Dish Gardens Inject ‘Green’ Into Drab Winter Season
LOU ANN GOOD
Food And Family
Features Editor
LEBANON (Lebanon Co.)
“Bring green into your lives in
this gray and white winter,” said
Master Gardener Sandy Gipe.
Gipe taught a recent hands-on
class at the Lebanon Valley Ag
Center on dish gardening.
Instead of putting plants in
separate pots, several plants with
varying colors, textures, and with
similar light and watering re
quirements were placed in one
container to create an interesting
plant design. Dish gardens can be
placed on tables, mantles, and
other spots throughout your
home to add color and beauty.
Workshop participants created
dish gardens filled with palm, pe
peromia, asparagus fem, marble
queen pothos, polka dot, and
primrose plants.
Other plants can be substi
tuted, but for best results, Gipe
recommends plants that require
Woodland Garden
Field and Meadow
Garden
Tropical Garden
Desert Garden
medium light, average moisture,
and are slow growing. Select
plants grown in 2'/<-2'/2-inch pots
from a reputable garden center.
“Read labels carefully,” Gipe
recommends. Choose those re
quiring similar growing condi
tions.
Keep plants in scale with one
another. No plant should be so
tall that it dwarfs other plants.
Use plants with heights ranging
from 2-12 inches. The tallest
plant can be three or four times
larger but can be kept to scale if
occasionally pinched or pruned.
Dish gardens are not perma
nent arrangements, but most
plants can remain in the con
tainer for one year. If they be
come overwhelmingly large, the
plants should be transplanted.
Containers
Almost any type of container
will work, but shallow containers
from 2-4 inches are recommend
ed. Do not use containers that are
more than 8-10 inches tall.
Gipe said dish containers do
not need drainage holes. Water
ing can be controlled by checking
soil moisture content by inserting
a finger. Soil should be slightly
dry to the touch before watering.
Too frequent watering may stim
ulate excessive growth and cause
the plant to outgrow container.
Gipe prefers using plastic in
serts in baskets.
Soil
Use any good grade soil recom
mended for indoor plants. Soil
should be slightly moist for plant
ing. If soil is very dry, moisten
with water. Put a layer of soil in
container.
Create Design
Keep arrangement in balance.
Try not to make it top-heavy or
have more weight in plants on
one side of the container. Before
permanently setting any plants in
the container, remove plants
from the pots without disturbing
the root ball and set on top of
soil. Shift the plant from one spot
to another until you have the de
sign you like.
Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA—The Phila
delphia Flower Show March 2-9
in Philadelphia will bloom with
flambojan trees, passion flowers
and a host of exotic flora, setting
the stage for the year’s newest
and most imaginative landscape
and floral designs.
Three “Central Feature” exhi
bits, covering more than 11,000
square feet, depict the show’s
Latin theme.
This festival of flowers flows
throughout the main exhibition
halls as more than SO national
and international florists, land
scapers, nonprofit organizations,
and educational institutions com
pete for “Best In Show” by pres
enting their fantastic, larger
than-life visions to hundreds of
thousands of visitors in the
world’s largest indoor flower
show. Hundreds of Artistic and
Horticultural “classes” showcase
thousands of prized entries by in
dividuals and gardening groups
as they flaunt their flowers,
plants, and topiaries all primped
to perfection. Any and all are en
couraged to enter this amateur
division of the show by contact
ing the Pennsylvania Horticultur
al Society for an Exhibitor Guide
or by visiting www.theflower
show.com.
Outstanding events and learn
ing opportunities are offered
Plant, Water
Scoop hole into soil using your
finger until large enough to insert
plant and pack soil around roots.
The soil line should be about Vi
inch down from the rim of the
container to allow for watering.
Keep crowns of plants slightly
above soil line. Cover the soil
with green moss or Spanish moss
if desired.
“If plant is turning yellow, it
has been watered too much. If it
is brown, it hasn’t been watered
enough,” Gipe said of determin
ing watering needs.
Light
Gipe ' recommends selecting
plants that prefer medium light,
but other types can be planted.
The nice thing about container
gardening is that the container
can be moved from place to place
if more or less sun is needed.
Gipe suggests adding a bloom
ing plant for color. She especially
recommends primroses. After the
primrose is planted in the dish
and is no longer blooming, plant
outside. Primroses can handle
fairly cold weather and can be
planted outside before most
plants. Primroses will grow and
multiply in outside soil.
