Year."
Daisies prefer fertile, well-drained soils and a spot in full sun. They are intolerant of boggy soil, and some varieties in the trials suffered crown damage or root rot due to excessive winter soil moisture. Cold itself is not a problem; all of the plants in this genus are hardy to Zone 5, one zone farther north than most of New Jersey.
To order a copy of "A Report on Leucanthemum x superbum and Related Daisies," send $3 to Plant Evaluation Notes, c/o Richard Hawke, Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, IL 60022.

Metro Plus Coimbatore

Amherstia nobilis, locally known as Simsapa, is one of the sacred trees of India. It belongs to the family Caesalpiniaceae.
Simsapa was found in a temple garden in Burma in 1826 and hence famously known by the name ‘Pride of Burma.’ The generic name Amherstia comes from Countess Amherst, wife of a former governor of Burma.
The species name nobilis’ comes from the noble honour bestowed on the tree. The flowers are given a special place in Buddhist temples in Burma and Sri Lanka. Simsapa is rarely seen in India.
The Simsapa is a beautiful tree which grows up to 12 metres in height. It is suitable for avenue planting as well as landscape gardening.
A hot humid climate is preferred, and it will not grow well in dry arid regions. The soil should be rich. Propagation is usually by air layering. They are divided into about six pairs of oppositely placed leaflets. The tender leaves are mauve to purple in colour and later become bright green.
Flowering occurs between February and May. Petals are crimson red with two medium-sized petals yellow at the tip. The largest petal is broad and fan-shaped with a wavy upper margin and a yellow triangle extending from the lip down into the flower. This tree of beauty and rarity deserves further attention by tree lovers and gardeners.

Lalbagh flower show is a visual treat

BANGALORE: It’s that time of the year when people pay their biannual homage to Lalbagh which, amid a highly polluted and concrete jungle, stands tall as a refreshing testament to India’s Garden City.
Apart from being every photographer’s dream destination, the Lalbagh Republic Day flower show, organised by the Department of Horticulture, attracts visitors from all over the State.
The flower show, inaugurated on Saturday, features over a hundred varieties of winter flowering plants and annual plants, like the marigold, morning glory, sweet peas, celosia and poppy, among others.
B.S. Sridhar, a visitor, said that it is a golden opportunity to see so many colourful flowers under one roof. Not only was it pleasing to the eye, he said, it was a balm for the soul. “The flower show is a treat to those who are interested in gardening and I eagerly wait every year to buy the various plants on sale,” said Devi Menon, a homemaker.
A group of farmers called Kan Flora from Sirsi, Karnataka, has come with a colourful stock of over 25 varieties of orchids for sale. They have been attending the flower show for two years now. Sadanand Hegde, an orchidologist associated with the group, said: “The farmers benefit a lot from this show by learning new techniques and information regarding horticulture.”
A wide variety of vegetables are on display, apart from seeds and saplings of the flowering plants and vegetables.
The Horticulture Department has put up an exhibition on the ‘Role of horticulture food and nutrition security’.
The exhibition, through posters, depicts the crop diversity in Karnataka, the nutritional values of fruit and vegetable, kitchen garden and so on. A flower pattern made of seashells by the tsunami-affected people of Pulicat village, Tamil Nadu, was the special attraction of the day.

What worked in the garden

2007 wasn't a banner year for me in the garden. Family responsibilities hit in a big way when my mother passed away in early April. Between running back and forth to Dad's house on weekends and dealing with other issues, the garden ended up taking a back seat.
To be honest, I didn't even get my front yard replanted after I had all the old over-grown plants removed. So my house, sad to say, doesn't really look like the home of a gardener.
But I did manage to get some garden time in the backyard beds, and I've found a few new plants that are very worthy of recognition.
For starters, there was the box of test plants I received from Proven Winners. They will be available for sale this spring, and there were a few standouts: the annuals Lantana 'Luscious Grape'; Angelonia 'Angleface White Imp' and 'Angelface Dark Violet'; Calibrachoa 'Superbells Apricot Punch,' 'Superbells Dreamsicle' and 'Superbells Saffron' and Cuphea 'Totally Tempted.'
The Angelonia is a shorter, less leggy variety that I highly recommend over the old types. In containers, with water and regular fertilizing, they kept going all season right up until frost.
The lilac 'Beauty of Moscow' is another plant that I wouldn't be without. The smell of this beauty is beyond description, far outstripping the scent of the old garden lilacs at the bottom of the yard. This isn't a new plant, but it certainly is well worth seeking out if you're looking for a lilac.
The small ornamental shrub Weigelia 'My Monet' really came into its own this summer. This is the second year for it, but the lovely little shrub, which is very small, topping out at about a foot, sports multicolor leaves that last all season. It's a great accent plant in the front of the border, and some of my friends have had luck with it in containers.
Kolkwitzia amabilis 'Dream Catcher' is a beauty bush that has golden yellow foliage and an orange fall color, which complement the flowers and make it a shrub for many seasons. This is the first year for the plant in my plot, but it promises to be a winner.
For those who like rose of Sharon, a new variety called 'Lil Kim' may be of interest. Though I've never been a big fan of these semi-weedy plants, this little guy might change my mind. It tops off at 3 to 4 feet tall with large white flowers sporting a red eye. The flowers last three days, instead of the usual one. As with most rose of Sharon, which you couldn't kill with a torch, it seems to be quite hardy. This just might be the plant to stick in that difficult spot.Look for this plant
In the new issue of Fine Gardening magazine, Allan Armitage mentions a new Joe-Pye weed (Eupatorium) called 'Phantom.' Usually when Mr. Armitage mentions something, it's worth a look, and this plant sounds like just the ticket for those of us who have smaller gardens. This plant gets no bigger than 3 feet, unlike the 6- to 8-foot varieties. While it is not proven if this plant will remain reliably short, it's worth a try. He mentions two outlets for this plant: Big Dipper Farms, http://www.bigdipperfarm.com/ or Plant Delights Nursery at http://www.plantdelights.com/.Garden shows
Now here's a few gardening related things you might want to mark on your calendar. Two outstanding out-of-town garden shows are coming soon.
The first one is the National City Home & Garden Show in Cleveland. Held at the IX Center, this show is always full of interesting things for gardeners, along with many exhibition gardens, and it is, in my experience, worth the drive. This season the garden theme is "Bella Italia." The show will be Feb. 2-10, for more information visit www. homeandflower .com.
The other is the queen mother of all U.S. garden shows, the 2008 Philadelphia Flower Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The show will be March 2-9 and the theme is "Jazz It Up!" If you have the time and the ability, this is one show that all gardeners should see at least once in a lifetime.
Absolute nirvana for gardeners with unbelievable garden displays. And after you finish marveling at the displays, you can shop in the gardener's market. For more information, visit http://www.theflowershow.com/.
More locally, the Phipps Plant Auction will be May 2 at the Phipps Garden Center and the annual May Market, also at the Garden Center, now in its 73rd year, will be open to the public May 16-18.Feeling good and dirty
And lastly, cut this item and wave it in front of the clean unbelievers in your life, who think getting dirty in the garden is a nutty way to spend time. In the Jan./Feb. issue of Garden Gate magazine, an item says that researchers at Bristol University and University College London have found that a soil bacteria called Mycobacterium vaccae helps elevate mood. Studies with mice found that the bacterium affects the brain in a similar way to antidepressants. So you really aren't crazy after all! Garden on.

