The consensus is that our Gulf Stream heating system went askew this year, giving us a tough winter and a delayed spring. But now all seems to be “in the groove” again, and we hope the “spree” won’t be repeated.
Almost up the East Coast, roses, bearded iris, and Oriental poppies normally show signs of dormancy now. This varies from just a slowdown in the flower production of roses to the complete disappearance above ground of the poppies.
At this time, roses are fed to encourage fall bloom, the iris is divided if necessary, new varieties are planted, and poppies can be transplanted.
Annuals furnish color if they have been well tended, watered, and the dead flowers removed. For longer and better bloom, cut the plants back and fertilize (liquid is the easy way).
Modern day-lilies provide a new world of beauty. Take a critical look at your old varieties and sternly limit or even eliminate them. Many are rowdies and will crowd out the choice newcomers.
Giant Mallows
Seashore gardeners miss much if they do not have giant mallows in all varieties. Descended from the native swamp mallows (Hibiscus Moscheutos) and the great red swamp mallows of the far south, they are as coastal as a seagull.
They self-sow profusely in hot sandy gardens but do not let this deter you from planting every color available. Instead, give your surplus seedlings to fellow gardeners who will appreciate them.
Seashore Soil
Seashore soil is generally synonymous with sand, a very comprehensive term that is the concern of a whole branch of engineering.
The usual chemical tests for nutrients are unimportant or useless for garden soils of this type as they generally lack nutrients.
And the washed and drifted beach sands are generally uniform spheres of silica that drain with great speed. Miraculously, anything can grow here.
However, bayberry, rugosa rose, dusty miller, sand pea, and a couple of other beach weeds seem to thrive.
Other sands and sandy soils such as are found on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Long Island, New York, are remains of the amazing ice age, so-called terminal moraines including boulders, pebbles, sand and grit, silt and even strata of “hard pan” clay.
Ample content of fine silt and clay make some deposits loam that respond to fertilization—these are the real treasures in coastal soils.
Addition of Organic Matter
A gardener improves sandy soil by continuously adding organic matter—peat moss, compost, or other material such as seaweed that may be plentiful locally.
Some coastal gardeners guard the secret of their composts, but the compost bin is the natural entry point for adding elements to the soil.
Here fertilizers, limestone, and clay may be incorporated, and eventually, they will find their way into the garden.
In a shady corner of my seaside garden where the soil has been built up with deep leaf mold, snowdrops, trillium, bloodroot, anemone, arabis, erythronium, ferns, epimediums, merry bells, and dicentras flourish, and bloom in spring.
Warning— keep lily-of-the-valley out of the wild garden as they spread too rapidly; rather, confine them to an out-of-the-way spot.
44659 by Victor Greiff