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BAGR Blog 159: Houseplants that Bloom

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This blog is inspired by Episode 159 of Bloom and Grow Radio Podcast, where host Maria Failla interviewed Lisa Eldred Steinkopf of The Houseplant Guru.

Houseplants are celebrated for their amazing foliage, but are often overlooked for another ability—the ability to bloom! To give us a better grasp of this beautiful subcategory, let’s dive into the must-knows of houseplants that bloom. 

How to Care for Blooming Houseplants

The main difference between blooming houseplants and normal foliage houseplants is light requirements. If you want to start caring for blooming houseplants, you need to have a good light setup.

Blooming houseplants require a bit more light. That can look like a Southern-, Western-, or an Eastern-facing window for natural light. If you have Northern-facing windows, you will need to supplement with grow lights.

The type of grow light you have will determine the amount of hours needed, but at most your blooming houseplants will need 12 hours of direct light. Inadequate lighting is often the culprit if your blooming houseplants don’t bloom. 

What Does a Houseplant Bloom Cycle Look Like?

Across blooming houseplants, there are long-day, short-day, and day-neutral plants that affect the bloom cycle. A day-neutral plant like the African violet (Saintpaulia) can bloom year round, as it’s not sensitive to day length. A short-day plant, however, will start blooming when the nights get longer, focusing on how much darkness they need.

Houseplants like poinsettias, kalanchoe, and cyclamen are all short-day plants, blooming in the Fall when nights are longer. Most of the annual flowers outdoors like snapdragons and marigolds need light for as long as possible to bloom, so they are categorized as long-day plants. These long-day flowers bloom best in Summer when day length is greatest.

If your plant is not blooming within a year, it may need something different. Often the key can be more light, but it could also be that it’s simply not mature enough yet to produce blooms. If you grow a citrus from seed, it won’t flower for six to seven years—but if you grow a cutting from a mature plant, it could bloom within a year. Consider a plant’s maturity for each variety before you write off your plant parent skills. 

Fertilizing Requirements for Blooming Houseplants

While sun and photosynthesis tend to be the most important factors in getting your plants to bloom, fertilizers can certainly help. An all-purpose fertilizer like Espoma’s Organic Indoor Houseplant Food is a great overall fertilizer. To help your blooms last longer, Espoma’s Super Bloom Booster that’s high in phosphorus will give your plants strong, healthy blooms. Opt for every two to four weeks if you choose a liquid fertilizer. 

How to Make Blooms Last Longer

To get your houseplant blooms to last as long as possible, focus on consistency. Blooming plants want consistent moisture, so do not let them dry out. Keep your plants in a well-lit spot, but not so hot that they become stressed. Be consistent with moisture and temperature during blooming and your plants will be happy. 

Now that we’ve covered some basic care for blooming houseplants, let’s go into some great starter plants for beginners. 

The 6 Best Blooming Houseplants for Beginners

The crown of thorns (Euphorbia milii) is a wonderful blooming houseplant if you have high light. It can even bloom year round with enough light. They come in many colors ranging from white. red, yellow, pink, and orange. 

Hoyas (Hoya carnosa) are another blooming houseplant that are great for beginners. The key with hoyas is to know they won’t bloom until they’re mature enough. It can take anywhere from three to seven years for hoya plants to reach maturity.

Air plants (Tillandsias) are next for beginners. While they need lots of light, they almost constantly bloom and grow. They will send out new pups, because once they bloom, they slowly die off. 

The holiday cactus (Schlumbergera spp.) is another great beginner blooming houseplant, and an often underrated one. Holiday cacti include Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving varieties, each slightly different in the shape of their stem segments. Their blooms also come in a range of colors including pink, orange, salmon, and white. 

African violets (Streptocarpus sect. Saintpaulia) are another beautifully blooming houseplant that would be a great fit for a mindful plant parent. African violets prefer to never dry out and to be repotted about every 6 months. Their leaves and stems are easy to propagate, making them a fun houseplant to share with other plant lovers. Try feeding your violets with Espoma Organic Violet! African violet liquid plant food.

The goldfish plant (Columnea nematanthus) is another fantastic blooming houseplant that doesn’t need much light to bloom. Their blooms are orange and shaped like goldfish, looking like a sea of goldfish swimming when in full bloom.

