Q: Can you give me some recommendation on my snake plant? I’ve had it for 2 years and every thing was going properly, however inside the final a number of months the leaves are beginning to get twisted and are falling away from the plant, and never staying straight up. It’s on the south wall with oblique gentle from east home windows. I water it about each three weeks. It’s nonetheless rising infants and the leaves are all inexperienced and robust, but it surely’s not completely satisfied anymore. — Marietta B.
A: From an goal viewpoint, I feel your snake plant seems very wholesome! I see your level, although, as a few of the leaves are bending outward.
The plant appears to be having fun with the situation, so the sunshine degree is probably going nice. Snake vegetation don’t require excessive gentle. Watering each three weeks for a succulent of this sort in oblique gentle sounds about proper additionally.
I first seen that the plant has grown so properly that it’s showing crowded. A certain quantity of crowding is nice, as many vegetation just like the consolation of being barely “potbound,” and plenty of vegetation thrive for years with out repotting.
In time, although, snake vegetation can develop into crowded to the purpose the place the stems begin splaying outward. Try repotting it right into a pot solely 2 inches larger in diameter, which gives an inch of recent development area across the outer perimeter of the rootball.
I additionally discover that the snake plant seems to be rising in a black pot contained in the outer white pot. When you repot, study to make sure drainage has been enough between the 2 pots. When you repot, a single pot is usually simpler to observe, so damaging water doesn’t gather on the base.
Q: With the nice and cozy climate we’ve had currently, our tulips are already developing. I’m afraid they’re going to get killed if we now have chilly climate once more. It’s solely early February! I assume I shouldn’t have planted them on the south aspect of the home. Is there something I can do? Should I cowl them? — Nicole M.
A: The excellent news is that tulips are extraordinarily chilly hardy after they’ve emerged from the bottom. The creating leaves are well-hardened.
Yes, it’s extraordinarily early for tulips to be popping up, even these planted in southern exposures. Most probably they are going to face chilly temperatures but this winter, however until it dives deeply beneath zero, the tulips will probably be okay.
Completely protecting the tulips for prolonged time isn’t beneficial, as a result of the leaves want daylight for photosynthesis. Covering them deeply will trigger the leaves to stretch and languish beneath the protecting.
Instead, for those who want to give the tulips just a little safety, add a layer of straw or shredded wooden bark, rigorously placed between vegetation and over the soil floor, so leaves nonetheless lengthen above the mulch. The soil mulch will assist mitigate temperature swings.
If severely chilly climate is forecast, non permanent coverings could be added over the vegetation, however should be eliminated as quickly as attainable, or the vegetation will stretch and weaken because of lack of sunshine.
Q: You talked about in certainly one of your previous columns a yellow petunia that you simply mentioned does so properly in containers. Can you inform me the identify once more of the petunia? — Jenny S.
A: The yellow petunia that has been incredible in our containers is the All-America Selections winner from 2022 referred to as Bee’s Knees Petunia. Besides having a enjoyable identify, it’s most likely the most effective yellow petunia I’ve ever grown or seen.
The flower shade is a deep, wealthy yellow and the vegetation are fully coated with blooms. The intense yellow contrasts properly with the deep inexperienced leaves, and the mounded behavior is vigorous, but neat.
Bee’s Knees is ideal for hanging baskets, containers and planters. It can be utilized together with different flowers, however we’ve loved that includes it in its personal container the place it creates a mounded mass of vibrant yellow.
Bee’s Knees is propagated vegetatively, which means that it isn’t propagated by seed, so that you’ll not discover seed listed in catalogs. Instead, store for vegetation at domestically owned backyard facilities.
If you’ve gotten a gardening or garden care query, e-mail Don Kinzler, NDSU Extension-Cass County, at [email protected]. Questions with broad attraction could also be printed, so please embrace your identify, metropolis and state for acceptable recommendation.
