MENULawn grubs have long been a scourge for area property owners. These white, crescent-shaped insects eat turfgrass from the roots upward. Consequently, you don’t know you have a problem until it’s too late, unless you are on the lookout for grubs.The best method for determining if you have grubs, and the method our lawn care professionals use, is to cut one foot square sections of sod at different locations around your lawn. Fold the sod back to expose the underside of your sod, as well as the soil just below the sod. Count the number of grubs in each section. Six or fewer per section are not cause for concern; your lawn should be able to successfully fight them off. Action should be taken if seven or more are present.Big, brown beetles flying around in June, slamming into your house’s doors, windows and siding were the adult grubs. They may have been European chafer beetles, Japanese beetles or even the Bluegrass billbug. The beetles are lawn grub adults. If you saw or heard them flying around your yard, you probably have grubs in your lawn right now.As with many insects, the adults’ lifespan is very short. Their only task is to reproduce. Once they do that, they die. These pests lay their eggs in sod. When the tiny grubs hatch, they immediately burrow into the sod, below the surface, and begin feasting on your tasty turf roots. As the temperatures cool and lawns go into winter dormancy, the grubs burrow further down into the soil to overwinter.This is the best time to treat for grubs. They are young, small and weak, so treatment doesn’t have to be as aggressive as it does in the spring when the two-inch, nearly full-grown grubs return to the surface to begin eating your lawn once again.There is another pest that likes our lawns, but its larvae aren’t grubs. It’s called the sod webworm and its larvae live in the thatch instead of burrowing into the ground.Gray moths flying around just above your lawn earlier in the summers was a good sign that your turfgrass is now hosting the sod webworm. Their flights were reconnaissance flights looking for a suitable place to lay eggs.Like tree and shrub insects, each lawn insect has its own lifecycle and food preference. Treating for them within the window of opportunity can be a challenge. This is why it makes sense to hire a lawn service. For one modest fee, one of our lawn care professionals will visit your home, check for the presence of pests and take appropriate action. He’ll leave a door hanger explaining the action he took. The only other way you’ll know that we’ve been there is by the little yellow signs that the state requires us to post.Even though the growing season is winding down, you can still use our lawn care service. Just call to schedule a meeting with one of our representatives.
Balancing hardscape and plant material has been an ongoing discussion among landscape designers, as well as property owners. The simple answer is that the two elements should blend into a single environment. The next step in the equation has to do with taste. Which do you like more? Hardscape? Or greenscape?Design according to your taste, but coordinate so that it flows naturally. Too many plants can make your yard look like a jungle and hide any hardscape elements. Too few plants and a glut of hardscape will look like a concrete jungle. Instead, balance them so that one element doesn’t overpower the other.The trend to outdoor living has resulted in a higher percentage of space devoted to hardscape. However, outdoor living space is concentrated in one area of the back yard. In the ideal design, the outdoor space is close to the house so that it forms a room that’s an extension of the indoor space. Depending on the amount of space available, plants can extend from the outdoor room to form a landscape of annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees and even lawn.In an effort to reduce maintenance, an increasing number of people in our area are opting for smaller back yards. If your outdoor room takes up most of your back yard, you may be able to use plants to accent or soften the perimeter of the outdoor room. Containerized plants can be placed strategically within the outdoor room to break up the large areas of concrete, bricks and other building materials. Containerized plants can also be used to define the different outdoor living spaces, such as sitting, kitchen or dining area.The smaller your space, the more carefully you have to choose plant material since fewer plants have to provide all the green support for the area. Never loose focus, however, of the mantra “right plant, right place.” This is just as true in a small space as it is in a large space. You wouldn’t want a large tree, for example, to grow into and over your outdoor living space, especially a tree that drops stuff like pollen, flowers and seeds.Striking the right balance can be challenging for many, so more and more families are turning over to our professional designers the task of blending hardscape and greenscape into a beautiful outdoor extension of their living space.
When I come across a new gardening term or fad, I like to share it with you. New for 2015 is Bed-Head Gardening.The term got its name from the way many of us look when we get up in the morning. When you look in the mirror and see that mussed up hair, it’s called a bed-head. A Bed-Head garden is defined as one that emphasizes natural beauty rather than a labor intensive formal style. Like a whimsical garden, a Bed-Head garden is an extension of the gardener’s personality.It’s a casual style for the person who enjoys natural beauty and has an “anything goes” attitude. It has been described as “purposefully un-styled.” Many gardeners embracing this style are those with a great appreciation for nature and a better than average environmental consciousness.Some of the elements that define a Bed-Head garden are natural contours rather than flatness, curvy paths, native and low-maintenance plants, little or no hardscape, lots of color, and plants arranged to look as though they grew in that space naturally – chaotically rather than in ordered rows.The intentionally messy look needs much less maintenance than a more formal look. You’re going for an overgrown appearance, which means much less pruning and weeding.Some Bed-Head gardeners even go so far as to include veggies in their gardens and raise livestock like chickens. I think many of our towns would frown on that approach.For some, the anything goes attitude is just the opposite from all they’ve been taught, but something they would like to strive for. If you’d like to have it but don’t, you could work with one of our designers to create a Bed-Head garden. Who knows, it might grow on you and you’ll find that the more laid back style is something you’d like to incorporate into other aspects of your life.
