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As winter progresses, the walls of the house seem to be closing in on you. It’s just an illusion because you miss being outdoors. My suggestion: make the best of any January thaw(s). Get outside and work on your landscape. Even if it appears to be puttering to you, your plants will appreciate your attention.
January thaws aren’t limited to January. It’s a term that applies to any time the temperature goes above freezing. The temperature will still be crisp but the sun will likely be out, making conditions very pleasant. It won’t be shorts and flip flop weather but you also won’t need a heavy parka.
The first thing to do is take a walk around the yard. Check all the plants for broken branches and stems. Take a pair of pruners with you to cut off any broken branches on shrubs. Don’t just cut them off at the break. If possible, make the cut at ground level or where the broken branch is attached to a larger branch, being careful to leave any collar (appears as swollen tissue at attachment point). The third alternative is to cut just above a leaf or bud. The main thing is to not leave any stubs.
If you see any broken branches up in trees, reach for you phone instead of your pruners. Removing branches from trees is too dangerous for the untrained. Many a property owner has found that out the hard way. Leave tree repairs to our arborists who have the training, equipment and experience to avoid falling or getting struck by a falling branch. And, if something goes wrong, they’re covered by insurance.
If conifer branches are still snow laden, resist the temptation to remove the snow. They can spring back and leave you with pine needle injuries. Nature equipped conifers with the resilience to spring back by themselves as the snow melts.
Pay special attention to plants near the road. Check them for damage from road salt spray. You may have to wrap them with burlap. Check any trees or shrubs wrapped in burlap to be sure they aren’t stressed, and be sure the tops are open so sunlight and water can reach them.
While you’re checking trees and shrubs, be on the lookout for critter damage. Deer damage will be anywhere from eye level to 12 feet. Look down at the base for bite marks by rabbits, mice and moles. Even this late in the season you may have to protect them by wrapping the trunks in hardware cloth or tree wrap.
Containerized plants overwintering in a cold frame would appreciate some fresh air and water. Just prop the cover open while you’re outside, after you’ve watered them. Containerized plants spending the winter on the deck or patio just need watering.
When you finish all the tasks suggested above, you’ll realize that you’ve expended a lot of energy while enjoying the January thaw, whether it comes in January, February or March. A takeaway might be that a gym membership is in order to prepare you for upcoming landscape season.
Your landscape may extend indoors and you don’t even realize it. Even people who don’t have an outdoor landscape probably have an indoor garden consisting of houseplants. We know that because houseplants have topped the list of plant material grown by nurseries for the past several years, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down.
Winter, when you aren’t distracted by outside landscape chores, would be a good time to give your houseplants some tender loving care. In most households they tend to be overshadowed by the demands of our outside plants, especially our lawns. If you don’t have houseplants, this winter would be an opportune time to turn to indoor gardening. Join the trend and garden for 12 months a year.
Many people move their houseplants outdoors for the spring, summer and fall, and then bring them back indoors for the winter. Surely, you care for them when they’re outside. You water them when nature turns off the rain. You deadhead them to encourage new flower growth. They may need a bit of fertilizer and, possibly, some insect and disease control when they’re outside for their summer vacation. And those tasks must be worked in among your seasonal outdoor landscape care.
In winter, you may be seeking ways to keep your green thumb from fading. Some care your houseplants would appreciate in addition to watering, deadheading, fertilizing and controlling pests include…
• Cleaning the leaves. Dust tends to settle on plant leaves. Outdoors, wind and rain remove most of the dust. Inside, however, air movement is not fast enough to remove dust. The easiest way to keep your houseplants dust-free is to spritz the leaves and then wipe them gently with a soft cloth.
• Repot when necessary. Check the roots periodically to be sure they’re not pot bound. Gently remove the plant from the pot and examine the roots. If they’re growing around the plant instead of downward, you have two choices. If you want them to keep growing, repot them into a larger container. Choose a new pot that’s only a size or two bigger than the current container. Check it in a year to see if it needs to be repotted into a bigger container. Plants prefer repotting in increments to being planted into a much larger pot. And they won’t look like a person dressed in clothes that are too big. If you want a pot bound plant to continue living in the same container, root prune it. Shorten the long roots that are circling the plant so that they grow downward.
• Prune and remove dead leaves. Houseplants that grow too full for light to penetrate the interior or show stress even though their foliage is full may have to be thinned by pruning. Using scissors, cut out stems that won’t affect the plant’s shape. The pruning shears that you use to prune your shrubs may be too big to get into houseplants’ tight spaces. Some indoor gardeners simply use kitchen scissors. Bonsai pruning shears really work well. They have big handles, but the blades are small for tight work. You can also use your shears to remove unsightly dead leaves.
• Propagate your houseplants. If you’re looking for an interesting, garden-related activity this winter, try your hand at propagating more houseplants. It’s easy. Take a trip to your favorite garden center for a supply of small terra cotta pots, a bag of soilless potting mix and container of rooting hormone. Take a cutting, or cuttings, from the plant(s) you want to propagate. Cut a piece of stem with two or three sets of leaves. Dip the stem in potting hormone and plant in a pot of potting mix. Keep the new plants moist and keep them in the light and soon you’ll see new leaves appear as they take root and begin growing. If you don’t need or want any more plants for your indoor garden, give the new plants to a charity plant sale, confident in the knowledge that you propagated it.
Athletes train during the off season and conscientious students read when school is out to keep their skills sharp. The same thinking can extend to gardeners and folks who enjoy tending to their landscapes. Spending time helping your houseplants look their best this winter will keep your thumb green and ready for spring.
Landscape trends are being driven by societal trends. That’s abundantly apparent in the Garden Media Group’s Garden Trends Report for 2023. The report is intended to help garden centers and landscape professionals plan for what customers will be requesting. I present some of the highlights here to help your creative juices begin to flow.
