ST. LOUIS – It’s going to be a scorcher this week, which won’t only be tough on us but will also stress our gardens and landscapes.
So while we’re keeping ourselves hydrated, we need to provide plenty of H₂O to our plants as well
“Water very good and water very deep to make sure that water gets through the root profile. And then let the soil dry out just a little bit,” said Daria McKelvey, supervisor of the Center for Home Gardening at the Missouri Botanical Garden. “And then come back, and if the soil’s a little bit dry, maybe the first couple of inches, then water again.”
Of course, Mother Nature may help some, but you need to keep an eye out even after a quick, heavy rain.
“After we have a rain like that, do look at your plants. See how your things are doing. If your soil is saturated, then great. You don’t really have to do too much. Nothing we would rather a slow, steady, deep rain would be best,” McKelvey said.
At Missouri Botanical Garden, a familiar smelly flower will soon be returning. A corpse flower is set to bloom very shortly.
“Octavia bloomed in ‘17, ‘19, ’21, and now ‘23,” said Emily Colletti, a horticulturist at the Missouri Botanical Garden. “Some of them also smell as bad as you can smell them, as soon as you get out of your car in the parking lot. Others you can (sniff) right next to it and can barely smell it.”
If you’re dead accurate in predicting the bloom there’s a chance you could score Muny tickets along with a garden membership.
Whoever most accurately predicts the date and time of the corpse flower bloom will win the Little Shop of Horror VIP tickets, along with other garden passes. But that’s not necessarily an easy guess.
“I’ve stood here and walked away. Twenty minutes later, not having any idea that it was going to bloom, and it started; so it’s a big mystery,” Colletti said.