Do you fidget, walk around your property, and feel guilty about not having any gardening tasks to do in the middle of summer? There’s no reason to; you should be doing nothing right now. It’s summer; you’ve done all you can to give your landscape tender, loving care. Now it’s time to enjoy it.Take a page from southern gardeners. Slow down and smell the roses, or any other flower that’s in bloom right now. Summer is the time to sit outside with a cool lemonade and just enjoy the results of your work.Plants shouldn’t be fertilized in the summer, so you can’t do that. The only thing we recommend at this time is to deadhead spent flowers and help Mother Nature provide sufficient water for your plants. If we have more than a week without rain, your plants may need water. They need an inch a week, and it’s best for them to get it all at once. You may also need to weed your planting beds.With the cost of water these days, you may want to prioritize. Water those plants with droopy, curled leaves that look like they need watering first. Then prioritize according to value. Young trees may need water but most mature trees don’t. Their root structure is sufficient to find water. Shrubs are valuable so they should be second on your priority list, followed by perennials.Annuals should be low priority since they’re inexpensive and may be changed out several times a year anyway. Turfgrass turns brown because it has the ability to go dormant under extremely hot, dry conditions and then green up again in the fall when cooler weather and rain return. It doesn’t appear that we have to worry about that this year.Trees, shrubs and perennials are best watered with drip irrigation, rather than spraying. A significant amount of sprayed water evaporates before it reaches the plants. If you have an irrigation system, ask your irrigation contractor to install drip emitters for your trees, shrubs and perennials. If you use a hose, invest in soaker hoses and snake them around the plants you want to water. Soaker hoses are made from recycled tires, so you’ll be helping the environment as well as your plants. You will also be saving on water since you only open the tap a quarter turn.While sitting on the deck or patio enjoying your landscape, you may want to read a book on how you can enjoy more time like this and less maintaining the garden. I’ve written about Slow Gardening by Mississippi garden writer Felder Rushing, and I just heard about a new book, entitled Gardening from a Hammock by Canadian garden writer Dan Cooper. I haven’t read the latter book yet, so I can’t vouch for it.Take my advice and enjoy your garden without fretting. It’ll show your kids or grandkids that gardening really isn’t as much work as they’ve been led to believe. Sometimes you can just relax and survey your work.
Summer is the ideal time to prune most evergreens. This includes both conifers like pine and spruce and broadleaf evergreens like rhododendrons and boxwoods. The reasons are twofold.First, the buds that produce new growth formed last fall on the old wood of many evergreens. New growth is the light green needles that appear at the ends of branches. If you prune while the new growth is still light green, it will grow back and you’ll have to prune again. If you wait until the new growth turns its natural shade of green, you’ll only have to prune once.Second, pruning now gives the wounds sufficient time to heal before it’s time for next year’s new growth buds to form.Most evergreen trees do not need as much pruning as deciduous trees. Evergreen trees are usually pruned to control size and to remove dead, dying or broken branches. Pruning evergreen trees is not a do-it-yourself job. Besides evergreen trees’ height, their branches are very “springy.” They can break easily if you try stepping on them. Leave pruning to our professionals. We value you as a customer and don’t want you to become a statistic.Confine your pruning to evergreen shrubs. If you have coniferous shrubs like yews (taxus) or junipers, I recommend that you selectively prune, removing one branch at a time rather than shearing. When selectively pruning shrubs, follow the same rules as you would for a tree. Don’t leave stubs. Cut branches all the way back to a fork. If you can see a branch collar, leave it rather than cutting flush to the trunk or bigger branch.Selectively pruned shrubs look better when they have a natural shape, rather than the tight geometrical shapes that result from shearing. Shearing also may leave ragged cuts because branches are too big around for shears to make a clean cut.Save your shearing for such broadleaf evergreens as boxwoods. Boxwood branches are smaller so shears will leave cleaner cuts. I do caution, however, that shearing can become more difficult to maintain as the plant increases in size.You don’t have to prune your own shrubs. Our professionals can care for them, just as they do your trees. By turning it over to the pros, you don’t have to make decisions like whether to shear or selectively prune. You also won’t have to dress in a long sleeve shirt, long pants and gloves on a hot summer day to keep from getting scratched by the needles and branches.Evergreens look nice and add color to your yard, even in the dead of winter. However, their biology is very different from deciduous trees and require different care. To be sure they receive the proper care, leave the work to our professional arborists.
Do you want a stiff, formal garden or a more whimsical garden? Whimsy is defined as endearing quaintness or oddity. A secondary definition is an impulsive notion. Synonyms include humorous, quirky and eccentric. I like to define garden whimsy by the first two synonyms. It should reflect your sense of humor. If you are quirky, that should be reflected in your garden whimsy.Most of all, garden whimsy should reflect your personality in both the plant material and the hardscape. That’s because the whimsical features of your garden have to appear spontaneous. Otherwise, it may lose its impact.
Personality is important. If you’re a serious, intense person, you may not want a bottle tree as part of your landscape. When shopping for molded concrete statues, the more serious person in our household wanted a St. Francis statue while I preferred a rotund sea captain. (We ended up with both). In a previous blog, I mentioned the customer with the sign in an overgrown bed that reads, “Experimental dandelion farm. Don’t disturb the weeds.” These are all examples of different people’s ideas of whimsy. Others may include such items as the popular fairy gardens or model trains. Photos accompanying this post show other examples of whimsy. The gardens with the flower sculpture and the big frog are in private gardens in Pennsylvania. The big frog has a motion detector. When you walk past it, it talks to you.So, you see, garden whimsy is a figment of your imagination, brought to life outdoors on your property. Our designers can help interpret your sense of humor into a whimsical garden or they can take the elements of your whimsy, like a talking bull frog, and design them into an attractive garden.
