It pains me to see customers spending hundreds of dollars on new plants and simultaneously refusing to spend a few more on a bag or two of compost and a box of starter fertilizer. These two items are not unnecessary “add-ons” that the retailer is just trying to add to the sale, they are critical components of a successful transplanting process - or as I like to refer to them as “plant insurance”. Unless you have phenomenal soil, you should always add compost and starter fertilizers when you are planting new plants. Here is why…
The year was 1970 and I was just about to graduate from college with a degree in plant science. One of my job options was to go to work in Leucadia or Encinitas, California for one of the many foliage companies where plants like Spider Plants, Boston Ivy, Snake Plants, Aglaonema, and Prayer Plants, to name just a few, were propagated by the millions. These plants were sold all over the country to customers much like myself, young and idealistic and wanting to make the world a more loving place to inhabit…
During the months of May and June one of the all-time favorite plants of local gardeners, the peony, is bursting into bloom. There are many excellent peonies available to utilize in our landscapes; including herbaceous cottage types in all sorts of colors (and varying fragrances) and larger growing tree peonies too. I would never scold anyone for growing either of these types (since I do as well), but I want to bring attention to another fabulous peony option… what is known as the intersectional or Itoh Peony.