Three-inch plastic flower pots are plenty large enough for my place, but you may want a four-inch pot. I fill the pot half full with a mixture of soil, sand and peat sifted through a quarter-inch sieve. Then I put in an inch of equal parts sand and peat and sow my seeds in this. It’s weed free and practically sterile and gives marvelous germination. I honestly never have bothered with treating the seeds with any disinfectant, it works so well this other way. Some of the perennials that you may want to order now to sow later this month (November) might include the cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), delphinium, gaillardia, dwarf bleeding heart, and hardy candytuft.

Honeysuckles

The honeysuckles are an interesting group of plants. Of course everyone knows the common vine of the Japanese honeysuckle. But all too few are acquainted with the many bush honeysuckles. If you like birds and want a big, tall, fast-growing honeysuckle, plant an Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera Maackii). They get 20 to 25 feet high and at least as broad. We sat in the shade of ours the third summer. Just like our pygmy date palm in the garden.

It’s tall, lanky, and has white flowers in the spring which drop as they turn yellow. In the mid fall the berries turn red. The cedar waxwings love them – so do the cardinals and any other seed eating bird that’s around during the winter. The birds drop seeds here and there so you always have half a dozen or so seedlings to give away to friends and neighbors. For flowers you will probably want the red flowered Zabell honeysuckle.

For a fast growing bush with red berries in summer – the Morrow honeysuckle. Both of these get about six or seven feet high. The Morrow will spread out to ten or 12 feet and it’s very fast growing. But practically all honeysuckles are big bushes that you would not want to plant in front of the house or even too close to a ranch type house.

Keith Markensen shares his vast knowledge at http://www.plant-care.com. Knowledge is power – get more power and find out more about pygmy date palm. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service