In the sweet midwinter

Yes, it's cold and gloomy outside, with just about every last drop of colour drained from the landscape, but there is still lots to enjoy in the weeks ahead.

There's nothing like a bit of snow to transform the winter garden: boughs decked in glistening flakes, the lawn vanished under a crisp white carpet. These days, though, the snowy garden is a fleeting and occasional pleasure. So how do you maintain a magical a wintry garden scene without the white stuff? Easy - you just need a few essential elements.
Structure
Structure is important in the garden all year, but when laid bare in winter structural weaknesses are more obvious. Structure begins with the shape and layout. The direction in which a path runs, say, is crucial: if it cuts across a rectilinear garden at an angle or in a curve, it will break up the shape and make it appear larger. Long, thin gardens can be divided into sections with connecting features so the space seems shorter, wider and more interesting all round.
Plants, too, have structural presence. Clipped evergreens, such as box (Buxus sempervirens) and yew (Taxus baccata) in cones or balls, can unify a space, creating a sense of rhythm through repetition. Plants that have the same qualities as topiary but don't need to be clipped have a similar effect - Pittosporum 'Tom Thumb', say, forms a tight, low globe of bronze-purple foliage that's at its best in winter and especially effective with white-stemmed plants; and Juniperus 'Blue Arrow' has the pencil-like shape of an Italian cypress, bluish foliage and makes a superb vertical accent. And, of course, vertical space is usually limitless.
Fragrance
Plants that flower in winter have a tough job attracting pollinating insects, because so few are alive and on the wing, so many have exceptionally fragrant flowers - it's the survival of the smelliest. Plants such as winter sweet (Chimonanthus praecox) have such fragrant blooms that the scent wafts for tens of metres and more. It has another trick, too: the individual blooms are thick and waxy, making them largely frost-proof. Sarcococca confusa is both a structurally strong and highly fragrant plant, with smart, glossy, evergreen foliage and tiny, white flowers that are born at the same time as purple-black berries. It also tolerates deep shade and dry soil.
There's a whole range of winter-flowering viburnum, and most are easy to grow. V. x bodnantense hybrids are probably the most accommodating, with scented blooms in varying shades of pink.
Stems
Winter is a time to enjoy the more subtle aspects of the garden. Plants with attractive bark and stem coloration now take centre stage. Perhaps the finest are the dogwoods (cornus species and their cultivars), with stems of orange, green-gold and blood red, and they often have exceptional autumn colour, too. There are numerous new cultivars, but often the old established plants are best: Cornus alba 'Sibirica' has been around for years, and has exceptional, dark red colouration, while C. sanguinea 'Midwinter Fire' has stems that are dark orange at the tips and that fade to golden yellow lower down. The white-stemmed rubus need careful placement, because they spread by suckers and can become thuggish. Stem-colour willows, such as Salix alba cultivars, require more space, as do the many fine coloured bark trees, from the ghostly white Betula utilis 'Greyswood Ghost' to the glossy cinnamon Prunus serrula, but they'll repay their selection on dark days.
Seed heads and grasses
The Dutch designer Piet Oudolf once said that a plant was of real value only if it looked as good dead as alive. He certainly had a point. There is something magnificent about the stately decline of many perennials; the gradual unpeeling and shredding of seed heads and the blanching of stems to straw white. Gardeners who, in the misplaced belief that it cleanses the garden of pests, cut everything to the ground in autumn miss out on this winter beauty. And all those seed heads and stems don't add only visual charm, they provide vital food and habitat for a wide range of animals.
Late-flowering grasses, such as miscanthus, cortaderia and my favourite, Calamagrostis brachytricha, look good right through winter, as do the snake-like stems of Veronicastrum 'Fascination', the seed heads of Monarda 'Neon' (big and black as a snowman's eyes) and the teasel, a plant of particular value to finches.
Light
The element that we most crave in winter is the one most lacking: light. Light-reflective surfaces, such as paint, paving or walling materials, or materials with a mirror finish, all help to raise light levels. And don't forget water, either.
Give trees and shrubs a "crown-lift" (ie, remove lower branches), and select plants with light-coloured stems. Perhaps most important is to understand where the light falls and place the plants that give the greatest winter interest in those areas where they will be illuminated by whatever light there is.

