Choosing roses for your landscape

Easy tips for how to learn rose gardening

Roses have long been a favorite among all types of gardeners, and roses continue to enjoy great popularity today. In addition to their beauty as cut flowers and in bouquets, roses are among the most useful and attractive flowers to grace the landscape of any home.

As a matter of fact, the exterior of any home can be made more graceful and more inviting through the use of wonderful landscape roses. Choosing the right ones, and ensuring that they compliment the overall style of the home, is very important to the overall success of the landscape.

Fortunately, the number of ornamental landscape roses make finding them an easy task. The difficulty consists of choosing the right ones from this variety. There are a number of classes of roses whose characteristics make them great for use as landscape ornamentals. For instance, the gardener who wants to grow roses up and over an archway or a trellis may want to use tall growing tea roses. Tea roses are renowned for their nodding blooms, therefore all who pass under the arch would be treated to the beautiful sight of roses in full bloom.

To accent a wall or other permanent structure, a true climbing rose is often the best choice. True climbing roses can be trained to many different effects, including climbing up the length of the structure, or accenting the tops and sides of a wall or building.

The Polyantha or modern day Floribunda rose is a great choice for gardeners looking for a vibrant splash of color for the background. These popular varieties of roses have large sprays of blooms, and they are popular choices for providing color in the landscape.

If roses are to be planted in front of other plants in the landscape, miniature or low growing China roses are a perfect choice. Roses can even be used as hedges, with modern Shrub roses and Rugosa roses being excellent choices.

Of course, as with any aspect of gardening, color is an important consideration. After all, every gardener’s goal is a garden full of colorful, vibrant and healthy plants. Fortunately, roses come in so many shapes, sizes, textures and colors that there truly is a rose for every gardener.

The goal of choosing the best color roses for the landscape should be to compliment the color of the surrounding landscape. For instance, a spray of plain white tea roses can be striking against a dark red brick home, or an arrangement of pink roses can be the perfect compliment to a stone or marble entranceway. With so many colors of roses to choose from, it should be easy to find colors that compliment and enhance any decorating scheme.

One popular trend in the world of landscaping is to use a variety of different plants and flowers in the landscape. Whereas single species landscaping was in vogue a few years ago, most of today's gardeners like to use a mix of different colors, species and styles of plants. Doing so not only makes for a vibrant garden, but it is thought to enhance the health of the soil as well.

Fortunately, roses lend themselves well to this mixture, and roses can be a beautiful part of an overall landscape of plants and flowers. In addition, there are roses suitable for a variety of climates. Choosing the best rose varieties for your specific climate should mean fewer pesticides, few disease issues and an overall healthier garden.

How to Decipher Zone Rules when Planting Roses

You're thinking about planting roses for your garden or to decorate outside around your house. If you want to spruce things up a bit, but are not too sure how to go about it, and then read about a few tips that will guide you on your journey of rose planting. It's not that hard to do, you just need to be aware of how to use a map and a few other tips to grow beautiful roses.

The map is meant to be used as a general guideline that you'll need to seriously consider before planting any roses outside in your garden or around the yard. However, don’t be confused or fooled, some roses do well in many different kinds of climate. The best knowledge for learning how to locally grow roses in your area is to talk with others in your hometown, such as your plant and gardening center or a florist. A good reading of any quality book on how to grow roses can be found at the library or a bookstore.

A little history about how maps came into use for roses is necessary to be a fully informed Rosarian!

The first map ever created for information on plantings was the USDA Hardiness Zone Map, and it came from the combined effort of Henry Skinner in the 1800s when he worked with the US National Arboretum, and the American Horticultural Society which produced the valuable map of information on the climates in the US. It was a generalized map of meteorological information broken into zones of large areas for the US. It was the first time people had some type of guideline to go by for planting and growing, not only decorative plantings, but crop information as well. This was necessary because many people were on the move throughout the country, and many didn’t know the local areas growing capabilities.

Later in 1960 the map was revised and was named the Plant Hardiness Zone Map with more detailed information, and included all of North America. A few reasons for changing the map were that there was more technological ability to map weather trends, as well as data. Also, the weather patterns were changing too. More detailed information such as the names of plants and their cold climate zones, along with an alphabetized listing of plant names were included.

Here is how the map is broken out into zones for the US.

