Park Seed Garden Journal

Cannas or Canna Lilies are a close relative of gingers and bananas, and some varieties
are grown agriculturally for their starchy tubers or their seeds. Most
gardeners love Cannas' large beautiful leaves and their big showy
flowers.The flowers range from deep red to bright yellow, and they are
great for attracting pollinators and pest eaters like bees, birds, and
bats to your garden.

Native varieties of Canna can be found in
the wild from South Carolina to Texas and south through the more
temperate areas of South America. Although they are traditionally a
more tropical plant, cultivated varieties will tolerate milder climates
if given at least half a day of full sun and plenty of moisture. They
are wonderful for containers and patio gardens.

Cannas are
naturally resistant to most pests — slugs and snails may be fond of
the big juicy leaves. The genus Canna is not prone to many diseases. If
you use well-drained soil and deadhead wilted blooms you will prevent
most any fungus that might be tempted to attack your plant.

Shades gardens are a fun project that forces the gardener to be creative. Most plants that thrive in low light are monotone and maybe even a little drab, but there are a few colorful plants that can really make the darker areas of your garden shine.

Most shade gardens start with an interesting blanket of ground covers and plants grown for foliage interest. Vincas and Clematis make excellent ground covers and climbers and their colorful blooms contrast well with the dark foliage. Heucheras and Hostas comes in many shades and shapes, providing exciting foliage interest.

There are, in fact, a few really beautiful flowers that will thrive in the low light and contrast well with the deep colors of the shade foliage. Here are a few varieties perfect for shade garden blooms:

Aquilegia 'Blackcurrant Ice'
Lenten Rose 'Royal Heritage'
Bellflower 'Samantha'

Check out other plant for Full Shade and Part Shade.

There are plenty of questions asked about how to grow tomatoes, one of the most popular plants grown in American garden. I received a question this week about a particularly interesting problem, tomato plants that grow and produce plenty of fruit, but then the fruit doesn't ripen. After a little research, I discovered that there are two very simple reasons that this might happen.

Why won't your tomatoes ripen?

1. The temperature is too low.
   Tomatoes need heat to ripen. If the temperature is too low, they will just stay green. To help them along you can try mulching with black plastic or landscaping fabric. The dark material will hold the suns heat into the evening, hopefully prompting riper fruit. Or you can just pick the fruit to ripen inside, keeping it in a warm dark place until it the color deepens to your liking.
2. You are watering too much.
   Most people know that too much moisture will cause the fruit to grow too fast and split, but it may also prevent proper ripening. The fruit will be bland and watery. Cutting back on the watering before harvest will make the fruit sweeter, and it will ripen more quickly.

Click here for more information about how to grow tomatoes

Petunias, closely related to tobacco and tomato, are one of America's
favorite annual flowers. There are thousands of cultivars in varied
vibrant colors and perfumed fragrances. They bloom from one frost to
the next, and they are very easy to maintain.

They tolerate heat and drought, they only need watering about once a
week (more often in containers). They love full sun – the more sun you
give them the more blooms they will produce. They thrive in
well-draining, moderately rich soil with a little added organic matter – leaf
mold or compost -  worked in for nutrients.

Park Seeds most popular petunia this season has been the Petunia
Surfinia(R) Blue. It will soon be too hot to ship annual plants – place
your orders by Sunday May 17: Park Seed Annuals!

Show all of the nurturers and providers in your life how much you appreciate them this weekend. To all of the hard-working ladies out there, Happy Mother's Day!

If you haven't already, go buy some flowers for your mothers, stepmothers, wives, sisters, daughters, nieces, aunts, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and — if you're family is so fortunate — great-great-grandmothers.

We would like to
address any confusion and anger caused by an article in our recent Your Park Garden News for May 2009 email,
regarding International Garden Naked Day.

We did not have a Naked Gardening Day here at Park
Seed.  Our Ecommerce Team is creative and our Naked Gardening Day photos were
intended as a joke, but they crossed the line. While the people in the photos
were actually clothed and only photographed in creative ways, we understand that
for some of you that was not the issue.

 We have received many positive and humorous responses,
yet we realize that it showed extreme poor judgment to have sent something with
potentially controversial material to our valued customers and readers in the
first place.

 This does not represent Park Seed as a company, who we
are, or what we are about. 

 We apologize.

This is a quick and easy, old-fashioned jam recipe, perfect for
creating a personalized gift from your very own garden or simply
ensuring that your abundant berry harvest doesn't go to waste.

Jellies
and jams start the same way, with a bowl of fresh fruit from your
garden. The main difference is Jellies are clear, made only from the
fruit juice, and Jams are chunky, consisting of the the juice, seeds,
and fruit body. Jam is my favorite, and it is easier. You don't even
need any pectin.

Suggested Materials:

Ingredients:

Making The Jam

1. After
   you've washed your fruit and removed all leaves and stems, crush,
   process, or blend it thoroughly – you want to release as much juice as
   you can.
2. Measure your sugar. The mix will be about 2 parts
   sugar/3 parts fruit. So, if you have about 6 cups of crushed berries,
   measure out 4 cups of sugar. Work in smaller amounts, no more than 9-12
   cups of crushed fruit at a time, because more fruit requires longer to
   cook, and it will become too dark and bland.
3. Put your berries in a pot and bring them to a boil, stirring
   constantly to prevent burning and sticking. Stir in sugar until it is
   dissolved and boil for about 5 minutes. Keep stirring, don't let the
   jam stick or burn.
4. Ladle you jam into the jars, close the lids tight, and boil the whole jar in the canner for another 5-10 minutes.
5. Remove your jars and let them cool overnight. You're done. Try not to jostle or bump your jars while they are hot.

It's that easy, delicious jam!