Start Warming Up With Indoor Planting

Fri., Feb. 18, 2000

Phyllis Stephens The Spokesman-

Baby, its cold outside, but inside, I’ve turned up the heat on my garden projects. Nestled in a cool basement room under banks of florescent tubes are flats and flats of flowers in various stages — freshly seeded, germinated seedlings and small plants. Garden tools and equipment are being given the once-over and a dozen or so houseplants anxiously await a new lease on life.

For the next few weeks, we’ll look at some of these winter gardening projects. Since there are seeds that should be germinated now, let’s start there.

For me, a cool basement room with a concrete floor is a must. It’s my plant room — a growing chamber for annuals and a place to overwinter summer bulbs and other tender summer plants. Banks of florescent tubes hang above a series of double-wide shelves. They’re not expensive grow lights. They’re just ordinary tubes, although I do look for both the warm and cool lights. These inexpensive tubes are available at local hardware stores.

Stretched across the shelves are strands of heating cables for seeds that require soil temperatures of 70 degrees or higher to germinate. Two large bins contain soil — one is filled with a sterile seed starting mix (with no pathogens that may harbor disease) for germinating seeds, the other contains a transplanting mix for the seedlings.

Right now, four varieties of seed geraniums are growing under florescent lights. They were started the first week of January and transplanted into 4-inch pots about three weeks later.

Before long, these handsome little plants will have to be moved to the greenhouse. Sitting on shelves above them are flats of germinated impatiens and snapdragons waiting to be transplanted to less-crowded quarters. Above them are newly seeded dusty miller, foxglove, wax begonias and seed dahlias.

Soon, petunias, salvia, marigolds and a host of vegetables will be started. Until then, I have to get rid of the overwintering geraniums that are underfoot.

Next week we’ll prune and repot all these overwintering treasures.

Until then, if you’re looking for a blast of sunshine, plan to attend the Home and Yard Show, Feb. 24-27 at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds. (The annual Home and Garden Show is March 17-19.)

Whether you’re ready to buy or you’re just window shopping, these shows are guaranteed to inspire you with the latest innovations and designs.

Outside the main entrance will be a water feature that includes a dramatic piece of core-drilled 12-foot columnar basalt. Water will bubble out of the column at 800 gallons-per-minute and ripple down the sides before cascading into a pond of natural stone. This impressive feature is the design of Land Expressions, a Spokane firm that was the only landscape company on the east side of the state to win two environmental grand awards presented by the Washington Association of Landscape Professionals. The awards were given for their landscape designs of the REI flagship store in Seattle and the MeySen Academy.

Inside the main fairgrounds exhibit area will be dozens of outstanding landscapes and garden-related displays. If you’re searching for ideas for a natural landscape with native plants, make sure you visit Alderwood Landscaping exhibit.

And while you’re wondering about the displays, please stop by with your gardening questions. I will be at fairgrounds for the duration of the show.

Beyond red

The outstanding white rose Princess of Wales is again being offered in the United States. This exclusive rose, first offered last year, is only available from the online company Garden.com.

Her Majesty the Queen approved the naming of this new rose variety in 1996, in honor of Princess Diana’s 10 years as Patron of the British Lung Foundation. This exquisite rose is a serious challenger for Iceberg as the top white rose, according to developer Robert Harkness. To order the Princess of Wales, go to www.garden.com or phone (800) 466-8142.

Mark your calendar

The Kootenai County Extension in Coeur d’Alene is offering a class on Landscaping for Fire Protection Monday, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Extension office, 106 E. Dalton. The class is $5. To register, please call (208) 667-6426.

The Spokane Parks Department is offering a class on Patio and Container Gardens, Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Corbin Arts Center, 507 W. Seventh. The fee for the class is $10. Please register by calling the Spokane Parks Department at 625-6200.

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