South West - AZ, CA, NV, UT

South Mid-West - AR, KS, CO, IL, LA, MS, MO, NM, OK, TX

South East - AL, FL, GA, MA, NC, SC, CO, TN

North West - OR, ID, MT, WA, WY

North Mid-West - IA, MN, NE, ND, SD, WI, WY

North East - CT, DE, IL, IN, KY, ME, MD, MA, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VT, VA, WV

Alaska - Listed separately but in the North Mid-West

Hawaii - Hawaii Is not listed in any category of the US geographic regions

The major areas are further broken out into sub areas of temperatures. Starting with zone 1 which is the coldest area of -50 degrees F and graduating up to 11 which are the warmer areas of the US. Areas of the regional zone is further broken out into sub zones of temperatures represented by a combination of numerical and alphabetized designations such as 2a, 2b, and 3a, 3b, and continuing on. Zone 11 is the area where annual local temperature is continually over 40 degrees F.

Like the unfamiliar settlers before, you’ll need to know the map. There are places on the internet where you can order one and print it out to use as a guideline for growing your roses. Remember to stay updated on any changes to the map.

With your handy map in hand, go and speak to people in the know about growing roses in your area. The map is helpful, but it’s only a general guideline. Different things concerning your local climate can affect how roses grow in your garden or around your house. Professional horticulturists use them and they are termed micro climates. Situations such as how much smog or pollution conditions, soil feasibility, or even any catastrophic conditions such as the eruption of a volcano, or a man made problems of pesticides can affect how or if your roses grow.

Take the time and understand the map, and use any information you can find in books, or from a gardening or floral provider. Also, use the advice of locals for growing your healthy beautiful roses. Most of all enjoy the adventure; it’s a sweet smelling one.

The 2006 Perennial Plant of the Year

'Firewitch' brings beauty, fragrance to your garden

'Firewitch' (Dianthus gratianopolitanus) gets the recognition because of its long-lasting, fragrant, magenta flowers and the blue-green foliage, which is evergreen.

Dianthus is a large group of plants, which can be annuals (such as the Parfait series or 'Corona Cherry'), biennials (sweet William) and perennials. Probably the most well-known dianthus is the carnation, a weak-stemmed perennial.

If there's a common trait across the species, it's fragrance. Another attractive trait for many dianthus is blue-green foliage that is very cold-tolerant or evergreen.

'Firewitch' is in the "pinks" category of dianthus, which is sometimes called Cheddar pinks. Cheddar is an area of England where this dianthus comes from, and pinks refers to the flowers, which look like they've been trimmed with pinking shears.

'Firewitch' blooms for six to eight weeks in spring and early summer, making it a good companion for late-blooming spring bulbs. After each flush of flowers, cut off dead blooms and the plant will likely rebloom throughout summer. The plant looks good through winter with its beautiful, blue-green, mat foliage.

Dianthus does best in full sun and loose, well-drained soil. It can go more on the dry side; wet soil may cause the plant to rot. 'Firewitch' gets about 8 inches tall with a 12- to 15-inch spread. Be prepared, though, because it may spread even wider.

'Bath's Pink', which is similar to 'Firewitch', easily spreads to 30 inches.
Once established, fertilizer usually isn't necessary. Dusting the soil or ringing the plants with compost in fall or spring is about all that's needed.
'Firewitch' is easy to divide. Just chop off a clump and transplant. Although it's always recommended to prepare the soil for transplants, I've had dianthus take hold when just placed on the soil.

Dianthus shines in the front of the bed, in rock gardens and in troubling spots. It can take a footstep or two, but not high traffic. Source of the article.

How to save plants from salt

Some de-icers aren't so harsh and may work as well. Try to apply them before the storm.

In this season, when ice and snow are likely, pause to think of the flowers of spring. Plants that live near streets and curbs, even turf grass, are in jeopardy from ice-melting chemicals that have become the other "white stuff" of the winter landscape.

Plants are damaged in two ways by the chemicals: Salt-laced slush burns evergreen foliage and latent buds. Moreover, salt in the soil can prevent roots from absorbing water and nutrients and affects the long-term health of both evergreen and deciduous plants, including ground covers, spring bulbs, and lawns.

Symptoms include distorted and stunted growth, branch dieback, lack of flowering, and leaves with browned margins. Salt contamination also can cause stress that invites diseases and pests - assuming the afflicted plants live.

David Yost, a plant specialist at Merrifield Garden Center in Virginia, remembers seeing a hedge of yews killed outright by a salt-contaminated snow pile in the corner of a parking lot.

"Roots and all," he said.