Now that the sea of yellow has disappeared from your lawn, are you wishing you had contracted for professional lawn care? If so, you still can. Dandelions aren’t the only weeds that will live in your lawn this growing season. Remember, weeds are what we call “adventitious” plants. When they see an opening, they fill it.A nice, thick lawn discourages weeds. One way to encourage a thick lawn is to mow high – no less than three inches. Another way is to fertilize. Fertilizer is the backbone of a lawn care program. If your turfgrass has all the nutrients it needs to stay healthy, it will grow nice and thick, and will discourage weeds.Sure you can spread fertilizer and weed control yourself, but when you calculate the cost of materials and the value of your time, is it worth it? Then you also have to remember your application times throughout the season. If you forget, you can be sure the weeds will be happy to live in any square inch of empty real estate.We don’t know what the summer will bring. Our weather now may be a prelude to a hot, dry summer. A healthy lawn now has the best chance of springing back in the fall. Turfgrass has the ability to go dormant in hot, dry weather, thus the brown color. You can water it all summer, but few people do, what with the cost of water and all. When the temperatures moderate and the rain returns in fall, healthy lawns green right up.Here are a few reminders if your lawn does brown up this summer. Avoid walking on it. The crunch underfoot is blades of crispy grass breaking. This means no mowing; it doesn’t need it. It also means no fertilizer; the plants are dormant.I’ve written about the annual gardening surveys, which this year have concentrated on Millenials and the time constraints that prevent them from working on their lawns and landscapes. We’re here to help.New lawn care customers can start now and we’ll prorate the annual fee so they won’t be billed for the spring applications they didn’t receive.
Now that your trees are all leafed out, how do they look? Nice and green? Plenty of foliage? This is a good sign that they’re healthy. To be sure, though, I recommend that you call for a tree inspection by one of our 10 Certified Arborists.We’ll check the trunk, branches and roots to be sure they’re healthy. We’ll be on the lookout for insects, especially those that bore into the wood to do their damage. We’ll also examine your trees for diseases like rot that attacks branches, trunks and roots.Our arborist will make long term recommendations for keeping the trees healthy. If they need immediate attention, you’ll be made advised of the action needed to repair any hazardous conditions that can cause injury or property damage.Your trees may just need pruning to thin and lighten the crowns and reduce the chance of a branches breaking in a windstorm. Treating for insects and diseases may be needed. If dead branches have to be removed due to insect or disease damage, aesthetic pruning may be called for to restore the tree as close to its natural form as possible. In extreme cases, a tree may have to be removed if hazardous conditions endanger people and property. Removal is a last resort, however. Our arborists are a creative group. They are able to save many trees that a non-professional would cast on to the woodpile.Trees are landscapes’ skeletons. They give it structure. They also take a long time to grow to the point that they can assume that awesome role. During their growth, families often form an emotional bond with their trees. Cognizant of this relationship, we don’t take the decision to remove a tree lightly. Even if you aren’t emotionally attached to your trees, you should be aware of a financial consideration. You can heap a great deal of professional care on a tree for the cost of removing it. And, in the end you’ll still have your tree, rather than a bill for removing it and another for replacing it.
Good news! The pendulum is swinging from strictly native plants to include some non-natives.Until very recently, many garden purists would only plant U.S. native plants, believing that introduced plants were responsible for a host of environmental woes. Many would limit their plant palette to only those that were native to their own locale. Those who dared plant introduced plants were often vilified.Today, many native-only advocates are moderating their stance to, “It’s OK to plant suitable non-native plants along with natives.” I believe that most gardeners are now approaching the middle ground. More garden communicators are suggesting that a plant be judged on specific characteristics and suitability for a particular location and not its point of origin, so long as it’s not a plant that is potentially invasive. This has been my attitude right along, and I applaud the gardening community for seeing the benefits that many non-native plants can bring to a landscape.It’s easy to point to invasive insects and diseases as the culprits that wreaked such havoc as decimation of the American elm and the current scourge of our native ash trees. It should be noted that pests like these weren’t purposely introduced to our shores. They hitchhiked here. On the flip side of this argument, scientists are experimenting with crossing imported varieties with our native varieties to reestablish our elm and ash populations.The key words when determining whether to plant an introduced plant is “potentially invasive.” No matter how attractive a plant is, if it can take over your landscape, don’t plant it. It’s not worth the extra, sometimes futile, maintenance required to keep it under control.If we removed every introduced species from our urban forest, our landscape would look barren indeed. Many non-natives are suited just fine to our climate and growing conditions. Few garden centers would carry a plant that is knowingly invasive. It’s poor customer relations. Native and non-native, plants undergo extensive field trials before being introduced into the nursery trade today. The chances are very good that any undesirable traits will be discovered before a new plant ever reaches your local garden center.So, take it from me that, contrary to what you may have heard, you can use non-native plants and still be a good, eco-friendly gardener. Just do your homework and be cautious until a new introduction, native or not, proves itself in the field.
