Rooms and roots

Daffodils need a good pull

Daffodils grown to be cut flowers should be pulled, not cut. Cutting will cause stems to curl and split, and reduce the flower’s vase life.

Reach down low on the stem and pull up and snap it. It should break cleanly. Allow the leaves to remain to build the bulb for next year.

Society celebrates orchids

orchidweb.org

The American Orchid Society has designated April as National Orchid Month.

Orchids are hot among orchid enthusiasts. Favorites include orchids from Africa and Madagascar, the genus Bulbophyllum and dazzling new slipper-orchid hybrids derived from the neotropical native Phragmipedium besseae.

For more information on the research, conservation and cultivation of orchids, visit the society’s Web site at orchidweb.org or call the International Orchid Center at (561) 404-2000.

Wornall House plans plant sale, workshop

Kansas City, Mo. The John Wornall House Museum plans two garden events this month.

The annual “Planning and Planting an Herb Garden” workshop will be offered from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the museum, 6115 Wornall Road. Registration is limited to 20 participants, and the workshop fee is $25.

The museum’s 23rd annual Spring Herb and Wildflower Sale will start at 9 a.m. April 27 rain or shine and continue until the plants are gone. The sale features more than 5,000 plants and 100 varieties of herbs.

For more information about either event, call the museum at (816) 444-1858.

‘Home and Away’ goes for a trip Back In Thyme

This week, Home and Away host Cathy Hamilton, right, heads east to Back In Thyme, a bed and breakfast in Bonner Springs.

Featured in the current issue of Country Almanac magazine, the Queen Anne-style inn with its wraparound veranda sits on 10 acres complete with a pond for fishing. And, as the name suggests, it has a great herb garden, too.

A new show airs at 6:30 p.m. each Monday on Sunflower Broadband Channel 6 and repeats at 9 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. The show is also broadcast at 9 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 9 a.m. Sunday.

Don’t forget the houseplants

Prepare houseplants for spring by returning them to a regular diet of water-soluble fertilizers at recommended rates. Increase watering, but be careful not to overwater.

The spring growth period makes this an optimum time to repot tired or potbound plants, and to divide and cut back plants that have grown too big.