The report starts out with the statement that the two driving forces of the moment are the individual and access – summed up as self-reliance. Personal empowerment includes things like growing our own food. It’s estimated that 8.5 million people turned to gardening during the pandemic and 75 percent intend to continue as pandemic restrictions ease.
As housing prices soar, cities are accommodating accessory dwelling units (ADUs). ADUs are self-contained living units that can be attached or detached from single family homes. The report refers to this as the Backyard Revolution. As a result, containers continue to be a significant gardening trend, especially with 35–45-year-olds. Roses, bred to live in containers, are trending, as are miniature vegetables – even lettuce. And green walls are coming of age to provide privacy.
The report refers to Baby Boomers as “Super Agers” whose brains function as if they were 30 years younger, noting that they are making their landscapes accessible as mobility limitations and other health problems begin to challenge them. It mentions raising planting height (raised or elevated beds) for those who can no longer kneel and making landscapes accessible to those with wheelchairs and walkers.
The report goes on to indicate that aging boomers are purchasing midcentury modern products like retro metal lawn chairs, pagoda umbrellas and plants with a tropical flair.
A section indicates that ancient Greece is inspiring garden design with everything from columns, statuary, stone walls and archways to boxwood hedges and roses. It went on to say that Gen Z is embracing this.
Two pages are devoted to the proliferation of battery powered tools. Depending on where you live, a robot mower might be a good investment. The report also mentions a new companion to the robot mower – a robot weeder. Speaking of technology, the report even devotes a page to phone apps, including one that “allows you to shop, log plants, calculate planting and harvesting dates, and find recipes.”
The report also has a section on climate change. Needless to say, it indicates that the earth is getting warmer than the zones on the current hardiness map. Other trends are whimsical and eclectic gardens, filled with bold colors, texture and art. Finally, the color of the year is terra cotta.
Our tree crews and I get asked the title question quite often. The short answer is that it’s safe to spread them on the surface but not if you rake them into the soil.
Some years back, an arboriculture professor at Clemson University in South Carolina conducted an experiment to answer the question. He planted three groups of trees. Around the base of one group, he spread fresh wood chips. He mixed fresh wood chips into the backfill soil for another group. He didn’t apply any mulch to the third group, which was a “control” group.
The professor tested the soil periodically to see if there was any change in the amount of nitrogen in the soil from the pre-planting and mulching. He also monitored the trees’ health and vitality. He took on this project to determine the truth to the old theory that fresh wood chips draw nitrogen from the soil. After a year, he found no difference in the soil nitrogen between the surface mulched area and the control trees and only a slight decline in the amount of nitrogen where he had mixed the fresh chips into the soil. They were perfectly safe.
If you are concerned about using fresh chips in your own landscape, just mix in some fertilizer before spreading them. Better yet buy wood chips in bulk. We double grind and age them until they’re a dark black in color.
I don’t recommend colored mulch. Mulch sold for its color has dye in it and some dyes are harmful to plants. Our mulch is black, its natural color. As tan wood chips age, they take on a gray color which then darkens to black. Naturally black mulch will do the most good in your landscape.
Ground wood chips are better for the environment and your landscape than inorganic mulches like stones. Inorganic mulches are purely decorative. Organic mulches decompose and return organic matter to the soil. Also, it’s made from chipping and grinding debris from tree pruning operations. Mulching saves this material from already stressed landfills.
The professor’s conclusion was in an article that appeared in two trade magazines several years ago. This professor was one of three prominent research arborists the author spoke to when researching the article. All three of them said that fresh chips would not deplete soil nutrients, and that fertilizer could be mixed in if you doubted these conclusions. I know the author and the three research arborists and respect their opinion.
It'll cost less to buy ground wood chip mulch in bulk rather than by the bag. We’ll deliver it and dump it in the driveway for you to spread. Or our landscape professionals can spread it for you.
The title may appear to be an oxymoron. Why would plants need water in the winter? It’s cold and snowy most of the time. Most being the key word. Everything may be frozen much of the time but when we do have occasional thaws, your plants, especially trees and shrubs would appreciate a drink of water.
Evergreens in particular need water during the winter. Even if you’ve applied anti desiccant, they still need watering on warm winter days. The amount of water the plants reabsorb from transpiration may not meet their needs. They’ll really be able to use any supplemental water you apply.
Don’t forget deciduous plants. They may be dormant, but they aren’t dead. It won’t be practical to water large shade trees. But these trees have survived all these years without your help. However, young, tender trees and shrubs could use a drink. This is especially true for those just planted this last spring or fall.
Plants that overwinter anywhere except in the ground need even more attention. Containerized plants are particularly prone to desiccation. They don’t have as much soil around their roots as in-ground plants, and it’s the soil that holds the water. In addition to watering during thaws, applying anti desiccant and mulching your containerized plants that live outside during the winter will provide an extra layer of water retention protection.
Cold frames do a good job of protecting certain plants from winter winds, but they don’t let natural moisture in. When you put your plants into the cold frame, be sure that they’re well hydrated. The closed cold frame should then act as a terrarium. The water is circulated as the plant roots absorb it from the soil, use it in the process of photosynthesis and then transpire it through the leaves. The cold frame is a closed environment, so the water doesn’t escape into the outside atmosphere. Rather, it’s reabsorbed by the soil and recycled. However, this recycling isn’t 100 percent.
Watering the plants in a cold frame on warm winter days will replenish the water inside the cold frame to assure that the plants will continue to make sufficient food. It’s also recommended that you open the cold frame on warm winter days to give the plants some nice fresh air. I recommend checking the soil moisture when you open the cold frame and add water as necessary and then do the same when you close it up for the night. Be sure to close the cold frame each night to protect the plants from falling temperatures after dark.
Climate changeiscontributing to our more frequent freeze/thaw cycles. Here in our area, we could expect a January thaw and the rest of the winter was bleak and frozen. Today, many winters are becoming milder with just a few real cold spells and even fewer snowstorms. We humans can deal with these changes much easier than our plants can. So, it behooves us to protect our investment by staying vigilant and keeping our young and tender plants sufficiently hydrated to help them cope with their changing environment.