Jazz Up Your Winter Garden

Does your winter garden need a little jazzing up? Here are a few suggestions for plants that will catch your eye and bring a bit of color or drama to your winter garden.

The early blooms of Daphne odora 'Marginata' (Winter Daphne) or the lovely Hellebores (Lenten Rose) or Pieris japonica (Lily of the Valley shrub) which are just opening now can be the first of a succession of blooms to look forward to before the weather really warms up. As soon as you begin to notice the days getting longer, the Chaenomeles (Flowering Quince) and Forsythia are showing off their lovely late winter colors.

Beyond flower color there are many shrubs whose bright berries will reward you with winter interest and feed the birds as well. Some of the best for our area are the Ilex (Holly) family, Cotoneasters, Berberis (Barberry), and Heteromeles (Toyon). Placing some of these shrubs in your landscape will reward you for many years to come in the doldrums of winter and if you tuck in a few Primroses, Cyclamens or Pansies at their feet you’ll be further rewarded with rich annual color throughout the cold winter.

Many times dry flower heads such as Sedum 'Autumn Joy' or dry plumes of the grasses like Miscanthus species can be gentle reminders that fall is behind us and that spring is just around the corner. If we can assist you with plant design or selection for your winter or spring garden, please contact us. We deliver plants directly to your site.

At Plant Providers, our landscape designers, certified arborists, and other landscape professionals provide a full range of landscape services to residential and commercial customers. Visit our website or call 314-2668.

Three ways to aid an ailing lawn

Q. My lawn is so bad that I'm considering just roto-tilling the entire thing, spreading fresh top soil and reseeding. Please advise. -- Ed C. A. I'm often asked this question by students who are frustrated with their weedy landscapes. Lawns that have a significant stand of grass and are less than 50 percent weeds can often be rehabilitated, especially if the weeds are predominantly annual species. Consider three types of remedial action: selective weed control, de-thatching and core aeration.
Selective weed control: For lawns with less intense annual weeds and few perennial weeds, selective herbicides can be used. This may help curb competition with weeds and give lawns with rhizomes such as bluegrass a chance to fill in. Always read and follow label directions carefully when using herbicides for weed control. Avoid using any herbicides when temperatures exceed 85 degrees and humidity levels are high to prevent direct damage to lawn grass. Visit njaes.rutgers.edu/pubs and click on "gardening and landscaping," then "lawns." Here, you'll find information on recommended herbicides and details on lawn care procedures.
De-thatching: This can be done in the late summer or early fall to control thatch exceeding ½-inch in thickness, but not excessively thick thatch. This should be done in two directions perpendicular to one another with the de-thatching blades penetrating ½-inch into the soil. Rake off the thatch and place it in the compost pile.
De-thatching is best done when soils have moderate moisture levels. Excessive moisture will tear up turf grass and dry conditions may prevent penetration of de-thatching machines or core aerators. If it's been dry, irrigate with ½-inch of water and wait a day or two before de-thatching or core aerating.
Core aeration for low to moderate compaction: Core aeration machines can be rented the same as de-thatching machines to help loosen compacted soils. Do this in the fall or spring. Early fall is really the best time for renovation to allow lawn grasses to recover in the cool part of the season.
In some cases, it may be best to do a complete lawn makeover. Lawn renovation is best done in early fall. It can be undertaken in the spring, but vigorous weeds, stimulated by spring rains, will be a bigger problem. Indications that it's time for a complete overhaul include the proliferation of perennial weeds, excessive thatch and severely compacted soils.
Perennial weeds: If you have more than 50 percent perennial weeds, you may need to start over. Select two to three areas 10 feet square and determine the percentage of perennial weeds coverage during late spring or summer.
Perennial weeds can live and flower for more than one season and include wild garlic (Allium vineale), yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus), quack grass (Elytrigia repens), ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), yellow woodsorell (Oxalis stricta), buckhorn plantain (Plantago lanceolata), broadleaf plantain (Plantago major), dandelion (Taraxacum officinale),white clover (Trifolium repens), and violet. To help identify these weeds, visit njaes.rutgers.edu/weeds.
Perennial weeds may have rhizomes, stolons, crowns, nutlets, roots or entire plants that survive through the winter and resume growth again the following spring. They are the most difficult weeds to control since you need to remove the entire root system.
You can hand-dig with a trowel or a common device called a weed-popper if you don't want to use herbicides, but chemical control is often easier and more effective.
Excessive thatch: Normal de-thatching should be done in the fall when the thatch (spongy area of mostly dead rhizomes, or stems between crown and roots) is more than ½-inch thick. If the thatch builds up to 2 inches or more, you may need to have a professional come in with heavy-duty equipment. Dig up a few areas of the turf to determine if the thatch is a problem.
Compacted soils: Test for extreme compaction when soils are slightly moist, a day or two after a light rain. If you can't get a screwdriver or garden trowel to penetrate the slightly moist soils, then you may have severe compaction.
Moderate soil compaction often can be handled with a core aerator in the early fall. Extreme compaction can be more problematic and may require the addition of quality topsoil and organic matter as well as the use of a professional-quality core aerator, aerifier or chisel device that can penetrate these soils.

Elspeth Thompson finds the seasonal heroes that yield a fragrant glory

On one of the unseasonally sunny days over the New Year, I found a friend standing in my garden with a beatific smile on her face.

