Good morning!

Hasn’t it been glorious? The flowers certainly think so at my house! Give them a few days of heat and sunshine, and they just pop all over the garden.

I have discovered a funny thing about my flowers, and I bet several of you might feel the same way. It just seems that when the crocus and daffodils show their faces first thing in the spring, there is nothing prettier. Then the daisies and the Oriental poppies arrive and I say, “Oh, I forgot how lovely they are.”

And, so it goes, as I walk around the garden and see each new surprise. I have finally figured it out, I think. I can’t pick a favorite flower anymore than I can pick a favorite friend. Each offers a different gift, both flower and friend. Some brighten up even the most cloudy day, some offer soothing calmness, some challenge you to work harder and do better, and many are just there and make the world a better place for their presence. But each, in its own way, is a gift.

As I walk around the garden, I also take note of flowers that have grown because of friends. A cutting here or a root there and each, like the friend who offered it, has grown more dear.

Locating lovely lupines

Since this is a good time of year to divide, dig up, rejuvenate and change your garden, it also makes it a good time to share plants with friends. So following are a few tips on how best to do that and when to do it. These questions are some of the most frequently asked by readers. So here goes!

• Lupines – I frequently am asked many questions about lupines. They are lovely and you should NOT attempt to dig them up by the road. The very best way is to go to the nursery and buy three hybrid Russell lupines. When they bloom, do NOT cut the dying blossoms, no matter how tidy you like to keep your garden. They will seed out and the following spring you will have six or eight, etc. Lupines are not long-lived. Therefore, if you wish to continue having them, you must let them seed out. That is why you see colonies by the roadsides because they all seed out. If you can’t afford plants, find someone with lupines and ask for seeds. They should be dry right about now. Collect the seeds, scatter them in two or three places when you get home and remember to watch for them, come spring. Some will grow this season and come back next spring.

• Coreopsis, common daisies, brown-eyed Susans and flowers like them will also seed out, and you can transplant them or give them to a friend. If you want them in a specific place, collect the seeds and spread them in that place. The easiest way to collect them is to wait until the flowers are almost totally dried out. Hold a plastic bag in one hand, bend the flower head over it with the other and shake. The seeds will fall into the bag.

• Sedums and ground covers such as ajuga and dead nettle can be shared by digging up a piece that has strayed or by taking a small portion of the plant. This is exceedingly easy with ground-cover sedums, and they will recover quite nicely. A great many ground covers like ajuga and nettle (also called Beacon Silver) put out runners. At the end of each runner is a new little plant. Simply snip that runner close to the mother plant and dig up the baby. By leaving the runner on the baby, you can then push the end of it into the ground and it usually will root (so you get two for one).

• Plants from rhizomes such as bleeding heart, ferns, astilbes and lily of the valley are also easy because it is simply a matter of taking four or five stems from the side of the plant and working their roots (or rhizomes which are bulb-like) away from the larger plants. Hostas are done the same way.

• On clumping plants such as verbascom, balloon flowers, the various campanulas and many, many others, it is simply a matter of digging them up and dividing them into three or four good-size parts and replanting them. Sometimes this division can be accomplished with your fingers, but frequently with very large or older plants, it may require a knife.

Hint: Frequently, older plants will appear to be dying from the center out and the healthy growth appears to be a ring around the heart of the plant. This is exactly what the plant is doing, and it needs to be dug up. Discard the old middle portion and divide the outside ring (depending on size) into smaller plants for transplanting. Hey, plants are just like people and they require rejuvenation occasionally.

So until next time, enjoy the sunshine, thumb your nose at the snow shovel in the corner of the garage, watch the hummers in their antics and make some lemonade. I don’t care what all those commercials say, nothing tastes as good as homemade lemonade under a shade tree on a hot summer day. And if there happen to be children around, make sure they get a glass because real lemonade is becoming very hard to come by. Have fun!

Happy gardening!

Jody Goodwin has been gardening for more than 20 years. She lives in Turner with her husband, Ike, her two dogs and two cats. She can be reached by writing to her in care of the Sun Journal, 104 Park St., Lewiston, Maine, 04243-4400 or by e-mail at [email protected]
Timely garden tips

I hope all of you have been on the lookout for lily leaf beetles. They are small and bright red, and have laid their eggs now. If you notice holes in the leaves of your Oriental or Asiatic lilies, you probably have them. Kill the beetles, and then check under each leaf. If you find a brownish-blackish, jelly-like mass, those are eggs. Squish them all and then rinse the plant with a hose.

Don’t forget to keep putting Sluggo on your gardens if you see any leaf damage. (You can get it at Longfellows Greenhouses in Manchester or online through several gardening supply catalogs).

It’s time to fertilize your flowers!

Keep watch – the Japanese beetles will be appearing any day. They are easiest to hand pick early in the morning before the sun warms them or in the evening just before dark. Drop them into a container of soapy water.