Spring is here, and so are the yellow blooms in my garden.
The color yellow seems to show much earlier than the other colors in the garden, like the first triumph of the season. 
Did you know that a flower’s pigments help to attract possible pollinators, such as honeybees. There are two major classes of flower pigments: carotenoids and flavonoids. Carotenoids include carotene pigments (which produce yellow, orange and red colors). Flavonoids include anthocyanin pigments (which produce red, purple, magenta and blue colors).
So why yellow---The honeybees are emerging from their winter sleep and are out trying to find the first pollen of the year to feed on. The bees cannot see red, and prefer the colors yellow and blue. So these caroteniod flowers provide the perfect snack. We just have to make an effort to keep these flowers in our gardens- most are considered weeds--
So this Spring when you see the dandelions




and wild strawberry emerge, could you think twice about pulling them out right away?
Consider adding some native plants to your garden- Zizia aureu (Golden alexander) is great choice

So what to do with the leftover live boxwood cuttings from your December programming? Preserve it! Unfortunately, I over-bought live boxwood from the floral supplier last month and I didn’t want the excess go to waste. So I decided to try to preserve it to use in future projects and here is how I did it.

What supplies you will need:

• Boxwood cuttings
• Citric acid (powder form) –find in the supermarket canning section
• Glycerin (vegetable based) –find smaller quantities at natural food stores or order by the gallon at www.apothecary.com
• Floral dye Absorbit by Design Master, color holiday green – order from floral supplier or buy on Amazon Plastic or glass containers (no metal)- I used big plastic totes

The recipe for the mixture:

• Ratio of glycerin to water is 1:2, so for every 1 part glycerin add 2 parts water
• Then add 1 tablespoon of Absorbit and ½ teaspoon of citric acid to your 1:2 solution
• I cut the boxwood stems and placed in gallon plastic totes in my garage and added the completed solution so that it covered the bottom of the stems at least 3 inches.
• Place the cuttings in the solution for approximately 3 weeks.
• Remove the cuttings from the solution and lay out to dry.

I trimmed the stems to cut off the green ends, so your HT clients won’t have green hands while working with the material. The result is pliable preserved boxwood which is great for wreath making. 

For another variation, omit the Absorbit dye and the boxwood will turn a golden color as it dries. This recipe would probably work for other woody stems like eucalyptus, willow, myrtle etc. 

My clients used the boxwood cuttings this month to create these bird wreaths. As part of the program we also talked about winter birds. ​

Now is the perfect time to get that vegetable garden started. What a great
way to introduce fresh food to your kiddos. When they play a part in the process
there is more of a chance they might eat their vegetables. With little space and
effort it is possible to start a small vegetable garden in containers.


Look for containers that are at least 20″ in diameter, the bigger the better.
Shy away from decorative pots without drainage holes. Terracotta or BPA free
plastic work best. Line the bottom of the container with landscape fabric, it
will hold in moisture. Then fill up 10 percent of it with gravel or rocks.
Continue to fill container with a soilless mix or a potting mix that is
designated for containers. As for the plants, your garden center should have
plants that are already growing strong to transplant. Try vegetable varieties
that are a determined height, or confined habit of growth, so they won’t grow
too large and be unruly.


These varieties are usually called ‘bush’, some varieties to consider are:
Tomatoes: ‘Patio Princess’ ‘Tiny Tim’ ‘Yellow pear’ ‘Container choice’ Lima
beans: ‘Fordhock Bush’ Snap peas: ‘Bush blue lake’ Beets: ‘Spinel little ball’
Swiss chard: any variety Eggplant: ‘bambino’ or Japanese variety Lettuce: ‘red
sails’ ‘tom thumb’ Peppers: any variety Herbs: any variety Another tip is to add
a basil plant to the container, the basil enhances the flavor of tomatoes and
peppers. Also keep the number of plants to under four, giving them enough air
circulation and room to grow. The key to success is to keep your vegetable
garden watered well. This means in the heat of the summer watering it every
day.


Another great way to do a vegetable garden on a larger scale is called square
foot gardening.


Building raised garden beds that are 4’ by 4’ , pre fab versions can be
bought at Lowe’s. They are cedar wood which holds up well. The raised beds are
superior than just gardening in the ground for many reasons. The soil can be
amended each year and doesn’t need to be tilled. Access to the bed is easier and
less straining. The raised beds hold higher yields, less weeding involved, and
pests.


When picking plants for your raised vegetable garden, choose varieties that
will show results sooner, varieties that yield smaller size fruit like cherry or
grape tomatoes, Japanese or ghost eggplant, mini bell peppers; so your children
are not waiting all summer to eat the produce.


Good luck and happy gardening—-Marsha