Delightfully delicate: Daphne bholua
She was transfixed, she said, by a delicious lily-like scent but couldn't imagine where it could be coming from at this time of the year. When I pointed out the sarcococca in the corner, she could hardly believe that such a strong heady fragrance could be coming from this small unassuming plant.
Sarcococca confusa is an evergreen bush with tiny tatters of white flowers that are really no more than a cluster of anthers hanging close to the stem. The pleasures it packs are olfactory, rather than visual, as is the case with many other flowers that bloom so heroically in these bleakest months of the year.
Sarcococca hookeriana is even more fragrant, and therefore more widespread, but its pink-tinged flowers are, to me, somewhat untidy, lacking the purity of S. confusa.
All sarcococcas grow well in shade, but they need to be kept moist. If your soil is too dry, try it in a large container by the kitchen door, where its scent can be appreciated and any waste vegetable water and so on can be put to good use.

Another lovely wintry plant whose scent is far stronger than the size of its flowers would suggest is the winter-flowering honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima. This small twiggy shrub, with its delicate cream and white flowers, bears little physical resemblance to the climbing honeysuckles that are so popular in summer gardens.
But its perfume is wonderfully penetrating - just a few sprigs in a vase will scent an entire room and give a fillip to the spirits. I planted one beside the gate of our seaside house a few years ago, and what was little more than a twig in a pot has grown and flourished into a five-foot bush that I plan to prune and train around an arch across the entrance. (I've since learned that what I really should have planted is L. x purpusii 'Winter Beauty', which has an even stronger scent and a longer flowering period, from early December through till April.)
The downside of many of these winter beauties is that they are dead dull during the remaining months of the year, but the branches can easily play host to attractive scented climbers.
With a white Rosa rugosa on the other side of the arch and a summer jasmine scrambling overhead, it is my aim to welcome visitors with scented flowers all year round. Another unassuming favourite I planted at the same time has so far proved less of a success.
Wintersweet, or Chimonanthus praecox, has waxy, almost transparent flowers the colour of church candles and a perfume just like nectar. I fell in love with it in Cambridge University Botanic Garden when I was a student, and vowed to have it in my own garden one day.
There, wintersweet is placed in an island border, where the low morning and afternoon sun can illuminate the maroon-centred blooms like parchment from either side, and I tried to emulate this effect by planting it as part of an east-west-running hedge.
The trouble is, that though wintersweet prefers a sheltered spot, it needs the sun to penetrate and ripen the wood in summer in order to flower well, and by the summer my plant is somewhat swamped by its neighbours. Perhaps it's just a matter of patience, though.
Wintersweet is a notoriously slow grower, only flowering after several years' growth, but it is well worth the wait. I long for the day when I can wander outside and pick scented sprays to bring inside where the added warmth brings out the flowers' fragrance.
Last but not least when it comes to small winter flowers with show-stopping scent are the Daphnes. My favourite is the deciduous D.mezereum, whose bare branches are clothed in clusters of tiny four-petalled mauve stars from late winter to early spring - D. m. 'Bowles Variety' has pretty white flowers.
Of the other daphnes such as D.bholua and evergreen D. odora, many have a tricky reputation and must be placed in well-drained soil in a sheltered spot that receives some winter sun in order to be given a good chance. The greenish-yellow flowered D. laureola is frost-tolerant and rather interesting, while the popular D. odora 'Aureomarginata' has a cream-coloured edge to its evergreen leaves.
Again, Daphnes are good candidates for pots near doorways, provided the soil is well-drained but not allowed completely to dry out. When the flowers are over, feed for a few weeks with a good liquid fertilizer and move to a less prominent spot until next winter's brief moment of fragrant glory.
Tours offer
Readers dreaming of spring and summer can earn a discount on garden tours with two leaders in the field, by signing up within the next month.
Garden designer Karen Platt's tours for 2008 range from visits to some of Britain's best-loved gardens and flower shows, including Chelsea, to the horticultural highlights of Rome, Marrakech and Thailand, and also include a practical learning element.
She is offering 10 per cent off bookings made before 15 Feb. For more information see http://www.karenplatt.co.uk/ or call 0114 268 1700, quoting this offer.
Boxwood Tours, whose well-established garden tours are led by experts, are offering readers booking by that date £100 off trips this year to gardens in the heart of Spain, Calvados and the Cotentin Peninsula.

A SECOND PRIZE FOR PASSIONATE SNAPPER

A Photographer for almost 40 years was proud to get first prize in the Four Seasons competition.Geoff Coolledge (61), of Enfield Avenue in New Waltham, said: "It's wonderful."I won once three years ago, and didn't think I would get the chance to do so a second time."I have been taking photographs for about 37 years now. It is a real passion of mine. I love going out, taking the picture, and then weighing up the quality of the photographs when I get back home."Geoff took the picture of the robin in November. He said: "The robin has been around since summer, living in next door's hedge."I saw him in our garden, and quickly opened the top window to our lounge and took the photograph with my Canon 20D camera."I was particularly pleased with the result - especially thanks to the rich colour of the flower."I tend to specialise in wildlife shots. One of my favourite places to go and take pictures is Cleethorpes Country Park."I also like to photograph aircraft - a particular favourite of mine is one I took of a Spitfire at the Elvington Air Show, near York."I will keep entering the Four Seasons competition."It's really rewarding to see a picture you have taken appearing in the paper."I remember when I used to be a tanker driver, I was surprised by the amount of colleagues coming up to me to say they had seen one my shots in the Grimsby Telegraph - it was quite amazing."

Just Ask: Wait for drier weather to work your soil

Q: We are building a new house, and it is taking longer than expected. Right now the topsoil is scraped away, and the subsoil is compacted like cement from all the heavy equipment. This hard-packed soil does not drain well, and puddles sit around after it rains. Do you think we should bring in extra topsoil now to improve this situation or wait until spring?
-- J.B., e-mail
M.B.: Wait. Moving, working or tilling any soil during wet winter weather can damage the structure and air pockets. This may destroy the tilth or compact even the best topsoils. When the winter rains stop and you are done with heavy equipment, add topsoil high in organic matter. The more compost you can add to your compacted subsoil, the better. Organic matter is the great equalizer that both loosens compacted and clay soils and enriches sandy, loose soils, so that both can hold moisture but still allow for air and drainage. When soils like yours have already been compacted, you can save money with a design that takes poor drainage into consideration. Think raised beds and planting berms of topsoil with gravel paths and swales that can channel rainwater.