The most memorable line from a particularly scary move is: “They’re heeeere.” The same can be said right now for a particularly scary tree pest – the emerald ash borer. I’ve been seeing the tiny, metallic green adults flying around all over the place, and this means danger for any ash trees on your property.The emerald ash borer didn’t just arrive. The borers, in their larval form, have lived inside ash trees for nearly a year. They fed on the tree’s tender outer layers of wood, right where the xylem transports water and nutrients from the roots to the crown and the phloem distributes food throughout the tree. The disruption of the trees’ vascular function is what causes death.The emerald ash borer prefers to lay its eggs in the upper reaches of a tree, where it’s safer. As those upper branches die, they work their way down the tree until the whole tree is dead. This spring, we did work in Buffalo and I saw a lot of dead ash trees there. I really don’t want to see them here, and don’t think you do either, especially in your yard.Your time to treat with a preventive is here. I have seen quite a few dead adult borers in our area, which means they have already laid their eggs. We have to inject preventive material into trees so it’s there to greet the newly hatched larvae as they chew their way into the trees.Once the new larvae have bored their way into a tree, we have to switch from prevention mode to treatment mode. This mean injecting Treeage into the tree annually, instead of every other year for prevention. Although treatment requires twice as many applications as prevention, the prognosis isn’t as good. While expensive, prevention or treatment injections are still less expensive than removing a dead tree and replacing it.Remember, emerald ash borer control is not a do-it-yourself job. The most effective control material is restricted to state licensed pesticide applicators, and using anything else is a waste of money. So, if you have ash trees, schedule prevention (or treatment) before the window of opportunity closes.Finally, buy firewood only where you’ll burn it. Not only does it reduce the spread of this insidious pest; it’s the law.
While we were nestled snugly away in our homes during the harsh winter, emerald ash borer larvae were snuggledinside ash trees feasting away. Right now, they’re in the final days of pupation.Soon metamorphosis will be complete and the little, metallic green adults will chew “D” shaped holes to the outside. The adults have only one purpose. That’s to mate and start the next generation on its road to destruction. After the female has made indentations in the bark of an ash tree and deposited an egg in each indentation, she will die. The male dies right after mating.As soon as the eggs hatch, the new larvae begin boring into the tree, disturbing the tree’s vascular system that’s so vital to its life. The xylem transports water and nutrients from the roots to the crown where photosynthesis takes place. The phloem distributes the food made by photosynthesis all around the tree.If you have an ash tree, we urge you to take preventive action by having us apply a systemic treatment now. This is when the treatment is most effective, and it will last for two years. If you wait until after the emerald ash borer strikes, you’ll need an annual application to control the pest. Inaction will result in a dead tree in those communities where this pest is active. It would be much better to welcome this new generation of larvae with a Treeage cocktail while they’re young and vulnerable.Remember, too, if your good weather activities include wood fires, buy your firewood only where you’ll burn it. Not only does it reduce the spread of this insidious pest; it’s the law.Emerald ash borer control is not a do-it-yourself job. The most effective control material is restricted to state licensed pesticide applicators, and using anything else is a waste of money. So, if you have ash trees, call now to discuss scheduling treatment.
Choosing bedding plants for your garden is like choosing paints for an artist’s palette. The one big difference, however, is that the plants are alive.Bedding plants can be annuals or perennials or a combination of the two. You might even include some small shrubs in your beds. In addition to selecting plants for their color, you have to select them for their hardiness and the growing conditions they like. After all, the garden’s main purpose is to provide color, brightness and pleasure, rather than hours of maintenance.Some people have a natural affinity for colors. They can select just the right combinations. Others have difficulty coordinating colors. A color wheel might help. Many garden stores have them, or a staff member can help. Paint stores also have color wheels.I went to the Internet and Googled “Color coordinating flowers” and got 10,800,000 results. The first one was The Oregonian newspapers’ oregonlive.com site and its garden tips page. A color wheel was the first thing up. Other sites were by gardening magazines like Better Homes & Gardens and Fine Gardening.While it’s possible to randomly plant bedding plants and let flowers pop up whenever nature tells the plants that it’s time, most gardeners prefer a bloom sequence. This means planting so you have an ongoing sea of color. When the first blossoms fade, the next plants flower and continue the color until the next group is ready to take their place.After you’ve decided on the color mix of plants that you want in your beds, you then have to research such important concerns as their hardiness in our zone 5-6 climate and their susceptibility to insects and diseases.As you can see, planting beautiful, colorful garden beds takes a bit more research than painting your house where color is the only consideration. If you want the garden of your dreams without taking the time to do all the necessary research, turn it over to our professionals. Our designers know how to coordinate colors and how to create bloom sequences. They also know plants that are hardy and pest resistant, and those that aren’t.Design is the first step. Installation is the second, and we have landscape crews who install beautiful planting beds every day.You can make one call and then sit back and enjoy your garden.
Imported, invasive pests are coming at us in droves. Last week, I wrote about the emerald ash borer, but this is only one invasive pest that came from abroad. Granted it’s getting most of the attention because it’s the most active invasive here.Last month, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Monroe County held a first detectors seminar to train arborists and other professionals on how to detect the hemlock woolly adelgid and Asian longhorned beetle as well as the EAB. We’ve treated for some hemlock woolly adelgid but we have fewer hemlocks than ash trees in our area.The Asian longhorned beetle is the real bad guy. This pest isn’t fussy about what it eats as long as it’s wood. Fortunately, it has been contained in a small area on Long Island. However, a few outbreaks have been reported in other places and authorities moved in and dealt with them quickly. So, they have been able to eradicate it in these locations. Like the emerald ash borer, the Asian longhorned beetle’s principal means of transportation is in illegally moved firewood.In addition to the foreign invaders, we also have a number of home grown pests that we still need to control. These include aphids, scale and various other bugs. Every once in a while, gypsy moth will rear its ugly head and we have to take swift action to keep it from gaining a foothold again.A Plant Health Care program assures you that a trained professional will visit your property at least once a month during the growing season and can take appropriate action while insects are most vulnerable. This approach often allows us to use less aggressive treatment methods than if you called us after you see a target insect. At that point, many have already done their damage.
