NBC TODAY Show Appearance - Spring Planting

Spring is officially here and it's time to get planting, or maybe just planning if you are still buried under snow.  Watch NBC's The TODAY Show on Thursday March 25 and see some flashy flowers, showy shrubs and tasty vegetables that you can plant in your spring garden.

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Colorful Blooms for the Garden

Supertunia® Vista Bubblegum

• These bright pink petunias grow upright and also cascade like a tub brimming over with bubbles.
• Petunias are heavy feeders, if you are growing them in containers feed them every time you water.
• Supertunia® Vista Bubblegum petunias are disease resistant, self-cleaning and floriferous with sturdy stems, which mean they remain attractive from spring planting until the first frost in fall.

Angelface® Blue Angelonia

• Excellent bedfellow with the Supertunia® Vista Bubblegum.
• With its upright habit and snapdragon-like, rich blue flowers, this plant is a striking addition to any garden.
• Plant in full sun in humus-rich, well-drained soil.
• Angelonia is drought tolerant when established. Mother Nature usually provides enough moisture, although it is a good idea to water your plants during extended dry spells.
• This plant is tough and continues to look fresh through heat, drought and humidity. In fact, by the end of August, when the rest of the garden looks beat, Angelonias are still going strong.

Snow Princess™ Lobularia

• If there's one new plant that should be on everyone's list, it's Snow Princess™.
• This plant is sterile so it will bloom all summer without deadheading.
•  Snow Princess™ is a “heavy drinker” and prefers evenly moist soil. It will be quick to show drought stress, but should bounce back quickly once re-hydrated. Plants are easier to keep moist when planted in large planters.

Dolce™ Key Lime Pie Huechera

• The bright chartreuse leaves and hefty spire of tiny peach bell-shape flowers make this heuchera one of the more eye-catching plants in the garden.
• Heucheras are flexible when it comes to light requirements; depending on the cultivar they will grow in full to partial sun or shade.
• Good drainage seems to be the key to success and once established they can be quite drought tolerant.
• About the only maintenance heuchera requires is dividing it every 3 to 4 years.
• Try Dolce™ Key Lime Pie as a replacement for coleus in small combination planters. Dolce™ Key Lime Pie stays a compact mound of foliage while adding an electrifying accent without over whelming its neighbors.
• Great ground cover.

Rockapulco® Impatiens

• Rockapulco® Impatiens up the color ante in the shade garden with an abundance of multi-petaled, rose-shaped flowers set against dark green foliage.
• The plant has a mounding form and grows to 10 to 20 inches tall.
• Rockapulco® will thrive in the hottest, most humid deep shade where many plants won't grow. They'll also do well in partial shade.
• Soil composition is important. The plant's tender, fibrous roots need loose, well-drained soil with lots of organic material worked in.
• If you want to promote lots of blooms throughout the summer it is important to feed impatiens regularly with an all-purpose liquid fertilizer that is high in phosphorous, which is the middle number. Feed impatiens planted in beds every 7 to 10 days and every time you water if they are planted in containers.

 

Showy Shrubs for the Garden

Hydrangeas

• Hydrangeas will grow in those areas that are neither full sun nor full shade.
• Choose a site that has light shade to partial sun. Too much shade will result in reduced bloom production. In cool climates, you can even plant hydrangeas in full sun.
• When is comes to soil, keep in mind that hydrangeas are woodland plants that prefer consistent moisture and well-drained, humus rich soil.

Azaleas

• Deciduous azaleas are often overlooked when gardeners are selecting shrubs for their gardens, which is a shame because they have a beautiful, loose form, fragrant blooms, and are more cold hardy than their evergreen cousins.
• These woodland beauties grow in moist, humus rich, acidic soil.  They can tolerate full sun, but prefer light shade, especially in areas that experience hot summers.
• Deciduous azaleas require little pruning and when happy in their environment are maintenance and pest free.

Knock Out® Roses

• If you've had trouble with roses in the past, you really need to give Knock Out® Roses a try.They require no special care. They're the most disease resistant rose on the market. They have stunning flower power with a generous bloom cycle (about every 5-6 weeks) that will continue until the first hard frost.
• All of the Knock Out® Roses are self-cleaning so there is no need to deadhead.
• These roses can fit into any landscape. Plant them individually among shrubs, annuals and perennials in mixed beds and borders. Plant them in large groups to create a colorful hedge. Plant them along a foundation to provide a bright border.

 

Tasty Vegetables for the Garden

Buttercrunch Lettuce

• Buttercrunch forms loose heads of thick, green outer leaves and a heart of pale, sweet leaves.
• If planting seeds, start in early spring as soon as the soil is workable, or start indoors 3 to 4 weeks earlier. (Note: Lettuce seeds won't sprout when soil is warmer than 75 degrees Fahrenheit.)
• Keep well watered and you will have loose-leaf butterheads ready to harvest in about 9 to 10 weeks.

Rainbow Swiss Chard

• Bright Lights combines beauty, flavor and nutrition. The stems are bright pink, yellow and orange.  It's like growing a rainbow in your garden.
• Sow seeds in outdoor rows as soon as the soil is workable. Place one seed every 3 inches and cover firmly with soil. Chard prefers full sun.  Keep plants heavily mulched and moist.
• Bright Lights Swiss chard is as pretty as it is tasty. Leaves taste a lot like spinach, but it is a member of the beet family. Freezes well.

Roma Tomatoes

• Roma, the standard paste tomato, has less moisture than normal tomatoes with a thicker fruit wall, fewer seeds and a dense but grainier flesh. This makes it perfect for cooking down into thick sauces and paste.
• If planting with seed, start indoors 6 weeks before transplanting. Sow seeds directly in the garden when soil is warm. Tomatoes cannot tolerate frost.
• Roma tomatoes are determinate, which means that the fruit ripens at one time, rather than continually through the season.

Strawberries

• The best strawberries you'll ever taste will come straight from a garden.
• They need at least 8 hours of full sun each day.
• Any type of mulch will help to keep the soil moist and the plant clean.
• Strawberries make an excellent ground cover.

Blueberries

• With its Spring blooms and great Fall color the blueberry bush (Vaccinium) is an outstanding ornamental shrub that just happens to produce incredibly tasty fruit as a bonus. 
• Blueberries are a North American native shrub and are actually quite easy to grow.  They are relatively pest free and well-drained, acidic soil amended with plenty of organic compost will provide all the nutrients they need.  
• Plant your berries in full sun; they can grow in partial shade but there will probably be reduced flowers thus reduced harvest.