Q: I saw the coolest flower at a local florist, and I was told it is called a protea. I bought just one stem and enjoyed it indoors as a cut flower for weeks. The blossom was huge, unusual and colorful, and I want to grow this plant in my yard. Where can I find seeds or young plants?
-- T., e-mail
M.B.: Hold on to your dreams, but get your feet back on the ground, because protea is a beautiful but tropical plant that will not survive the winters in our Northwest climate. You would need a heated greenhouse and some skill to grow this heat-loving plant, which is native to Australia and Africa. To soothe your fever for a tropical touch, I suggest some winter-hardy shrubs with a jungle jingle, such as hardy hibiscus, bold-leaved cannas, bananas and colorful lantanas or the unusual Australian blooms from Eucomis bulbs (also called pineapple lily). These have been overwintering quite happily in Puget Sound area gardens, except when the temperature dips really low. If you want easy-to-grow houseplants with an exotic flair, check out the many types of bromeliads. Unlike the protea, bromeliads will adapt and bloom during the winter months despite the lack of a greenhouse. And you can always treat yourself to those fabulous cut proteas from the florist.
Q: We have a big old forsythia bush, and I would like to cut it back and get it under control. What would be the best time of year to do this?
-- L.M., Enumclaw
M.B.: Anytime the shears are sharp and in your hands. Forsythias are forgiving shrubs and will survive the most horrific haircuts, no matter when you prune them. I always like to suggest that forsythias and quince be pruned in January or early February, so that the cut branches can be brought indoors and placed in a tall vase of warm water. In a few days the bare whips will burst into bloom. Forcing forsythia each winter is a beautiful way to control the size of your shrub. Pruning after blooming also is recommended because the growth flush after the flowers fade will quickly cover up any pruning scars. But even if you prune your forsythia in summer or fall, the shrub will survive. However, it may pout a bit and punish you by withholding flowers for a year.

Sow ideas now for the summer garden

It’s that dreamy time of year, when all things are possible in the garden. We page through seed catalogs or browse online and see a world of potential.
As you dream of the garden to come, consider new or unusual annuals that provide a season of color for the price of a seed packet.
Annuals are a great way to try something new or uncommon. They cost little and you invest only a year’s worth of time, because these plants will grow, flower, set seed and die by Christmas. (With luck, they may even reseed and come up the following year for you.)
So why not pick up a packet from Thompson & Morgan of the new poppy Papaver “Ooh La La”?
The pink, lavender, white or deep salmon flowers of “Ooh La La” are crammed with petals, making them look much like a peony. Stems grow to 3 feet for a fine vertical element in the garden.
Contrast those big fat flowers with the delicate structure of an uncommon love-in-mist, Nigella papillosa “White Bride’s Veil,” available from Renee’s Garden.
The pure white petals are a perfect backdrop for the intricate, black pistil and stamen structure that sits atop. The ferny foliage — much like that of the more common, but still fine, love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) — adds a softness.
Both the uncommon and the everyday Nigella develop cool-looking, inflated seedpods that work as a season-extender in the garden, good texture in a dried indoor arrangement and insurance for more flowers next year.
New introductions of annuals are different takes on a familiar plant. Sunflowers, zinnias and marigolds come to us with more petals or strangely arranged petals, taller or shorter plants and a wider variety of colors, even if those color differences are only slight.
Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) are old friends — easy to grow and fun for kids and squirrels alike. Variations on the usual theme of golden yellow flowers with large dark brown centers may be slight, but still enough to interest us to try them out.
“Green Heart” from Thompson & Morgan replaces the brown centers with lime on 5-foot-high plants. If you’re looking for a shorter sunflower, try “Sunny Smile” from Territorial Seed Co.; it grows to only 20 inches.
“Starburst Panache,” also from Territorial, offers 5-inch-wide flowers with dark center disks surrounded by a ruffle of golden petals. The plants branch, which provides more flowers.
Sunflower competitions — how high can it grow? — should include “Heirloom Titan” from Renee’s Garden. It can top out at 14 feet, so plant it against a fence or wall, where it will be easy to install some support for the stems.
Cosmos, another familiar annual, takes on subtly different characteristics in new introductions. The usual pink pinwheel flowers deepen in Thompson & Morgan’s “Antiquity.” The flowers begin burgundy and then age to a deep salmon.
Plants such as cosmos and poppies have tiny seeds and are perfect choices for the scatter-approach to gardening. In early spring, sprinkle a whole seed packet out onto soil that has been scuffed up a bit. Make sure we’re getting the usual spring showers, and you’re set.
Other annuals have chunkier seeds, and need to be put into the soil; this includes sunflowers and nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus). The seeds of nasturtiums, another cheery flower that’s a cinch to grow, are round and knobby, like a dried caper.
“Ladybird,” a new Thompson & Morgan nasturtium, is named not for our former first lady, but for the British term for ladybugs. On each petal of the golden yellow flowers is a red dot.
From cheery to dramatic — the intense colors and shadings of the painted tongue (Salpiglossis sinuata) prompt questions and admiring comments from garden visitors. Often, the only way you can get Salpiglossis seeds is to buy a mix of colors, but this year Thompson & Morgan and Mr. Fothergill’s Seed offer “Kew Blue.”
Intense purple-blue flowers with a black throat bloom atop stems that grow up to 2½ feet tall. A clump of one color makes a strong statement, and this color is hard to be had in the summer garden.
Save room for another dark beauty: Scabiosa atropurpurea “Ace of Spades.” We are more familiar with the perennial Scabiosa, with medium light-blue pincushion flowers, but this is an annual.
“Ace of Spades” flowers are deep maroon with tiny white “pins” stuck in a center cushion. The plants grow to 3 feet high and will surely cause a stir.
Marty Wingate, a Washington state master gardener, is the author of two garden books.