Arbor Day is this Friday, April 24. Few people can observe this day on Friday, however, due to work, school and other commitments. So, why not celebrate Arbor Weekend? Trees don’t care if they’re planted on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or any other day for that matter.Make your Arbor Weekend a family affair. Look through books or on the Internet and get family consensus about what kind of tree to buy. It might be a good idea to agree on several choices because the planting area you select may not be suitable for your first choice.Before you go to your garden center, do some homework. Take photos of the proposed planting area and take these with you to the garden center. Is the site in full sun all day? Full shade? Partial sun? Morning? Afternoon? Which way does the prevailing wind blow? Is it a high spot in the yard or a low spot? Is it close to structures? To walkways or the driveway? Or electric wires?The reason you took that little test is to be sure you select the right plant for the right place. You don’t want to buy an expensive tree that likes full sun and then plant it in shade or partial sun. 0r a tree that needs lots of water on top of a hill or one that doesn’t like wet feet in the lowest spot in your yard.These are all things that you need to check out before swiping your card. Many answers will be on the nursery tag attached to the tree. If any information you need is not on the tag, ask one of the horticulturists at the store. That’s one of the reasons why we recommend buying trees at local garden centers. They employ professional horticulturists who can answer your questions and help you select a good tree for your site.Also, local garden centers buy from nurseries that grow plants for our climate. While a tree imported from the south or west may be hardy in our zone 5-6 climate, many are not acclimated to weather like we just experienced, and they may not survive.When you get your tree home, follow the planting guidelines that we have shared several times. Dig the hole two to three times the diameter of the tree root but only as deep as the root. Place the tree in the hole and backfill, tapping down the backfill just enough to remove air pockets.Take a break several time while backfilling and water the backfill. This will also help prevent air pockets. Don’t stake unless you absolutely must to keep the wind from blowing the tree over. For the first year, be sure the tree receives at least an inch of water either from rain or irrigation.This will be a weekend well spent, and the tree you plant will keep growing year after year. Even when they’re grown up, your children will look up at that tree and remember the great time they had buying and planting it.
A good starting point for planning your 2015 gardening and landscape work is to consult your journal. Last May, I suggested that you manage your landscape by keeping a garden journal. If you did that, you’ve probably already consulted the journal to schedule this year’s activities.If you didn’t start a journal last year, consider it this year. Referring back to last year’s blog will give you some pointers on how to start a journal, the form it should take and even how to do it electronically.This would be a good year to start journaling after our long, hard winter. However, I suggest you include, prominently, information on the winter severity and any late start to the growing season. This will alert you to the reason why the growing season may appear to start early next year. It won’t actually be early, it will be at a more normal time.While journaling is good for scheduling planting, fertilizing and other annual gardening tasks, it is the only way to conduct an environmentally sound Plant Health Care (PHC) program. If a certain pest invaded your plants last spring, you need to check this spring to be sure they aren’t back, or to take action if they have returned.Our PHC professionals all keep electronic journals for each of our customers. They consult it before their monitoring visits so they know to pay particular attention to certain plants for specific pests.If you’re a casual gardener who doesn’t want to be bothered journaling and would just rather enjoy your landscape, we have the professionals who can take as much, or as little work off your plate as you want.Gardening should be fun. If it isn’t fun for you but you enjoy the results, that’s when it’s time to call in the pros.
Spring will soon wake up from its winter slumber, and with it will come the rainbow of color that we all look forward to. Some call it a rebirth, but it is really a reawakening.This color arrives relatively quietly. First the crocus peeks its colorful petals out of the ground, even if it’s covered with snow. Satisfied with its surroundings and that spring is on its way, more crocus appear. Depending on how many crocus you’ve planted, you may be swimming in a sea of color.As the crocus begins to fade, it’s replaced by daffodils, tulips and hyacinths, but these early bloomers are just the leaders of a whole parade of spring color. Trees and shrubs (woody plants), as well as herbaceous plants, bloom in spring.Forsythia is the first shrub to bloom, showing off its bright yellow flowers. Azaleas and rhododendrons follow. Here in our area, all of this is just a prelude to Rochester’s favorite flower, the lilac.Unlike annuals and perennials, there’s no need to pinch off spent flowers from woody plants. They set their flower buds way back in the fall, so enjoy them while they’re here because, when they’re gone, they’re gone until next year.If your flowering trees and shrubs need pruning, resist the temptation to prune them now. These plants should be pruned after they bloom. Otherwise, you may cut off the flower buds. It’s difficult to distinguish between flower buds and leaf buds. Our professionals learn the difference in their horticulture classes, but for the untrained eye, the two buds can be indistinguishable.Following the initial burst of color, the rainbow will begin fading to green. Flowers and their stems will turn brown on your spring bulb plants. Go ahead and cut off the spent flowers right at the base of the stem. However, don’t cut off the green leaves. They’re hard at work making food through photosynthesis and storing it in the bulb to give them the energy to flower and leaf out next year. Many herbaceous perennials will continue to bloom if you pinch off spent flowers once they’ve withered but before they drop their seeds.After woody plants have finished flowering and leafed out, they can be pruned. Remember to cut branches back to a branch big enough to be able to take over the removed branches’ function. Also, never climb a tree or even a ladder. It’s dangerous. Instead, give us a call and let our well trained, equipped, insured professional arborists do your pruning.