Fortunately, paths can be cleared without maiming your landscape, using alternative products and some care. More than your plants are at stake: Excessive salting poses a risk to pets, damages masonry and vehicles, and pollutes water.
The most damaging thawing agent - rock salt, or sodium chloride - is also the cheapest and most readily available. Protecting your landscape may mean having to shop around to find something else. Read the full article...

When to Perform Rose Propagation

As a novice rose gardener, you might have heard the term rose propagation, but not really known what was meant by the term. Propagation is the term used for reproduction in the plant world and you can propagate roses by either seed or by taking a cutting from your current rose plant.

Rose propagation has a long and rich history. Little has changed in terms of rose propagation since the early 1800’s when American settlers carried stems with them into the west. You might even remember your mother or grandmother sticking a cane from a rose in the ground and covering it with a plastic jar to make it grow.

Using a cutting is a much more common method. Commercial growers and horticulturalists do grow new rose's bushes from seeds, but with a seed you are not guaranteed an exact replica of your original rose bush. The pollen that was used to fertilize the flower might not actually come from that flower so the seeds may be a mix of two plants. With a cutting taken right from your rose bush, you are guaranteed an exact copy of the original.

Rose propagation is quite simple really. All you need to do is ensure that you give the new cuttings a safe, moist and humid environment so the roots have time to develop. It is natural for any part of the plant to try to establish its own root system so it can stay alive, but it is only through your help that this can happen at all.

The best time to propagate is in the spring. At this point in the year the weather is cool and the plants are particularly vigorous after a long winter's slumber.

When selecting a shoot, you should aim for a young one. Older stems will not grow as well as young, tender ones. You want to select a cane that does not have a bud on it yet. With a sharp knife, you want to cut off a piece of the shoot that is approximately half a foot long. You want to remove the leaves at the bottom of the cane, but leave the ones near the top. These leaves will provide the necessary food and hormones while the roots establish themselves. Clear an area of your garden free of weeds and other plants and then plant the shoot in a couple of inches of soil. It is best to plant the shoot in the area that you want your new rose bush to be to save the stress of transplanting. Before you place the cutting in the hole, you can lightly score one side and dip it in compost. This will encourage root growth.

Be sure to water the shoot and then cover it with some kind of plastic or glass container – this will keep the temperature high and retain moisture so that the shoots will grow better. You do need to think about which container will work best. You want your new cutting to be exposed to sunlight, but you need to make sure that there is not too much sun shining directly on the new cutting because it can become overheated. You might plant your cutting in an area where there is partial shade to avoid this kind of problem.

You should check your shoot often, ensuring that it is moist enough. If the ground is dry, then you need to water. You can remove the glass or plastic container if temperatures reach at least 75 degrees, but be sure to re-cover the plant at night when the temperature drops back down.

Don't expect to see results right away. On the surface the plant may appear dormant, but all of the activity is happening below the surface at this point. Your new rose bush needs time to develop roots to support it. You should see some growth after two or three weeks.

It's important that you’re not discouraged if at first you don't succeed – just try again. Many inexperienced growers can have difficulty propagating. Though the success rate for new cuttings is very low, you can improve your odds by planting several cuttings at a time. If by chance they all develop, you can transplant the some of the clippings or offer them to some other garden enthusiasts you know.

And just keep this in mind: though many gardeners practice propagation, it is against the law to reproduce a hybrid plant that has been patented.

What's in, what's out in gardens and yards for 2006

Higher fuel costs are expected to drive these 2006 trends, as more of us stay closer to home on weekends and for vacations, according to industry experts. Also, laptop computers let us work wherever we choose, even while we catch a few rays of sunshine.

"Our back yards and patios now serve as playgrounds, living rooms, kitchens, home offices and havens," says Susan McCoy, president of the Garden Media Group, which annually tracks gardening trends.

"The walls of the home seem to have come tumbling down and now the homeowner's focus is on decorating the outside of the home on the deck, the patio and all around their property."

Now, before you say, "I don't want to take care of a big yard and a lot of flowers," you should read on and realize that getting outdoors isn't about pushing the lawn mower all morning and weeding the flower beds all afternoon.

Gardening is about getting smarter with your choices and chores. Shop for "self-cleaning" plants that don't need fading flowers removed, and think twice about maintaining a lot of grass.

"The trend is toward less square footage in lawns and more mixed beds that are easier to maintain," says Les Parks, nursery manager at Smithfield Gardens in Suffolk, Va.