Garden advice: Thorny problems

Garden tips and advice from our resident expert Helen Yemm. This week: seascape gardens, weed control and a 'sad case'

Gardeners' Forum
Organic Gardening homepage

The tide has turned
Amid all the busy pre-Christmas hoo-hah a slightly tetchy-sounding reader felt moved to object, on the Telegraph website, to me wishing others "seasonal jollity" - a term he obviously regards as too PC by half.

Seaside style: A moden seaside garden
I must say I, too can get a bit tetchy in that run-up to Christmas, although for different reasons: I can't stand the sight of my messy garden and, given a daily invasion of airborne oak leaves that continues for two months or more, there is no incentive to do anything resembling a clear-up.
However, everything changes with the almost imperceptible lengthening of the days and the undoubted frisson provided by that first mild, blue-skied afternoon of the New Year. It was no surprise that I found myself touring the garden looking for signs of life amid the mess and, with a song thrush trilling away in the offending oak tree, the re-bonding process got under way.
My first flurry of activity involved cutting down the last ratty remains of border perennials, leaving 10cm (4in) stumps as an aide-mémoire. Then, on my hands and knees, I carefully removed the drifts of now-clammy autumn leaves that had become wedged around them, revealing and dispatching as I did so small black slugs already moving in on the premature green shoots beneath.
As I progressed through my borders bagging the debris, accompanied by a daftly brave and sweetly twittering robin, I eased up the compacted soil surface with the fine tines of my little shrub rake, careful not to disturb the daffodils and snowdrops already shoving their noses upwards.
Too idle to consistently label groups of bulbs, I have learnt the hard way (by too often shoving a trowel through them) that it is sensible at least to mark their whereabouts with unobtrusive drifts of wooden kebab sticks, and to keep a list of varieties planted.
Thus this pre-spring border-trawl, apart from being a much-needed clean-up operation, served to remind me what to expect in the coming weeks.
Next, mindful that such mild and sunny afternoons are bound to be followed by an Arctic blast, I dug out the contents of a leaf heap (made in autumn 2006 and already pretty well broken down, thanks to the leaves having been shredded before composting), and spread it around.
The bases of the newly cleaned up perennials each got a dollop, especially the oriental hybrid hellebores that were now relieved of last year's untidy foliage and already shoving up their fresh new leaves and flower heads.
There was still more to do. I generally set myself a target of pruning my climbing roses as soon after the New Year as possible. And if I don't cut back my grapevine by the middle of the month, I may find that the powerful sap has already started to rise and the result will be shoots dripping alarmingly.
I finished off my glorious few hours in the garden by shredding my prunings, sweeping the paths and neatening the edge of my poor down-trodden lawn.
The whole place looked lovely and, as the light faded I went indoors feeling re-energised and looking forward to another gardening year - whatever the weather may chuck at us before spring arrives. The way I felt made that contentious term "seasonal jollity" suddenly seem particularly apt.
Seascape garden
We moved to the Isle of Wight 18 months ago, to a new Barratt house with a small open-plan front garden. We are both elderly and my husband is disabled, so we would like to create a genuinely low-maintenance area. We thought a "seascape" garden with grasses, sea campion and lavender would be suitable, but wonder whether it would be better to put the plants in pots rather than plant in the gravel. Mrs. E W Smith, East Cowes
The pictures you sent me were of a neat gravelled area (previously just grass and dwarf conifers) with a paved path. The "seascape" idea is a clever one.
You could plant straight into the gravel if that gravel was originally laid directly on top of the previously weed-killed lawn, or if there is simply a membrane between the gravel and the old lawn soil beneath. But if the gravel had been put down on a layer of compacted hardcore, this would make planting into it impossible without major upheaval, so you would indeed need to use containers.
However, since you sought my advice… I do not find a garden comprised of single potted specimens genuinely low-maintenance. The watering can be a year-round chore, the plants need re-potting and replacing and it can also look scrappy and un-coordinated unless the pots are carefully chosen and subtly grouped.

Dorit Baxter Tells How to Outsmart Skin Care Industry Hype, Avoid High Prices

Dorit Baxter, founder and owner of New York Day Spa, located in midtown Manhattan, calls the increasingly hyped and expensive contemporary skin care market "deception in a jar."

Declaring that "consumers in pursuit of a perfect skin and the myth of forever young fall into a trap of promises presented in beautiful packages whose contents deliver disappointing results," Baxter offers the following smart-shopping tips to confused consumers:
Research the labels of high-priced items, then find budget-friendly counterparts containing the same essential ingredients
Ignore manufacturers' advice to stick to only one product line in your beauty regimen, feel free to mix and match as much as you like
Avoid products like Retin A whose wrinkle-diminishing properties are unsubstantiated, and which does not come in a low-priced alternativeBaxter applies the same skepticism and practicality to skin care treatments, advising consumers not to fall for the hype that foists on the public every new fad boasting results defying common sense. She does not believe that Microdermabrasion sufficiently lives up to its promise of perfecting the skin to justify its expense, requisite repeated procedures and the risk of rendering the derma excessively vulnerable to environmental factors.
When it comes to the relentlessly hyped Botox, Baxter argues that the costly injections, which also require frequent repeats, do not produce rejuvenating effects on a level to justify the expenditure of money and time, and to incur the risks to the visage inherent in the injections.
Encouraging a simplified beauty regimen, Baxter maintains that for the typical woman, a facial cleansing and moisturizing agent will suffice. She cautions women who are experiencing a backlash against aggressive skin care marketing not to go overboard and stop using moisturizers, which she defines "as necessary to the skin as water is to a flower. I have seen their effectiveness in my spa clients over an entire generation."
For further discussion on avoiding persistent hype and high prices in skin care products and treatments, please contact Dorit Baxter directly.
About Dorit BaxterA Manhattan-based skin care specialist for over three decades, Baxter launched in 1989 one of America's first day spas, which was featured in Time Magazine (July 22, 1991) as the prototype for an establishment catering to the convenience of busy urbanites seeking beautifying and wellness-promoting treatments in close proximity to home and office. New York Day Spa was an original promoter of Dead Sea skin care products in the U.S. and an early exemplifier of multi-cultural beauty concepts. A trend-setter rather than follower, Dorit Baxter has consistently influenced the spa industry with her visions and innovations in body treatments and facials as she has done for the past 28 years in business.
Contact:Dorit BaxterDorit Baxter New York Day Spa212-371-4542http://www.newyorkdayspa.com/

