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...because all the best garden advice is local
April 2009
Blue Skies and Stormy Weather
 
Greetings!

Veronica at potting bench _ creditSo weird. This week I was raking out my flower beds, but finding myself having to work around patches of snow to do it. April snows are hardly rare in Iowa, but they definitely are dispiriting.

Many gardeners fret about snow's effect on their crocuses, snowdrops, and daffodils, but usually, these little guys are fine. They're natives of harsh, cold mountain regions and have evolved to deal with snow. The exception is if the snow actually snaps the stems of the larger flowers, such as daffodils. With those, I simply cut them off and bring them indoors to enjoy in a vase. Even if the flowers are still closed, they'll usually open up indoors.

Happy Gardening-and stay warm!

Veronica Lorson Fowler
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Divide and Conquer

I've been getting lots of questions about when to divide  this perennial and that. Basically, in Iowa, as long as it's not blooming or not about to bloom in a few weeks, you can divide it in early spring. Divide these as soon as they come up and are a couple of inches high. Or divide them in early fall after the worst heat of summer subsides.

Just don't ever, ever divide anything in bloom or about to bloom. So if you have, say, creeping phlox that are in bloom, wait until after they're done flowering and then divide them.

neighbor Jean dividing perennialsIn fact, when a plant is in bloom, I liken it to a woman in labor. It's putting so much energy into producing this offspring and is at such a precarious time that you don't want to move it, trim it,or even plant it (that's why you shouldn't buy annuals in flower) at all. Leave the poor thing alone. It's undergoing an exhausting process and needs as little disturbance as possible (except for trimming off spent blooms).

My neighbor Jean working
away in my garden

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A Rainbow of Coral Bells!
 

coral bell foliageLove knock-out foliage? Check out this colorful collection of coral bells! Coral bells, known botanically as heuchera, are great plants for Iowa, growing in low, tidy mounds in light shade to full sun. New, unusual types are hard to find, but In the Country Garden and Gifts near Independence stocks several kinds and is offering a special on-line Rainbow Collection! You'll get 7 different kinds for just $56. Or buy them individually. Offer good for online purchases only until April 23 or while supplies last. Give the code iowagardener4909 to receive as much as $7 off!
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Sweet! 

When planting very fine seed, such as carrots or poppies, mix in a teaspoon or two of sugar. It will help you bulk up the tiny amount of seed and allow you to better control and space the seeds. You'll avoid the annoying waste of having 20 seeds sprout in the same exact spot.
An Official Old Timer 

It amazes me to realize that I have been living and gardening in Iowa for 26 years now. There are a million things I wish someone would have told me when I first moved here from Kansas-it would have saved me a lot of work and money!
    Like the fact that the best plants for Iowa aren't the drought-tolerant ones or the cold-hardy ones and so on. They're the ones that can take extremes. Heat and cold, dry and wet, windy and still-sometimes varying over years and sometimes all in one day!
    Check out our listing of "What You Have to Garden in Iowa a Long Time to Figure Out" for more-including an explanation of why snow is good.
Ask Veronica a Question

If you're a subscriber, email Veronica with your garden questions and she'll do her very best to get back to you within two business days. Click here!
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Bedford in Bloom Festival!

Celebrate spring with the little town of Bedford. Family activities, wine tastings, plant workshops, garden talks, a tour of Rainbow Iris Farms, a barbeque feast, and bluegrass music. Click on the logo below for more information.

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Garden To-Do List:

Cut back perennials and rake out beds and borders now.

Divide perennials that bloom in the late spring, summer, or fall now, as needed or desired.

Prune trees, shrubs, evergreens, and roses now as desired.

Plant cool-season annual flowers, such as pansies, now. Later in April, plant snapdragons, godietas, Iceland poppies, violas, primulas, and English daisies, if you can find them in various garden centers.

Plant the seeds of radishes as soon as you can easily work the ground. (I like to interplant with carrot seeds.) Plant other cool-weather loving seeds, such as lettuces, spinach, peas, turnips, beets, and various greens later in April. 

Plant any type of bare-root trees, shrubs, and roses now. (It's  best to wait until the second half of April to plant those sold already actively growing in pots and leafing out.)

Plant perennial edibles that like cool weather, such as rhurbarb, strawberries, raspberries, and asparagus.

Plant seedlings of cool-season vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, and onion sets now.

Good Friday is the traditional day for planting potatoes in Iowa.

Plant herbs now that like cool weather, including parsley, chives, and cilantro.

If you choose to use lawn chemicals, apply a fertilizer and a preemergent herbicide now, or use a combination product. Organic should apply a corn meal gluten herbicide now. 

  If you choose to use a preemergent weed killer, such as Preen, in your beds and borders, now it the time to apply it. Organic versions are also available. Look for products that also fertilize.

  Wait to mulch until the ground warms up more, usually in late May or so.

  Wait to plant warm-season annuals, such as marigolds, tomatoes, and petunias, until after the last average frost date in mid-May.
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Garden Events

Des Moines Botanical Center
Saturday
Learn on Saturdays series. 10:00 a.m. Growing Vertically Enhances Small-space Gardens. 11:00 a.m. Iowa Koi and Watergarden: Origins of Koi and Koi Pond Essentials.

Heirloom Gardens,
Van Meter
April 16-May 25
Opening day anda  special art exhibit featuring handcrafted metal pieces for your garden.

Quad Cities Botanical Center
Sunday, April 26
Experience the history of lawn care with an antique equipment exhibit at a Lawn Care Fair. Includes info on fertilizing, how to maintain your machinery, insect and weed contro, plus the latest technology.

Reiman Garden, Ames
April 30-July 24
Dinosaurs! The gardens are highlighted with more than 25 realistic full-scale dinosaurs, some as tall as 20 feet!
Quote of the Week

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

- Ancient Chinese philosopher
Lao Tzu