Happy Holidays, gardeners and landscape enthusiasts! You've spent a lot of time and money in the past few weeks selecting gifts for your friends and family. You deserve a treat. You have my permission to treat yourself to some "garden goodies" and I have three fun suggestions for you. I'll also answer some recent questions from readers, and as always I invite you to send your own questions or comments to me at steve@landsteward.org and I'll do my best to respond personally within 24 hours. Now for your three "garden goodie" treats! 1. Butterfly House. As the name suggests, these houses provide butterflies with shelter from the elements and, with the addition of some bark shavings, become safe hibernation homes. I've written quite a bit about butterfly houses in the past and you can find more extensive information in previous columns that are archived at my web site under the "Plant Man" heading. This is an ideal gift to give to yourself and your garden particularly if the "house" is located close to a Buddlea plant, also known as a butterfly bush. Prices vary, but you can find a good butterfly house for around $40.00 to $50.00. 2. Bat House. Bats love something you hate: mosquitoes! One hungry bat can eat thousands of insects at each nightly feeding. I happen to hate mosquitoes because I spend so much time outside working on my landscape. If you enjoy the outdoors but don't like scratching mosquito bites, you should be able to find a bat house in kit form for around $25.00 or less. And despite the movies, bats do not turn into blood-sucking Draculas after dark. Unless you happen to be a mosquito, that is. 3. Hummingbird Feeder. My family and I find it very relaxing to sit on our patio and watch hummingbirds hover around our hanging feeders. If you live in an area where hummingbirds tend to hang out, go ahead and treat yourself. Most feeders are very reasonably priced and easy to install and maintain. Some "kits" include seeds that grow into wildflowers that attract the little hummers as well. Expect to pay $15.00 to $25.00. Now on to a question from a reader who thought he might have missed the "planting window" for his bulbs... QUESTION: "I bought around a thousand bulbs in late fall. Before they all arrived, I had a family emergency and had to leave town. When I returned the weather had taken a turn for the worst. Now we are having a full blown winter and this is not ideal planting climate. Do you have any suggestions of how to plant them indoors or above ground so that they don't go to waste? I have hundreds of pots but I don't know what the ideal conditions would be." - Stephen J. Lee (Note: Stephen also sent me a long list detailing the exact bulbs he had purchased.) ANSWER: The tulips can be planted in pots and kept inside, which forces them into an early bloom cycle. The same with daffodil, iris, hyacinth, and crocus. You may be able to do the same with all of them and enjoy them earlier then anyone else. As long as you sparingly water from time to time and if you get the chance to plant the last ones you can plant late winter as soon as your ground thaws enough to get them out. After they have spent you can plant them out as directed and should be good for several years. QUESTION: "On the side of our house we have an area that every time it rains we have a stream between our house and the neighbors. Is there anything we can plant that can handle all this water. It usually takes several days to dry when we have a very heavy rain." - Shirley ANSWER: Although it does not have water all the time, it sounds as if it is soggy for a good bit of time. You may want to consider digging out a little bit in the drain type area and put in what's called a dry creek bed. Use round stones about 2" in diameter laid flat, then border with larger stones to make it look natural. Then plant some ground cover or some low growing ornamental grasses in-between the stone on the banks to give a nice effect. The Plant Man is here to help. Send your questions about trees, shrubs and landscaping to steve@landsteward.org and for resources and additional information, including archived columns, visit www.landsteward.org where you can also subscribe to Steve's free e-mailed newsletter.
