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Q I’m struggling to find a flowering plant for a super dry and hot spot in front of my garage. I know I’m a bit out of season with this question but it’s on my mind as I think about next year. The bed is a metre wide and three metres long and sits right up against my south-facing garage wall. There’s a sidewalk next to the bed and adding to the heat issue is a white fence right next to the sidewalk that reflects the sun and heat right back onto the garage bed.

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I’ve tried to grow every annual known to mankind and they all hate it there. I water every day to no avail. I want some colour in this bed and I’m hoping you can throw me an idea.

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A My mother-in-law lives in the UK and is an avid gardener. We chat about gardening and she told me this past year was one of the driest on record in her area. This being said she also noted her favourite annual bed never missed a beat when it came to flowering and looking good. Two annuals made the bed look great. Those were marigolds and Portulaca, and I’ve also had success growing these two plants in very dry conditions. Think of using a taller variety of marigold as the background planting with the low-growing Portulacas filling in the front. The added bonus is that neither requires a lot of maintenance.

Sprouting citrus seeds

Q I like playing around with seeds and planted some grapefruit and lemon seeds. I’ve grown them to the five-leaf stage right now and am wondering if they would make good houseplants. Would it be silly to expect them to have fruit?

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A You certainly can grow grapefruit or lemon as a houseplant. There are a few concerns you should be aware of. Firstly, size is a consideration. Some of these trees can grow to six metres under the right conditions. This is one of the main reasons making it prohibitive to grow these plants indoors. It’s better to grow the dwarf commercially bred varieties that will not require the pruning that the larger varieties do to keep them contained and manageable in a home.

These plants are propagated asexually. Some of these clones will be sterile but some will produce fruit, so you’re rolling the dice in terms of fruit production. You may get fruit but you may not. The second factor here is time. It may take up to 10 years before the tree starts to produce. Even if you do get the tree to produce, the fruit may not be the same as the original — not necessarily a bad thing, it will just be different.

Now that we’ve finished exposing the concerns, this doesn’t mean you should’t try growing the plants indoors. Citrus plants are very attractive with their glossy, deep green leaves. If they bloom, the fragrance is intoxicating. They’ll need the brightest light you can offer them, around 12 hours per day so you may have to supplement the light through fluorescent grow bulbs. I used to put my orange outside in the spring and summer. The plant loved it.

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Readers weigh in

One of the things I enjoy most about having the privilege to write this column are the readers that take the time to interact and send their tips. We learn from each other when it comes to gardening. I recently received an email I’d like to share from a reader replying to my column about how to deal with apple maggot: ‘I have two apple trees. One Battleford and one Goodland. I spray both trees with dormant oil in the early spring before the buds come out. I have good luck with this and have a nice crop of apples each year.

Every week, Growing Things runs online at edmontonjournal.com or, if you prefer an epaper format, epaper.edmontonjournal.com. Learn more by emailing your questions to [email protected], reading past columns at edmontonjournal.com or my book, Just Ask Jerry. You can also follow me on X (Twitter) @justaskjerry01.

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