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<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhile walking around in\nmy garden (a highly recommended shelter-at-home activity), I was pleased to see\none of the earliest Irises to come into bloom. (Local gardeners in slightly\nwarmer locations already enjoy several Irises.) This specimen is Iris pallida\n\u2018Variegata\u2019, which is appreciated primarily for its green and yellow or green\nand white foliage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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We continue our\nexploration of three categories of gardening activities that are suitable under\nsocial distance constraints and rewarding to the gardener. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Care for Your Garden <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Engaging\nschool-age children in gardening is a\nway for parents to and grandparents to\nhelp children to learn and be productive while sheltering at home. A fine source\nof gardening activities is the non-profit Kids Gardening organization\n(kidsgardening.org). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Short-term\ngardening activities can be enjoyable for adults and children to work together,\nbut as we deal with extended stays at home, consider more programmatic\napproaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Borrowing\nconcepts from formal schooling, adults should adopt a gardening curriculum for\nyoung learners. Basically, a curriculum involves learning objectives within a\ndefined scope and following a logical sequence. Gardening naturally involves\nperiods of a given plant\u2019s development with beginning, middle, and end (germination,\ngrowth, ripening), so it lends itself to clear lesson plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Browse\nto kidsgardening.org and explore the menu, \u201cEducator Resources\u201d for a wealth of\nideas for gardening with kids at home. The website offers many options, so\ninterested adults will need to commit time to select lessons that are suitable\nfor their site, workable with available tools and other resources, and\ninteresting for both adults and children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pruning Salvias <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Salvias\nshould be pruned heavily every year to remove spent branches and promote fresh\nnew growth. Some gardeners accomplish this pruning in the late winter, just as\nthe spring shoots begin to appear at the base of the plants. That approach\nworks fine, but this year the opportunity came and went, leaving the apparent option\nto skip pruning until next year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, I learned of a more complex situation. Salvia specialist Kermit Carter, of Flowers by the Sea <\/a>advised different strategies for each of four kinds of Salvias:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now,\nthe task is to identify each type of Salvia in my garden and prune accordingly.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Advance Your Gardening Knowledge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This\nlesson on Salvia pruning illustrates the importance of knowing the plants in\nyour garden, as the foundation for their cultivation. For any given plant, the\ngardener can gain important information by searching the Internet for the\nplant\u2019s botanical name. In many cases, a search by common name will lead to the\nbotanical name, and useful knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For many popular garden genera, specialized web sites provide good basic facts of value in caring for plants. In the above example, Flowers by the Sea<\/a> has an extensive database of Salvia species and cultivars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For\nthe large category of bulbous plants, a fine resource is the Pacific Bulb\nSociety, which maintains a wiki with images and growing advice for a great\nrange of bulbous plants. The Society\u2019s name relates to its geographic origins;\nthe wiki includes plants from everywhere. By the way, \u201cwiki\u201d comes from a\nHawaiian word for \u201cquick,\u201d and it refers to \u201ca website that allows\ncollaborative editing of its content and structure by its users.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3.\nEnrich Your Gardening Days <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Opportunities\nabound for virtual tours of public gardens. In previous columns, we have\nrecommended public gardens in California and in England and France. Here, we\nfeature some of the now-closed great public gardens in the United States,\noutside of California. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Enjoy\nyour gardens and gardening and stay healthy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While walking around in my garden (a highly recommended shelter-at-home activity), I was pleased to see one of the earliest Irises to come into bloom. (Local gardeners in slightly warmer locations already enjoy several Irises.) This specimen is Iris pallida … Continue reading