Expert: Long Island Gardener - 6/3/2011

Question
I live in northern Georgia and I recently purchased (from my local Home Depot) a beautiful hanging coconut basket with petunias and two other flowers, one which I am 99% certain is verbena and the other which I think is nemesia or possibly lobelia - it's lavender, I can say that much for sure. Afraid the weight would bring down my upstairs' neighbor's decking, I put the basket in a stand. My deck faces west, so the flowers get 8+ hours of full, Georgia sun. I watered the basket each evening for several days but then was called away for nearly two days. When I arrived home, the flowers were nearly dead. With daily watering, the petunias and SOME of the verbena have, for the most part, recovered, but most of the verbena and the nemesia/lobelia look terrible. I do deadhead the petunias and attempt to do so with the verbena, but other than that...well, HELP! The basket wasn't cheap, but mostly I just want these flowers to last the summer! I've read about placing the basket in a tub of water, and a mention of crystals (I have no idea what they are), and of course fertilizer, but I simply don't know what's appropriate...but if I have to buy a tub large enough to set on my deck and soak the basket in it, I will!  Thanks in advance for any help you can offer,

Answer
Petunias are tough, drought-resistant tanks in the Summer garden.  Play your cards right and you're sure to keep them all season long.

But that's Petunias.  Verbena, Lobelia, many other annuals don't have the stiff upper lip of the Petunia, although Verbena is certain less sensitive to thirst than many other members of kingdom Plantae.

Those 'crystals' you speak of must be water absorbing polymers that work like tiny sponges when you mix them in with potting Soil.  They are not designed to work triage on a fatally wilted plant.

Fertilizing a stressed plant -- No, No, No!  The last thing these things need is adrenoline.  Soak the roots thoroughly, no longer than 10 minutes, and then set them someplace that the Soil will dry.  As the water molecules escape, pure Oxygen will flow in, helping them heal.  Give them a week to recover in cool shade.  If temps hit the 80s, move the plants indoors, someplace cool and preferably NOT air conditioned (a basement perhaps).  Then get them outside when the sun sets and the air temps drop.

Lobelia and Nemesia are beautiful.  But if they are beyond the point of no return, move on.  I know how hard this is, but these things happen.  They don't happen to everyone.  If someone doesn't garden, they never go through this.  If you get your hands dirty and you plant stuff, I guarantee you will live through this over and over and over again, until the day you stop garden.

That's not such a bad thing.

Remember learning how to walk?  OK, probably not.  I guarantee you fell down a hundred times while you were acquiring that skill.  You didn't learn by sitting down and waiting until you could walk perfectly.  You learned from all the falling you did.  The school of hard knocks.  That's the only way to learn anything.  You learn from your mistakes.

Here, another one.  Lesson learned.

Know what I did last month?  I picked up a beautiful tray of Yellow Pansies at Costco, a glowing, sunny Yellow guaranteed to light up the side entrance to my house.  They'd languish in the mid-summer heat.  But come Autumn, I know they would be right back at it again, perking up, shining that beautiful color of butter and eggs.

Too bad we had a heat wave and I neglected to water them.  I was busy with work (this is high season for garden writers and lecturers).  Today, I saw the fruits of my errors.  Time to go back to Costco.

Deadheading is a must-do, so you are totally on the right track with this problem.  When you're sure they've recovered, PINCH them so they branch out and fill in some of those empty spaces.  Petunias do that.  Perhaps you can plant some Lobelia seeds.  If you're in a hurry, you might pick up a flat at Graceful Gardens:

www.gracefulgardens.com/annuals

Scroll down to the Regatta Marine Blue Lobelia -- although the Regalia is also beautiful.  There's nothing like those Lobelia blues, except maybe Delphinium, which won't fit in your Petunia pots.

Remember, too, that Petunias bloom best when you don't fertilize them.  Nitrogen just triggers the growth of leaves and stems.  People don't buy Petunias for their beautiful leaves and stems.

In fact, most Annuals benefit from restraint when it comes to nutrients.  These plants are built very differently from Perennials and Bulbs and Shrubbery.  I'm not an advocate of fertilizer, anyway, but it's counter-productive to feed plants that complete an entire life cycle in less than a year.

Finally, misting the leaves of the affected plants will help reduce water loss through their leaves.  I suspect you are past that point now, but just in case.

Relax.  It's not even summer yet.  Run out to the garden center this weekend and get yourself some seeds, or place an order at Graceful Gardens and get them delivered.  By the 4th of July weekend, you'll have forgotten this even happened.  And next time, you'll know just what to do.  Who knows?  Maybe you'll be helping a friend who left their new plants out in the sun too long next time.

Peace,

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER