MENUYou’ve enjoyed beautiful, early spring blooms on shrubs like forsythia and lilacs. While they looked like a good “hair cut” would have made them look even better, you resisted the temptation. Now that the flowers have faded, you can go ahead with your pruning plans. That way, the shrubs will look nice as foliage plants for the rest of the season.Most shrubs flower on last year’s wood. Others flower on this year’s wood. Distinguishing flower buds from leaf buds can be a challenge for the untrained eye. If you prune before the shrub flowers, there is a better than 50/50 chance that you will remove branches with flowers, rather than leaves. That’s why we advise you to not prune until after your shrubs flower.Forsythia, lilacs, rhododendrons and azaleas are examples of shrubs that bloom on last year’s (old) wood. Last fall, both flower and leaf buds formed and overwintered, waiting for spring’s arrival. This year, spring arrived early and many shrubs took advantage of the nice weather to flower early. So, they are now ready for grooming.Hydrangea and butterfly bushes are popular examples of shrubs that flower on new wood. As the new growth appears, so will new leaves and flowers. As a result, these plants bloom in late spring or early summer. Flowerless canes that are darker in color and older looking than those in flower can be removed while the plant is in flower. This is last year’s wood and will not flower again.After the leaves have fallen from shrubs that flower on new wood, they should be pruned heavily. Last year’s canes can be removed almost to ground level. Then new canes will grow and flower.Many of the same pruning practices apply to shrubs as to trees. Branches or canes should be removed at a fork or right at the base. While it may be more labor intensive, each branch should be pruned individually, not sheared. Shearing leaves unsightly stubs that are not healthy for the shrub. Often, power hedge shears also chew up the leaves, making them look as though they were attacked by some unknown leaf eating insect.The nice part about pruning shrubs is that you seldom have to climb; it is much safer to prune your own shrubs than it is your trees. The same rule applies, though. If you have to climb, even a ladder, call the pros. Ever see the results of someone falling from a ladder into a shrub? There are a lot of cuts, scrapes and bruises.Happy gardening. Let’s all make the most of this unusual season.
Good “dirt” is essential for gardening success. Every gardener yearns for good, rich topsoil. To realize that, however, you may need many dollars and a dream. That’s because the builder probably scraped the topsoil away when he excavated to build your house. Some builders stored topsoil on site until your property was ready for landscaping. The rest sold it and it was hauled away to another job.Have you priced the cost to return topsoil to your yard? I have, and it is expensive. So, we have to resort to other methods, like fertilization, to assure that your soil has the nutrients needed to sustain the plants in your landscape.While the term “fertilization” has become the accepted term for replenishing soil nutrients, a recently coined term has begun creeping into our vocabulary – soil care. I prefer soil care to fertilization because it more accurately describes the actual fertilization process. Soil care also clarifies some serious misinformation when it comes to fertilization.Over the years, many gardeners, garden communicators and even garden product manufacturers have referred to fertilization as feeding plants. The late plant physiologist, Dr. Alex Shigo (often referred to as the father of modern arboriculture), wrote and spoke extensively about fertilizer’s role in plant health.Dr. Shigo said that fertilizer is not plant food. Plants make their own food by photosynthesis. Fertilizer replenishes nutrients and, in some cases, organic matter in the soil. Plants absorb these nutrients, which help them make food. I like to compare fertilizer’s role in plant life to that of vitamin supplements. Just as vitamin supplements supply the essential nutrients missing from our diet, fertilizer replaces the essential nutrients missing from the soil in which you are growing your plants.I believe that, if you adopt the term soil care, you may actually be able to save money. You should test your soil, or have it tested, before fertilizing. If it is rich in all necessary nutrients and elements, soil care (fertilizing) may not be necessary. However, if you continue to refer to fertilization as feeding your plants, you will probably feel guilty if you don’t feed them, and this could lead to unnecessary fertilizer applications.If you are unsure of whether your landscape plants and lawn need to be fertilized this spring, call a professional to test your soil. Not only will a soil test determine whether your soil needs fertilizer, it will also indicate which nutrients are deficient. This way, the fertilizer’s nutrient content can be adjusted to be sure only the needed nutrients are replenished.Over my many years of conducting soil tests, I have found that nearly every lawn needs fertilization. This is because we mow grass, and the grass plants’ reaction is to replace the leaves (blades) of grass that were removed. For this, they need sun, water, and essential nutrients. Planting beds and the areas around the base of trees vary in their nutritional replenishment needs. If you regularly add organic matter like compost or mulch, nutrients will likely be at, or close to needed levels.We want to take care of our plants, but one of the most important ways that we can care for them is to care for the soil that is so important to their health, well being and, yes, their very life.
