I was in Tallahassee this past weekend delivering a lecture on Crinums and hearing some really great discussion on bulbs for hot climates for the April garden.

A quick stop at Beech Island to check on the damage repairs from the tornado there last week, and now I’m off again for another work week in Lake City.

Like every gardener, I sometimes get my gardening plate too full at this time of the year, but taking a break with good friends will rejuvenate me. I’m spending this weekend with two of my favorite friends, Ruth Knopf, who helped spark Antique Rose Russlers trend, and Bennett Baxley, who won the Golden Trowel award for preserving his parents’ (and grandparents’, and great-grandparents’) garden.

Sharing our friendships, our gardening ideas, and our plants with each other is a great way NOT to buy plants. My grandparents wouldn’t have bought plants- well, maybe some special camellia- but they never would have simply gone shopping for plants.

I mentioned in a previous blog the Elizabeth Lawrence generations of gardeners, and freely admit that sometimes I am nostalgic for those days. But it’s a different world so if you’re trading or buying, you may be interested in what’s looking good now.

Looking Good Now

Camassai leichtlinii started flowering this week and will then be in full flower soon. The beautiful dense foliage produces tall spikes of blue, star-shaped flowers that can grow 30-36.

Baptisia Carolina Moonlight (yellow false indigo) was introduced by Rob Gardner at the NC Botanical Gardens in 2002. We planted in February and are now rewarded with 18 spikes of buttery-yellow flowers- sometimes with 40-50 spikes on a mature plant. This one is drought tolerant.

Sarracenia, the carnivorous North American Pitcher Plant fills our bog garden in Moore Farms Garden. They attract insects and other prey by nectar and scent and are then in full flower in the early spring.

I mentioned in an earlier blog, but think its worth repeating, Eucomis is one of my favorite plants. And a favorite among favorites is pole evesiana (bog pineapple lily). We took lots of cuttings in October and rooted them in the nursery. By late April the leaves emerge on a tube that stays single and erect and this beauty thrives in dark, damp soil. By August, this species is larger than your average Eucomis with an impressive 36 flower stalk.

Woodwardia Orientalis, (Oriental Chain Fern), is a very tropical-looking hardy, evergreen fern. It has thick, full leaves. In spring the new fronds are a wonderful coppery-bronze. They are beautiful when you plant them with Heucheras and Hostas, and tolerate heat and humidity well. This is an exceptionally dramatic fern that I heartily recommend.

Late April Garden Checklist

Pull up those pansies! If you dont have the heart for it, just plant right in the middle of them. Try summer annuals like zinnia (seed them directly) marigold, and foliage plants like Coleus, Plectranthus or moon vine.

Liquid feed Crinum, elephant ears, sugar cane and lemon grass. When I say, feed, I mean, drench! Take a five gallon bucket of water, add the appropriate amount of Scots Miracle-Gro, and pour about two gallons over each plant to saturate the soil.

Liquid feed by foliage spray echinacia, ferns and emerging cannas.

Speaking of cannas, prepare yours for the summer by drenching with Merit or other systemic that will control canna leaf worms

Put out pre-emerge on gravel walkways and patios.

Tie up climbing roses or weave their canes through shrubs and trees.