Intermediate Level Blooming Houseplants

If you’re ready to move up to the intermediate level, here are three blooming houseplants to get you started. 

Orchid cacti (Epiphyllums) are a type of climbing cacti with flat, leaflike stems. Despite being a tropical succulent, they actually need stretches of cold before they will bloom again. Give them enough light and enough of a cold period, and you’ll be wowing everyone with these stunning blooms.  

Bromeliads (Bromeliaceae) are another long-blooming houseplant that are typically bought in their blooming stage. Their blooms eventually die back, but not before they send out new babies at the bottom.

While there are beginner orchids, there are plenty of interesting varieties for an intermediate plant parent to try. Dendrobiums, Cattleyas, and Miltonias tend to be a bit more care intensive. To troubleshoot why your orchid isn’t blooming, it can often be a lack of light. Orchids also need to be repotted at least every two years to ensure adequate air for their roots. Try Espoma’s Organic Orchid Mix potting soil to help with drainage and aeration. Apply Espoma Organic Orchid! liquid plant food to make sure your plant has the essential nutrients needed for successful growth. 

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For an in-depth look into blooming houseplants, make sure to read Lisa’s new book Bloom: The Secrets of Growing Flowering Houseplants Year-Round. 

About Bloom & Grow Radio Podcast

 Bloom & Grow Radio Podcast helps people care for plants successfully and cultivate more joy in their lives. Host Maria Failla, a former plant killer turned happy plant lady, interviews experts on various aspects of plant care, and encourages listeners to not only care for plants, but learn to care for themselves along the way.

About Our Interviewee

Lisa Eldred Steinkopf is The Houseplant Guru. She’s a blogger, freelance writer, and houseplant enthusiast who loves taking care of her own plants and teaching others to take care of theirs. If you love plants, want to know more, or are just looking to keep your houseplant plant alive, you’re in the right place!

Lisa’s new book Bloom: The Secrets of Growing Flowering Houseplants Year-Round celebrates the beloved houseplants we can grow for blooms in addition to foliage. It focuses on how to get many houseplants to bloom and how to keep them in bloom. 

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BAGR Episode 150 Blog: All the Bulb Basics You Need

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All the Bulb Basics You Need

Bulbs produce some of the most desirable flower gardens we all know and love, but a bulb can be really confusing to a beginner gardener. We look at this little stub in our hands that has no green attached to it and think, “Seriously, a daffodil is going to sprout up from this thing?!”

Jenks Farmer is a bulb expert and lifelong gardener, here to break down everything you need to know about the beauty and basics of bulbs.

 This blog is inspired by Episode 150 of Bloom and Grow Radio Podcast now known as Groing Joy with Maria Podcast – where host Maria Failla interviewed Jenks Farmer, founder of Jenks Farmer.

What Are Bulbs?

An easy way to think about a bulb is something that lives below ground, shoots up for the season, brings us some beautiful flowers, and then goes back below ground.

Bulbs are essentially a big energy storage system for the plants. Carbohydrates are stored underground in the bulb, so that that plant can survive wildfire, floods, or being eaten by animals. In botanical terms, a bulb is a modified stem with the leaves acting as food reserves.

What Kinds of Bulbs Are There?

Speaking of onions, the Allium genus contains all kinds of great bulbs including onions and garlic, but also many beautiful ornamental bulbs. There are tiny alliums at about 6” tall that have yellow, pink, and white flowers. There are also giant alliums you often see in English garden magazines with big purple spheres.

Other flowering bulbs include daffodils, tulips, dahlias, crinums, amaryllis, gladiolas, crocuses, and lots more!

Growing Crinum Bulbs

Jenks has been growing crinums for decades and they’ve become somewhat of his specialty. Crinums have huge bulbs, measuring as large as a softball. When they are clumped together, crinum bulbs can weigh up to 500 pounds!

Their flowers are like fireworks, coming in rich, hot, very modern pinks and whites. One of their common names is Milk and Wine Lily, referring to the fact that some of them have a wine-colored stripe down the middle.

