Mother's Day plant bounty can bloom on for many years to come

MARGARET C. CROOKS, GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

Originally published June 2

Those plants you got for Mother's Day can give years of pleasure with a bit of special care. Those that will last longest include forced hydrangeas, tender azaleas and forced miniature roses.

The little roses are the least demanding. Give them a sunny windowsill, water as soon as the surface of the medium is dry, and, most important, turn the pot upside down once a week and give the bottoms of the leaves a good shower bath. (If you hold your hand over the top of the pot with your fingers around the trunk of the rose, you won't spill the medium.) This will eliminate any lurking mites, the little roses' worst problem indoors.

This time of year, the little roses can be planted in a sunny garden. Set them at the same level they were growing in the pots, water them in well and they will bloom until Thanksgiving. Because these actually are hardier than many of the hybrids, they need no special winter protection. They will appreciate a mulch year-round. Should mildew or blackspot develop, a spray of neem oil will eliminate the fungi.

The tender azaleas, those with R. Indica blood, are not hardy north of Zone 8, so they must be wintered as a houseplant or in a greenhouse. Give them a cool, bright location. After the holidays, it is easy to force them at 60- degree nights. There is a little trick to make them bloom as houseplants, and that is to set them outdoors whenever it is above freezing. This will encourage bud set.

The "Tiny Dancer" azaleas you see in the shops at this season will bloom several times a year in a greenhouse with 55-degree nights. Repot them to 3-inch pots as soon as the first bloom finishes.

Some cultivars of forced hydrangeas are not bud hardy, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Keep the medium evenly moist, keep the pot in bright shade or filtered sun. The hydrangea can now be planted in the garden. Give it some shade from hot midday sun. The soil must be humusy and be kept moist. Hydrangeas wilt easily if the soil becomes dry.

You will find both pink and blue hydrangeas in the shops. Some of the pinks will stay pink regardless of the soil pH, but most hydrangeas (the mophead types) will be pink in sweet soil, blue in acid soil. If your blue one turns purplish, give it some aluminum sulfate; if the pink one turns blue, give it lime.

You can remove spent blooms but do no other pruning except to remove dead or weak cane. These plants initiate flower buds in late summer and fall for next year's bloom.

Hyacinths and daffodils can be planted directly in the garden when the bloom finishes, or you can keep them growing in the pots until the foliage ripens naturally, then store them in a warm, dry, dark place until fall planting time. Remove seed heads as soon as flowers drop.

Most varieties of tulips forced for spring holidays will not do well in the garden in the future, so the bulbs can be consigned to the compost.

Margaret C. Crooks is a horticulturist and writer. Only questions of general interest will be answered. Readers can e-mail her at pcrooks@greenvillenc.com. She is past president of Garden Writers of America. Readers can send garden problems to her in care of the Asbury Park Press, 3601 Highway 66, Neptune, Box 1550, NJ 07754-1551.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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