Simply Gardening with Mallory

Poinsettias are in your local garden center. Here are some tips that will help keep your Poinsettias beautiful for the whole Christmas season.

• Keep them from getting too cold. Take them right home (no stopping for more shopping) and put them inside the house very soon after your purchase.  Remember…they are tropical plants.

Where you place your Poinsettias in your home is important.         

• Avoid  any area where your plant will be exposed to drafts… like near your front door.

•  Keep them away from excessive heat from appliances, wood stoves, or heat ducts.

• Your poinsettia wants bright natural light, but not direct sunlight and the color will last longer with temperatures ranging from 60-65 degrees…so just put on a sweater and enjoy.

• Keep the soil semi-moist; check every few days and water when the soil surface feels dry to the touch. Before watering, remove any foil wrapping; water to saturate the soil, and then allow it to drain. Don’t let the plant sit in standing water…they are quite susceptible to root rot.

If you want to keep your Poinsettia alive past the holiday, go for it. As for me, there are a thousand other plants I would rather spend time keeping healthy. My suggestion… throw it out and get a new one again next year.

Here in the Northwest, the hard work is paying off with dividends of harvest. Corn, tomatoes, pumpkins, squash and anything else planted is now ready to eat fresh and preserve for later. Keep everything picked as it ripens and this will help the next wave of produce to ripen. If you have never canned or dried food, there is no better time to learn. If you did not plant a garden this year, visit some farmers markets in your area to experience farm fresh produce grown with love.

Peaches grow well in the Northwest, but this year it was a scarce crop. We found a grower in St. Paul, OR that produced a bumper crop of Suncrest and Late Elberta’s. We picked about 80 pounds of Elberta this weekend and are ready to can…if we don’t eat them before we get the processed! A truly freestone peach, the Elberta is excellent for canning, fresh eating and, of course cobblers and crisps.

Front porch decorations can be found right in your garden. Use spent corn stalks, squash, carved out pumpkins and pansies or violas to give a warm harvest welcome to your guests.

My wife just read me your article in the Gazette paper here in Sandy, Oregon.  You mentioned sugar ants as one of the challenges of having a container of sugar water hanging around.  I stumbled on a neat solution that avoids insecticides etc.  My best feeder is a simple glass feeder that holds one cup of fluid and has four red “flowers” with cage like yellow centers. For this size of feeder, just get a single strand of 20lb test fishing line will be strong enough to hold your feeder up, but narrow and slick enough that ants cannot negotiate the connection.  Works super.  I just love to watch them and take their pictures when the light is right.

Statuary or other garden art in your garden or borders can add a dynamic that nothing else can. There are so many different types and styles to choose from and it doesn’t have to be expensive. One of my favorite uses of garden art was an old chair we painted white and took out the seat. We placed it over some Helenium and let it grow up through the chair. It looked great and it was good support for the tall plants.

Let you imagination go wild and have fun. Happy Gardening!