Plant roses, hit spa or shop for your Valentine
You can also work in the garden and raise some glorious blooms.
February is the month of hearts and flflowers, of Valentines and chocolates. There is a long tradition of using flflowers to communicate affection and love. In fact, during the 18th and 19th centuries, there was a rage in Europe and America that developed into a full-blown “language of flflowers.” Books were published detailing the meaning of every plant, and people with not much to do spent time arranging bouquets to communicate secretly with each other.
Floriography proved to be less than exact in its ability to clearly let others know how you felt. Depending on the lexicon you used, sending a bunch of yellow roses might say, “I want to be your friend and care about you,” or it could mean, “I am jealous of you and wish you’d fall offff the edge of the Earth.” It got tricky. All in all, it is better to send a note with your flflowers and choose the ones that look and smell great rather than the ones with secret meanings.
When you are choosing a sentimental flower for your Valentine, keep in mind that you don’t have to limit yourself to a bouquet from the grocery store. The very best sort of floral tribute comes with roots.
You might have noticed that during this fairly warm winter, roses have continued to bloom all over the area. What you might not have noticed is that those enthusiastically blooming roses are almost invariably old- fashioned varieties growing happily on their own
roots. For many years, big rose developers chose a rootstock that works fairly well in every climate and grafted their new roses onto those roots. Old roses, sometimes called antique roses and garden roses, grow on the roots nature gave them. This characteristic makes them particularly hardy in our warm climate.
You can recognize grafted roses by the big knot that forms just above their roots. When you see those packaged bare-root roses at stores, they will all have that graft knot on them. The spot where the blooming part is stuck onto the root is particularly vulnerable to insects and diseases. Occasionally the top part will just snap off, leaving you with roots that will continue to grow and produce roses you never wanted and don’t particularly like.
February is an excellent time to plant new roses in your garden or in your Valentine’s garden because it will have a little time to adjust to its new home before the heat of summer sets in. Be sure to keep it watered the first few months if the rain stops. If you’ve been admiring a bloomer in your neighborhood, ask for the rose’s name. If not, browse online catalogs and local nurseries to find the one.
Roses aren’t, however, the only flower that can go into your Valentine’s garden in February. Sweet peas are wonderfully fragrant and beautiful; now is the time to plant their seeds. Again, choose an old-fashioned variety to insure it has scent.
Sweet peas should be planted right this minute in full sun — or morning sun and afternoon shade — in good soil. They can grow either in the ground or in a large container. They will need a support to grow on; choose a nonmetal support if possible because our Texas sun heats up metal quickly. Keep the seeds and plants moist and pick them regularly once they start blooming. When the weather gets really hot, they will sigh and fade, but in the meantime you’ll have some lovely sweet-smelling flowers. Next year, remember to plant the seeds in Novem- ber for earlier bloom.
Nasturtium is another flower that enjoys cool weather. Nasturtiums not only offer brightly colored flowers that are white, red, orange, yellow and pink, they also sport big showy leaves that range from deep green to variegated white and celery shades. What’s more, both the leaves and flowers are edible and can be used in salads or sugared to decorate cakes or cupcakes or other sweets.
The seeds are big and easy to handle, so they are perfect for young gardeners to plant either in pots or in the ground. Your youngster can give a packet of seeds to a Valentine grandparent or parent and plant them too. Nasturtiums like full sun and not too much water. Once the leaves come up, throw a cover over them if there’s a hard freeze.
Speaking of cover, you might have noticed ice on your windshield on a nonfreezing morning. Although the ambient temperature might be above freezing, nature is always trying to achieve balance. So when the earth is warm and the open sky above is very cold, and if there is no barrier in between, surfaces are robbed of their warmth. The cover of a tree or a tablecloth is enough to keep the warmth of the earth close to the ground and keep frost from forming. Just a little cover can make a difference between a frozen flower and an unfrozen flower. That’s why that flimsy row cover material works so well.
Meanwhile, February is also the time to begin gearing up for spring gardening. Starting summer seeds indoors will give you early blooms and a cheerful flash of color. You should also start your tomato seeds now along with any other veggies you want to go into the garden mid-March. This is also the perfect time to plant trees, perennial bushes including berries and herbs. Go ahead and eat those Valentine bonbons, then get outside and work off their influence by creating a yearround bouquet for everyones to enjoy.