Winter is barely underway. Why am I already writing about spring landscaping? Because your landscape is constantly changing, evolving; it’s always a work-In-progress.
Plants grow, sometimes exceeding their allocated space and blocking your view of other plants. Plants may become infested with insects or a disease, and some may even die. As your landscape evolves, certain plants no longer appear to “fit” in the place that used to be just right. After a while, you may get bored looking at the same old scenery every day. The end result is some degree of renovation.
On cold, blustery, winter days when only a polar bear would venture out, why not use that time indoors to plan the renovations you’d like to start in spring? Then you’ll be able to hit the ground running when spring finally arrives. Waiting for spring to begin the planting process will only put you behind. Instead of enjoying the results of early season planting and construction, a later start will drag the process into summer.
Your goal should be to have new plant material or transplants well established before subjecting them to summer heat. This will result in less watering, saving you time and money. Instead, you can spend the summer enjoying your renovated landscape.
Hopefully, you took pictures and made notes or kept a journal to jog your memory of modifications that came to mind during the last growing season. This will become a good starting point to begin your planning. Nothing beats looking out the window at the blank canvas of your snow covered yard and comparing what you see with the photos showing the same scene in all its splendor.
As you consider changes to your landscape, also consider alternatives for completing the job. Are you able, or do you want to do it yourself? Have you decided exactly what your renovated landscape should look like? If your answer to one or both of those questions is no, this is the perfect time to begin working with one of our designers to help commit your ideas to paper so our landscape professionals can begin the installation process as soon as spring arrives.
If you decide to do it yourself, committing your ideas to paper now will give you plenty of time to shop for plant material, hardscape and associated material, and be ready to “dig in” as soon as the weather breaks. With today’s supply chain issues, it’s never too early. Such problems even extend to nursery stock.
When the snow begins falling in your driveway and on your sidewalks, your only thoughts are how to get rid of it. The last thing on your mind is the landscape under the snow. However, where you throw or pile up snow this winter can have a significant impact on the plants hunkering down under that snow, and also on your wallet.
You can make life so much easier for yourself next spring if you plan your snow management strategy now, while your landscape is in full view. You wouldn’t just throw seed or mulch or fertilizer willy-nilly around your land. It costs money so you make sure it reaches your target area. Snow management requires the same thought process. Your objective should be to pile or blow snow to areas of your yard where it won’t damage plants or hardscape.
Each snow removal method requires a different plan. Shoveling, of course, is the most strenuous. Blowing is time consuming. Under pavement heating is expensive. Plowing is costly.
Even if you blow or plow your driveway, you’ll need to shovel snow from steps, porches and other small areas. Many landscapes have foundation plantings close to steps and porches so you have to find a different trajectory to throw the snow to avoid piling it on top of your plants. Maybe the best idea is to shovel it off the steps and porch onto the sidewalk and then blow it out onto the lawn. Or you may be able to push it off the steps with the shovel and then just lift it off the sidewalk onto the lawn.
You should also shovel snow from around the base of trees to deter small rodents from burrowing under the snow and feasting on your trees. I’ve seen mice actually girdle trees, compromising the tree’s vascular system and killing it.
Blowing gives you the most control over where the snow ends up. As you blow, you can turn the chute to avoid plants. If necessary, you can blow the snow straight ahead until you’ve cleared the planted area and the turn the chute to blow that snow onto the lawn. Blowing also lets you scatter the snow so you’re not moving a large amount of it, which you’re concentrating as you push it.
A good plow operator can manipulate snow to some extent, pulling or pushing it clear of plants before pushing it off to the side. A downside of plowing is that the plow can cut off edges of the grass if the operator doesn’t aim correctly, and it can be difficult to aim a plow and truck and keep it on course, especially if your driveway bends or curves.
Even if they aim properly and don’t cut sod from the edges of the driveway, they may cut it during another common move. Plow operators have to pile snow somewhere, so they often push it into the front yard. The snow pile is usually peppered with small pieces of sod from the edge of the driveway. Worse yet, if you have a tree in the front yard, the plow operator may pile snow up against the trunk, which is my greatest fear. It has all the downsides of a mulch volcano plus it’s usually piled only on one side of the trunk exerting pressure on that side of the tree, which can cause lean or even failure.
Blowing allows you to cut nicely defined edges, and you’ll know immediately if you’re off the pavement. Rows formed by blown snow are not as high as piles left by plows and are much lighter and less dense.
With the pros and cons of each removal method, you can decide which method best meets your needs. If you have a plowing service, be sure the operator knows where you want snow piled and places to avoid. If you have a written contract, insert these instructions into the contract.
The holiday season is upon us. Hanukkah began last Sunday night (December 18) and Christmas is this Sunday (December 25). Whether from the twinkling LED lights on a tree or the traditional candles on a Menorah, these festive holidays shine brightly on the shortest days of the year.
It is the fervent wish of the 200 + members of the Birchcrest Tree & Landscape family that each member of your family be touched by the warm glow of the lights and the twinkle in the eyes of the youngest members of your family as they take part in your annual traditions.
May your holidays meet or exceed your expectations. May you be safe and, if you have a real Christmas tree, please return it to nature by recycling it.
Happy Holidays one and all!
You may have received a thick envelope from Birchcrest Tree & Landscape or may receive one soon. I urge you to open it and act now to save a significant amount of money. Sent to all our Plant Health Care and Lawn Care customers, it’s their 2023 contract renewal. And it contains a time-sensitive financial incentive. If your valuable landscape isn’t currently protected by this service, one of our consultants would be happy to inventory your property and make a proposal.
Some people have told us that this mailing looks so intimidating that they just set it aside. If this includes you, please accept our apologies, but every paper in the packet is mandated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
We must provide you with all kinds of technical information on every material we are apt to apply, and we need your signature on the contract that is also in the packet before we can provide any Plant Health Care or lawn care services.