And, if big trees are not your thing because you have a small yard or worry about a hurricane toppling them, take comfort in knowing that shrubs are replacing trees in space-challenged yards.

"We are definitely seeing gardening trends leaning toward small spaces, including vertical gardening," says Bruce Barton at The Flower Pot in Yorktown, Va. "Lots of climbers, vines and trellis shapes."

So, sit back and daydream about spring, sketch out some ideas for an easy-do look in your yard and take note of what's in, what's out for living the good life:

Create a lived-in garden. Showplace gardens are fine for picture books, but not for real-life living. To kick back at home, put up an entertainment tent or gazebo, fire up the grill and pipe the music outdoors. You may even want to hook up your flat-screen TV outdoors in some location where it's protected from the weather. "I know a man who takes his flat-screen TV outside, plugs it in and watches football in the hot tub," says McCoy.

You'll also read more about "outdoor bedrooms" joining the likes of outdoor kitchens and living rooms, letting you stay past dark and watch the stars twinkle overhead.

Realize less is still more. Minimalism continues to be trendy indoors and outdoors. Skip buying every knickknack you see, and, instead, concentrate on a few quality eye-catching items. In other words, resist the plastic and look for fashionable materials in pots and sculpture, including ceramic, terracotta, finished concrete, marble and even bronze. In the end, you have simple elegance without the fussy look of clutter.

Get boom without bloom. If your lot is the size of a postage stamp, you can still pack a lot of power into your garden. Avoid using just flowers to give you pizzazz. Look for double-duty plants, meaning shrubs, perennials and groundcovers that feature variegated, puckered and fine-textured foliage before and after the bloom time, says Parks. One example is PeeDee Gold Ingot liriope, a groundcover that emerges yellow in spring and matures to a deep gold and produces the traditional purple-spiked flowers. Sun Goddess hydrangea with its golden foliage and pink flowers is a wonderful double-duty shrub.

Try "pot-scaping." The one-dimensional look of containers lined or clustered along the deck or patio moves into "pot-scaping" for the entire landscape. Pots of plants are showing up in beds and borders, or standing alone like an eye-catching exclamation point. Busy homeowners find decorating their yard with "spots of pots" is an easy way to splash color throughout the yard. Try tucking a few pots of colorful annuals and tropicals among evergreens and you'll love the look. Small trees and shrubs, as well as annuals and perennials, thrive in pots as long as the containers are suitable in size and offer good drainage.

But, take care when creating your pots. "Plants in too many colors and textures look as tasteless as wearing plaids, stripes and prints together," says Elvin McDonald, garden editor at Better Homes & Gardens. Plant several of one variety per container, or several different varieties, all in one color family, per pot. Then, group the colorful containers together for an avalanche of color.

... read the full article

Garden resolutions: Start the growing year right

By Kathy Jentz

It's a new year and a brand-new start, not just for yourself, but for your garden as well. A new growing season is on the horizon and now is the best time possible to take a good luck at improving your garden.

Here are 10 resolutions you can make to give a boost to your gardening skills, increase your enjoyment of this wonderful hobby and make less work for yourself in the coming year.

1. Take a class. Whether you are an overzealous pruner or a negligent fertilizer, there is a class to help you reform your ways. There are a number of free and inexpensive garden seminars being offered in the D.C. area. Check with your local garden center, botanic gardens and historic homes for their upcoming session listings. Some of my favorites are offered by Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington and Green Spring Gardens in Fairfax.


2. Join a local garden club or plant society. The key is learning from other's experiences. Local garden clubs are full of veteran gardeners who love to share their plant knowledge with fellow members. Many host expert speakers and have a wide range of other activities from plant exchanges to tours of historic gardens. Plant societies are clubs that specialize in one plant variety such as orchids or dahlias. If you are crazy about one particular plant type, then this is the place for you to find fellow enthusiasts. Garden clubs and plant societies are easily found through a Google search and list their events in local newspaper calendars. Most meetings are free to the general public and all welcome newcomers.

3. Read. Visit your local library and bookstore for beautiful gardening books filled with photographs and diagrams. Every avid gardener spends their winter months reading about and dreaming of spring gardens. A home library full of garden resources will inspire you. Also, subscribe to a few garden magazines that are chock full of timely articles. Washington Gardener magazine is the publication for the greater D.C. region, but other excellent magazines include Horticulture, Gardening How-To and Fine Gardening.

