For your spring-blooming bulbs, the next ninety days are important ones. They will be going through the ugly-duckling stage. their leaves withering and the bulbs maturing. It is during this time that the bulbs store food to enable them to bloom the following year.

With the exception of daffodils, most of the spring-blooming bulbs should be dried off gradually so that they will go into dormancy. Daffodils, however, dont mind summer watering. In Ireland, where some of the worlds finest daffodils are grown, rains keep the soil constantly moist in summer.

Home vegetable gardens are more popular in the Pacific Northwest than they are in California and points south. Nevertheless, with just a couple of hours attention each week all sections of the West can produce fine crops.

Except at the higher elevations, all warm-weather vegetables can be started now. Those most popular in home gardens are: snap beans, corn, tomatoes, lima beans, cucumbers, peppers, squash and eggplant. Cool-weather vegetables that can still be started now from seed include: beets, carrots, parsley and Swiss chard.

Questions of the Month

Question: When do the dwarf flowering tea roses from New Zealand bloom? Are the plants long-lived?

Answer: You can expect bloom from December to May. The little 4-foot shrubs will last twenty years or more.

Question: Does it do any good to spray or dust before the plants are visibly attacked by insects?

Answer: Western entomologists declare that application of a multi-purpose spray or dust every seven to ten days during May is one of the easiest ways to enjoy a pest”free garden for the balance of the season. For me caring tropical plants, this is the best way for tropical plants care. Frankly, this is one of the most sensible yet least followed bits of advice for the gardener.

Question: What flowers will combine well with tuberoiis begonias in the shade?

Answer: The soft, graceful appearance of blue lobelia seems to bring out the vivid, jewel-like tones of tuberous begonia blooms. But since many people consider this a time worn combination, you could also consider using dwarf campanulas, violas, dwarf ferns and possibly babys- tears, also known as helxine. In some gardens, particularly warm California ones, plants can become pests. Browallia, however, doing well all summer long, never becomes a pest; it is available in either blue or white and is 18 inches tall.