Returning the contract with payment for the full year before the date on the contract can save you a significant amount of money. The saving is often more than that money will earn in a bank account.
Why do we offer this incentive? Because it results in savings for us, and we are sharing those savings with you. For example, knowing how many customers need each product allows us to more accurately determine how much to buy and get our orders in early. It also reduces accounting costs for you and for us. You don’t have to write and mail a check after each visit, and we don’t have to process it. Offering this discount is our way of saying Thank You.
You’ll still receive a form in a plastic bag hung on your front door each time we perform a service. The form will contain information on the services performed and the care you need to take to assure that any treatments will be effective. The payment section will include the cost for that visit but the balance due will be zero.
When you trust the health of your valuable lawn and landscape plants to us, you can be sure that the work will be done by one of the 12 New York State Certified Pesticide Applicators on our staff. To obtain this mandatory state license, a person must successfully complete a rigorous examination. To maintain their license, they are required to take continuing education throughout the year. The chances are good that the professional visiting your home will also be one of the nine people who have earned the voluntary Certified Nursery & Landscape Professional and/or one of the nine who have earned the voluntary Certified Arborist credential.
The benefits of being on a Plant Health Care and/or lawn care program far outweigh the hassle of having to deal with the renewal packet. First and foremost, we have diagnostic responsibility rather than saddling you with it. Our professionals can diagnose problems when they are in their early stages, so we can often treat with less aggressive materials and methods. Second, our service is automatic. You don’t have to call; we visit at the optimum time to take care of each problem.
At this time every year, many are faced with a big decision. Do we want a live or artificial Christmas tree? There are many factors in play when making that decision. Some involve family traditions, others social concerns and still others involve environmental issues. I’m not qual
ified to offer advice on keeping family traditions or social concerns, but I am qualified to advise you on environmental issues.
There are some Grinches out there who would like us to believe that we’re upsetting the balance of nature if we have a real Christmas tree. They want us to believe that cutting a real tree is a waste of natural resources. Christmas trees are grown by tree farmers as a crop to be harvested, just as wheat, corn and other crops are planted to be harvested.
Christmas tree farmers must wait longer than other farmers to harvest their crop. They don’t plant in the spring and harvest in the fall. All the while Christmas trees are growing, they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester it as they grow. They also return oxygen to the atmosphere – the oxygen we breathe.
Christmas tree farmers don’t just sit back and wait a decade or so for their trees to grow to a salable size. They must tend to their crops just as other farmers do. They need to control insects and diseases. They also have to prune them to maintain their desired shape. They may have to fertilize them as well. Then when it’s time to harvest the trees, they cut them, package them in nets and ship them to tree dealers.
If you opt for a fresh cut Christmas tree, cut about an inch off the base diagonally as soon as you get it home. Then place it in a bucket of water and leave it in the garage at least overnight. This will reduce the shock of going from the cold outdoors to the warm indoors.
When you set up the tree indoors, be sure that it’s kept watered throughout its stay. Keep candles and other open flames away from it. But most of all, enjoy it without feeling any guilt about the environmental impact. Remember, Christmas trees are renewable resources. Christmas tree growers are farmers who use sustainable techniques, usually planting three or more seedlings for each tree cut to assure that we have plenty of trees each Christmas.
Finally, recycle your tree after Christmas. Take it to one of the many recycling stations around the area to have it ground into mulch to either be used in municipal parks or returned to you for mulching your landscape.
For the ultimate in environmental consciousness, consider a live, potted tree. If you think this is a great idea, dig a hole for it now, before the ground is frozen and cover the backfill with a tarp to keep it from freezing. Cover the hole with a piece of plywood or other protection to keep people from falling in it. Keeping a live tree in the house for more than a week isn’t recommended. And, you should plant it as soon as you remove it from the house. It’s also a good idea to spray the tree with an anti-desiccant after planting.
Ever wonder what arborists do in the winter? Practical wisdom might lead you to answer that they go skiing, ice climbing or go to Florida. The truth is, though, that they stay here and continue working.
Arborists dress for the weather and take extra precautions on slippery surfaces. They’re used to it and trained to avoid hazards because they know winter is the ideal time to work on deciduous trees. The trees are dormant and that’s like nature’s anesthesia. Pruning, cabling & bracing and most other repairs are invasive procedures. Performing them now is far less traumatic than when sap is flowing, and the tree is foliated. Then the leaves are actively making food through photosynthesis.
Pruning cuts provide pests and pathogens with easy access to the interior of trees but many insects and disease organisms are dormant for the winter. Pruning now will give the wounds plenty of time to callous over before the insects and disease organisms become active again.
Defoliation allows our arborists to see the tree’s skeletal structure. With the leaves gone, our arborists can stand back and inspect the tree’s architecture and determine which branches need to be removed for health and aesthetic reasons. When in leaf, the leaves cover up problems and may present a different shape.
Frozen ground lets us better position equipment. A tree in the middle of your front or back yard may be difficult to reach with our bucket trucks. In spring, summer and fall, we’d have to physically climb such trees. In winter, though, when the ground’s frozen, we can often maneuver closer to the tree and prune it faster and safer.
Clean-up is also faster and easier in winter. This saves money because less debris falls by the wayside as we drag it across a snow-covered lawn. (Less friction)
It’s best to schedule your winter tree pruning now. As the winter progresses, we’re bound to have some days when the weather is just so bad that even we can’t work. Early scheduling better assures you of a time that’s most convenient for you and gives both of us plenty of options should we have to postpone.
As always, I urge you not to attempt to prune your own trees. It’s dangerous in the best weather and even worse in inclement weather. If the tree’s a flowering tree, you may unwittingly remove flower buds. Most spring flowering trees and shrubs bloom on old wood, which means this spring’s flower buds are already on the branches. To the untrained eye, they’re indistinguishable from the new leaf buds. However, our arborists are trained to identify both types of buds.
