Conservation is the word
May is the month for conserving water, fertilizer and gardeners. Other good things will also happen, however, we are concerned about the above today.
Water conservation starts in your own back yard. Everyone notices that water has been pretty scarce this month. Gardeners more than others.
I am doing lots of potted gardening nowadays and even though I have been preaching do not let them dry out, I find that I am amazed how fast they do really dry out. Some plantings will dry faster that others, like the smaller ones.
I like to start small with geraniums and some ivies, which mostly like it dry, and coleus and caladiums. I always had these in soil and the sprinkler did them well. In pots, they look beautiful but they do need more water care than I am used to.
What is that legend, “You need to walk a mile in a man’s shoes to know the man?”
I am adjusting and re-adjusting pots and saucers to keep up with their needs. I do not have to worry about how much sun because I face north and only get a sliver of the morning sun right now. As the sun moves around up there, it will allow me a more generous slice of the sun for the summer.
I recently added two colorful bromeliads from the Edison-Ford Plant Sale a couple of months ago. One is OK but already one is looking a little dry and unhappy. It may need more light.
The one thing about gardening – inside, outside, large or small, you are taking a chance. Thank goodness there are millions of plants to keep a gardener busy and happy. We will eventually understand the longer we garden, the more we will change and learn, and enjoy our work.
A very special and interesting house or lanai plant I came across is one called Medinilla Margnitica. A big name for a big plant! At $26.95, even the price was big. The plant, however, was strangely attractive. It was in a 10-inch ceramic pot, no scent but very pendulous flower heads hanging from large pencil-sized green stems, over the sides of the pot. There were two sections to the bloom. The outer pink leaf was shaped like an open tulip petal encasing a large hanging bundle of tiny rounded balls each at the end of its own tiny stem. Picture a bundle of grape stems with grapes removed. The color was a very glowing pink of stems and tiny balls, just a tad longer than the covering petals.
The plant card said no sun, but bright light, and between March and November, low light and about 6-65 degrees to set new bulbs. Water once a week when blooming.
I would say that would be enough of a challenge for anyone. Is that the right plant for this area? I bet there is someone out there who could grow it well. Not me. I do not need much of a challenge nowadays, but I do like to know I have not seen everything there is to see yet.
I do know something we will all NOT be doing as of June 1. That is when the 6-month Fertilizer Ordinance, No. 08-08, will take effect in Lee County.
Fertilizers containing nitrogen and/or phosphorus cannot be used during the rainy season of June 1 through Sept. 30.
This ordinance is in effect to help reduce nutrient pollution flowing into our water bodies. It also regulates landscape management practices.
One very important rule is, fertilizer may not be applied within 10 feet of a water body, seawall or wetland.
To learn more or for a copy of this fertilizer regulation, call 239-533-8706.
The last important thing to conserve is you!
It is time for serious sunscreen coverup. Skin cancer is a common thing for gardeners, boaters, golfers, even walkers and children.
Mosquitoes will be a problem as the rains begin in June. No standing water around your living space. That breeds mosquitoes and there are some nasty ones out there nowadays.
Keep hydrated. Use water – beer just doesn’t work.
Happy gardening till we meet again.
H.I. Jean Shields is a Past President of the Garden Club of Cape Coral.