Jenk’s new book Crinum: Unearthing the History and Cultivation of the World’s Largest Bulb is a deep dive into the amazing world of crinums. Not only does he discuss the gorgeous flowers, but he delves into their traditional medicinal uses originating in Africa and how they’re being used today in current medicine. They have strong ties to human history, being passed down for generations from family members in the South and really tying in the rich cultural history plants have in many societies.

Crinums have traditionally been thought of as a deep South flower because they don’t do great in really cold climates. But in cooler climates, they are certainly one of those flowering bulbs, like Dahlias,  you can dig up, bring indoors, and replant outside the next year.

What’s the Difference Between Annual Vs. Perennial Bulbs?

In gardening terms, an annual is something you plant once and it dies and you’re happy for it to live one season. Perennials are plants that you plant once and they keep coming back year after year. It’s best to have both perennial and annual bulbs in your garden for varying blooms.

Examples of perennial bulbs: are daffodils, tulips, crocuses, lilies, and dahlias (in warmer climates).

Examples of annual bulbs: are caladiums, and crinums.

What Does It Mean When a Plant “Naturalizes” or “Perennializes”?

When you have something perennialized in an outdoor garden, that means that it stays in its place and comes back annually for years. If something naturalizes, that means that it’s going to set seeds or send out some kind of a runner, moving around in your garden.

A lot of bulbs like alliums, tulips, daffodils, and snowdrops come from Mediterranean climates with hot, dry summers. They generally don’t perennialize well for many U.S. gardeners, because they need that dry baking period. When we’re talking about whether something is perennial or not, it completely depends on your climate.

When to Plant Bulbs

Within the wide world of bulbs, there are Fall, Spring, and Summer-flowering bulbs. Generally, you plant your bulbs a season ahead of the time you expect them to flower.

Daffodils and tulips, for example, are Spring-flowering bulbs, so you would plant them in the Fall when the ground is still workable. The first thing they do underground is grow a set of roots to get established. And then they start to grow up in early Spring and produce flowers in late Spring.

Summer-flowering bulbs include dahlias, crinums, amaryllis, and gladiolas, so you should plant them in the Spring when your soil is warming up.

Red spider lilies and some crocus varieties are Fall-flowering bulbs. You can plant them almost any time from early Spring through mid-summer.

Can You Grow Flowering Bulbs Indoors?

If you don’t have a large garden space, or if you just want to see some beautiful bulbs growing indoors, you definitely still have options! You can grow bulbs in a container inside, known as  “forcing bulbs” indoors. If you’re going to force bulbs, the time of year is similar to the above recommendations. For example, if you want Fall flowers for pots, you could plant some red spider lilies and Fall-flowering crocuses in early Spring.

Two Ways to Force Bulbs Indoors?

Here are two ways to force bulbs indoors: 

  1.  Refrigerate your bulbs for about 6 weeks and then plant them in pots. 
  2. Pot your bulbs up and put them outside, where they will get cold treatment naturally without taking up your space in the fridge. When you’re ready, bring your pots inside about 6 weeks before you want them to bloom and the heat indoors starts to force those bulbs into flower.

Caladiums are a fantastic option for indoor growing. They have big elephant ear-like leaves that are pink, red, and white and all mottled together. A rare bulb that also does great indoors is the Blood Lily that you can keep year-round. It has a beautiful, broad leaf and flowers in the middle of Summer, with a softball-sized, scarlet flower. Pineapple lilies also make great container plants. They have a stalk that looks like a pineapple with a long, extended flower and thousands of tiny burgundy red flowers.

How to Plant and Fertilize Bulbs

Contrary to what you might think, bulbs don’t necessarily have to be planted right-side up. But planting them upside down can delay their flowering. If you can, make sure to plant the pointy side of your bulb up.

One of the most important parts of planting bulbs is getting the bulb depth right. The general rule is to plant bulbs three times as deep as the bulb size. A two-inch daffodil, for example, would be planted about six inches deep (2*3 = 6”).

As far as soil goes, the key is making sure that the kind of bulb you’re planting is adapted to your soil moisture. Many bulbs are from dry places, so make sure your soil adequately dries out during the growing season.

For fertilizing, wait until Spring right after your bulbs have flowered, then add in compost or some other organic fertilizer like Espoma’s Bulb-tone fertilizer, which is specifically designed to support bulb growth. After flowering, your bulb is trying to collect lots of nutrients for the bulb below ground to be ready for the next year.