Trees with broken, hanging, crossed or rubbing branches should be professionally pruned at any time of the year. These are hazardous and should be removed before they can do any damage to people or property.
It’s that time of year again when families gather to give thanks for all that has been good this year. This gathering centers around food, the universal symbol of hospitality.
Our Birchcrest family will be gathered with their families, secure in the knowledge that we have done our best to serve every customer with the same consideration and professionalism that we would the people gathered around our dining room tables.
On behalf of our Birchcrest family, I thank you for the confidence you’ve placed in us, and pledge to continue serving you with the most knowledgeable, professional tree, landscape and tree services. Happy Thanksgiving from our Birchcrest family to all of your families.
Your landscape trees and shrubs are worth a lot of money, and, as they grow, they increase the value of your property. To the wild animals living nearby, however, they just represent a tasty meal when the winter pickings are slim.
Dining in the wide open may not be their idea of a great experience. They may not even consider your trees and shrubs gourmet fare but when their favorite food is inaccessible, they’ll turn to whatever’s available.
Persistent as these critters are, you can take steps to discourage them from dining on your growing green investment. Deer are the most difficult to discourage. They’ve become so bold that they’ll rise up on their hind legs if necessary to reach a tender tree branch. When they’re hungry enough in winter, they aren’t fussy about their diet. They’ll even eat plants you wouldn’t think they could swallow – plants like holly and barberries.
People try all kinds of deterrents but there’s no one technique or product that’s foolproof. Fencing may be the most effective but it has to be at least eight feet tall. Netting is said to work on shrubs and small trees. Tenting can also discourage deer. Drive poles into the ground around the trees and wrap burlap around the poles and attach it with staples. These tents have to be at least 12 feet tall and should be left open at the top to allow sunlight and water to reach the trees.
One deer deterrent may work for your neighbor but not for you. You’ll just have to experiment. There are repellents, which can be purchased or made using household items, and deer resistant plants like herbs. Deer love tulip bulbs but not daffodils. Mixing the two types of spring flowering bulbs in a single bed may discourage them. Hopefully, it’ll be like one food on our plate making the entire meal distasteful. If the ground hasn’t frozen, there’s still time to plant such a bed.
Don’t concentrate all your effort on discouraging deer and forget the mice, rabbits and voles. These animals are smaller and sneakier, and they can kill a tree or shrub while deer usually only disfigure it. That’s because mice and voles eat tender bark around the base of trees and shrubs. Rabbits eat bark and twigs further up the tree or shrub. They’re attracted to smaller, younger plants because they’re most tender. Mice have been known to kill plants by girdling all the way around the trunk or stem.
Mice and voles don’t like dining in public. They burrow under the snow when possible. When that’s not possible, they often dine at night. Rabbits, on the other hand, aren’t quite as paranoid. They’ll stand on top of the snow and eat. While they, too, tend to be nocturnal, they can also be seen dining by daylight at times.
There are a number of ways to discourage mice, voles and rabbits. The most basic deterrent is to keep mulch and snow away from the trunk and stems. This open space will eliminate a hiding place so the animals (mice in particular) feel vulnerable. Barriers are also effective. The easiest barrier can be made by wrapping the trunk with hardware cloth, plastic pipe or tree wrap. Some barrier directions say to offset the hardware cloth out from the trunk with wooden or PVC frames. Installing barriers can be done now before winter arrives with its full fury. However, you’ll have to keep pulling snow away from the base of your plants after every snowfall.
There’s still time this season to take any of the actions presented here. But I wouldn’t wait too long. Any measure that involves pounding poles into the ground or digging has to be completed before the ground freezes.
Your deciduous trees and shrubs have lost their leaves and the perennials are standing but brown. So, here’s the answer to the title question. Mulch is a regulator. It moderates the temperature of the soil beneath it and regulates the rate at which moisture seeps into the soil. Organic mulch like wood chips provide the bonus benefit of returning essential nutrients to the soil as it decomposes. Inorganic mulches like stone chips are only decorative and don’t provide any environmental benefits.
While the above ground portions of your trees, shrubs and perennials may appear to be dead, they’re not. They’re dormant and the roots are still alive. I compare plant dormancy with animal hibernation. In each case, the organism is alive but functioning at a significantly slower pace. As a result, plant roots continue to benefit from the regulation that mulch supplies.
It could be argued that plants need winter mulch more than summer mulch. We recommend four inches of mulch in winter but only two, and under certain conditions three, inches during the growing season.
Mulch regulates the amount of water reaching your plant roots by absorbing some of the moisture from rain and melting snow and then releasing it into the soil over time. It moderates temperature by acting as insulation, protecting the roots from the freeze/thaw cycles that we experience every winter.
When spreading mulch, don’t pile it up the trunk in a mulch volcano. Mulch provides the perfect cover for small rodents like mice as they dine on tree and shrub bark. Also, mulch touching trunks releases its water on to the trunk, rather than into the soil. Any crack, cut or break in the bark can create a perfect environment for rot and other microbes.
I recommend double ground hardwood mulch because it’s made from recycled debris from tree trimming operations. Recycling this material contributes to plant health while reducing the stream of waste going to landfills.
If you spread four inches of mulch for the winter, don’t forget to remove an inch or two in the spring. Four inches is too thick for the growing season. Measure the mulch depth before removing any in spring. Some may have already decomposed.
You can buy bags of mulch at garden centers and home stores but that’s expensive, especially for large areas. We can deliver it in bulk much less expensively. We can either dump it in your driveway for you to spread or one of our professional landscape crews can spread it for you.
It won’t be long before winter descends upon us. If you’ve lived in the Rochester/Finger Lakes area for any length of time, you know that winter scenery can range from a few flurries now and then to months of snow covering your entire landscape. How boring!
