Ask more of hedges, plant bulbs, think bees

1 Bet on hedges: If you are thinking of planting a hedge, make it useful not only as a boundary or barrier plant but for cut flowers or fruit. A hedge of Iceberg or Knockout roses will give you flowers on and off throughout the year. You can shear the plants occasionally to remove faded flowers but, other than that, just let them grow. Icebergs make excellent cut flowers too, so you can use them for vase arrangements. If you are seeking a 15- to 20-foot-tall hedge that produces fruit, select any semi-dwarf orange, mandarin or grapefruit, since that is their height at maturity.

2 Be bulbous: You can still plant a number of flowering herbaceous perennials, meaning certain bulbs (lilies), tubers (dahlias, caladiums) and corms (gladiolus, ranunculus). Where ranunculus is concerned, soak the corms for three hours in lukewarm water before planting. The corms are susceptible to rot, so don’t oversoak them and make sure they are planted in well-drained soil to prevent garden rot as well. Ranunculus flowers are reminiscent of tightly wound turbans or moderately sized roses and are universally loved. You will not regret planting large clumps of them when they are in bloom, and will wonder why you never planted them before. When planting your selected bulb, tuber or corm, place many together for maximum effect. A bonus of these plants that grow from underground storage tissue is they make wonderful cut flowers. Their stems are invariably strong since, buried several inches underground, they must have the power to poke up through the earth.

3 A range of arrangements: Cut branches of ornamental flowering peach, plum, apricot, quince, saucer magnolia or redbud, since they will adorn your home with vivid flowers even as spring is still, officially, more than a month away. You can plunge blooming branches directly into water or, to enjoy their bloom from start to finish, cut them when buds have yet to open. Place these branches in lukewarm water for eight hours and then in cool water. Keep in a cool room until flower buds open and then move them to wherever their presence is desired.

4 Recruit bees: Consider bringing nonaggressive mason and leafcutter bees into your garden for pollinating purposes. Unlike European honeybees and bumblebees, mason bees and leafcutter bees do not congregate in colonies but live solitary lives. They are more efficient pollinators than other bees since pollen sticks to the large surface area of their fuzzy bellies, as opposed to being collected in the pollen baskets on the hind legs of honeybees and bumblebees. One mason bee can pollinate 20,000 flowers, work that would require the effort of 60honeybees. Both mason and leafcutter bees build their nests in small hollow spaces such as those afforded by reeds. A major difference is mason bees use mud to separate the cells in which single eggs are laid within their nests, whereas leafcutter bees separate their cells with leaf pieces. You may have seen evidence of leafcutter bees, especially among roses, when neat circular or oval cutouts are observed on foliage. This is nothing to worry about; it is merely a sign that these efficient pollinators are in your garden. To encourage mason bees, you need to have some sticky clay around, since that is the material they use — much like a mason’s cement — to separate cells in their nests and plug the holes at the end of the reeds. You can acquire five types of solitary, nonaggressive California native bees and all the materials needed for them to nest in your garden — including clay for mason bees — at masonbeesforsale. com.

5 Start veggies: Whether by seed or from seedlings, you can plant artichoke, cilantro, peas, lettuce, parsley, beets, chard, kale, turnip, mustard, collards, green onions, asparagus and spinach. Carrots, radishes and cole crops (cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli) do not transplant well, so it is best to sow their seeds directly in the garden bed. Plant potato pieces with sprouts coming from at least two eyes, garlic cloves and sweet potato slips (shoots), generated by planting a sweet potato with its bottom portion in fast-draining soil or just by balancing a whole sweet potato in a glass of water with its bottom half submerged. Cut each shoot you see with a piece of the sweet potato attached, and plant in your garden. Sweet potatoes are extremely easy to grow and are widely considered to be the most nutritious of all vegetable crops.