The terms IPM (Integrated Pest Management) and PHC (Plant Health Care) are now part our horticultural vocabulary. While you may be tempted to use them interchangeably, they are not synonymous.IPM and PHC are concepts, not just terms. And, the two best ways to distinguish them is to remember that IPM is just one facet of PHC, and that IPM is intended to treat plants that are sick while PHC is cradle-to-grave care to prevent plants from getting sick. If PHC is doing its job, IPM may not be needed.Integrated Pest Management is an agriculture process that has been adapted to horticulture. IPM involves ongoing monitoring of plants, like wellness care for humans. When insects and diseases are identified early, they may respond to less aggressive treatment than when the pest has gotten well established. Instead of multiple treatments with chemicals, pests that are detected early may be controlled with a single treatment using horticultural oil or other environmentally-friendly method. If the plant is in no danger, no action, other than continued monitoring, may be prescribed. If the pest gets more aggressive, then more aggressive control measures may be called for.Plant Health Care starts with the decision to buy a plant. Right plant, right place is the prevailing mantra. That means selecting a plant that will be happy in the location you have chosen to plant it. If the location is sunny, select a sun-loving plant. If it is shady, select a shade-tolerant plant. If it likes lots of water, don’t plant it in a dry location. If it is delicate, plant it in a sheltered location away from the wind.I am also guilty of using these terms interchangeably because I am usually called in after an existing tree has a problem. In these cases, my first job is to take care of the problem. This falls under IPM. However, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t suggest a PHC program to start at the current point in the plant’s life.Certainly we cannot move a mature shade-loving tree out of the sun, but there are things that I can do. One is to keep stress out of the plant’s life. I can maintain the proper soil fertility, add organic matter when it’s needed, keep it mulched, and be sure the owner knows it needs at least an inch of water a week, and prune when needed. Insects and diseases tend to leave healthy plants alone and pick on the underdogs – those that are stressed or in decline.Although a PHC program is, ideally, a cradle-to-grave program, in all practicality, it can be started at any time during a plant’s life. I have become quite proficient at compensating for earlier cultural errors.A happy plant is a healthy plant.
As plants awaken to begin life anew this spring, many trees in one genus will awake with much of their insides eaten away. As the weather warms up, the culprit that did this will eat its way out of the trees and fly away to satisfy another appetite – mating – so the carnage can start all over again.The genus is Fraxinus – ash – and the devourer is the dreaded emerald ash borer. The larvae have spent almost a year, inside ash trees, eating away. In spring, the tiny, green adults will eat their way out by making little “D” shaped holes. The adults will escape almost unnoticed because they often emerge high up in the tree, and they are very small insects. But, in this case, size doesn’t matter. They may be small, but they are hungry.Once just uttering the name, emerald ash borer, was a death sentence for a magnificent tree. I personally have seen the horrible damage the emerald ash borer has done to ash trees in Michigan, where it was first identified. Today, scientists have given us products that can prevent infestation and combat this pest after it has taken up residence.It is more economical to prevent emerald ash borer than it is to treat it after it has established itself in your ash tree. As a preventive, the product and application method I use needs to be reapplied only every two years. As a treatment, it has to be applied every year. The product is called Treeage, and is only sold to state licensed applicators who have been trained by the manufacturer in the use of its product and application equipment.There are several other products labeled for prevention and treatment of emerald ash borer. I have tried all of them, and Treeage is the only one that I found to be effective. My conclusions were echoed by a research scientist with the Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources and other scientists.All preventives and treatments for emerald ash borer have to be applied systemically, either as a soil drench or trunk injection. So, if someone offers to spray your trees for emerald ash borer, don’t. You will be wasting your money.Only one of the labeled products is available to consumers, but the consumer strength of this product is not sufficient to prevent or kill this insect. So, don’t even think about trying to control the emerald ash borer on your own. It will be a waste of money.Speaking of money, protecting ash trees against emerald ash borer is not an inexpensive process. For this reason, I examine each tree to be sure it is healthy before recommending application of preventive or treatment. If the tree is unhealthy, it may be better to remove it and replace it. However, you need to think about this course of action carefully because several decades of preventive treatments cost less than removing and replacing most ash trees.