The best way to break up the visual monotony is to include winter color in your landscape design. You’re probably not going to invest in winter interest plants at this late date but there are several things to do, or not do, now to add interest to a plain vanilla winterscape.
Ornamental grass is one of the most popular winter interest groups of plants. By now, they’ve turned brown, tan or gray and have seedheads that blow and rustle in the wind. Hopefully, you resist the temptation to cut them back in the fall. If you’re one of those in the minority that does cut ornamental grass back in the fall, wait until spring this year and let nature take its course. I bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see those fuzzy tan, brown or gray whisps swaying in the breeze after the first good snowfall.
You’ll still have to cut ornamental grass back but you will have deferred the job until spring. It’s important that you do cut it back in spring to make room for next year’s growth. As soon as you can get out in spring, probably in April, grab your favorite cutting tool – usually hedge clippers work best – and cut each clump of grass back as close to the ground as possible. You’ll soon see new, green shoots growing among the stubble. If you see the new shoots when you begin cutting, adjust and cut above the new growth.
Ornamental grass isn’t the only “dead” plants that can add winter interest to your landscape. Leave the stems and flowers on tall perennials for the winter, too. Perennials like Black Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia) and Cone Flowers (Echinacea) come to mind because they’re tall and add color and dimension to your landscape when they’re in bloom. Keeping the stems and the last spent flowers in the fall contributes to winter interest. What more could you ask from such a plant?
Use your judgement when deciding whether to cut other perennials or let them stay until spring. For example, keep tall hostas that will peek up through the snow. Cut the shorter varieties to keep the planting bed looking clean and neat on those days when you have little or no snow.
If you like the contrast these dead plants add to your landscape this winter, plan on augmenting them next spring with plants with specific winter features. Their familiar red berries make hollies good winter interest shrubs. Most holly varieties have separate male and female plants. Be sure there’s a male in the mix to enable the female plants to bear the red berries that provide the winter interest.
A few other plants that provide winter color include red stemmed dogwood, witch hazel and hellebores. A good winter activity would be to work with one of our professional landscape designers to expand your landscape to one with four season color, rather than the three season color that’s so common here. Do this during the winter so you can be all set for our landscape professionals to install first thing in the spring and you can enjoy winter color next year.
If you haven’t battened down the hatches and prepared your landscape for the onslaught of Ol’ Man Winter, here are a few tasks that you should surely make time to complete before the snow flies:
• Clean up debris. If any debris has blown in from the neighborhood and is laying on your lawn or under your shrubs, it would by wise to remove it. Debris on your lawn can mat the grass, trap water under it and create an environment for winter fungal diseases. Debris under shrubs can limit water and air getting to the roots before the ground freezes. Besides they make your shrubs look unkempt.
• Take in ceramic & terra cotta containers. Terra cotta and many types of ceramic containers will break when frozen. Even empty containers made of these materials will break.
• Check tree crowns from the ground & arrange for professional inspection if necessary. Walk your property and check the trees. Look up in the crowns to see if you have any broken, drooping or hanging branches. Check the trunk from the ground up for damage to the bark or the presence of mushroom-like fungal fruiting bodies. If you see anything out of the ordinary, contact us for a professional inspection so any necessary repairs can be made before winter storms cause disastrous damage to people or property.
• Compost fallen leaves. Unless your home is in the middle of a forest, leaves shouldn’t be left right where they fall. Like other debris, they can mat, trap water and you’ll have to deal with renovating your lawn because of winter fungal diseases. An easy way to compost those leaves that fall on the lawn is to mulch them in your mower as you mow the grass short at the end of fall. You’ll have to rake or blow those that fall in your beds and then throw them on your compost pile.
• Winterize tools. Winterize your gardening tools before you put them away for the winter. Then you won’t have to remember to do it during the winter or get caught with servicing undone when you need them next spring. At the very least, clean both hand and power tools before putting them away for the winter. Also, drain the gas from the power equipment tanks. Gas can become contaminated if left in the tank for long periods. If you sharpen cutting surfaces, change oil, air filters and spark plugs now, you won’t have to do it in the spring. You’ll be all ready to mow when the grass is ready.
• Don’t Forget The Garden Hoses. If you watered your landscape this past summer, be sure to disconnect the hoses, drain and store them in your garage, shed or basement. Those left out for the winter can crack or break when frozen, especially if they have water in them. If you have no space inside to store them, disconnect them, drain them, coil them and store them in a sheltered place in your yard.
Spring is aptly named here in upstate New York. It often tends to spring forth on us unexpectedly. Unless you’re an avid gardener eagerly awaiting spring’s arrival, it may be here before you’re ready. However, you’ll be a step ahead if you take care of the details recommended here before winter arrives. Then you’ll be prepared when it leaves.
In my humble opinion, anti desiccant is the most economical protection against winter burn that you can provide for your evergreen trees and shrubs. That’s why I remind you of it every fall and encourage you to plan ahead for its application.
Anti desiccant’s application is very weather dependent. It can’t be applied when the temperature is too high or too low. It’s a wax-like liquid. Consequently, it can freeze when it’s cold and melt when it’s warm. We apply anti desiccant on days when the temperature is below 50ºF and above 32ºF (freezing). If we get sustained warm spells during the winter, additional applications may be necessary. Nothing needs to be done in spring, though. The anti desiccant just melts when the weather warms up.
Why apply anti desiccant? Unlike deciduous trees and shrubs that go dormant in winter, evergreens just slow down their life functions. This applies to both needled conifers like pines and broadleaf evergreens like rhododendrons.
Evergreens’ leaves or needles continue to manufacture food through the energy trapping process of photosynthesis. That process requires water, which is normally absorbed by the roots and transported to the leaves by the plant’s xylem. Water, also a byproduct of the process, is given off through the leaves. This is called transpiration.