When Will My Bulb Bloom?

You’ve planted your bulbs in the Fall and are on the edge of your seat, just waiting for those Spring bulbs to arrive. Below are some bulbs that will bloom in Spring, Summer, and Fall.

Spring: tulips, some alliums, daffodils, snowdrops, snowflakes, and irises.

Summer: dahlias, gloriosa lilies, true lilies, blood lilies, canna lilies, crinum.

Fall: dahlias, autumn crocus, red spider lilies.

How to Divide Bulbs

Most bulbs grow in a clump and over time, they will multiply underground, creating a clump of 10 to 15 bulbs. Many bulbs need to be divided to rejuvenate.

You want to wait to divide bulbs until the foliage starts to die off. The foliage helps to collect energy for the bulb for the next season, so if you move the bulb while the leaf is green and trying to build energy, you can damage it.

After the foliage has died off, dig down to the bulbs and start separating them. Sometimes you need water to force them apart. Let them dry out on the surface and then store them in a cool, dry location until you’re ready to replant them in the Fall or Spring.

Want to learn more about all things flower bulbs? Make sure to check out Jenks’ blog and brand new book, Crinum: Unearthing the History and Cultivation of the World’s Largest Bulb, available now!

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About Bloom & Grow Radio Podcast

Bloom & Grow Radio Podcast is now Groing Joy with Maria.

The podcast helps people care for plants successfully and cultivate more joy in their lives. Host Maria Failla, a former plant killer turned happy plant lady, interviews experts on various aspects of plant care, and encourages listeners to not only care for plants but learn to care for themselves along the way.

About Our Interviewee

Jenks Farmer got his first flower bulb in the 1970s and has been growing them ever since. For the last twenty years, Jenks has led teams responsible for establishing two of South Carolina’s major botanical gardens. His designs for homes, museums, and businesses have received recognition and awards and have delighted hundreds of thousands of visitors with the joyful, easy exuberance of hand-crafted gardens.

Jenks wrote and published three books, including The Crinum Book, Funky Little Flower Farm, and Deep-Rooted Wisdom.

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Walk Down the Aisle with These Wildflowers in Your Bouquet

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It’s wedding season! Whether you’re having a dreamy, late summer wedding or a rustic, autumn wedding, wildflower bouquets can match almost any color palette and theme. You can even grow your bouquet in your own backyard with the right timing and resources. Here are a few suggestions as well as tips and tricks to have beautiful blooms on your big day!

Zinnias

If you’re new to gardening, zinnias could be a great place to start! They are one of the easiest wildflowers to grow and bloom from late spring until the first frost, which is sometime in the fall, depending on where you live. They also grow in a variety of bright colors, so you have a large palette to choose from. Make sure to grow them in full sun!

Daisies

If you want flowers as white as your dress, daisies are perfect. For extra vibrant white petals, use Flower-tone. Daisies are a convenient option if you’re short on space in your garden, as they grow about 1–3 feet tall. They typically bloom in full sunlight from late spring to early fall.

Baby’s Breath

Baby’s breath is the perfect flower to fill the spaces between larger blooms in your bouquet. They’re low maintenance, deer resistant, and have an extended bloom time of four weeks. Grow in full sun.

Sunflowers

Who doesn’t love sunflowers? Single-stem varieties will grow quickly and produce one stem per plant. The classic golden sunflowers can add a beautiful pop of color to your bouquet, but if you’re looking for something a little more unique, try growing Lemon Queen sunflowers, which have more of a lemon shade of yellow than the typical golden variety. For the biggest, brightest blooms, feed your sunflowers Espoma’s Bio-tone Starter Plus and grow in full fun or half shade.

 

Cutting

Once your wildflowers are in bloom, cut the stems. It’s best to do this in the early morning or in the late evening so that the sun and heat do not wilt the flowers. Foliage placed in water may grow bacteria that will kill the flowers prematurely. You can prevent this by stripping the foliage from the bottom of the stem gently using your hands or scissors.

A bouquet of wildflowers makes a beautiful addition to your wedding, but if bulbs are a better fit for you, check out these tips from Laura from Garden Answer!

