Get in the Zone
for Gardening
A
fter a long winter with recordsetting cold, it’s time to think
spring. The warmer weather
is synonymous with beautiful
plants, flowers and fresh vegetables grown in
your own backyard.
Nothing beautifies your home quite like
freshly blooming flowers, shrubs and trees.
Landscaping can add 10 to 15 percent to
your property value. And unlike the interior
design of a home which has to be changed
periodically to keep up with changing trends,
the value added by landscaping increases
over time.
Vegetable gardening is a great way to
enjoy the outdoors for any age group and in
addition to lowering the grocery bill, offers
the possibility of growing produce without
pesticides and chemicals.
Gardening is a wonderful warm-weather
activity, but perhaps the most important
aspect is its therapeutic effect and the calming
nature of tending plants. In fact, horticultural
therapy is something that has been used by
doctors and therapists for over 200 years.
It is well documented that working in the
dirt calms the heart, which in turn lowers
blood pressure. It has also been proven that
homeowners who have beautiful plants and
flowers tend to spend more time outside.
A critical component to growing a lush,
easy-to-care for garden is selecting the
correct plants, flowers and vegetables. The
United States Department of Agriculture
has divided the country into 11 hardiness
zones to illustrate regional temperature
differences. Hardiness
defines a plant’s ability to survive the coldest
temperature for the region. According to the
USDA plant hardiness zones, Murrysville is
located within Zone 6.
A wide selection of flowers, plants and
vegetables can be grown in a variety of
hardiness zones. What varies between
zones is when they should be planted. It is
best to use a month-by-month checklist. In
our Zone 6, vegetables should be planted
after the last frost in April. Tender plants
such as tropicals and annuals should be
planted in May and spring flowering bulbs
can be planted anytime from September to
November. Transplant perennials, trees and
shrubs should be set out in the spring or fall.
Most plants, flowers and vegetables need
water on a daily basis, sometimes twice a
day on extremely hot and humid days. The
climate in Zone 6 is apt to change quickly
so a gardener should use common sense
and monitor when frosts could occur in
the spring or fall and alter the planting
schedule accordingly.
Most vegetables can be planted in Zone
6. But some of the most popular include
beans, cantaloupe, corn, cucumbers,
eggplant, okra, onions, peppers,
potatoes, pumpkin, squash, tomatoes,
watermelon and zucchini. Fall and
winter vegetables include arugula,
beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts,
cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, collard
greens, chives, lettuce, parsnips, radish,
spinach, Swiss chard and turnips.
Some popular Zone 6 flowers
include amsonia, bee balm, blackeyed Susan, bleeding heart, clematis,
coneflower, coral bells, daisy, daylily,
geranium, salvia, violet, yarrow,
baneberry, bugbane, goat’s beard,
helleborus, hosta, meadow rue,
moody blues and Solomon’s seal.
Popular shrubs are Alabama croton,
American cranberry bush, azalea,
blueberry, butterfly bush, cinquefoil,
dogwood, forsythia, honeysuckle,
The most basic factor in
selecting the right plants
for Murrysville.
hydrangea, jasmine, quince, rhododendrum,
rose and wit