Summer is the time when people commonly take their longest vacations. If you are going to be away from home for more than a few days, you may return to find that substantial damage has occurred to plants left unattended. This is especially true for plants grown in containers both indoors and outside. The ideal solution is to ask a friend who is knowledgeable about plants to check on your plants regularly and water them as necessary. Be sure to give written instructions on the needs of each plant since your friend is not as familiar with them as you are.

If indoors plants are going to be on their own, move them away from sunny, bright windows so they use water less rapidly. Right before leaving on your trip, thoroughly water all of your indoor plants. Plants in small pots will tend to dry out the fastest. If you will be gone for more than a few days, enclose these plants, (pots and all) in clear plastic bags to retain moisture and prevent drying out. Plants in plastic bags should receive bright light but no direct sun that could cause excessive heat buildup inside the plastic.

Group all of your outdoor container plants together in a shady location near the northern side of a building or under the protective cover of a large shade tree or covered patio, and water them thoroughly. If you'll be gone for more than a few days, inexpensive irrigation timers-available at local nurseries and hardware stores-can work very well hooked up to an irrigation system. It's probably easier to use a sprinkler to water a grouping of your container plants. But, if you wanted to be more sophisticated, drip systems are also available.

Water your home grounds very well prior to leaving, especially if there has been little rainfall. A thorough, slow soaking will provide a lasting supply of moisture. Make sure that you mulch all flowerbeds, vegetable gardens, shrub plantings and newly planted trees.

Flowerbeds and vegetable gardens are particularly vulnerable to drought while you are away. To water automatically, place either soaker hoses or sprinklers to cover various beds and areas of your landscape. Connect them to hoses attached to a timer at each faucet you use for irrigation. Set the irrigation timers to come on twice a week and stay on long enough to thoroughly soak an area.

Gingers for the Summer Garden
As our landscape languish in the summer heat, a wonderful group of plants called gingers thrive and delight us with bold foliage and attractive flowers.

Native to tropical or semitropical regions, gingers flourish in the heat, rain and humidity. Despite their tropical origins, many gingers are hardy throughout the state and make excellent, permanent additions to the landscape. Gingers produce a thick, fleshy stem that grows at or just below the soil surface called a rhizome. With a good, thick mulch of leaves or pine straw, the rhizomes are easily protected during the winter. And, if the top is killed by hard freezes, the rhizome will re-sprout in the spring.

The plants we call gingers actually include many genera with many different sizes, growth habits and flower shapes. Low-growing gingers, like Kaempferia pulchra, smaller species of Curcuma or Globba, make great groundcovers or clumps at the front of shady borders. Medium-size gingers 3-feet to 6-feet tall include species of Curcima, Hedychium and Costus, and the shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) grows 10-feet to 12-feet tall. These larger gingers are excellent choices for accent, screens, or at the back of a border.

In their natural habitats, most gingers grow under the canopies of trees in filtered light, although some grow in the open at the edge of water and in sunnier conditions. Most gingers will do best where they receive direct sun for about 2 hours to 4 hours a day. When planting gingers into the landscape, choose a location with appropriate light and generously amend the soil with compost, well-rotted manure or peat moss and a light application of an all purpose fertilizer.

Consider planting some gingers in your landscape this summer. Their bold, tropical foliage, attractive flowers and, in some cases, wonderful fragrance will add a lot to your summer gardens.

For more horticultural information, contact Chris Robichaux, Ph.D., county agent, St. Martin/Iberia parishes, at (337) 332-2181 or (337) 369-4440.



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