Horticulture and gardening seem to be shrouded in some kind of a mystique. Too many people believe the proverbial “green thumb” is an actual indicator of whether or not a person can grow plants.I believe that the green thumb myth is based on our agrarian forebears who could grow plants without any real knowledge of how they grew. This approach came about by trial and error and those said to inherit the green thumb simply observed what their parents and grandparents did, copied them and passed the information on to their descendants.The fact is that knowledge of how plants grow and how to care for them can be acquired, and there are many sources of this knowledge available to people of all ages and socioeconomic status.This knowledge can be acquired from the many books available at the library or local bookstore. You can also go online, but the information you’re seeking may not be as reliable as a published book that has been fact-checked, edited and, possibly, even peer reviewed.Here in our area, we have excellent gardening education resources. In our hometown of Webster, we have the renowned Webster Arboretum that conducts classes on various gardening and horticulture subjects. In Rochester, the Rochester Civic Garden Center publishes a whole seasonal catalog of courses. This catalog is available online (www.rcgc.org) and in paper form. Both of these organizations are membership organizations so the discounted member fees for their educational programs can more than make up for the membership cost.Each state has a cooperative extension service within its state agricultural college and each operates a Master Gardener program. There’s no charge for the excellent, comprehensive educational program that Master Gardeners receive. In exchange, however, you have to volunteer for at least a minimum number of service hours. This service may take the form of answering questions on the phone at the Cooperative Extension office, talking to garden clubs and other interested organizations, writing for the newsletter or a variety of other outreach activities.While botany and horticulture are subjects that can be learned, good landscape design requires a certain amount of “God-given” talent in addition to sound horticulture knowledge. Also, the best horticulture knowledge cannot prepare you for the physical labor needed to install a new landscape or maintain large trees.The most important lesson you can learn is to know what you can do well and identify your limitations. Do those tasks that you are able to do and want to do and hire the best people you know to do the other stuff. That’s why we’re here. We really like to work in partnership with knowledgeable property owners to create and maintain beautiful landscapes. Visit us at www.birchcrestlandscape.com.
If last week’s blog inspired you to expand your horticulture knowledge, I’d like to make some suggestions on how you can share that knowledge. There’s a real need for this knowledge beyond the confines of your own, private garden.The Webster Arboretum and Rochester Civic Garden Center were two suggested sources for horticulture-related educational classes. Chances are you joined the organization you chose for your classes, and they’ll never be at a loss for ways to help. They would certainly appreciate your assistance.As I explained last week, the Master Gardener program requires volunteer outreach work. Cooperative Extension hopes, however, that you won’t limit your volunteer service to the minimum number of hours. They would like you to continue volunteering for the task you undertook originally or a different task. The Master Gardener program couldn’t survive if everyone just worked the minimum. They depend on people continuing to volunteer and moving up the ranks in the organization. Much of the program is led by volunteers.Sustainability is today’s buzzword and we have a number of cooperative, sustainable farms that practice “community supported agriculture.” These farms operate with minimal staff and many volunteers. If you enjoy fresh vegetables and don’t have the space for a sizeable garden, a CSA membership might be just right for you. Volunteering at a CSA might also be a way to apply the horticulture knowledge you acquired or are acquiring.The ideas above are just a few of the abounding opportunities to volunteer or to work professionally in the gardening or landscape field. Don’t forget the reason you sought to expand your horticulture and gardening knowledge – your own landscape garden. Budget enough time to be sure it receives the tender loving care that it deserves. And, don’t forget that we’re here to provide any assistance you want or need.
The winter of 2014-15 was far from benign, but trees fared quite well. That’s because we didn’t have any really heavy wind or ice storms, which can wreak havoc with trees.Also, we didn’t have constant temperature fluctuations. Rather it got cold and stayed that way, which is good for trees. Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t the extreme cold that causes tree damage. It’s the changes from cold to warm and back. Extended warm spells are especially bad for trees. They think that the warmth is here to stay and may begin to break dormancy. Then the weather turns cold again and they’re “confused.” The only way continual cold weather all through the winter will harm your trees is if they aren’t hardy in our zone 5-6 climate, or if you’ve planted them on the windward side of your house and they don’t like wind, of if they’re in the shade and they like full sun. In these cases, they were stressed before winter ever started.Have you checked around the base of trees for girdling by rabbits, mice and other animals? This would’ve been the ideal winter for this to happen. Mice like to eat in private and the amount and duration of snow cover afforded them the opportunity to do just that. Rabbits, on the other hand, dine out in the open above the snow. As a result, trees can suffer from both of these varmints.It’s bad any time animals feast on your valuable trees. When they eat all the way around a tree, however, the tree is usually doomed. The rodents eat the bark and the tender, tasty layers beneath the bark. These are also the layers that contain most of the tree’s vascular system for transporting water and nutrients up the tree and for transporting food back down to the roots. There is an expensive surgical procedure, called a bridge graft, in which small twigs are grafted all the way around the tree’s circumference to bridge the girdle. Your tree has to be extremely valuable to justify this investment.Anything I tell you now is like closing the barn door after the horse escapes. But, you can tuck these ideas away for fall when you’re getting ready for next winter. First, be sure you don’t have mulch volcanoes or any mulch right up against the trunk. Be sure there’s no high grass growing close to the trunk. Finally, wrap the trunk in screening or hardware cloth from the base to about a foot above the typical high point of the snow. In summer, be sure to remove this protection to allow the trunk to grow.Some other problems, which I’ve written about before, include frost cracks caused by temperature fluctuations, winter burn on evergreens caused by desiccation, and salt damage affecting trees planted too close to salt treated roadways, driveways and walkways. Another problem is sunscald, which is actually a canker caused by temperature fluctuations and affecting the trunk. Spring freezes can cause a similar problem that affects the new foliage, and freezing can also damage the roots of some species.As winter wanes and spring returns, inspecting your woody plants can be one of your first “green thumb” tasks for the new season. If you find any of the problems described above, or any not described above, please call us for a professional evaluation with recommendations for remedying the situation.
