Choose Wisely for Springtime Blooms

Unless you live next door to a fish cannery, you can probably smell the fruit blossoms in the morning and evening air. They are that strong.

This is going to be a good year for fruit trees. It might be wise to begin planning now for what will likely be huge summer harvests, and that would include thinning the fruit on trees later this spring.

Early daffodils are blooming beneath my trees, and some lavender tulips are flowering in pots nearby. It also looks as though it’s going to be a great year for bulbs, even those that normally prefer colder climates.

Our winter has been pretty darned chilly, but it is beginning to warm.

The plants know it. Roses are full of reddish new foliage, and the camellias are coming into full flower.

So do the birds. It’s hard to find one without some nest-building material clamped in its beak.

Little sparrows are building a nest in my neighbor’s roof tiles, and our resident blue jay has been carting around ridiculously long branches for her big but sloppy nest in another neighbor’s ficus.

In fact, as I write, she is just outside, plucking fibers out of my doormat, presumably for the lining.

My wife is already watering the garden (we irrigate very primitively--with sprinklers on the end of a hose).

Actually, we’ve watered all winter because I doubt we’ve received even 4 inches of the real stuff (the downtown L.A. total is only about 4 1/2 inches).

When the soil is moist, it has that indescribable spring aroma that works like a tempting perfume on hapless gardeners. It even gets to non-gardeners, since just about everybody wants to do something in the dirt in early spring, even if it means planting things at the wrong time.

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This is where a lot of first-time gardeners go astray--they plant things in the wrong seasons. They don’t realize that most of what they see blooming now in people’s gardens--be it bulbs or bedding plants--was planted in the fall.

But there are some things that can be planted now, during these in-between, not-quite-springtime weeks.

For instance, this is the perfect time to plant Early Girl tomatoes or delphiniums.

Last Saturday, I returned from the busy Marina del Rey Garden Center with a bunch of delphiniums, some violas and one pale yellow poppy.

Delphiniums--towering storybook flowers that are powerhouses of blue (also purple and white)--can be planted in the fall. But they are so small then that slugs and snails might devour a planting overnight.

Plant them in late February or early March, when they are available with some meat on their bones in 4-inch pots, and they’re more likely to succeed.

Don’t buy delphiniums in bloom or even bud. Search for leafy, robust plants that will build up additional bulk before they send up those tall spikes in April or May.

If the plants do have buds or flowers, don’t be afraid to simply cut them off, leaving about three or four leaves at the base of the stalk. This will postpone blooming, but it will force the plant to become a bigger clump so when it tries to bloom again, it will be much stronger (with a much bigger bloom, maybe even several).

After the plants flower, cut them back to a few leaves and they’ll grow and bloom again in late summer.

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Why did I buy those violas? Isn’t it too late to be planting things best put in during the autumn months? Not quite.

Many spring-blooming flowers will do fine now, if they are planted quickly. Just be sure to water new plants well and often.

Nurseries are full of candidates. Some do better than others planted this late (such as violas and pansies). All will be smaller plants and bloom less than those planted at the proper time in autumn. But if you’ve got a spot aching for spring color, you can temporarily fill it now.

There will be lots of spring-blooming bedding plants and annuals at nurseries in early spring and--as long as you realize that they aren’t going to last too long--you can pop them in the ground to temporarily fill vacancies, or plant them in containers for a quick shot of spring color.

That’s what I’m doing with the single 4-inch pot of poppies. Those tiny, pale-yellow flowers, waving in the gentle Marina del Rey breeze, were just too puppy-cute to pass up, so now they’re gracing a terra cotta pot on a sunny ledge.

This is another good use for all those spring flowers now decorating nurseries. Plant them in pots, and enjoy them while they last.

Just don’t expect too much from spring flowers that don’t get planted until it is spring and almost too late.

What we should be planting in spring are things that will bloom or fruit in summer. But not quite yet; it’s still a tad too early.

Especially for tomatoes, although Early Girl is the one variety that does great when planted now. Some plant vendors offer all kinds of tomato varieties early in the season, but only Early Girl is a sure bet in every locale.

That’s your girl if you feel compelled by spring to plant something this week and your garden is already full of flowers.