 

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Prepare the Perfect Hanging Baskets

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Summer is here, but it’s not too late to put together the hanging basket of your dreams! If you’ve ever struggled to create a hanging basket that lasts all season long, we’ve got you covered. Keep reading for five tips to achieve the perfect hanging basket that will make all your neighbors jealous.

1. Choosing the Right Basket

While this may seem like simply a stylistic choice, choosing the right size and type of basket is crucial to your hanging basket’s success. Your basket should be at least 14’’ to 16” so that your plants’ roots aren’t taking up all of the space in the pot by early summer.

It’s also important to consider the look you want to achieve. If you want to keep it simple, regular hanging pots will do the trick. If you’re feeling a bit more advanced, and want to aspire towards a “flower globe” look with plants pouring out of the basket from all directions, try a wire basket with a fiber liner.

2. Picking the Perfect Flowers

Here’s where you can really get creative! You can make a statement by committing to a single color, or you can mix it up by choosing a variety of colors and textures. It really depends on whether you want your hanging basket to be a subtle addition to your yard, or if you want it to be bolder, immediately drawing the eye. If you need some inspiration, check out Laura from Garden Answer’s 2022 arrangements.

It’s also important to consider whether your basket will hang in the sun or shade, and what type of weather conditions the plants will be exposed to. Choose blooms that will grow well where you choose to hang your basket so that it lasts all the way through the end of the summer.

3. Watering

Consistency is key! Be sure to regularly water your plants at the same time each day, as irregular watering may add unneeded stress to your basket. Since hanging baskets aren’t rooted in the soil, they are dried out much more easily by the sun and wind, and a regular watering routine is especially important.

It’s also helpful to get in the habit of watering your plants early in the morning. The water will be less likely to evaporate and your plants will be well-equipped to handle the afternoon heat.

4. Choosing the Appropriate Soil and Fertilizer

It’s important to choose a high-quality potting mix to keep your blooms bright and beautiful all summer long. Try some of our organic potting soils, like our Moisture Mix, or Potting Mix, which are both perfect for use on all container plants.

Remember, to make your baskets last long, it’s important to make sure the plants aren’t outgrown by early summer. Apply fertilizer slowly and steadily, rather than in heavy doses. Liquid fertilizers are a great way to achieve this. Check out our organic Flower-tone, which can be mixed with water and used every 2 to 4 weeks to feed your hanging plants the microbes they need to thrive.

5. Perfect Pruning

If there are dying blooms in your basket, it’s time to cut them off! Not only do they distract from the beauty of your healthy blooms, but they also use up vital resources in your soil. This is as simple as pinching where the flower meets the stem. Regularly removing dead bulbs ensures that the nutrients in your soil are going towards creating new blooms to keep your hanging plant flourishing.

With these tips, you’re sure to have a beautiful hanging basket that will last you through the summer. Happy planting!

 

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4 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Poinsettias

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‘Tis the season of poinsettias! These jolly red plants are a classic holiday gift and household decoration all across the country during the winter months. Unfortunately, for many people, the leaves quickly turn lackluster and the plant dies soon afterward. But you can avoid this outcome with proper care and maintenance! Here are 4 ways yours can thrive this holiday season, as told by Garden Answer.

1. Get a healthy start

Did you know poinsettias are actually tropical plants? These festive spurges have somehow become a staple during the colder months, but they very much still appreciate their native climate! That means you should try to avoid the ones that are placed near the entrance of your local grocery store, since the draft from outside and the dry heat from inside are already harming the plants’ health. If you find them elsewhere, be sure to check that the foliage has solid colors and is not showing any green as this could mean they’re finished flowering for the season.

2. Give them a loving home

Since poinsettias appreciate that tropical climate, be sure to place them somewhere with lots of light that’s away from cold glass. As mentioned before, keep them away from any drafts — warm or cold. Be sure to check their soil moisture regularly as heated homes often lack moisture in the air. You can water them when the top layer of soil feels dry. As a finishing touch, feel free to mist them regularly and use Espoma Bloom! to give them a boost.

3. Stay safe this holiday season

A widely believed myth is that poinsettias are incredibly toxic to pets and humans. But the truth is that you would have to ingest an exorbitant amount of it for it to actually be dangerous! You should still err on the side of caution since the white sap that’s produced when the stems break can be a skin irritant, and it’s best to set them somewhere pets and kids can’t reach as with all houseplants.