When the ground is frozen, the roots can’t absorb water, so the plant reabsorbs transpired water and recycles it during photosynthesis. This is fine until the wind blows. Wind picks up transpired water droplets and carries them away before they can be reabsorbed. When this occurs, photosynthesis shuts down and the affected leaves, needles and branches die.
Desiccated leaves and branches turn brown but the whole plant rarely dies. It just has ugly brown patches, and the only remedy is to cut out the deadwood. This affects the aesthetics of an otherwise graceful, beautiful evergreen.
Evergreens provide winter interest to your landscape. The various textures and shades of green break up the otherwise desolate sea of white that greets you when you go out the door or look out the window. It’s also a much more interesting view than that of tan shrouds where your evergreens stand in summer. Before anti desiccant, it was common to wrap all evergreens in burlap. Today, only plants affected by salty road spray, young trees and shrubs that are still getting established, or tender plants that may be near the limit of their hardiness zone benefit from wrapping. The others are sufficiently protected by anti desiccant.
Garden centers and home stores sell anti desiccant in spray bottles. The most familiar brand is Wilt Pruf, and it’s in easily recognized green bottles. Buying one or two of these bottles to apply to a couple of evergreen shrubs is a good DIY project. Any more and your hand will let you know how hard it is to squeeze those spray triggers.
For properties with many or large evergreens like towering conifer trees, it’s more economical and efficient for one of our Plant Health Care professionals to apply anti desiccant. We buy it in bulk, which is considerably less than buying those consumer-size containers at retail, and you don’t have to worry about properly disposing of the empty containers. Our PHC pros apply anti desiccant with backpack sprayers that have enough pressure to reach the tops of tall trees.
You planted evergreens to enhance your landscape 12 months a year, and anti desiccant is the most economical insurance policy you can buy to protect them during our severe winters.
With autumn officially beginning, winter can’t be far behind. With it comes snow, ice, cold and swirling Arctic winds. While we retreat into our nice, warm homes, our landscape plants have to stay put. The least we can do is put a coat around their cold-sensitive roots.
That coat should consist of an extra layer of organic mulch like wood chips. Sensitive roots can be compared to human nerves. Both like the status quo and react adversely to radical changes. Mulch reduces those radical changes in several ways.
Mulch moderates soil temperatures, reducing the impact of their frequent swings on plant roots. These swings are year-round considerations. In spring, summer and fall, however, temperature swings aren’t as significant as they are in winter. They fluctuate only a few degrees in a 24-hour period. In winter, that fluctuation can be much greater and plant roots don’t like these wide temperature changes, especially those that drop from warm to below freezing and vice versa.
Mulch will minimize the effect of temperature extremes on your plants. During the spring, summer and fall, two to a maximum of three inches of mulch are sufficient. Any more is too much. In winter, however, three or four inches are preferable. Be sure to remove any mulch over three inches in the spring.
As you prepare your yard for winter, start by fluffing up the mulch already in place. Using a leaf rake, fluff it up similar to the way you would mashed potatoes or rice. Once the existing mulch is fluffed, you can measure its depth with a yardstick. Add enough new mulch to bring the depth to four inches; no more. Moisture still needs to soak through the mulch to reach the plant roots. And, remember – don’t pile the mulch up against the tree trunk. Mulch volcanoes trap moisture between the bark and the mulch, providing a good breeding ground for microbes. It also helps camouflage small mammals that may want to dine on the bark.
Organic mulch does double duty. Besides protecting your roots in the cold weather, wood chips and other organic mulches will decompose and return nutrients to the soil. Decorative mulches like stone won’t do that. It doesn’t decompose. Besides, stone mulch is cold to the touch, so it won’t moderate the soil temperature as effectively as wood.
If you don’t care for shoveling, hauling and spreading mulch, we have landscape professionals who would be happy to do these jobs for you before winter settles in.
It’s almost time for many residents and visitors to the Finger Lakes region to take their annual “Leaf Peeping” treks to the beautifully hued hills that rise from the lakes. Soon these hills will be ablaze with yellows, reds and oranges. Have you ever wondered why this phenomenon occurs and what determines which trees’ leaves will turn what color? Well, read on and I’ll explain it.
Nature equipped most broadleaf trees and shrubs with a defense mechanism to protect them from breaking under the added weight of snow falling and ice forming on the surface of their many leaves. These plants, called “deciduous” plants, lose their leaves and go dormant every fall. As a result, the surface available to snow and ice is reduced substantially. In the process of defoliating, the leaves undergo chemical transformations before falling to the ground.
As temperatures begin to cool and daylight hours get shorter, these conditions are nature’s signals to prepare for winter. First the plants go on a binge, producing food through photosynthesis to be stored in the roots to sustain the plant through the winter. When this is finished, the green chlorophyll drains from the leaves, revealing their true color – yellow.
Some leaves remain yellow while others turn orange or red. These colors are displayed when other chemicals are present. The presence of carotenoids gives leaves their yellow or orange color but aren’t seen during the growing season because of the chlorophyll. Carotenoids, which give carrots their orange color, are present to some extent in all leaves. The more carotenoid, the more intense the color.
Red leaves indicate the presence of anthocyanins, which are produced only in autumn. According to the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), these complex, water soluble compounds in leaf cells react with excess, stored plant sugars and exposure to sunlight, creating vivid pink, red and purple leaves. A mixture of red anthocyanin pigment and yellow carotene often results in the bright orange color seen in some leaves. The photo provides an excellent example of brilliant orange color. It’s near the entrance to the Seneca Waterways Council Boy Scouts of America’s J. Warren Cutler Scout Reservation in the Bristol Hills near Naples.
Colors most affected by weather are the red tones created by anthocyanin. On warm sunny days, lots of sugar is produced in the leaves. Trees exposed to brighter sunlight generate the reaction between the anthocyanin and the excess sugar, creating the bright red hue. Cooler temperatures cause the veins in the leaves to gradually close, preventing the sugars from moving out, which preserves the red tones. Thus, a succession of warm sunny days and cool crisp nights can paint the most spectacular display of color.