Q&A with Sandy Feather: Finicky gardenias like moisture, cold temperatures

Q: I received a big, beautiful gardenia as a gift for Thanksgiving. It was just full of buds, with a few open blooms. Much to my disappointment, most of those buds have dropped off before they got a chance to open. What am I doing wrong?

A: Gardenias have a reputation for being finicky houseplants, so don't be so hard on yourself. Your gift was probably produced in a greenhouse where it received the right amount of light, was grown at the proper temperature, and maintained on a careful watering and fertilization schedule. Some of the bud drop can probably be attributed just to the move from that greenhouse into your home.
Two of the biggest factors influencing gardenia bud drop are heat and lack of humidity in our homes, especially in the winter. They prefer cool temperatures -- 62 or 63 degrees -- to set and maintain flower buds. That is much cooler than most humans find comfortable in winter months. If temperatures get even a little too high, they will drop all of their buds. If you have a room where it stays cooler than the rest of your house while meeting the gardenia's other requirements, that may be best location for it.
Gardenias also require a high level of humidity or they drop their flower buds before they open. High humidity can be challenging to achieve in our homes during the winter when furnaces are running. Some gardeners report success by moving the plant to a naturally more humid room such as a bathroom or laundry area. You can stand the container in a saucer of pebbles that you keep filled with water to increase humidity. Try not to allow the bottom of the pot to contact the water in the saucer to avoid problems with root rot.
You may also group plants together. As the plants lose moisture through their leaves (transpiration), it maintains an area of higher humidity around the group. As a last resort, mist the leaves every other day. Too much moisture on the leaves can cause leaf spots, and moisture will spoil the flowers too quickly once they do bloom.
Gardenias prefer bright light, perhaps in an east- or southeast-facing window. Strong sun from the southwest may scorch their leaves and cause flowers to fade faster than necessary.

Q: I grew my own vegetable transplants for the first time last year. I think I started some seeds too early because I wound up with out-of-control tomato and cucumber plants. What is the best time to start different crops?

A: The most common mistake people make when growing their own transplants is starting them too early. The transplants get too big and woody by the time you are ready to set them out in the garden, and they do not adapt as well as less mature transplants.
As a rule of thumb, start your cool-season crops from mid- February to early March. These are crops that grow best in cool weather, but bolt to seed and/or get bitter during hot weather. Start cole crops such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage and kohlrabi eight to nine weeks before you want to plant them out in the garden. Start iceberg and romaine lettuce about four weeks before transplanting them into the garden.
Other types of lettuce such as leaf or butterhead are best seeded directly into the garden. Cool-season crops can be planted outside early to mid-April, as the weather warms and the soil dries out enough to work.
Warm-season crops -- those that are not planted out in the garden until all danger of frost has passed in late May -- should not be started indoors until late March or early April. Give tomatoes, peppers and eggplants eight to nine weeks before you want to plant them in the garden. If you start your cucumbers, melons and gourds indoors (they, too, can be direct-seeded in the garden), start them four weeks before planting them in the garden.
Otherwise, they get too big and take up too much valuable space under the lights.

Flowers farmers expect market bloom

VietNamNet Bridge – Flower farming villages in the Mekong Delta are busily preparing for the upcoming lunar New Year. Thanks to favorable weather, yellow apricot gardens in the delta promise a vibrant and punctual bloom.

Tan Quy Dong Ward, Ward 3 and Tan Khanh Dong commune, in Dong Thap province, are the country’s flower hubs. Ba Dung, a farmer in Tan Khanh Dong, wakes every day at 5am and manages his gardens.

Dung said he planted 4,000 rose bushes for Tet and is now, through a special process, ensuring they bloom in time for Tet.

Tran Thi Thuy Phuong, the owner of a flower garden near Dung’s, said “For the past month, my entire family has been in the garden all day looking after flowers. We will be even busier as Tet gets nearer.”

Like Dung and Phuong, all flower growers in Sa Dec Town are very busy. Each family grows thousands of flowers.

In Cho Lach district, Ben Tre province, flowers are in bloom everywhere. Nguyen Van Van, the owner of a daisy garden in Long Thoi commune, Cho Lach district said: “Last year we suffered losses because of dry weather, which killed daisies. This year the weather is perfect. I think this year’s harvest will be both bountiful and beautiful.”

Farmers in Cho Lack district are preparing ornamental trees, as well as flowers, which are cut into animal shapes for the upcoming holiday.

Duong Van Huyen, Chairman of the Cai Mon Ornamental Tree Cooperative said: “Animal-shaped ornamental trees sell very well. We have just sold two 2.5m ornamental trees in the shape of stags for VND10 million. We expect trees to sell like hot cakes.”

Nguyen Van Cong, famous for making animal shaped ornamental trees in Cho Lach, said: “We work both day and night but still can’t meet the demand, but I guess that’s a good thing.”

