December 4th is Saint Barbara's Day.
If you cut branches from your flowering bushes on St. Barbara's Day ( forsythias; weigelias, deutzias ) and bring them into the house in a vase with water, you will have flowering branches at Christmas. Can you tell, my mother was catholic? My middle name happens to be Barbara ( after my mother's mother), so we celebrated Namesake's Day in December. There is no saint's day for Antje, the heathen that I was destined to be. The religion never took for me, but I loved all the rituals, especially as they pertained to me.
So, try it, gardeners, clip some branches with buds on them and bring them inside.
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6 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Interesting, I have two Deutzias (pinkaboo) and will try this trick.
JackPedigo
Level 9
Nov 30, 2020
1
I've been to Santa Barbara...
I don't grow anything.
Willow_Wisp
Level 8
Nov 30, 2020
2
Your neighbors, maybe? Your local park?
I had a girlfriend who styled herself a "fantastic gardener". Her rhododendrons never bloomed. She was going around in the fall & removing "the ugly growths" on the ends of the branches, and, "what causes that"? I could Not convince her they were next years' flowers!!!!
AnneWimsey
Level 9
Nov 30, 2020
6
Oh, dear, oh dear.
similar stories for crepe myrtles . A group of trees that should never be trimmed or pruned unless you cut it to the ground.
That is hysterical!! I've grown up around rhodies, and have my mother-in-law to thank for training me in the skill and importance of dead-heading.
Does that work when December frequently has 30-40°C temperatures?
FrayedBear
Level 9
Nov 30, 2020
1
Special message for the Upside Down gardeners. NO.
@Spinliesel just can't trust these xtians & their propaganda!
@Spinliesel Who determined that we are upside down?
@FrayedBear From my old geography book back in the old Country. All you guys were upside down, even the sheep.
@Spinliesel White supremacist propaganda.
My neighbor came over one day to ask me why my forsythias bloomed every spring , but theirs never did . I pointed out to her that I pruned mine in the fall . Her man pruned theirs in the spring and was , therefore , pruning off all the buds .
Cast1es
Level 9
Nov 30, 2020
2
The best rule of thumb for all flowering shrubs, to ensure you get flowers the following year is. 'Prune immediately after flowering.'
@Fernapple Especially important for lilacs.
I have forsythias in my yard, but I won't be bringing in cutting, that would be an invitation for cat demolition.
HippieChick58
Level 9
Nov 30, 2020
5