There's a lot of new stuff for the garden this spring and like lots of the new technology, the smaller the better.

The rage this spring will be bulbettes. Bulbettes give the gardener a second chance to plant spring flowering bulbs in the fall. They are pre-sprouted bulbs, sold in pots or flats, much like annuals, and are meant to go straight into the ground or containers to provide outdoor color.

One advantage of using these plants is that they allow for simultaneous blooming by flowers that naturally bloom in different times of the spring. They will rebloom in subsequent years and after the first spring, they will return to their natural blooming cycles.

Crape myrtlettes, a small (up to 18 inches tall) crape myrtle plant, which can be used in with flowering annuals and perennials in the garden. The small plants will return as perennials each year and should be mildew resistant, but be careful — Japanese beetles do love the crape myrtle.

The herb of the year for 2000 is rosemary. Use the rosemary as a garden plant as it provides a nice, needly foliage, a wonderful piney scent and lovely white, pink, purple or blue flowers. Depending on the variety, it can be used as a ground cover or trained as a topiary. In the kitchen, rosemary livens up meals, fish and vegetables. Vinegar also can be flavored by infusing it with rosemary sprigs.

A native of the Mediterranean, rosemary is a tender evergreen shrub that needs lots of sun, and a well-drained, not too rich soil containing sand. The upright forms can grow up to five feet tall.

Some trees that are getting attention this spring are the trident maple and ornamental crabapples. The trident maple is very drought tolerant and is becoming an important addition to our landscape. The tree, which is deciduous, should be placed in full sun to partial shade and will grow to between 25-35 feet tall with a 15-20 foot spread.

Ornamental crabapples make a nice specimen tree and produce beautiful flowers and fruits. There are over 400 crabapple cultivars but these four are rated the most disease resistant in recent studies: “Adirondack”, “Louisa,” “Prairiefire” and “Red Jewel.” Crabapples produce spring flowers from mid-March to early April in colors of pink, white and red. The trees will grow from 15-25 feet tall and 10-20 feet wide.

Back to Dining Guide Home Page | Back to the top of the page