Cong said many people want to buy Rat-shaped trees because this is the Year of the Rat.

Le Van Don, Vice Head of the Economics Division of Cho Lach District, said that the district’s farmers supply around 6 million flowers for Tet each year and expects prosperity this year, thanks to comfortable weather.

As yellow apricot is the symbol of Tet in the South, this kind of tree is paid special attention. Nguyen Thanh Quy in Cho Lach district, said he has invested over VND200 million in nearly 7,000 yellow apricot trees. Nguyen Quoc Viet in Sa Dec Town is also growing 2,000 yellow apricot trees. The two farmers said they will begin selling in late January.

Yellow apricot tree growers are using special methods that will make them bloom during Tet. They said this year they don’t worry about incurring losses because the planting area in Thu Duc district, HCM City has a weak crop this year because of high tides; they also expect prices to be higher than normal.

Some farmers said traders from HCM City, the central region and the North have come to buy yellow apricot trees.

However, some flower farmers say this year input expenditures have soared since the price for fertilizer, gas and other materials has increase substantially; meaning production costs are 30-50% higher than last year.

The Grounded Gardener: Sow ideas now for the summer garden

It's that dreamy time of year, when all things are possible in the garden. We page through seed catalogs or browse online and see a world of potential.
As you dream of the garden to come, consider new or unusual annuals that provide a season of color for just the price of a seed packet.

The pure white petals of Nigella 'White Bride's Veil' are a perfect backdrop for the intricate, black pistil and stamen structure.
Annuals are a great way to try something new or uncommon. They cost little and you invest only a year's worth of time, because these plants will grow, flower, set seed and die by next Christmas. (With luck, they may even reseed and come up the following year for you.)
So why not pick up a packet from Thompson & Morgan of the new poppy Papaver 'Ooh La La' (we're told Ciscoe Morris had nothing to do with it).
The pink, lavender, white or deep salmon flowers of 'Ooh La La' are crammed with petals, making them look much like a peony. Stems grow to 3 feet for a fine vertical element in the garden.
Contrast those big fat flowers with the delicate structure of an uncommon love-in-mist, Nigella papillosa 'White Bride's Veil,' available from Renee's Garden.
The pure white petals are a perfect backdrop for the intricate, black pistil and stamen structure that sits atop. The ferny foliage -- much like that of the more common, but still fine, love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) -- adds a softness.
Both the uncommon and the everyday Nigella develop cool-looking, inflated seedpods that work as a season-extender in the garden, good texture in a dried indoor arrangement and insurance for more flowers next year.
New introductions of annuals are different takes on a familiar plant. Sunflowers, zinnias and marigolds come to us with more petals or strangely arranged petals, taller or shorter plants and a wider variety of colors, even if those color differences are only slight.
Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) are old friends -- easy to grow and fun for kids and squirrels alike. Variations on the usual theme of golden yellow flowers with large dark brown centers may be slight, but still enough to interest us to try them out.
'Green Heart' from Thompson & Morgan replaces the brown centers with lime on 5-foot-high plants. If you're looking for a shorter sunflower, try 'Sunny Smile' from Territorial Seed Co.; it grows to only 20 inches.
'Starburst Panache,' also from Territorial, offers 5-inch-wide flowers with dark center disks surrounded by a ruffle of golden petals. The plants branch, which provides more flowers.
Sunflower competitions -- how high can it grow? -- should include 'Heirloom Titan' from Renee's Garden. It can top out at 14 feet, so plant it against a fence or wall, where it will be easy to install some support for the stems.
Cosmos, another familiar annual, takes on subtly different characteristics in new introductions. The usual pink pinwheel flowers deepen in Thompson & Morgan's 'Antiquity.' The flowers begin burgundy and then age to a deep salmon.
Plants such as cosmos and poppies have tiny seeds and are perfect choices for the scatter-approach to gardening. In early spring, sprinkle a whole a seed packet out onto soil that has been scuffed up a bit. Make sure we're getting the usual spring showers, and you're set.
Other annuals have chunkier seeds, and need to be put into the soil; this includes sunflowers and nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus). The seeds of nasturtiums, another cheery flower that's a cinch to grow, are round and knobby, like a dried caper.
'Ladybird,' a new Thompson & Morgan nasturtium, is named not for our former first lady, but for the British term for ladybugs. On each petal of the golden yellow flowers is a red dot.
From cheery to dramatic -- the intense colors and shadings of the painted tongue (Salpiglossis sinuata) prompt questions and admiring comments from garden visitors. Often, the only way you can get Salpiglossis seeds is to buy a mix of colors, but this year Thompson & Morgan and Mr. Fothergill's Seed offer 'Kew Blue.'
Intense purple-blue flowers with a black throat bloom atop stems that grow up to 2 1/2 feet tall. A clump of one color makes a strong statement, and this color is hard to be had in the summer garden.
Save room for another dark beauty: Scabiosa atropurpurea 'Ace of Spades.' We are more familiar with the perennial Scabiosa, with medium light-blue pincushion flowers, but this is an annual.
'Ace of Spades' flowers are deep maroon with tiny white "pins" stuck in a center cushion. The plants grow to 3 feet high and will surely cause a stir.
SOURCES
Buy seeds directly from the company, or shop at your local nursery. Some nurseries fill whole walls with seed packets, beginning early in the year, providing us with delightfully difficult choices.
Thompson & Morgan -- tmseeds.com; 800-274-7333
Territorial Seed Co. -- territorialseed.com; 800-626-0866
Nichols Garden Nursery -- nicholsgardennursery.com; 800-422-3985
Renee's Garden -- reneesgarden.com; 888-880-7228
Mr. Fothergill's Seed and Gourmet Seed International -- gourmetseed.com; 575-398-6111
Marty Wingate, a Master Gardener, is the author of two garden books. She can be contacted at: martywin@earthlink.net.