Paperwhites - Photo by Ken Druse

How do you keep paperwhites from falling over? Also, some years they smell great and other years, not so good. What’s up with that?

ANSWER

Paperwhite narcissus are one of the easiest bulbs to grow indoors but they often get very leggy and tend to flop around. Last year, professor William Miller of the Cornell University Flower Bulb Research Program confirmed an old wive's tale that says a "little nip of booze" is good for keeping your paperwhites upright.
On this week's episode of Ken Druse REAL DIRT, the gardening podcast sponsored by Wayside Gardens, Ken and his co-host, Vicki Johnson, share the details of the Cornell Study and professor Miller's recipe for a healthy "paperwhite cocktail." In addition, Vicki explains why some paperwhites smell sweet while others are, well...stinky.
Click here to listen to Ken Druse REAL DIRT on your computer, or how to put the show onto your MP3 player.

Great Christmas Gifts - Photo by Anne Moore

One of those garden writers that gardeners dig is Ken Druse. He is one of the premier garden photographer/writers in the nation. He is an organic gardener, and a designer and naturalist. His books are beautiful. These titles from my own library illustrate his gardening passions: The Natural Shade Garden; The Collector’s Garden (you knew that had to be in my library); another favorite The Natural Habitat Garden; his newest, The Passion for Gardening; and probably the premier book of all time for illustrated propagation of plants, Making More Plants.

In Making More Plants, most, if not all, of the how-to photos are of Druse’s own hands showing the step-by-step processes. Learn how to cross-pollinate, how to graft, how to set up a mist box, and all manner of other devices you need to know to propagate plants.

I can definitely recommend his books. They are beautiful enough to rank as coffee table books, but too good to just display for show.

Peek at the question and answer section on this page. There you will find a link and some information about "Real Dirt," a gardening podcast hosted by Ken Druse. He and his co-host, Vicki Johnson, will keep you up to date on what is happening in the gardening world.

Another writer who is certainly not just an also writer, is Tracey DiSabato-Aust. Gardeners get muscles from many activities. Add lugging The Well-Tended Perennial Garden by DiSabato-Aust into the garden along with your pruners.

She is a garden designer, writer, and speaker who knows how to squeeze everything into a tidy border. She shares the correct time and ways to prune in this book and in The Well-Designed Mixed Garden.

The gardener on your list could spend some quality fireside time with these authors and their excellent advice. Wrap up gifts of information, packaged with striking landscapes. Reading about gardens is a gift almost as good as being in a garden.

You can find Tracy DiSabato-Aust books at Wayside Gardens. Find Ken Druse books at his podcast site, RealDirt.

---Posted by Coach Anne, November 28, 2007---

Christmas Cactus in a Basket

I don’t have much luck growing Christmas Cactus. I grow it in a sunny window and let it stay dry, but it drops its flower buds before they open. What’s wrong?

ANSWER:

Although we think of them as cactus, Christmas Cactus actually should not be allowed to dry out. They like to have damp soil and have some humidity. The best way to provide the humidity is to set the plants on saucers of pebbles with water beneath the pot. Don't let the pot stand in the water.

Hydrilla

Fort Lauderdale scientists have been collaborating with ARS scientists in other countries, conducting extensive field surveys to see if it is feasible to import plant eating insects or mites to feed on invasive weeds causing havoc in U.S. areas.

A promising biological control for Hydrilla, a rampant grower choking southern waterways, is an aquatic moth, Paracymoriza vagalis. The moth’s larvae can survive underwater for long periods. They feed on the weed’s underwater sections. These moths are undergoing testing to determine their safety for U.S. release.

This infrared aerial photo shows the Rio Grande River choked with invasive weeds. Hydrilla shows up as reddish brown along the lower banks. The river water is black.