As you plan your spring cleanup chores, be sure to include your lawn in those plans. Lawns take a real beating in winter, yet they spring back with very little assistance. But, that’s not to say that you can just leave your lawn to its own devices.When the snow melts and the ground firms up, it’s time to take a walk in the grass. Look for anything that’s different from when you put your lawn to bed last fall.The first thing you’ll spot is debris. The wind may have blown twigs and even tree branches from your yard or the neighbors’. You may also find trash the wind has blown into your yard. It needs to be picked up or raked up and thrown back in the trash or recycling.While big items like jars and cans can be picked up easily, it’s best to rake the other debris, like fallen twigs and branches. A rake will move more of the small debris. You’ll even be surprised to see litter in the pile that you didn’t see in the lawn. This includes such things as dead grass and small items that were down in the thatch so you missed them during your walk through.If winter descended on us before you were able to rake all of your fall leaves, go ahead and rake them up and dispose of them now.During your walk through, look for diseases and bare spots. Look for this also while raking leaves. There are several fungal diseases that attack turfgrass in winter. Fungus thrives in damp, dark, wet conditions. Some diseases cause the grass to turn brown or gray in patches. Others leave circles of dead grass.These diseases are caused by freezing and thawing during the winter. Snow falls and stays on the ground. As the temperature rises, the snow melts from the bottom, depositing water on the lawn. This water is still covered by snow, providing ideal conditions for fungus. By the time all the snow has melted, the disease has done visible damage.To repair your lawn, rake out all the dead grass and throw it away. Don’t compost it since it’s probably loaded with fungal spores. Use an iron rake for this task. That will rough up the soil as you rake out the dead grass, saving you an operation.If you have only small bare spots, they’ll probably fill in through the spread of adjacent grass. For larger spots, you’ll have to overseed. It’s best to do that before adventitious weed seeds germinate in that space.Before overseeding, add organic matter or compost to the bare areas. Then spread the seed and, using your iron rake, rake the seed and compost into the soil. Be sure your new seeds receive at least an inch of water a week either from rain or irrigation. Remember, it’s best to apply the whole inch at once rather than just sprinkling the surface. Sprinkling encourages weak, shallow roots. You want deep, strong roots.As always, call us if you’d rather have our professionals do this job than tackling it yourself.
We’ve discussed pruning trees in winter while they are defoliated and their skeletons are visible. If you haven’t had your trees pruned yet, please call so we can schedule you. Remember, tree pruning isn’t a do-it-yourself project.Our crews will continue pruning most trees even after they leaf out, but they know how to do it safely for both the tree and themselves. We will begin putting off pruning several trees for awhile in the spring, especially those that “bleed.” Maple is the most common. Their “blood,” of course, is maple sap.This is also a good time to prune deciduous shrubs. Like trees, they are dormant and their structure is visible, allowing you to see deeply inside their thicket of branches. We don’t recommend that you prune spring flowering shrubs (and trees) like lilacs now, however. To the untrained eye, buds often look the same, and there’s a real danger that you’ll prune off this spring’s flowers – the very reason why you planted the shrub or tree. Our professionals are trained to differentiate flower and leaf buds.Suppose one of your favorite shrubs is planted in the wrong place? Or you find that a tree you planted several years ago is not doing well because it’s the wrong tree in the wrong place? A good time to move it would be soon after the snow melts and the ground thaws. The ground will be soft, making the job of digging the plant out of its current site easier. If you re not among the faint of heart and are willing to tackle this heavy, dirty job yourself, here are a few tips:
If you are among the faint of heart, one of our landscape crews would be happy to transplant your shrub or tree for you.
We’ve had enough winter. If you’re like most gardeners and lawnophiles, you’re getting antsy to get out and get your hands dirty. That’s fine, but don’t push it. Don’t try to work in mud.After the snow melts, wait for the soil to firm up enough to support you when you step on it. Take a small handful of soil, roll it into a ball and squeeze it. If water comes out of it like a wrung-out sponge, go back into the house and enjoy looking out the window at your landscape.Don’t be in a hurry to remove the extra mulch you spread at the beginning of winter. Wait for the soil to rise above freezing and stay there. Then start removing it gradually to let plants acclimate to the spring temperatures without that extra “coat.” Most of us don’t just remove our winter coat and jump into tee shirts and shorts. We change clothing gradually to acclimate to the changing seasons. Plants like to do the same. It’s better to remove mulch late than early.If you see plants in your planting beds whose roots have heaved out of the soil, push them back into the soil. Don’t be rough with them. If they resist being pushed, take a trowel and pull the soil around the roots back, reset the plant and backfill.This is also a good time to divide and transplant summer blooming perennials. Either spread them around your yard or share them with a friend. There’s enough color for everyone’s enjoyment. Just dig up a perennial, split the root into four sections. Put one section back into the hole from which it came and plant the other three elsewhere.Arguably, weeding is the most unpleasant spring task, but one that has to be done. Weeding while dormant reduces the number of weeds that will spring to life, flower and overrun your landscape. Pulling weeds is considered the most effective control. So, start the season with clean beds.Spring is also the time to cut back your ornamental grasses. You enjoyed their tan color and fuzzy seedheads sticking up above the snow and swaying in the wind. Now they have done their job and its time to cut them back so they can grow anew and provide the same pleasure next winter.Springtime is also a good time to prune your roses.Finally, when your spring flowers have finished blooming, it’s OK to cut off the spent flowers but not the green leaves. These have to make food through photosynthesis. This food is stored in the roots so the plants will bloom next year. The leaves will let you know when they are through making food by turning yellow. Then you can cut them back.
