QUESTION: I planted dill seeds in the small cell Park’s Bio Dome & they grow until about 1 or maybe 2 in. & then they shrivel up & die! The Bio Dome is in my greenhouse window. I have to be doing something right for them to grow to 1-2in. but what am I doing wrong after?

ANSWER: Two things could be going on. Dill is a cool season crop. It doesn’t like dry heat, so make sure you have some humidity in your planting area and remove the Bio Dome lid after the little plants are up and growing. They will cook in the full sun under glass and plastic.

Dill has a long taproot, so you need to transplant it very quickly, after it gets its first leaves, into a deep pot. Most plants with taproots resent being moved. You might have better luck with the dill by just sowing it in pots so that you don't have to transplant it and disturb the roots.

If you plan to set the dill out in the garden, do so before the roots are too bound up in the pot. Carefully slip the root ball with the soil attached from the pot directly into the planting hole with as little disturbance to the roots as possible. Coach Anne.

Want seeds now at a very special price? Check out Park Seed’s $1 seed sale. Most $1 packets are now only $0.75! These are all first quality seeds stored at the correct temperature. The buyers were just a bit over-exuberant in some of their orders. You won’t be disappointed in their selections, especially at these prices.

Dianthus chinensis ‘Baby Doll’

I like to plant eggplant in the sunny flower border. The purple flowers and deep, dark fruit are ornamental as well as edible. Now there is one that would make a good companion to the purple. It’s Eggplant Lavender Touch Hybrid. It is also on sale.

Wayside Gardens has a hydrangea I don’t have in my collection yet. I have seen it in a friend’s garden and it is beautiful. Hydrangea Angel Smile™ PP#10,371 has huge mophead. The florets of deep color are edged in white. The strong stems hold the flowers up high. This one belongs in the best hydrangea collections.

If you like your astilbes slim and svelte then look to the old standbys like Astilbe x arendsii 'Snowdrift' or Astilbe x arendsii Rheinland. If your taste runs to the more plump then Astilbe ‘Peach Blossom’, short and stubby with chubby flower stalks, is for you. A. Peach Blossom is also cold hardy all the way to USDA Zone 3.

All of the Japanese Painted Ferns (Athyrium niponicum var pictum) and their many hybrids are wonderful, easy, forgiving shade plants. If you haven’t tried them yet – why not?

Colocasia 'Black Magic'

Chasmanthium latifolium, Northern Sea Grass, is another shade lover, only shorter. This is a native American that will take full to part shade and even sunshine. It has lovely dangling seed heads in the fall. Even though this is a native, it will become a nuisance in a sheltered location and warm climate. I have had it seed itself among bricks in a walkway and arise in many spots throughout a shady border. Don’t let this deter you, though. Now that you are forewarned, just cut the seed heads before they drop. The seed heads are so ornamental that you will still love them cut and mingled into your fall flower arrangements and wreaths.

Colocasia 'Black Magic' is a breathtaking black leaved elephant ear. This one makes a statement as long as it gets plenty of water. I love it in my garden. It has multiplied to the point that I will be digging and dividing it this weekend. It is hardy to USDA Zone 7 but you can grow it in colder climes by digging and storing the bulbs over winter. Start these huge bulbs indoors a month or two before the last frost so that the leaves’ full potential can be reached in the short summer areas.

Now that daylight dwindles and cold has arrived for most of the country, we can kick back and dream of next year’s garden. That is, after we get the decorations up this weekend. Then there are the dinners, the parties, the shopping. Do find time to dream a garden. After all, gardening soothes and relaxes something we all need this time of year.

---Posted by Coach Anne, November 26 2008---

Female Peponapis Bee Pollinating Squash: Photo by Jim Cane

Would pumpkin pie be as plentiful without the diligent efforts of pumpkin-pollinating bees?  Perhaps not. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) entomologist James Cane and his colleagues are discovering more about America's native bees that pollinate pumpkins, other squashes, and gourds. Most of these bees are members of the genus Peponapis or the genus Xenoglossa, according to Cane. He's based at the agency's Pollinating Insects Biology, Management, and Systematics Research Unit in Logan, Utah.

Cane is studying wild bees as replacements for the European honeybee, in view of the ongoing problems faced by the nation's premier pollinator, Apis mellifera. Honeybees' current troubles include the puzzling phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder.

Cane has shown, for the first time, that male Peponapis pruinosa play a surprisingly significant role in pollinating summer squash. In the past, less than 10 percent of pollination has been attributed to male bees.

Simple lust may explain the male squash bee's role in pollinating blooms. Unlike male bees that mainly hunt for females at nest sites, P. pruinosa males seek their mates at flowers, and in the process carry pollen from one plant to another.

Read more about this research in the November/December 2008 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

QUESTION:

Dear Coach Anne,

I put some bearded irises in last fall. They bloomed beautifully this spring. Now in November they are blooming again. Isn't that a little late for northern Illinois? Should I cut the flower stems off? Can I still expect blooms in the spring? They were not marked as reblooming, bought locally at end of season, not from you but I trust your expertise. Please advise. Thank you, (4 days ago it was 70, today 37).

ANSWER:

Our weather vagaries are driving us crazy along with our garden plants! I would leave the flower stalks on the plant until they wither up. You could safely leave them until your spring cleanup. A fresh cut stem might allow freeze to travel inside down to the rhizomes and kill them.

Thanks for visiting The Plant Coach!