Key maintenance and management points for potted flowers in courtyard in November

November is the turn between autumn and winter, and temperatures continue to drop in most parts of the country. According to the cold hardiness of different ornamental plant species, good insulation and cold protection work should be done to prevent unnecessary losses to courtyard potted flowers caused by freezing damage.

1. Watering

After entering November, the average monthly temperature in areas south of the Huaihe River is generally around 10°C, but because the autumn air is relatively dry, for some relatively cold-tolerant ornamental plants placed in the courtyard, attention should be paid to combining root watering with leaf spraying, but the potting soil must not be too wet, to avoid root rot. For potted flowers whose flower buds are in the swelling stage, such as Japanese apricot, wintersweet, camellia, tea camellia, and Belgian azalea, even more attention should be paid to spraying the leaves and branches to create a relatively humid environment for them, so as to facilitate the development and swelling of the flower buds. In northern regions, for potted flowers moved indoors or into sheds, especially foliage plants, it is appropriate to keep the potting soil moist, and excessive watering is not suitable.

2. Fertilizing

For potted camellia, tea camellia, wintersweet, Japanese apricot, Belgian azalea, etc., whether placed in the open ground in southern regions or placed in sheds in northern regions, a small amount of low-concentration phosphorus and potassium fertilizer can be applied as a top dressing to facilitate the development and opening of the plant's flower buds. For clivia, bromeliads, cineraria, cymbidium, Cymbidium sinense, cyclamen, primula, daphne, and Christmas cactus placed in greenhouses, as long as the greenhouse temperature is not lower than 15°C, low-concentration phosphorus and potassium fertilizer can continue to be applied to promote good flowering in winter and spring. For the vast majority of foliage plants placed in low-temperature greenhouses, all forms of top dressing should be stopped.

3. Pruning

Since most potted foliage plants will be moved indoors in the middle of this month, before they are moved indoors, the dead branches, diseased and pest-infested branches, weak branches, leggy branches, crossing branches, and overlapping branches of potted ornamental plants should all be cut off. For plants that were shaped last autumn or this spring, in order to prevent binding materials from long-term binding from bruising the cortex and causing branch and leaf death, the binding materials should first be removed; if the expected shaping effect has not yet been achieved, the original binding position and angle can be changed, and winding and fixing can be carried out again.

4. Cold protection

For relatively cold-tolerant large bonsai placed in the courtyard, continuing to leave them in the courtyard for the winter is not a big problem, but for small and medium-sized stump bonsai that can tolerate low temperatures, before the temperature drops to 0°C, they must be placed in the ground or moved into simple greenhouses, so as to keep the potting soil from freezing. For some ornamental plant species that cannot tolerate temperatures below 10°C, they should be moved into greenhouses or indoors in a timely manner. For those ornamental plant species that cannot tolerate frost and cold, it is necessary to timely and accurately understand weather changes, and move them into sheds before the arrival of frost; do not be careless.

5. Pest and disease control

In late autumn and early winter, comprehensively clean up potted plants, especially plants that have already been infected by pests or diseases, mainly referring to potted flowers of the Rosaceae, and carry out comprehensive and careful pruning, and also clean up fallen leaves in the pots, gather them, and burn them, which can reduce the degree of pest and disease occurrence in the coming year. For thick main trunks, especially some dry-trunk, split-trunk, and shari-trunk stump bonsai, stone sulfur mixture should be applied to the main trunk or peeled areas to prevent insect damage or mildew on the main trunk.

Potted plants suitable for display on the balcony In November, although the sunlight on the balcony is no longer very strong, due to falling temperatures and dry air, only potted flowers and trees that have long been placed on the balcony, have strong resistance, and can tolerate a certain degree of low temperature can continue to be placed on the balcony for display.

The main species include: black pine, Japanese black pine 'Nishiki', five-needle pine, Chinese arborvitae, Chinese juniper, dragon juniper, Chinese juniper, Cuibai cypress, Chinese elm, Sageretia thea, Syzygium buxifolium, Serissa japonica, trident maple, Adina rubella, Buddhist pine, Fraxinus chinensis 'Dui Jie', wintersweet, Chinese box, pomegranate, ginkgo, Chinese tamarisk, firethorn, Osmanthus fragrans 'Semperflorens', etc., but note that the potting soil must not freeze, otherwise it is very easy to cause the death of potted flowers and trees or stumps. For some foliage plant species that like cool environments and can also slightly tolerate cold, before the temperature drops to 5°C, they can still continue to be placed on the inner side of the balcony, such as broadleaf lady palm, sago palm, Canary Island date palm, leatherleaf mahonia, Aucuba japonica 'Variegata', Schefflera octophylla, Aspidistra elatior, windmill palm, Chinese fan palm, Liriope muscari, and Rohdea japonica, etc.

Propagation of balcony flowers Sow seeds of sago palm, Nagi podocarpus, broadleaf lady palm, Buddhist pine, etc.; after washing them clean, bury them in flower pots filled with sandy loam. As long as a temperature of not lower than 0°C is maintained, they can germinate and emerge in the coming spring. A large flower pot can be used as a cutting container, filled with sandy loam or vermiculite as a cutting medium, for fully enclosed moisture-retaining cuttings, and small seedlings such as gardenia, Schefflera octophylla, aucuba, jasmine, Chloranthus spicatus, and finger citron can be propagated. As long as the potting soil maintains a temperature of not lower than 4°C to 5°C, they can take root in the coming spring.