Nobody who lives in our area needs to be reminded that this has been a brutal winter. However, you may need a reminder about what this weather is doing to your valuable trees and shrubs. It’s drying out the leaves, needles or even trunk and stem tissue (i.e. desiccating them). Even our dormant deciduous plants may be subject to desiccation according to a consumer horticulture bulletin from Purdue University.We’ve had a lot of snow, but we’ve also had a lot of wind, and it’s the wind that causes desiccation. Woody plants, especially evergreens, continue to function through the winter, giving off water through transpiration. This is part of the photosynthesis process. With the little bit of sun we’ve had, you wouldn’t think plants would be able to photosynthesize, but they do.During transpiration, water is given off through the leaves or needles. The wind then blows the droplets away, and there is no way the roots can absorb more water through the frozen soil. Broadleaf evergreens’ leaves may turn brown at the edges or they may turn red or purple and curl. Needled evergreens will have tan spots where the needles were just too dry to sustain themselves.According to the Purdue bulletin, severely desiccated deciduous trees will have dead twigs and buds. Some twigs will leaf out but die in the summer, especially if it’s a dry summer.If you had anti-desiccant applied in the fall, you may need a second application. If you didn’t take this cost effective measure to protect your trees and shrubs, call for an application now. As soon as the snow melts sufficiently that we have access to the plants, we’ll begin scheduling anti-desiccant applications.If you aren’t familiar with this product, it’s a clear, wax like material that coats the plant. Sunlight can get through it for photosynthesis. However, when the leaves transpire, the anti-desiccant prevents the wind from blowing the droplets of water away. Instead, they’re reabsorbed into the leaf and keep it from drying out.
If you’re taking a wait and see attitude about Plant Health Care, the results could be very costly. We recommend that you have a professional Plant Health Care strategy in place before your plants show symptoms of any insect infestations or diseases this spring.Waiting gives pests an opportunity to gain a foothold. Active planning will allow us to take early, pre-emptive action. Soon, our Plant Health Care professionals will be applying dormant oil to trees. This very thin petroleum product, much like an extremely diluted form of the petroleum jelly we put on burns, coats the tree surface and the dormant, overwintering target insects. This coating smothers insects like aphids, scale and spider mites while they sleep.As good as dormant oil is, it has a very small window of opportunity. It must be applied after temperatures rise above freezing and into the 40s but before the insects wake up or the tree’s flower and leaf buds break. The required paperwork will have to be in place before we can apply this, or any treatment.A number of other insects overwinter in the egg stage and hatch in spring. Gypsy moth is one of them. Treatment is most effective if applied while the larvae are still small, young and weak. At that time, treatment can also be less aggressive than when the larvae are older and stronger.If you didn’t have your ash trees treated for emerald ash borer in the fall, you should have them treated in the early spring. That’s when the adults emerge, mate and lay their eggs.It appears that the list of pests eyeing your valuable trees is endless and continually changing. That’s why a professional Plant Health Care program is much more cost effective than calling for treatment when you see a pest on your trees.
Here’s a winter task that can save money on your energy bills throughout the year. Use this cold weather to check out where your home is drafty and determine whether outdoor plants can help reduce the effects of those drafts.Tree and shrub placement, as well as species selection, can reduce energy bills year round. The general rule is that planting evergreens on the north and west side of your home can protect it from winter winds. Planting deciduous trees to the south and east can let the sun increase your home’s warmth in winter and reduce the amount of sun beating down on it in summer. But, that’s just a generality. Here’s the rest of the story.The U.S. Forest Services says that three “optimal and well placed landscape trees” can reduce the annual heating and cooling cost of a well insulated home by 6.5 percent annually. These don’t necessarily have to be very tall trees. A row of 20 foot evergreens can protect an area up to 200 feet from them. This row of trees will direct wind up and over your home, much like those deflectors you see on big trucks going down the highway.Plant shrubs near the foundation where they’ll act as a buffer to cold air coming into the building. Planting more shrubs further away from the house on the side of the prevailing wind can act as a snow fence.Before physicists or heating and air conditioning people add comments, let me say that I know cold is caused by heat loss. However, winter winds blow cold air from the outside into the same openings in which heated air escapes. The bottom line is that the furnace has to work harder and use more expensive energy to warm the home.Just the opposite is true in summer. The sun can heat the whole surface of the house and it can penetrate those heat loss openings. This means that the air conditioner has to work overtime. Tall, broad deciduous trees, strategically planted between the sun and the house, can reduce the intensity of the sun’s rays so the heat doesn’t penetrate the house as much. That’s why these trees are called shade trees.Planting shrubs beside paved areas like sidewalks and driveways can reduce the pavement temperature from the transpiration of water through their leaves during photosynthesis.Taking all these aesthetic and climatic considerations into consideration when designing a landscape and selecting plants can be a daunting task. Our designers would be happy to take that burden off your shoulders, and now is a good time to get started. The designer can visit your home and check on prevailing winds, sun angles at various times of the day, and snow drift patterns and then have a plan ready for installation first thing in the spring.
