Happy Spring everyone! 🌸

I hope you all have had a chance to get your hands dirty at least once so far in 2023. As a garden centre owner in Nova Scotia I feel one of my responsibilities is to share knowledge about the plants that I sell and that we all love. One of the most difficult situations a garden centre owner and employees has to deal with every spring is the amount of phone calls and customers coming in saying the plants they purchased last year are dead. Or worse yet, when they come in with the poor little plant in a bucket requesting a refund or a replacement. Like humans, all plants are different. Some thrive in certain environments, some don’t. Some are sluggish, some are full of energy and enthusiasm, some are early risers, and some like to sleep in. Some thrive in cool weather, some thrive in the warmth.

 I would like to share a bit of knowledge on some of the late risers; Butterfly Bush, Lavender, Russian Sage, Rose of Sharon, and Smokebush to name a few. These plants all have something in common, they can be very late to show signs of life. Some years it’s around the first of June before they show any sign of green. I have seen Rose of Sharon take until mid July to show its little leaf buds but once it does it flourishes and rewards your patience with a multitude of large colourful flowers in September and October. There is always the exception to any rule especially if you have a nice microclimate on your property these plants will show life earlier. On the flip side the plant might have root rotted through the winter or some other act of nature may have occurred. In some cases the top of the plant might have died but the root is very much alive and will send up beautiful new growth when it is ready. My point is, please be patient and inform yourself of the pros and cons of each plant you purchase. Google can be a wonderful tool just make sure that you are reading from sites for northern climates. It can also be very confusing when you go into a garden centre in May and see lush lavender and leafy butterfly bushes when yours look like a bundle of dead sticks, these plants have been flushed in a greenhouse for early sales.  

QUICK TIP!

  Another quick point that I would like to make is that your gardens will benefit greatly from a good dose of lime every year or even twice a year. Most perennials like sweet soil (alkaline) and most trees, shrubs and veggie gardens can benefit from this as well. Our soils are generally very acidic here in Nova Scotia and in some cases the soil is so acidic that your plants can’t access soil nutrients. Don’t be afraid to lime, you really can’t overdue it. A nice big handful of pelletized lime around your plants will be well worth the effort, the bigger the plant the more you apply (one large handful for a 6-8 inch diameter plant). You can simply leave it on the surface of the soil or scratch it in a bit. Want an abundance of beautiful Lilac flowers? Lime is the secret, they love sweet soil, so do Clematis.

  I hope my little spiel has shed some light for some and I wish you all a bounty of beauty as you enjoy this gardening season.

P.S. I write this as pea size hail is pounding my deck…the joys of gardening in the Maritimes! 

Susan Levy

Oceanview Home & Garden