Friday April 27 is Arbor Day in New York, but there’s nothing wrong with observing it the following day, on Saturday, when everyone is available for a family outing.That outing should start in your yard, not by piling in the car and going off to the garden center. Rather than buying a tree and then selecting a site for it, select the site before buying the tree.Note whether the planting site is in full sunlight, shade or partial shade. Is it at the top of a hill or the base of a hill? This will determine how much water it gets since water runs downhill. Also, take note of the prevailing wind and the site’s distance from buildings, walks, the driveway or the pool.At the garden store, check the information tag on the tree, or talk with a staff horticulturist, to be sure the tree you select will grow well on your site. “Right plant, right place” is today’s horticultural mantra. When a tree, shrub or other plant is planted on a site that fulfills its natural needs, it will be happy. It will grow well, and most insects and diseases will pass it by for a stressed or declining tree.Here are energy saving tips for selecting your Arbor Day tree. If you are planting on the south or east side of the house, consider a deciduous tree (one that loses its leaves in winter). As it grows, the leaves will shade the house in summer and its leafless branches will allow winter sunlight to help warm your home. Evergreens on the north and west sides will help block the wind.When you get your new tree home, dig a hole the depth of the root ball and two to three times wider than the root ball. It is OK if up to an inch of the root ball protrudes above the hole, but don’t plant it too deep. Don’t put fertilizer, mulch or compost in the hole. It is OK to mix them into the backfill, however.With the tree in place, backfill, tamping the soil just enough to eliminate air pockets. Then water and mulch with two or three inches of organic mulch like wood chips. Be careful not to let the mulch touch the tree trunk, and do not pile mulch against the tree like mulch volcanoes.Don’t stake your new tree unless you plant it in a location that is very windy. If you do have to stake it, use only one stake on the side of the prevailing wind. Use a soft material for the “guy”. Old panty hose or a similar fabric works well because the tree isn’t held rigid. Trees have to sway in the breeze to develop strong wood. Never use wire, not even wire encased in garden hose.If you are not able to plant a tree on the official Arbor Day, make your own Arbor Day. There are only two periods during the year when trees should not be planted – in the heat of summer and when the ground is frozen in winter.
There is always a touch of sadness, or at least melancholy, when your beautiful, potted Easter lilies begin to wither and die. That doesn’t have to be the last of them, however. You can plant them outside to continue giving you joy year after year.As the flowers fade, cut them off and throw them away. Do the same with withered foliage. Keep the plants indoors until the threat of frost has passed. Water them just enough to keep them alive, but don’t give them a lot of water.When the threat of frost is behind us, you can plant your Easter lilies outside. It is best to keep them away from the wind and out of direct sunlight.Prepare your planting hole just as you would for any bulb plant. However, give your Easter lilies an extra boost of nutrition by lining the hole with organic matter and mix organic matter with the backfill. After backfilling, water your new transplants thoroughly and enjoy.You may not enjoy new blooms right away. It isn’t likely that they will spring to life instantly. In fact, you may see more dieback. If so, just trim it off and put it on your compost pile.Your Easter lilies should grow just fine. However, they may not regenerate a new flush of foliage or flowers this season, but they should reappear after next year’s last frost.Many “naturalized” Easter lilies are hardy enough to survive the winter with a little “winterizing.” That includes applying several inches of mulch that you will then remove after that last frost in spring. If you are concerned about leaving the bulbs in the ground over the winter, you can dig them up and take them inside, just as you would do for dahlias or other tender plants.If you leave your Easter lilies in the ground over winter, it is doubtful that they will be in bloom next Easter. The potted Easter lilies that you buy for the holiday were forced into bloom. When you leave it to Mother Nature, the weather will have to be much warmer than our typical Easter weather for them to bloom.
Early January may seem like an inappropriate time to be thinking about lush, green lawns and healthy trees and shrubs. For those of us in the business of keeping them healthy, this is the season when we have to renew annual contracts so we can order products and put trained people in place.For this reason, lawn care and Plant Health Care customers found a thick envelope from Birchcrest among the holiday cards in their mail. The envelope contains your renewal information.Most of the packet is government-required technical information about the products we’ll be using. The first page is the actual contract, and an opportunity to pre-pay for the whole season.Customers tell us they appreciate pre-paying. Then, throughout the growing season, they can relax knowing that the only evidence that we’d been there are those ubiquitous yellow signs, rather than an invoice hanging from the door as well.If you aren’t currently on a lawn care and/or Plant Health Care program, call us and sign up for this peace of mind during the 2017 growing season.We don’t know what kind of a summer 2017 will be. Like always, though, we’ll be prepared and want to make it easy for you to be prepared, too.