4. Start anew next year

No matter how devoted you are to your beloved poinsettias, you should still think of them as annual plants that need to be replaced each year. It can be very difficult to get them to bloom again a year later and it involves much stricter care than the tips listed above. 

 

Check out this video from Kevin @Epic Gardening for some additional tips and tricks to get the most out of your poinsettias.

 

 

Now that you have all the necessary knowledge, go find the biggest and brightest poinsettias you can locally buy — and rest assured that they’ll last much longer than last year’s!

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Meet the Team: Q&A with David Mountford

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It’s time for another installment of our Q&A series with the wonderful folks who make Espoma such a great place to work! Up next is David Mountford, our Senior Logistic Manager. We’re so proud to say he’s been with us for 32 years and still going strong! Read on to find out the details of his backyard oasis and the gardening product he can’t live without.


Q: What’s your favorite part of your job?

A: The collaboration between ownership, management, salesforce, and plant. Everyone across the board communicates very well and has created an awesome culture.

Q: How are you approaching things differently now either at home and with work as a result of COVID-19?

A: I find myself working longer and harder as my computer is always on and easier to access. There are times after dinner that I will just walk by my laptop and check my email. I try to stay in the same routine as if I was waking up to travel to work.

Q: What about your personal life? Any new hobbies and/or habits helping to pass the time?

A: I live in South Jersey with my wife and two daughters, and we spend a lot of time gardening as a family.

Q: Tell us about your personal garden, yard or plants.

A: We have an inground swimming pool and spend a lot of family time there. Our yard is small, but we have utilized a lot of evergreens to create privacy and integrated a lot of perennials to add color. It’s kind of like our vacation oasis.

Q: What is your top gardening tip?

A: Tend to your plants. Make it a habit to walk the property to monitor any issues before they overtake the plant.

Q: What’s one Espoma product you couldn’t live without?

A: I recommend Bio-tone Starter Plus when installing. Using Bio-tone is like an insurance policy for your plants, ensuring that they grow healthy for years. I also feed all my containers with Espoma Bloom throughout the summer.

Q: What made you want to work at Espoma?

A: My father was a salesman for Espoma for 15 years. I was working retail in the garden industry and it was tough. I only had one day off and worked 60+ hours a week. As I started a family, I felt there would be a lot I would miss with my kids. Then the logistics person retired and I knew the company well enough to know there would be stability.

We’re so lucky to have David on our team, and we hope to keep him around for many more years to come. One thing’s for sure — Espoma wouldn’t be the company that it is today without the hard work of people like him! Stick around to learn more about some of our other wonderful team members soon.

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Meet the Team: Q&A with Dave Jackson

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We’re thrilled to jump back into our Q&A series where we highlight the talented folks who are working hard behind the scene to make Espoma so great. Today we’re shining the spotlight on Dave Jackson, Vice President of National Accounts! We’ve been lucky enough to have him with us for just over three years now during which he’s continually impressed his colleagues and customers alike.

Let’s learn a bit more about Dave’s day-to-day life and his favorite Espoma products! Keep reading to find out his secret is for the ultimate curb appeal.

Q. What’s your favorite part of your job?

A. My favorite part of my job is presenting new products and merchandising ideas to customers and helping them grow their business.

Q. How has COVID-19 affected your day-to-day?

A. Interacting face-to-face with customers has been replaced with virtual meetings and digital presentations. I miss the customer interaction and store visits.

Q. What about  your personal life? Any new hobbies and/or habits helping to pass the time?

A. It has been nice to spend more time with my kids who are taking classes from home. They can’t escape!

Q. What are you most looking forward to when the world gets back to normal?

A. I look forward to visiting my parents and family and getting to a few favorite restaurants.

Q. Tell us about your personal garden, yard, or plants.

A. I maintain my own lawn and landscaping, including a rock garden and a few containers on the patio.

Q. What is your top gardening tip?

A. Make sure you get your kids to help when it’s time to do the mulching!

Q. What’s one Espoma product you couldn’t live without?

A. I’m amazed by how well my flowers look soon after using Bloom! Liquid Plant Food. It’s quick and easy.

Q. What do you enjoy most about caring for your gardens?

A. I enjoy trying different containers of annuals, perennials, and herbs. I also enjoy watching one of my kids mow the backyard!