4. Journal. You know that pile of plant tags, seed packs and clipped articles from garden magazine that just kept growing larger all last spring through fall? Now is the time to get it organized in your garden journal. Take an evening or two to staple them to pages and pop in a three-ring binder. Make notes as to what was planted where, what worked, what didn't and what something new you would like to try.

5. Take photos. Did you get a digital camera for Christmas? Pull it out of the box and put it to great use this year by taking photos of your yard from various vantage points. Repeat this monthly. Print out and store in your journal. Or just buy a disposable film camera each month and put the developed photos in a "garden album." You'll be amazed at the differences as you flip back through each month and be able to clearly see next winter what seasons are lacking color and interest in your garden.

6. Plan. Get out a pencil and paper and start sketching ideas for a new front border, additional flower beds or a water feature. Think about the kinds of gardens you've visited. Which ones have made you sigh with envy? What styles have you've always admired? Dream big!

7. Get organized. Just as your basement, closets and attic could use a spring cleaning, your garden shed could use the same. Start by taking inventory of your tools, pots, seed packs, etc. What are you missing? What do you have too much of? Maybe you can trade items with fellow garden club members. I recently did a major shed clean-out and was surprised to find I had more than 200 plastic starter pots accumulated from plant purchases! Those will be donated to a grower at my local farmer's market.

8. Share. Make it a point to introduce at least one other person to gardening this year. Surely you have a neighbor, relative, co-worker or friend who has admired your garden. Let them in on a few of your "secrets." Share seeds, tools and maybe even some of your vegetable plot to get them started. A few years from now they may come back with a bounty to share with you.

9. Bring the garden indoors and the comforts of the indoors out. Look at ways to enjoy your garden year-round. Even in the D.C. climate, you can garden in the depths of winter by forcing bulbs or starting seedlings. In the height of the growing season, don't just use the outdoors as a workplace. Set up spaces for you to stop, relax and enjoy the fruits of your hard labors.

10. Expand your garden interests. Go outside your comfort zone and widen your garden universe this year. If you always plant edibles, add some flowers. If you only do flowers, add in some edibles. Are you too afraid to grow "fussy" orchids or roses? Give one a try this year. I've personally never been taken with rock or alpine gardens, but I'm going to give one a try this spring. You never know what doors you may open when you go into new areas. Discover your next garden passion.

Kathy is editor of Washington Gardener magazine (www.WashingtonGardener.com) and a longtime D.C.-area gardening enthusiast. E-mail editor@washingtongardener.com.

What is companion gardening?

There are certain plants, flowering, herbs and vegetables that help each other out in the garden. Some plants help others to grow while others help keep away certain pests. Plants, much like people, have friends they prefer to be around.

Some plants harbor insects, both good and bad. A plant known to be the home of a certain pest is helpful in keeping that pest away from other plants. You’ll find your gardening less a chore if you plan for a companionable garden, both in the landscape and the vegetable garden.

Flowers and Their Friends

Roses: Plant garlic among your roses to help repel aphids. Parsley also helps repel pests common to roses. Folklore says to plant banana skins around the base of roses since they are rich in silica and phosphorus, two minerals roses love.

Aster: Most pests will stay away because they don’t like the taste or the smell

Nasturtium: Plant plenty around cabbage, squash, zucchini, radishes, lettuce and fruit trees. Nasturtium helps repel cucumber beetles, aphids and whiteflies. It supposedly gives radishes a good hot taste. It is a good “trap crop”, luring snails and slugs away from other plants.

Carnations: Don’t plant hyacinth before or after, they don’t like each other.

Gladiolus: Keep at least 75 feet away from peas, beans and strawberries.

Marigold: Marigolds help control nematodes and are very beneficial to roses, bulbs, root vegetables and strawberries. They also help protect beans from the Mexican beetle and help reduce whiteflies from attacking with your tomatoes.

Petunia: These perky bloomers help keep away squash, potato and bean beetles.

Sunflower: These tall beauties are a great help in attracting birds and bees to the garden. In turn, the birds and bees help regulate the number of pests in the garden. You can also use sunflower stalks as a climbing pole for climbing plants that don’t mind a bit of shade.

Source

Happy Gardening.

Top 7 Varieties of Pink Roses for a Gorgeous Garden

Pink roses are very beautiful and can add a sort of unique touch to any garden. They come in many varieties, ranging from pale to dark to almost electric. There are varieties that bloom only once per season and those that bloom continuously in cycles from early spring to late fall (until the frost of winter forces them into dormancy). There are also quite a few varieties that are well suited for a variety of hardiness zones.