About now, gardeners’ green thumbs begin to twitch from inactivity. That need not be the case. There are plenty of things gardeners can do in the winter.The first winter gardening activity that I suggest is planning for this spring. Depending on what you are thinking about for spring, 2012, you can sketch out plans for new beds and other significant improvements that you want to make. You can then take those plans to a professional landscape designer and have him/her provide you with finished plans that you can then use in the spring or give to your landscape contractor to install.If you are planning less extensive projects, you may be able to just list the projects and then jot down a timeline and notes that you can refer to in spring. Keep these notes handy as you browse seed and nursery catalogs that have already begun arriving in the mail. This will give you plenty of time to order or, better yet, to check with your local, independent garden center(s) to be sure they stock or are willing to order your selections. Come springtime, you will only have to wait for the ground to dry sufficiently and the weather warm up and you will be ready to begin planting or construction.Meanwhile, stay inside where it’s warm and give your houseplants a little extra tender, loving care.
The Ides of March signal the first awakening of spring. Other signs are all over your yard as your plants begin to wake up from their winter dormancy. Often, however, you have to look carefully to see them because they wake up with a whispering yawn rather than a great big shout.Right now, you can check your trees and shrub for buds. I can assure you that they will be on the branches, because the buds were set before last year’s leaves fell. In spring, buds swell before they open up to reveal their green or colored contents, and many spring flowering trees and shrubs will dazzle us with their colorful displays before the green leaves emerge and begin their task of making food.Keep watch and you will see nature unfold before your very eyes. I have been associated with plants for more than 30 years and spring never ceases to amaze me. Mother Nature sure had her act together when she made all of her marvelous, living machines – in both the plant and the animal kingdoms.Don’t confine your moments of awe to just looking up at tree buds or looking straight ahead at budding shrubs, look down at the ground, too. Be careful where you step. Perennials and spring bulbs are poking up, checking out whether it’s time for them to get up from their winter nap. Be careful not to step on them. In a few weeks, or even days, bulbs like crocus will be the advance party to let us know that spring is right around the corner. They are probably more reliable than the groundhog, too.Crocus can be anywhere. Besides the early risers in your spring bulb beds, they may also grow in your lawn. If you didn’t plant them there, try it in the fall so your lawn will come alive with color before greening up. I first saw crocus growing up out of a lawn on the grounds of the horticulture school at the Niagara Falls, Ontario botanical garden. You pass it on the way in the driveway to the Butterfly Conservatory parking area.Crocus is the only spring bulb that you can safely plant in the lawn. It is the lowest growing, as well as the first bloomer. So, its leaves will not go through the lawnmower. In fact, the show will probably be over and the crocuses will be back to bed before you have to get out your lawnmower.This year, don’t just sit inside and wait for spring; go outdoors and be a part of it. The late, great tree guru, Dr. Alex Shigo, preached that we need to “touch” trees. You wouldn’t mark the return of an old friend without so much as handshake. Why not welcome your trees and shrubs back to life by touching them? Watching them wake up by being up close, carefully examining their buds as they prepare to break open and bring fourth their bounty of beauty.
By the end of February, gardeners are crawling the walls, eager to get out and get dirt under their fingernails. Even many non-gardeners have developed bad cases of cabin fever by now. Everyone wants to get outside.I don’t have any magic cure for bad weather, but I do have some thoughts on how you can satisfy your green thumb while housebound. That is to get a head start on the growing season by doing some fun, family activities that you may have never tried before.Have you tried growing plants from seed since grade school? If you can do it in grade school, you can do it now. Granted, buying annuals and vegetable plants in pots from the garden store is easier, and the outcome more predictable. But, growing from seed can be more satisfying, and it will go a long way towards curing that cabin fever.Include the children and their creative ideas. They may think of a way to make this task into a game, like whose plant will sprout first, whose will look the best, whose will bear first fruit when planted outdoors, and numerous other games we adults can’t imagine. The best thing is that these games don’t use electronic controllers, so they are not expensive.You may have some expenses growing plants from seed. It just depends on how deeply you want to get into it. At minimum, you need containers for the seeds. These can range from peat pots, which are fine for just a few plants, to flats if you are starting a whole garden. How you provide your seeds, and seedlings, with light also depends on how many plants you are growing. A few plants will do fine on window sills, provided the windows and sills aren’t cold. For flats, you may need a Grow Light – a special fluorescent lamp that emit light that emulates the sun. You turn it on for the number of hours each day that the seeds need to germinate.Most plants start out as seeds anyway, so starting your garden as Mother Nature does can be a satisfying experience and a valuable lesson for your children. Just be sure your timing is correct for the variety that you are planting. If the seeds germinate too early, the plants may outgrow their pots or trays and you will have to transfer each little seedling to a bigger container, rather than right out into the ground.
