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There is a bump in the road on the way to the geranium patch this year. If I don't tell you about it you may never notice.

But first, let me tell you about the origin of the geraniums you buy at the garden center or greenhouse. Most are grown from cuttings. While many of these cuttings are grown in this country, many more are imported from Africa or Central America.

Growers locally start with rooted (about March 1) or unrooted cuttings (about February 1) or buy cuttings early in the winter and take and root their own cuttings.

The trouble started when a pathogen called ralstonia was isolated in three or four cuttings imported from Guatemala in early winter by a mid sized plant company that produces the Americana series of geraniums.

Unfortunately, ralstonia also affects tomatoes, tobacco and potatoes. It has made the agricultural terrorism watch list because of the importance of tomatoes and potatoes in US agriculture.

Most pathogens are host specific, which means that the one that attacks tomatoes is slightly different than the one that attacks potatoes. There is no evidence that this disease could be transmitted from geraniums to any other crop. The authorities were unwilling to consider this option.

With three or four identified plants and maybe several hundred suspected plants, the Department of Agriculture jumped into action. They immediately destroyed two million cuttings already shipped and the stock plants that were expected to produce 20 million more in Guatemala. Again the authorities were unwilling to test plants and destroy only the diseased ones.

All growers of geraniums were inspected and any plants with any link to the suspect plants were also destroyed. In other words, the Americana geraniums are gone this year and most likely forever.

Locally, the Americana series was very popular. Growers who had ordered rooted cuttings of the Americana series simply saw their orders canceled and were forced to scramble to find replacement cuttings from other producers.

Those who had received plants in the early winter and were taking their own cuttings saw a lot of plants seized and destroyed.

What effect will local gardeners see? Very little, if any. There will still be plenty of geraniums available this spring. Just no Americanas, a series that offered some interesting colors and great flower power. There is no question that all the diseased ones and many more were destroyed.

On the first day last week that hinted that spring might be coming I visited my rototiller. I am almost embarrassed to admit that it was still sitting in the corner of my vegetable garden where it had ceased its labors in 2003.

It is a big heavy model with rear tynes that bears a nameplate known for its willingness to start. Worried, I opened the fuel line and the choke. I yanked the starter rope and on the first pull it began to chatter that the spring garden season was here.

By the time you read this, I will have my peas, spinach and a few onions in the ground. That's about the right timing but still is a week or ten days earlier than I usually get there.

If I'm brazen, I may add a few lettuce plants and a selection from the cabbage family. If I do I will think about providing a little protection. Usually I plant the cabbage family after April 10. Cabbage and brussel sprouts are the toughest. Broccoli, and especially cauliflower, show some cold sensitivity.

Spring plantings of cauliflower and brussel sprouts and often broccoli will never give the results you get with fall planting, but I still do it.

If you are in a race to get the first tomato you can start watching the weather after April 20. Again think protection for the coldest nights. If you want to be practical, plant on the first warming trend after May 1.

Beets, carrots and even beans can go in the ground in April. Many years ago I was horrified to see a neighbor planting beans in mid April. He also had beans long before I did. Now I plant a bit earlier.

If you plant potatoes, it's time. Sweet corn can be planted by mid to late April or you can wait. One thing to think about is that the first round of ear worms hatch in late July. If you don't wish to spray, target maturities to miss that time.

Vine crops, peppers and eggplants do not like it cold. I have planted as early as the last days of April but with less than perfect results. I would wait until maybe May 10. Again the weather is more important than the calendar.

For pumpkins, I suggest planting about June 1. Earlier planting may force you to celebrate Halloween in August.

I'm sure your local greenhouse operator will be happy to sell you plants of many of these. Closer to the city you may find most of them as started plants. Get plants for tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, the cabbage family and maybe lettuce. The rest work best from seed, but I still usually use plants for the cantaloupes and squash.

So much for the vegetable garden. Now if I can find the lawn mower I will zip through all my accessible perennial gardens before the re-growth forces me to do the clean up by hand.

It almost seems that the most used word in every garden magazine, seed catalog or greenhouse advertisement is "new." I guess we are conditioned to want the new but have you ever wondered where all these new plants come from?

For centuries, plantsmen have scoured the earth looking for plants that could be added to their private collections or to the collections of a royal or wealthy patron. More recently this search has taken on a significant commercial significance.

Today's hot spot to search is China. The recent opening and the expanding commercial activity in that country, its vast size, and a location which matches ours in relation to the equator, combine to produce "finds" that find a place in our gardens.

A second source of new plants is traditional breeding programs. In simple terms, the flowers of one parent have their pollen removed and the pollen from the second parent is introduced. This is a long, slow process as it takes several generations to stabilize the result.

Last week I mentioned that my daughter, while working for a Chicago seed company, developed a new impatien. She returned to school in Florida in June 2000 and the plant will become readily available this spring.

If you are a fancier of daylilies, you are familiar with the triploids. They are the ones with the super large flowers. Here a chemical treatment is used to mutate the chromosomes to produce a new plant.

