Spring in the greenhouse

We've been planting in our greenhouses since Feb 23. The first thing that gets planted are the ivy geranium hanging baskets. Normally we'll cut off all the buds, but it is nice to leave a few so that we can enjoy the colour! In the foreground of the picture is "Minicascade Pink", in the background are "Minicascade Lavender" and "Minicascade Red". If you talk to me in May, I'll tell you that Mini Red and Mini Lav. make the greatest hanging baskets (colour all season, extremely low maintenance, and they're forgiving if you forget to water them)! I'm not so keen on Mini Pink -it fades, but right now in our greenhouses, with relatively low light conditions, it is a beautiful colour. Click to see the full size image.

Greenhouse Visitors

This morning during my daily tour of inspection, I discovered a swallowtail butterfly on the geraniums. Luck was with me, for I had my camera, and was able get this picture. He (or she?) was almost upside down, so this shot is of the underbelly. Obviously she had no experience as a model, or maybe she was camera shy.

Does anyone know exactly what type of swallowtail this is? I got out our butterfly book and tried to identify it, but failed miserably.

SunPatiens

Another exciting new release for your garden this year is Sunpatiens, or to be precise SunPatiens®. It is possible you may have heard of these already, because last year they were available exclusively from a certain big box hardware store (aka Home Depot). I'm not sure if they were available in Canada, so it may have been only in the States, it doesn't matter, because they're available to all growers this year. Since this our first year to grow them, we won't have very many, but I suspect they are going to disappear in a hurry. The photo is taken by yours truely, last summer at the JVK trial gardens in St. Catherines, Ontario.

Here's our description:

Winter Hardiness: Annual
Light Requirements: Full sun - part sun

Where to plant: Large Containers or Beds
Height: 24 - 48"

Width: 18" - 48"

Spacing: 16 - 20"



They're the flower we've been waiting years for: a true sunshine impatiens. SunPatiens® are the first Impatiens to thrive in full hot sun, all summer long. Their ability withstand the heat of summer is truly extraordinary, and amazingly they also are happy in shade -even indoors! 



Garden Performance
SunPatiens® are easy to grow, and will thrive until frost. They're available in three habits: Compact, Vigorous, and Spreading, but watch out, even the 'compact' ones are big (24” - 36”) so they'll do best in the ground, or in very large containers. We have eight varieties this year, and even more coming next year.


Growing Guide
Lots of room and lots of sun! SunPatiens® are new, so we've never grown them, but it sounds like a easy flower to grow and keep in bloom.

Fertilizer: Moderate feeder, any all purpose, compost, etc


Colours and Varieties

There are three series with a total of 15 cultivars. We are growing 8 varieties in 2010 (marked as*)


Vigorous SunPatiens® Series
Garden Height: 36 - 48"
Garden Width: 36 - 48"
Container Height: 24 - 36"
Container Width: 24 - 36"
Colours: Variegated Coral*, Lavender*, Magenta*, Orange, Red, White*

Compact SunPatiens® Series
Garden Height: 24 - 36"
Garden Width: 24 - 36"
Container Height: 18 - 24"
Container Width: 18 - 24"
Colours: Blush Pink*, Deep Rose, Light Coral, Lilac*, Magenta*, Orange, White 

Spreading SunPatiens® Series
Garden Height: 36 - 48"
Garden Width: 36 - 48"
Container Height: 24 - 36"
Container Width: 24 - 36"
Colours: Variegated Salmon, Variegated White*

Further Information (links)
:
SunPatiens are developed by Sakata

Even better, there's an exclusive website: SunPatiens®

A Monarch feeding on Lantana

Lantana is one of the new flowers we are growing this year (see earlier post on timing). It is described as a flower you can plant to attract butterflies. Imagine my surprise this morning, as I was making my "what needs to be watered" rounds, I saw, on Bandana Orange Sunrise Lantana a monarch butterfly happily feeding! Wow! I rushed back to the house to grab my camera. This one is a male (you can tell from the distinct dot)

What's big and round and orange all over?

These small plants are started in our greenhouse and are soon to be planted in the field. Right now, they look just like zucchini, or melons, or cucumbers, or squash, or gourds, but they are in fact pumpkins. If you look carefully, you'll see that the plants on the right side look a bit different from the ones on the left -that's because they are different varieties of pumpkins. Imagine: your Halloween pumpkin may be starting right here!

Chasing hummingbirds

Each spring, hummingbirds can be found in our greenhouses. One flew by me this afternoon in our ivy geranium greenhouse, and I just I happened to have my camera. The chase was on for the elusive hummingbird photo. Hummingbirds often get "stuck" in our greenhouses. They seem to think that the only way out for them is up, towards the light, which means bumping their heads into our greenhouse roof (don't worry, it's soft plastic). As evening comes, they discover that down and out through the door is the way out. It's always a treat seeing them