Although farmers and orchard owners are rightly concerned about tonight’s impending frost, there is no need for you as a gardener to panic. Granted, we have a number of landscape plants flowering earlier than usual. While the blooms that are already showing may be vulnerable, these plants should be hardy enough to survive and thrive this season.I have two PJM Rhododendrons that are in full bloom and two that have swollen buds that have not yet broken. The only way to save the flowers would be to cover the two that are in full bloom. However, the flowers are so delicate that the blanket, or other cover, I put over them would probably dislodge the pedals and ruin the flowers anyway. Confident that the unbroken buds will flower when it warms up again, and having the satisfaction of knowing that we had a whole weekend to enjoy the early blooms, I’ll just let nature take its course.Forsythia and spring bulbs, especially crocus and daffodils, are the primary flowers that will be subject to tonight’s frost. However, I think both flowers are hardy enough to survive. They are often subject to a hard freezes when they bloom at their usual time, and they come through just fine.If your early leafing trees and shrubs are worrying you, rest assured that they, too, will survive.This is predicted to be only a one night freeze. In an ordinary year, we would not think twice about it. The early onset of spring, however, is causing us unnecessary concern. In my experience, conditions this year are no different than they would be in any other year, except that it happens to be earlier on the calendar.
Many people express concern to me when they see our arborists working in the dead of winter. I’m really not the reincarnation of Simon Legree. Arborists love trees, and they brave the elements because winter is actually a good time to prune most non-flowering, deciduous trees. Deciduous trees are those that lose their leaves in winter.Arborists can see a tree's structure better in winter when there are no leaves on the branches, so they can shape the tree more precisely. Without leaves, it's also easier to spot dead or broken branches. These need to be removed to help avoid breakage resulting from harsh winter weather.Deciduous trees are dormant in the winter, and dormancy acts as nature’s anesthetic. No sap will ooze out of the wound and run down the tree. Best of all, the tree will get a head start on recovery while insects and disease organisms are still dormant. Then by spring, insect and disease resistant tissue will be well established and the wounds closed by the time pests wake up.From a practical standpoint, frozen ground supports heavy equipment better and there is less debris to clean up.Tree pruning is not a do-it-yourself job. Deciding what and where to prune involves an understanding of basic tree biology, sharp tools, and an artful eye. Also, tree pruning is one of most dangerous jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That’s why tree care workers wear special protective clothing and equipment.The best pruning advice I can give you is to call a pro. If you decide to try pruning a tree in your yard, and you have to leave the ground to reach branches you want to remove, or if you need to use power equipment, call a Certified Arborist. Your life is much too valuable to end it as a statistic.
An old song goes, “April showers bring May flowers.” However, spring brings much more, including some pests you don’t want.Many insects, especially aphids, mites and scale, overwinter on trees. When spring arrives, buds break and green leaves unfurl. That’s also a signal for overwintering insects to wake up and begin chomping on the new leaves. They don’t have to wake up. They can be smothered in their sleep with a product called dormant oil.I like dormant oil. It’s easy to apply, it’s effective and it has very little environmental impact. As soon as the temperature rises above freezing for awhile, I apply dormant oil to the trees and shrubs in my yard. Because of its low environmental impact, I don’t have to closely examine whether my trees have aphids or other overwintering insects. If a tree or shrub had any of these pests last year, I can simply spray them this year, confident that I am not harming the environment. These would be very definite concerns with more aggressive pesticides.Dormant oil is one in a family of products called horticultural oils. These products are highly refined petroleum jelly like you use on burns. They are applied to coat the insects and smother them. Dormant oil is the thickest, and the most effective. Due to its thickness, it has to be applied while the both the pest and the tree are still in winter dormancy. It cannot be applied when the tree has leafed out and it cannot be applied when the air is too cold. If you spray it when it is too cold, it will coagulate and get all sticky. If you spray it after the tree leafs out, the coating of oil can interfere with the tree’s respiration and kill it, right along with the bugs. There is definitely a small window of opportunity, but one that is worth taking advantage of.Due to the warm weather we’ve seen this winter, our plant health care professionals have already begun applying dormant oil but it’s not too late to make applications until the leaf buds break.Other horticultural oils can be applied after the leaves are out. These oils may be called summer oil, superior or just horticultural oil. It is more highly refined than dormant oil, which means it is thinner and won’t damage leaves. Like dormant oil, however, these oils cover insects and smother them.