Q. What made you want to enter the gardening industry?

A. I started my career with a seed company and haven’t left the industry since. It’s a great group of people!

Q. What made you want to work at Espoma?

A. I’ve always admired Espoma’s great products and packaging and jumped at the opportunity to join the team.

As always, we’re proud to have such loyal, hard-working employees that keep our company running. Stay tuned to learn more about the great folks behind the brand at Espoma.

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Build a Butterfly Bouquet for National Pollinator Week

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What’s better than decorating your home with summer bouquets of flowers directly from your garden? Having a cut flower garden is not only convenient for on-demand bouquets, but also for adding color to your garden with stunning oranges, yellows, purples, pinks, and blues. While you often choose plants for bees, these flowers are for butterflies.

Pollinators need love year-round and that starts with gardening organically. In honor of National Pollinator Week, here are our best tips for celebrating by building a butterfly bouquet with the flowers they love!

 Breathtaking Flowers Butterflies Will Love

Yarrow (Achillea)

Yarrow is a vibrant yellow perennial. It has a lengthy flowering time from June through September. It is a relatively tall flower with an average growth height of 2.5-3 feet. Butterflies love these flowers because they’re easy to land on and also loaded with sweet nectar. Give your flowers a strong soil base to help them thrive through the hot summer months with Espoma’s Organic Garden Soil. Best suited for zones 3-8.

Ox-Eye Daisies

Ox-Eye Daisies are a classic addition to your garden. Their flowering time covers the summer months from May to August. With their white rays and yellow centers, they will be sure to brighten up your cut flower garden. They grow 1-3 feet tall so they will not take up too much space. Butterflies love Ox-Eye Daisies because they are nectar-rich. Best suited for zones 3-8.

 

English Lavender

English Lavender is a garden essential! Their flowering period covers the summer months of June to August. They grow to the perfect height of 1.5-2 feet. People and butterflies love English Lavender for its fragrance and remarkable blue-purple color… Best suited for zones 5-8.

Blanket Flower (Gaillardia)

The Blanket Flower is a vivid, color-rich butterfly flower to add to your garden. They flower in summer months from May through August. Blanket Flowers tend to be on the shorter side, only growing 6-12 inches tall. Their stunning blood-orange red petals and yellow tips will have your jaw on the floor by the time flowering season rolls around. Butterflies cannot pass up the nectar and vivid colors on these stunning flowers. In order to get the biggest flowers, fertilize with Espoma’s Bloom! liquid plant food. Best suited for zones 3-10.

Bee Balm

Bee balm is another pollinator favorite that should earn a spot in your pollinator garden. The Bee Balm’s flowering period only covers July through August, but their violet blue, red, pink, or white color will be worth it. They thrive in zones 4-8 and are relatively tall, growing an average of 2-3 feet. Bee balm is nectar-rich and its bright coloring makes it an easy sell to butterflies. Boost your Bee Balm with Espoma’s Organic Flower-tone fertilizer for big, healthy flowers. Best suited for zones 4-8.

 

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Fall Gardening Checklist

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September marks the turn of a new leaf. The hot summer weather is fizzling out in favor of cool, crisp fall breezes, prompting bonfires, football games, and pumpkin everything.

For gardeners, fall can be one of the busiest seasons. Often, gardeners juggle wrapping up their summer harvests with the responsibilities of preparing for the coming seasons.

With this to-do list from Homestead Gardens, you’ll be ready to fall in love with fall; and with some extra preparation, you’ll be better prepared for winter and spring, too!

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7 Things To Do in the Garden This Fall  

1. Deadhead to get Ahead. Freshen up flowerbeds by deadheading and removing plants that have stopped blooming. Do maintenance in the morning before the weather gets too hot.

2. Don’t stop Planting. After you’ve harvested your remaining summer veggies, you can plant fall crops and begin transplants! Use Espoma Organic Bio-tone Starter Plus at the time of planting to ensure your new or transplanted plants have the nutrients they need for establishment.

