One of the most spectacular winter blooming plants is the Florist's Cineraria (Pericallis x hybrida). What makes these plants so special is that the deep green, slightly lobed leaves of these colorful beauties are often completely covered by immense clusters of velvety daisy-like flowers for their entire growing season.

These bright and bushy plants have an amazing kick of contrasting colors. The blossoms may be white, pink, red, blue, purple or violet, with blue or white centers and rings of contrasting colors that create a rainbow of hues for any sunny windowsill.

These beautiful plants are native to the Canary Islands off the coast of Portugal. Annuals that can bloom indoors from as early as December to as late as May. If they are still blooming during a warm spell, you can put them outside--they are great for attracting butterflies! Few plants can beat these beauties for color while they are doing their thing.

Cinerarias do best in a bright room or sunny windowsill. They are fairly thirsty plants, due to the large volume of flowers they produce, and like to be kept moist (but not wet) at all times. They need only occasional feeding while in bloom, with a water soluble plant food.

So, if you need a little help shaking off the doldrums of winter, consider purchasing some cinerarias to brighten up your home today!

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Although many cymbidiums start to flower in December, some bloom as early as November. Most bloom between February and May, a few in May and June, and just one or two bloom year round. Choose wisely, and you can have these exotic orchids decorating your home, patio, and garden for six months or more.

Protect cymbidiums' bloom spikes from snails when they are outside. Stake the spike to avoid breakage, but allow each spray to maintain its natural arching form. Allow miniatures in hanging baskets to cascade naturally. Continue to feed the plants for bloom with a fertilizer rich in bloom ingredients until buds open.

Once they bloom stop feeding the plants; keep them damp but not soggy. For longer-lasting flowers, move blooming plants into more shade and keep away from bees if they are outside. (The flowers "blush" and fade after pollination.)

Once cymbidium spikes have set buds you can force some into bloom ahead of their natural schedule. Wait until the buds on the bloom spikes are full size and look fat and ready to open. Then place the plant in a warm area with bright light. The warmth plus the longer "day" will open the buds quickly. Then move them back into a lower-light area for longer lasting blooms.

There's one drawback to forcing--plants you force into bloom early won't perform as well next year. You'll get a few spikes but not as many. This is also a factor to consider when buying new varieties. Some may have been forced into bloom, and you won't get as many spikes the following year. But just wait for the third year--they'll be loaded with blooms.

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By E.W. Forsyth

Nothing enhances cooking more than fresh herbs. Once you have incorporated a herb garden into your landscape, and experienced the simple joy of picking the flavors that will bring compliments showering upon you for your culinary expertise, there is no going back.

Ah, but what about winter? Hopefully you have frozen some of your summer crop, but it still is not quite the same as freshly picked herbs. If you have a south-facing window, you're equipped with most of what you need in order to grow an indoor herb garden. Begin with indoor-friendly herbs such as sage, mint, rosemary, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, chives, garlic and oregano. Basil, dill and coriander should be started from seeds, and mint, rosemary and bay leaf should be rooted from cuttings.

If you're starting with seedlings which you have purchased from the nursery, they will need to be acclimated to lower light conditions. New leaves that are accustomed to the lower light must be produced in order for the plant to survive. Most herbs require an absolute minimum of 6 hours of direct sunlight, which a window with southern exposure should provide. Assist with the addition of grow lights, placed about 6 to 9 inches above the tops of the plants. Generally speaking, your herbs will prefer temperatures between 55 and 70 degrees F.

However, basil is such a sun and heat lover, it will thrive if given 16 hours of artificial light. I guarantee that the pesto and spaghetti sauce that is seasoned with the fresh basil from your indoor herb garden will make the effort well worth it. Place the plants that need the greatest amount of light in the center of the window, directly beneath the grow lights. Your mint, parsley and rosemary will require less light; therefore, they should be placed at the sides, farther away from the strongest point of light.

Use separate pots for each plant; this allows for each plant to have air flow, and if a problem occurs with one plant, it is easily removed from the mix. Unglazed terra cotta is the preferred pot as it is porous, thus allowing moisture and air to pass through. Roots need air; if gasses in the root zone are not able to move, and watering prevents the roots from breathing, root rot will set in. So, be sure that there are drainage holes in the bottom of your pots to allow excess water to drain.

When first prepping the pots, DO NOT use soil from your garden, no matter how gloriously your outdoor plants grow in it. Instead, use a high-quality potting soil with organic fertilizer mixed in, and add some perlite. Fertilize with a liquid fish emulsion at half strength or a 20-20-20 chemical formulation about once a month. Mist on occasion, particularly rosemary.

The conditions inside your house will affect the frequency of watering. Using your finger, check the soil. If it feels dry to the touch, water thoroughly until the water comes out of the drainage holes in the bottom. Herbs such as bay leaf, thyme, oregano and sage should dry out completely between waterings while mint and rosemary prefer a little more moisture.