For this list of seven beautiful pink roses, the requirements are at least repeated blooms and suitableness for a range of hardiness zones. (You can find your hardiness zone by consulting the Internet or a local Master Gardener.) These roses range from slightly fragrant to very fragrant, but one thing is sure: no matter which varieties you choose for your garden, they are sure to make a gorgeous garden.

Dark Pink Roses:

Country Dancer

This rose was first introduced in 1973. It is a lovely dark pink variety that comes on a shrub. This makes it an excellent choice as an accent plant or as a hedge. Country Dancer blooms continuously, ensuring that your plant will always have flowers, and never look barren from spring to autumn. It is a fragrant flower that smells very nice but that is not so pungent that it is overwhelming. This rose if perfect for zones four through nine.

American Beauty

American beauty is a classic dark pink rose that has been around since 1875. It is very fragrant and blooms repeatedly. It is in the class of hybrid perpetual and has such a large, classic look to it that it is almost impossible not to love this flower. It grows in zones five through nine.

Martha's Vineyard

A fairly recent flower, developed in 1995, Martha’s Vineyard offers a beautiful shrub that is well adapted for hardiness zones five through nine. Additionally, its fragrance makes it ideal for people who enjoy surrounding their home with sensual plants. Repeat blooms ensure that you will see the flowers more than once during the growing season.

Robin Hood

This is a slightly fragrant hybrid musk variety that blooms continuously. While not as adaptable as the others (zones six through nine), it still provides good range and can be grafted onto the roots of plants suited for other growing conditions.

Light Pink Roses:

Bloomfield Abundance

Bloomfield Abundance is a rather nice floribunda class rose that blooms continuously. It was developed in 1920, and it is very fragrant. Its name comes from the fact that it has abundant blossoms that grow well in a variety of settings. Its hardiness zones are five through nine.

Audrey Hepburn

Exquisite Rose introduced in 1991 has very fragrant 4" blooms of apple blossom pink, set off by glossy foliage with a thread of scarlet bordering each leaf. Audrey Hepburn Hybrid Tea Rose grows 4-5' tall. Enhance your garden- or plant a new one- with colorful, fragrant roses. These have all vigorous, disease-resistant plants that are easy to grow and guaranteed to flower this summer.

Jacques Cartier

Jacques Cartier is a Portland class rose that has been in existence for nearly 150 years. It is a fine choice for nearly any garden. It gives a heady, sensual, very fragrant smell that provides the garden with continuous fragrance (the blooms cycle continuously spring through fall). Any garden in zones four through nine can enjoy this light pink rose.

Prune when spring flowering is over!

Question: I think my gardenia needs to be pruned. How do you know when to trim these plants and how much?

Answer: Make your pruning decisions after the plants have produced their midspring display of flowers. The buds are forming now, and it would be a shame to miss their fragrant white blossoms.

You could remove any branch that's in the way of traffic or appears to be declining at any time. Major pruning usually occurs around May or June when spring flowering is over. Then the plants might get a light trimming to encourage additional shoots and reduce the height and width just a bit.

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Gardenias can be large plants, and most gardeners place them where they can grow with minimal pruning.

Grab for grapefruit

Q: We moved to a home with a grapefruit tree, and it's loaded with fruits. How will we know when they are ready to eat?

A: Lucky you. Grapefruits are expensive at the stores. Deciding when the fruits are ready to eat is quite simple. When they taste good, they are ready to pick.

Some Floridians wouldn't consider eating a grapefruit until March when they get super sweet, but not all residents are so particular. Most start sampling the fruits around November and add a little sugar, if needed, to take away the tart taste. As the season progresses, less sugar is needed because the fruits only improve in flavor.

Grapefruit can be left on the tree for many months, and if any remain as late as May or June, they are still sweet, juicy and edible.

Bonus from corn plant

Q: I have a healthy corn plant that is getting ready to bloom. Is this a sign it could be dying?

A: Some plants do decline after flowering but not the corn plant, a tropical foliage plant, also known as a dracaena. The blooms are a bonus for the good care you have been giving the plant. Corn plants flower only if growing in bright locations but out of direct sun. Most likely, you also have been keeping the soil moist, and feeding the plants every month or two, which also makes them happy.

Now, when the flowers open, you might get a surprise. They are fragrant, resembling a super-sweet gardenia, but some gardeners find the blooms objectionable. If needed, the flowering stalk can be cut from the corn plant or the plant can be moved to a more airy location.