3. Serve… or Preserve. Have more vegetables and herbs than you know how to handle? Preserve your harvest. Experiment with making jams or pickles, and try freezing raw fruit, veggies, or herbs. Make sauce out of your tomatoes, or slow roast them.

4. Flower Power. Keep your annual flowers blooming as long as possible! The key to success? Use Espoma’s Bloom! liquid fertilizer.

5. Watch out for Winter! Start winterizing your garden’s watering system. Keep an eye out for the first few frosts of the season, and cover plants when necessary. Gradually transition your summer houseplants back indoors.

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6. Divide and Conquer. Divide and split your perennials, dig and store tender bulbs like dahlias and caladiums, and start planting spring flowering bulbs.

7. Red, Dead Ahead! Are your tomato plants lacking fruit? Producing dull leaves? Sprinkle some Tomato-tone to give them a final boost.

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With these tips, your fall landscape will look better than ever.

Have a picture of your fall garden that you want to share? Drop by our Facebook page!

 

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How to Plant Colorful Flowering Shrubs: Azaleas and Rhododendrons

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A yard without shrubs is like a completed puzzle, minus one piece. The look is almost perfect, but something is missing! Shrubs work wonders — especially ones with bold, colorful flowers. These easy to care for plants instantly fill in gaps in your garden landscape and look fabulous every season. Complete your garden by planting a shrub or two today! Azaleas and rhododendrons are some of the most popular flowering shrubs. Blooming from late spring to early summer, these shrubs thrive in almost any garden. Plus, they come in virtually every color of the rainbow — from bold pinks, purples, and reds to soft, muted yellows and whites. As an added bonus, hummingbirds and bees cannot get enough of azaleas and rhododendrons.

For Established Shrubs: Spring feeding helps develop new growth and the production of new flower buds. Sprinkle one cup of Holly-tone per foot of branch spread now. Holly-tone is long-lasting so you’ll only need to fertilize twice in a season. Don’t wait too long, or you risk encouraging green vegetative growth at the expense of flower bud development. Once now, and again in the fall will ensure a perfect Rhody!

For New Shrubs: Spring is the perfect time to plant so pick your favorite color and variety. Before buying, check the plant tag to see if you have enough space for a full-grown shrub. Azaleas and rhododendrons can range from 2 feet to more than 20 feet tall! If planting shrubs in a row, ensure you have enough space to plant 2 feet to 6 feet apart depending on how big your shrubs will get. Now, before you start digging, choose a spot for your shrub and envision the great impact these plants will have on your landscape! Both these flowering shrubs like to hang in the shade and do not grow well in full sunlight. So, make sure you’ve selected a perfectly shaded spot!

Before you start digging, plan for growth. If planting shrubs in a row, ensure you have enough space to plant 2-6’ apart depending on how big your shrubs will get. These flowering shrubs are so easy to care for because most of the work is done before planting. Keep azaleas and rhododendrons bursting with beautiful blooms by picking the right spot and ensuring you’ve got ideal soil for growing. Don’t forget to test the soil! These acid-loving shrubs need a soil pH of 4.5-5.5. If your soil test reveals a higher pH, your soil is alkaline. Solve the problem by amending with Espoma Organic Soil Acidifier.

Once your soil is ready, it’s time to plant! Dig a hole as deep as the root ball and twice as wide. Then, remove the shrub from its original container, loosen the roots and dip in a bucket of water. Next, arrange the shrub in the hole, so the top of the root ball is slightly about the ground’s surface. Fill half the hole with compost, peat moss or humus, and mix in 1 cup Holly-tone fertilizer for better blooms. This organic plant food is specially crafted for acid loving plants, like azaleas and rhododendrons. Feeding new shrubs with an organic fertilizer now keeps them well-fed for months, spurs deep evergreen color and dynamic blooms. Fill half the hole with Espoma Organic All Purpose Garden Soil. Now finish planting your shrub by filling the hole with Espoma Organic All Purpose Garden Soil, and add 2-3” of mulch. Water now, and tomorrow, too.

Doesn’t your garden instantly look brighter? For more tips on caring for azaleas, rhododendrons or other acid-loving plants, click here. We’d love to see how a flowering shrub completed your garden. Share a before and after picture on our Facebook page!

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