A fourth source of new plants comes from just watching our gardens. A lot of new plant selections are found in our gardens. Sometimes a seedling will show an interesting characteristic. Sometimes part of a plant will mutate with interesting result.

These changes frequently have to do with the plant size, bloom quality, flower color, foliage, or disease resistance.

The fifth and newest method comes from unraveling the genetic codes of the plants. Here, the researchers replace certain genes to change the characteristics of the plant. In agronomic crops they are frequently working to reduce the use of chemicals to fight weeds, disease and insects.

Currently this technology is beginning to make its way into ornamental flower research. Going back to my daughter. She spent the last four years trying to unravel the secrets of flower longevity.In nature, the plant doesn't give a hoot about how long the flower works. Nature just wants a flower to attract pollinating insects. Once that is done, the sooner the flower dies the quicker the plant can get to the important business of producing seeds. It is only we humans that enjoy the flowers for their beauty.

Her research found a way to reduce the production of the gas that causes flowers to die, thus lengthening the time we can enjoy them. It also would make the transport of many blooming flowers easier. That is a significant problem, as the greenhouse industry seems to be specializing into separate growers and sellers of plants.

New plants are coming from lots of places. The pace is accelerating. However, the process takes time, a lot of time. Often the garden writers focus on a plant or a process today that won't be noticed in the retail garden centers until next year or the next.

If you are a herbalist you will recognize the name Echinacea. If you have made even the smallest steps into perennial gardening you will recognize the plant purple coneflower. They are one and the same.

As an herb it is supposed to do something. I'll admit I'm just not exactly sure what. But I am sure it is on every herb list I have ever seen.

In the perennial garden it is a rather tall, strong growing native. I guess I should not say 'it' but rather 'they', for there are many forms in the market place. I suspect that most of the forms seen until recently are selections of plants found in the wild or inhabiting a garden somewhere.

Most of the forms are purple red ranging from very pale to almost red in color. All have a distinct composite center or cone. The petals that are arranged around the center come in many forms. Some are wide, flat and overlapping while others are narrow, separated and sharply curved toward the stem.

Generally, the height is over two feet with course oval leaves. Recently there was an introduction called knee-high. I'm still thinking about that one. Either the person who introduced it was very tall or I saw plants that were mislabeled.

This is a plant that loves sun, can handle dry conditions, and has a strong taproot that makes it able to thrive in clay soils. Plants with a taproot are at best difficult to divide. It can be a leader in the meadow garden along with native grasses, goldenrod, butterfly weed and black-eyed susans.

There is also a common white and a less frequently seen yellow form in the market place. In the garden most coneflowers self seed. Unless grown away from its purple cousin, the seeds of the white one will generally yield purple plants.

Recently I have seen reports of several interesting new introductions. Here, at least in one instance, I'm sure the plant breeders are at work. There will soon be some orange coneflowers on the market. The orange one is getting a lot of press in the industry.

The other one has two rings of purple petals around the cone. I have seen several varieties of this form. One is appropriately labeled doubledecker.

An interesting sidelight on this one is that the double flowers only appear as the plant matures and maybe not in the first year. We'll see.

As usual, the garden press is a bit ahead of the industry's ability to deliver the plants. You most likely will not find the new forms on your first trip to the garden center, but with a little patience they will make interesting additions to the garden.

For some of us the gardening season should be started already. That's if you are one of those people who prides himself with starting his own plants. If you are content to save money and get your start at a local greenhouse, your winter snooze can continue a bit longer.

If you are starting seeds, probably the most difficult part of getting ready is to know when to plant the seeds. Today I will target two critical issues with many common plants. That's seed size and the length of time from seed until you can hope to have a garden ready plant.

Here is a short list:

• PlantSeed SizeWeeks to Grow
• Astersmedium8
• Celoseasmall6
>
• Cosmoslarge6
• Dianthussmall10-12
• Impatienssmall10-12
• Marigoldslarge6-8
• Petuniastiny10
• Snapdragonssmall10-12
• Zinnialarge5-6
• Sunflowerlarge4-6
• Tomatomedium6-8
• Peppermedium6-8
• Cabbagemedium4-6
• Cucumberslarge3-4
• Squashlarge3-4
• Herbssmall6-8

If you don't see a plant you are about to try, the same information is often on the seed pack or in the catalog. Or give me a call and I will let you talk to my wife.

Seed starting requires a fine soil mix kept moist but not wet, bottom heat and light management. A warm window works but lights may be easier to use. Sanitation is the key. Soak your pots in a Clorox solution if necessary.Seed size determines how deeply to plant the seeds. The small ones work when just laid on the top of the soil. Try to avoid clumps. The smaller the seed, the harder to spread evenly. The large ones get covered according to their size.

Some seeds, like cabbage, will be up in a matter of days. Others, like petunias, may take up to two weeks.If you wish, try it. Have fun and good luck. Some greenhouse will still see you in the spring.