Several different types of dish
gardens can be planted. These in
clude the following;
• Woodland: Use plants col
lected from the wild such as
mountain laurel, wintergreen,
ferns, club moss, seedling yews,
firs, pine, and hemlock.
• Field and meadow: Use
hawkweed, pussytoes, wild
strawberry, lichens, mosses, juni
per seedlings, grasses, fungi, and
fern. These often require more
care and high light.
• Tropical: This is the dish gar
den Gipe recommends. Ip addi
tion to the plant varieties used at
the workshop, other plants rec
ommended are philodendron,
English ivy, grape ivy, snake
plant, pothos, wandering Jew,
corton, dracaena, bromelia, ti,
Chinese evergreen, pittosporum,
and neanthe bella palm.
Flower Show Is March 2-9
daily for show visitors. Lectures
and demonstrations are held
hourly and feature celebrity gar
deners and authors who present
the newest trends in garden de
sign and flower arranging. New
in 2003, Fine Gardening Day will
take place Saturday, March 8.
Presented by Fine Gardening
Magazine, the day 'will feature
extraordinary experts from
across the nation who will lecture
on a series of gardening topics for
beginners to experts. In addition,
world-renowned Maesterflorist,
Gregor Lersch will offer exclusive
reservation-only design presenta
tions on Wednesday, March 5.
For Gregor Lersch reservation in
formation, visit www.theflower
show.com or call (215) 988-8879.
For the gardener cook, the cu
linary artistry of celebrity chefs is
presented twice daily at the show.
The free events are hosted by
Chef Joseph E. Shilling, Dean of
the Art Institute of New York
City. A complete schedule can be
accessed online at www.theflo
wershow.com.
The very popular Garden Tea
is offered daily at the Show as an
elegant respite from the day’s ac
tivities. This reservation only
event returns for its fifth year
and has proven to be a relaxing
and sophisticated setting amid
the excitement of the show. An
Dish gardens require shallow containers and plants
with the same light and watering requirements.
“Dish gardens are easy to make and care for,” said
Sandy Gipe, who taught a class recently at the Lebanon
Valley Ag Center.
• Desert garden: Use cactus
specimens that have shallow
roots and rarely need watering.
Some varieties require bright
light and others low light, so be
all new menu of crumpets, cakes,
petit sandwiches, and a selection
of fine teas are just a few of the
items in 2003’s tasty spread. For
information and reservations call
(215) 988-8879 or reserve online
at www.theflowershow.com.
The show is an inspiration for
gardeners and shoppers alike.
The Flower Show Marketplace
features over 140 national and
international vendors, offering
top-of-the-line garden tools, ac
cessories, furniture, supplies and
gifts. A favorite stop is the
“Flower Show Shoppe” where
exquisite floral items and show
keepsakes can be found.
Tickets at the box office are
$24 for adults on opening Sun
day (March 2), $22 on other
weekend days and $2O on week
days. Children ages 2-12 are $lO
(good any day). Advance pur
chase tickets are $lB and are
available at SEPTA outlets, PNC
Bank branches, AAA Mid-Atlan
tic, Acme Markets, Clemens
Markets, Eckerds, Smith &
Hawken, Philadelphia-area Bor
ders Books, participating florists
and nurseries and online at
www.theflowershow.com. Group
tickets (20 or more) are $17.50
and are good any day. Group
order forms are available online
at www.theflowershow.com or by
calling (215) 988-8839.
sure to combine compatible cacti.
For more information about
indoor gardening, contact your
county extension office.
Everyday
Science
Workshops
Offered
GREENSBURG (West
moreland Co.) —“Everyday
Science” is the title of the
second Out & About work
shop being presented by
Penn State Cooperative Ex
tension’s Better Kid Care
Program. The workshops
are scheduled at different
sites during the month of
February.
Focusing primarily on
early childhood educators
the workshop is open to all
who have or work with chil
dren. The workshop dates
and sites are as follows;
Tuesday, February 11,
Church of the Nazarene,
Smithton; Wednesday, Feb
ruary 19, YMCA Child
Care, New Kensington;
Wednesday, February 26,
Ligonier Valley YMCA, Li
gonier.
All workshops are from
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and
pre-registration fee is $3 per
person, which includes ma
terials and light refresh
ments.
For registration informa
tion, call (724) 837-1402
and ask for Libby. For di
rections, call and ask for
Patty.