One of the most exotic plants that you can grow in the Northwest is citrus.  Whether you like oranges, lemons or limes you can be successful with citrus in your outdoor garden.  Pat Hughes from Hines Nurseries (800-877-7823) has had success with citrus in his garden and he brought out a bunch of different varieties for us to look at.  He started off with the Meyer Improved Lemon.  This one is one of the most popular and prolific varieties you can grow.  You can harvest fruit 2-3 times a year.  Washington Navel Orange was next on the list.  This type is one of the ones you will find in your local produce section.  It is a good variety to try but you may only get one crop a year from your plant. 

Another ‘one crop a year’ plant is the Oroblanco Grapefruit.  This plant was jumping the gun on spring by pushing out blooms right now.  It also has a great fragrance.  The next plant was cool and unusual Variegated Eureka Lemon.  The Eureka is known for its versatility in the kitchen but this one is great to just look at.  The variegation is outstanding and is not only in the leaves but can be found on the fruit.  Then we moved to a citrus that is mainly used for ornamental reasons.  The variegated citroforunella is covered in variegated foliage and very fragrant flowers.  Pat then shared his tips for keeping them outside.  First you want to keep them wind protected and on a warm side of his house.  On nights where the temperature dropped to below 28 degrees, he pulled them into the garage.   One more tip.  Citrus is known for dropping leaves at various times of the year, so if you have a citrus tree or bush, be patient if they look like they are getting sick, it could be a normal thing for your plant.  You will find citrus at most of your local independent garden centers. 

Now is the time to start some of your seeds indoors in anticipation of the coming spring and summer.  Judy is joined by Sue Berge of New Dimension Seeds to show you how to plant your seeds and what types you can plant now to get a head start on the season.  The basic rules for success include starting with a quality soil and fresh seeds.  Sterile soil will help you keep your new plants happy and healthy, because they won’t be exposed to different molds and fungus.  Sue also mentioned that need to read the back of your seed pack so you will know how deep to plant your seeds and other care instructions.  Sue moves and thins her small plant seedlings to bigger pots to give them the best start before they go in her garden.  This would be a great year to start a vegetable garden to save some money; check out your local garden center for a great selection of seeds.  For some more tips on successful seed starting, check out the ‘Seed Starting’ link on the How-To page.

These plants are true winter bloomers and were old garden favorites many years ago.  They have become popular again and bring wonderful winter color to the garden.  We visited with Sharon Korpowski from Extra Perennial Nursery (www.extraperennialnursery.com, 503-628-1492) in Scholls.  These plants are true evergreen woodland perennials and Extra Perennial has a wonderful selection of them.  Sharon showed us a couple of her favorites.  She also showed us how you can trim off the old dead leaves, leaving only the flowers to enjoy.  Don’t worry, the flowers can handle the cold and new foliage will grow back later in the spring.  In the last couple of years we have seen a boom of new colors and varieties to enjoy.   Sharon showed us bloom colors ranging from bright yellow to a dark violet.  There were also spotted, streaked, single and double blooms of all colors.  They really put on a show!  Plus during the month of March you can buy one and get one free (Same Size, Same Price).  Give them a call for details.

If you follow the traditional rules, your roses should have been pruned a couple of weeks ago, but with roses you can break a few rules.  We went to the experts at Heirloom Roses (503-538-1576) to see how they tackle the chore of pruning.  Christine was out in the fields pruning away some of the old winter canes and prepping the plants for a full season of bloom.  Roses are very forgiving, but we tend to treat them gingerly when it comes time to cut them back.  Chris showed us how to cut them back and even how to remove some of the older canes to promote that new growth.  You will want to open up the bush to promote air circulation to help prevent diseases later.  You will also want to look for outside growing buds and prune above them.  This will promote outside growing canes and no cris-crossing of canes.  Of course now is also a good time to get new plants in the ground.  If you have any rose questions you can call Heirloom, or better yet, sign up for one of the Saturday Academies where you can learn in a hands-on setting.

As you start pulling out your garden tools for the coming season, it is a good time to give them a good cleaning and sharpening.  Clean and sharp tools will make your garden chores much easier.  Some tips to follow include using alcohol and steel wool to scrub them clean and disinfect them.  Then you want to use a sharpening stone to give a good sharp edge to them to make the cutting easier.  Remember to only sharpen the beveled edges of the blades!  Also, if you have a pruning saw, take it to a professional or buy a new one.  They are just too dangerous to attempt on your own.  Your local garden center has all the tools you need and they can even demonstrate how to do it correctly.  Do a little sharpening now and all your spring garden clean-up will be a breeze!

Smaller gardens have special requirements for use of space.  These smaller spaces have some people thinking that they can’t enjoy fruit trees.  The people at Tsugawa Nursery (360-225-8750) don’t believe you have to give up on your dream of fresh fruit if you have a smaller garden.  Brian Tsugawa showed us some of the different varieties that are either grown on dwarf stock or were hybridized so you can have fruit in any garden space.  He pointed out a couple of columnar apples that would be perfect for a small lot or even in a container.  Columnar trees have a main leader and not a lot of branching.  Then we moved to a cherry tree that was grafted on smaller root stock.  This tree will provide cherries and since the plant will stay around 8 feet tall, you can easily reach the fruit.  Finally we moved to the grafted multiple varieties.  You can now get 3 to 6 varieties of fruit on one trunk.  We saw how you can train the different branches and have different types of fruit at different times during the late summer.  Don’t forget, you can also pick up your strawberries and cane berries right now too.  Check out the variety at Tsugawa’s and your local independent garden center.