Page 12 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, MAY 21, 2021 SAUGUS GARDENS IN THE PANDEMIC Here’s what’s blooming in town this week to make your walks more enjoyable By Laura Eisener M emorial Day is the traditional time when it is safe to plant tender annuals outdoors, those that would be killed by a frost. Some plants can survive and even thrive in cooler temperatures. Among vegetables, the “cool crops” include peas, cabbage, kale, lettuce and similar plants, and most onion relatives. Among the ornamental bedding plants, the most familiar one that prefers cool weather is the pansy. More tender or heat-loving crops – like tomatoes, beans, pumpkins and ornamental annuals like petunias and marigolds – need to be protected until all danger of frost is past. Some years we do have a very cold night just a week or so before Memorial Day, so that those who were too eager to plant have to run out and bring the plants in, or cover them with sheets and blankets to keep them from freezing. But this week’s warm weather seems to be tempting us to get those seeds planted early. OVAL-SHAPED: Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) cotyledons. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) A NOTICEABLE SCENT: striated lily of the valley. (Convallaria majalis ‘Striata’) (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) SPRING COLORS ON DISPLAY: A garden in Lynnhurst including pink Azalea (Azalea ‘Encore Sangria’), light blue Siberian bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’), tulips, daffodils (Narcissus ‘Geranium’) and purple-leaved coral bells (Heuchera ‘Ebony and Ivory’). (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) QUAKING ASPEN (Populus tremuloides) leaves unfolding at Rumney Marsh off Ballard Street. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) If you have seeds sprouting in your gardens, you are enjoying the sight of newly emerged cotyledons. Cotyledons are leaves that are already somewhat preformed inside the seed, ready to emerge as soon as the seed germinates. In the classification of plants, flowering plants (angiosperms) are divided into two major classes: monocots and dicots. Monocots have a single embryonic leaf in the seed, and dicots have two. Watch closely any sprouting seeds and you will see which category your seedling falls into. Most plants with showy flowers have two seed leaves, but the monocot group does include grasses (some of which do have fairly showy flowers), lilies, irises, tulips, amaryllises and some others. Monocot plants generally have parallel veins in the leaves, flower parts in threes or sixes, vascular bundles scattered in the stems – and several other similarities that differ from dicots. Dicots usually have branching veins in the leaves, flower parts in fours or fives, and vascular bundles in rings within the stems. There are sometimes exceptions to the usual characteristics, which give taxonomists something to discuss. The cotyledons are often very simple in appearance, and do not resemble the leaves which will be produced on the growing plant once it is sprouted. Dicots usually have oval cotyledons like the cucumber in the picture above. You can barely see a lobed third leaf growing out from the center between the cotyledons, which is more typical of a cucumber leaf. Monocot leaves are more often pointed and swordlike, such as a blade of grass. But they are both very welcome sights to anyone who has sown some seeds and is anxiously waiting to see them sprout! The warm weather of this week has brought about the end of many spring bulb flowers, but it encourages many other plants to burst into bloom. In sunny gardens we are still enjoying the fragrance of lilacs, but if the sun makes us retreat to the shade, we will certainly notice the scent of the lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis). Its small, bell-shaped flowers have a sweet fragrance that has been the basis of some famous perfumes, such as Muguet des Bois, which is also the French name for this plant. Lily of the valley survives a great deal of competition from neighboring plants, but will crowd out less aggressive perennials nearby. This trait can be welcome or unwelcome depending on the goals of the garden. While the flowers last only a few weeks, ANOTHER SPRING FRAGRANCE: Common lilac (Syringa vulgaris) blooms beside the Boardman House on Howard Street, one of two 17th-century houses in Saugus. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) just like lilacs the memory of the scent may last a lifetime. There are a few unusual varieties – one with pale pink rather than white blossoms (Convallaria majalis ’rosea’), and another with white striped foliage (Convallaria majalis ‘striata’). Editor’s Note: Laura Eisener is a landscape design consultant who helps homeowners with landscape design, plant selection and placement of trees and shrubs, as well as perennials. She is a member of the Saugus Garden Club and offered to write a series of articles about “what’s blooming in town” shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was inspired after seeing so many people taking up walking. THIS WEEK ON SAUGUS TV Sunday, May 23 from 9 to 11 p.m. on Channel 8 – “Sunday Night Stooges” (The Three Stooges). Monday, May 24 all day on Channel 8 – “Movie Monday” (classic movies). Tuesday, May 25 at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 9 – Board of Selectmen Meeting from May 19. Wednesday, May 26 at 7 p.m. on Channel 9 – Finance Committee Meeting ***live***. Thursday, May 27 at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 9 – Planning Board Meeting from May 20. Friday, May 28 at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 9 – Board of Appeals Meeting from May 20. Saturday, May 29 at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 9 – School Committee Meeting from May 20. Saugus TV can be seen on Comcast Channels 8, 9 & 22 (Public, Governmental and Educational). For complete schedules, please visit www.saugustv.org. ***programming may be subject to change without notice***
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