Gardeners indulge a growing interest

CORRESPONDENT

If the great weekend weather woke up the sleeping gardener in you, but you’ve been taught not to plant until after Mother’s Day, take heart.

You can still get some planting done in the next few weeks by creating window boxes.

“With the sun coming, it’s hard not to get going,” said Ray Arthur, bedding manager at Corliss Bros.

Nursery and Garden Center in Ipswich, who suggested a number of flowers appropriate for boxes and gardens.

“You have a choice of stable plants for gardens among coreopsis and day lilies,” he said.

“Delphiniums, too — some are perennials; larkspur is the annual.” For how to plant them in the garden, Arthur has only one recommendation.

“To each his own,” he said.

“Some people like symmetrical gardens; others plant in odd numbers -— in threes or fives or sevens.

You plant the garden how you like it.

Coreopsis, day lilies and delphiniums look great in a wild garden, and they do a nice job in a formal garden as well.” Anybody who loves lilies knows about the red bug, the lily beetle, the bane of the glorious trumpet bloom.

“They’re manageable, but they’re certainly a pest,” Arthur said.

“We have several sprays which are effective both as preventives and to maintain plants, Sevin® and neem oil.” Neem, also effective against rots, mildews, rusts, scab, leafspot and blights, works as a barrier and makes a great garden spray as a general tonic for your plants and soil.

Earthworm populations have been shown to increase with the use of neem as a tonic.

Non-toxic to humans, birds, earthworms or animals, it can affect bees if it is actually sprayed on them so it is recommended to use it when bees are not visiting.

Once the spray has settled it will not hurt the bees.

“Spray early on and hope the bugs avoid your plants,” said Arthur, who has been at Corliss Bros.

for 11 years.

Window boxes take time to plan and set up, he said, but if you want to buy window box plants right now, your best bets are smooth rockcress (Arabis laevigata) and the English daisy (Bellis perennis).

Window boxes are also perfect for pansies, a hardy, cool-weather annual readily available right now.

“Window boxes are OK to plant right now,” Arthur said.

“The English daisy colors range from white to shades of light and dark pink, which is really considered a dark pink red.” Those are the plants that survive outside now, but after Mother’s Day your choices broaden, and you might like more variety, he said.

You can always change the flowers.

“Gardeners have more window box choices in warmer weather,” Arthur said.

“You can pull out the English daisies to make room for impatiens, verbena, lantana and marigolds.” But don’t throw them away, he said.

“Transplant the rockcress and daisy to your garden, so you’ll have them for next year,” said Arthur, who also recommended planting primroses in the garden, because of their vibrant colors.

In some regions they can be annuals, he advised, but plant them in a sheltered area and “they will come back for you.

Keep them in cooler, moist soil during the heat.

When you plant them in the spring the location may be in bright sun because there is no foliage on trees, but make sure they have a little bit of shade during the summer; heat affects them.” Find great choices and get good advice at Corliss Bros.

Garden Center and Nursery at 31 Essex Road (Route 133) in Ipswich.

Also check out their line of Vietnamese pottery.

Hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m.

to 5 p.m., Saturday 8:30 a.m.

to 5 p.m.

and Sunday 10 a.m.

to 4 p.m.