When harvesting from an indoor herb garden, a certain delicacy is called for; because indoor herbs tend to reach for the light and become leggy, it is best to pinch them at the growing tips, thereby forcing a bushier growth form.

Experiment with a light-hearted sense of fun; fresh herbs are by nature givers of a unique flavoring to our cooking. Add to salads and omelets; toss a few fresh mint leaves in a pot of hot tea. Gardening and cooking are two sublime pleasures that anyone may enjoy. Nothing enhances cooking more than fresh herbs.

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If you are looking for the perfect flower to bridge the gap between winter and summer, consider the primrose. Like a ray of sunshine on a damp and gloomy day, primroses (primula) provide early spring blooms in almost every color of the rainbow.

They prefer cool temperatures and moist, rich, well-draining soil (with lots of compost). Primroses can tolerate full sun in spring but definitely prefer afternoon shade once temperatures get warmer. They can easily be grown indoors during winter, provided that you maintain cool night temperatures in your home (below 65 degrees), filtered sun and moist soil.

The most popular types of primroses include English primroses (Primula vulgaris/polyanthus), Fairy primroses (Primula malacoides) and German primroses (Primula obconica). All are heavy bloomers and well suited for garden planting or in containers.

Originally from England, most English primroses now are grown along the Pacific Coast. They produce large clusters of flowers above the foliage, with dwarf varieties just a few inches above the foliage and taller hybrids growing up to one foot above the foliage. They are available in almost every color shade.

German primroses are often called perennial primroses, since they can often come back to re-bloom the following season. They have larger rounded leaves, and grow up to 12 inches high, with taller flower stalks. The flowers come mostly in shades of red, rose and salmon.

Fairy primroses have a more delicate look, with smaller leaves and flower clusters on 6-12" stalks above the foliage. They generally are available in color shades of pink, lavender and white.

So if the winter blues are getting you down, chase them away with some perfect primroses!

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Outside of the easily-identified blueberries and strawberries, the world of berries can be very confusing. You have blackberries, black raspberries, red raspberries, and yellow raspberries. And don't forget boysenberries, loganberries and marionberries, which are all closely related. How do you tell them apart? Berries whose core stays intact are blackberries. Berries that lose the core and resemble a thimble are raspberries. But then...a few berries are a cross between the two!

The similarities don't stop there. All bear fruit on two-year-old wood, except for the ever-bearing raspberries that also fruit on first year growth. These are also called two-crop raspberries because they bear a late summer or fall crop on the first year growth and a second crop the following spring on the two-year-old wood.

Different types of wood? What's that all about? Ok, it may help clear up a lot of confusion about blackberry and raspberry culture if one remembers that after flowering and fruiting, any cane that bore fruit dies back to the crown. All the new growth will rise out from primary buds just below the soil line.

Now here's the good news, blackberries, raspberries and any other favorites will thrive in most locations and soil types, but good drainage is desirable with most varieties. Just give them some room to ramble because they do like to spread out. As far as cold-hardiness goes, raspberries tolerate very cold temperatures better than blackberries.

Most berries like being fed at blooming time, with a follow-up feeding in early fall after the plants have finished fruiting. Just use a well-balanced fruit food. They prefer staying moist, and should be watered regularly if rainfall is insufficient.

The new canes that grow out each spring will not bear fruit until the following summer when they are two years old. After harvest, the two-year-old fruiting canes will start to die back and should be removed as close to the ground as possible without injuring the new canes.

In mild climates berries can be trained to stakes or trellises in late summer or early fall, after the fruiting canes have been removed. In colder climates, the canes should be left on the ground over winter--making them less likely to be damaged by cold. The ideal time to "spring train" is after the danger of freezing weather and before the leaf buds begin expanding.

We have berry plants that grow well in our local area. The bottom line is that all berries are easy to grow and they taste great. So don't stress about all your different choices. Just plant some berries and enjoy!

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How should you prune a Japanese maple?

Answer:

Japanese maples can be lightly tip-pruned during the summer months to control new growth or runaway water shoots, but save the major pruning for December or January, when the tree is fully dormant. Do not prune later than February (or when the leaf buds start swelling), because the tree can bleed quite severely and become weakened.

All Japanese maples have "eyes" on the branches, where the leaves were attached during the growing season. These "eyes" are small half moon swellings, spaced every 1-3" along the branches. Each "eye" faces a different direction, rotating along the branches.

Pruning 1/4" above a particular eye will make the tree branch out in that direction the following year. You can control the shape and direction of the tree each year simply by deciding which eyes to prune above.

Avoid pruning beyond the previous year's cuts. Always allow at least 2 "eyes" of new growth each year to remain on the tree. Pruning more severely can lead to knurled and stunted growth, with many tiny shoots coming out from the same spot. If a large branch needs to be pruned to thin out the tree and allow more light, prune it completely off. Make sure to seal all cuts larger than 1/2" in diameter with a pruning sealer.

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