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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Lake Stevens firm offers Swedish-style 'sleep good' beds 4/17/08 • Nursery owner nurtures each separate plant 4/17/08 • Coast Cabins and Sheds keeps structures simple 4/17/08 • Speciality Nursery Guide 4/17/08 • Washers, dryers move full steam ahead 4/17/08 • Milkman's delivery offers customers taste of the past 4/17/08 • Lake Stevens couple finds fast success with homemade sauces 4/17/08 • The 2008 Everett Home and Garden Show 4/17/08 • TV chef urges simplicity with food, kitchen 4/17/08 • Everett Home and Garden Show speaker schedule 4/17/08 • There's logic behind rise in choice of radiant heat 4/17/08 • Theater Xtreme brings full movie experience home 4/17/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, April 17, 2008 Master gardener to show how to set up drip irrigation system Nothing says "I love you" like my husband attending a seminar with me on drip irrigation. As eyelid-drooping as it sounds, a micro-drip irrigation system could be life-changing for a gardener. Imagine a summer not spent dragging hoses. Imagine not wasting 35 percent of the water you use to evaporation. A micro-drip system waters plants using a network of small tubes and emitters. It attaches to an outdoor faucet, and the network of tubes snakes through planting beds, slowly delivering water directly to the root zone. The pliable black tubes can be hidden by mulch. These systems cost several hundred dollars to set up in the average suburban yard. Jeff Thompson, a Snohomish County master gardener, is teaching a class on how to set up a system. For the first time he's opening this class to the public. It's scheduled for 1-6 p.m. May 13 at the extension office at McCollum Park in Everett. The class is free but Thompson asks for a donation to the Snohomish County Master Gardener Foundation. Registration is required. Call 425-357-6010. How much do we love Ciscoe Morris, the gardening personality of ooh-la-la fame? Enough that when Morris spoke at an Everett auditorium recently, every seat was filled with the behinds of local gardeners. The consensus around me at this event was that Ciscoe is beloved because he is a brilliant plantsman and wacky with a capital W. His speaking persona mystifies me: I've seen him before at media events and off-stage he is subdued. Sure enough, he ooh-la-la-ed through his favorite plants and how to care for them. The list he shared during the talk was extensive, but here are a few: Hardy banana (Musa basjoo): the leaves may fall down and turn ugly come fall, but don't rip them off -- they protect the stem. In the spring Morris climbs a ladder, cuts off the mushy dead part and it grows from the top. Chilean Fire Tree (Embothrium coccieneum): Gorgeous red color attracts hummingbirds and curious neighbors for miles, he said. It hates pots, so plant it in a sunny spot with good drainage as soon as you bring it home. You'll need to hunt to buy this one. Lavender 'Grosso': He gave a good tip for keeping the stems from becoming woody too fast. Don't shear in the fall like the garden books recommend. Clean it up a little in fall, he said, but shear it around March. Then you get some nice winter interest and still keep the stems from getting too woody. Monarda 'Jacob Cline': This plant has several common names, including Bee's Balm. Morris is a big fan of attracting hummingbirds and this plant does it well. When the plants start to get some leaves in late spring, cut some down by a third, some by half, and some by two-thirds. That staggers the bloom times. He also does this with asters and lobelia. Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis 'Gold Heart'): The best plant for dry shade, he said. Deer and slugs leave it alone. Make you could buy all those plants locally at a speciality nursery. (See list on the next page) We have some great ones in Snohomish County and you can get a free Speciality Nursery Guide online, along with a feature that allows you to search by city. The Web site is www.specialtynurseries.org. If you want to learn more about plants before hitting the nurseries, you can search on a plant information site through the University of Minnesota. Find it at plantinfo.umn.edu/. It has a nifty feature that allows you to search by scientific or common name. If you read my blog online you know I love a good free class. Sunnyside Nursery is hosting a free yoga class for gardeners at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Instructor Bev Anderson will lead this yoga primer at the nursery in Marysville, 3915 Sunnyside Blvd. If you want to try it, bring your own mat, rug or blanket and reserve a space in advance by calling 425-334-2002. Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com. Visit her blog at www.heraldnet.com.

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