As the trees’ show of color comes to an end, the buds for next year’s leaves, growing at the base of this year’s leaves, force the colorful leaves to disconnect and fall to the ground before the curtain of winter descends.
Yes, it’s only September and too early to think about winter. But the reality is that winter isn’t that far off and some of the winterizing tasks for your lawn need to be done at least a month before the first frost.
Your lawn may need more than just lowering your mower. It could need aerating, fertilizing and overseeding. Start with aerifying, which removes plugs of sod from the lawn. The purpose is to let compacted soil expand and fill the areas created by removing the plugs. The expanded soil then has more area, known as pores, for the water and air grass roots need to be healthy.
Aerifying machines can be rented from tool rental stores if you feel really ambitious. My prediction is that, if you do it once, you’ll leave it to our lawn care professionals the next time. So, save yourself the not-so-pleasant experience and let us do it. When you compare our cost with what you pay to rent the machine and transport it back and forth from the rental store, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
When aerifying, the plugs of sod are left on the top of the ground to decompose and return nutrients to the soil. But this usually doesn’t provide the full amount of nutrients the soil needs to support a lawn. Consequently, your lawn will need a fall fertilization. Wait until the aerification process is completed so that there will be more pore space for the fertilizer.
Lawns whose turf is thin or suffered damage during the dry summer should be overseeded. Otherwise, you’re opening the door for weeds to take over. Weeds are stronger plants than grass, so their seeds germinate anywhere the grass is thin or dead.
After you’ve aerified and fertilized and given the fertilizer sufficient time to sink into the soil, rake the area to be overseeded. You’ll probably be surprised at the amount of thatch and grass clippings you’ll rake up. If you have a compost pile, that would be a good place to put the organic debris that you rake up. It should be noted that thatch is dead grass plants that accumulate in the turf, not grass clipping, as many believe.
The next step is to spread the grass seed at the rate indicated on the package label. The seed can be spread by hand when overseeding small areas. However, a wheeled spreader is better for large areas or entire lawns. After you’ve spread the seed, lightly rake the area to be sure the seeds are in contact with the soil. That’s the only way they’ll germinate. Finally, water well to maximize the seed/soil contact. This should be completed a month to six weeks before the date of the typical first frost.
If you want a lush lawn without the work involved, our lawn care professionals can do the complete overseeding as well as the aerifying. Then all you’ll have to do is wait for spring to enjoy your renewed lawn.
Maybe Labor Day marked the unofficial beginning of the fall season, but nobody told weeds that. These strong, adventitious plants seize upon the shoulder season to thrive and make sure they’ve provided ample opportunity for the next generation to do the same.
As adventitious plants, weeds make sure they fill up any bare spot in your lawn or planting beds. If you fell behind in your weeding during the spring and summer season, weeds may already have a foothold. This makes your job tougher in the fall. Besides having to rid your landscape of these unwanted plants, you also must rid your yard of the seeds they’ve dropped in preparation for winter.
You may want to sit back and assume that the winter will kill the weeds, no matter how strong they look. You’d be right. Before succumbing to winter’s blasts, though, those strong weeds dropped strong seeds that’ll lie dormant in the soil until next spring. Then they’ll pop up early in spring when other plants are still enjoying their winter dormancy. They’ll be able to flower and get established without competition from other plants.
These ideal conditions will allow the weeds to grow strong before the good plants wake up. Some even flower early and drop their seeds before anything else. As a result, strong, hardy weeds produce several generations a year. A weed may just be a plant growing where it wasn’t planted but where they grow seems to be to their liking because the do tend to thrive.
The best way I’ve found to fight weeds is to use everything in your arsenal. Start by spot treating the weeds with a broadleaf weed killer with both pre-emergent and post-emergent compounds. The post-emergent will kill the weeds that you see while the pre-emergent will prevent the seeds they’ve dropped from germinating.
The method I just described isn’t a one-and-done. You’ll have to keep after it. Weeds are persistent. If you want to take some aggression out, you might consider applying a pre-emergent to prevent seeds from germinating and pulling the weeds by hand.
The herbicide you select should be labeled for broadleaf weeds. A non-selective herbicide will kill all plants. Your lawn should be safe if you apply a broadleaf weed killer, but you will have to be extra careful applying it to weeds in a planting bed. The material can’t tell the difference between a weed and a desirable plant.
If you would like to leave the whole process to the pros, our lawn care professionals would be happy to make the application for you. Weed control is part of our lawn care programs but we can also provide a la carte service.
The coming of fall doesn’t signal a change in deck height for your mower. Not yet anyway. There’s still plenty of mowing left until your lawn goes dormant.
Hopefully, you’ve been mowing with the deck height at three to four inches all summer. If so, keep it at that height until the last mowing. If you’ve been mowing any lower, raise the deck up until your last mowing. For the last mowing, lower the deck to two inches.
Mowing high encourages stronger, thicker grass. Higher grass is healthier, and the longer blades of grass are able to make more food through photosynthesis. More food in the roots results in stronger roots, and thicker roots discourage weeds. Another advantage to mowing high is that you may be able mow less often. It’s like your hair; people with long hair can go longer between cuts than those with short hair. Grass blades and hair follicles grow at different rates, and the longer ones are more noticeable when the rest is short.
Long grass holds more moisture, creating an ideal environment for the fungal diseases that lawns are susceptible to in our area. That’s the reason for the last mowing being short. To know when to lower the mower, watch the weather forecasts. When the first hard frost is predicted, that’s the time to lower the mower. The mowing after the frost is the time to mow short. If that frost doesn’t drive the grass into dormancy, keep mowing low until the grass goes dormant.
Save some time and energy by combining two tasks into one – mowing and leaf mulching. Unless you have mountains of leaves on the grass surface, you can use the mulching feature on the mower to chop leaves up finely and let them fall on to the lawn. There, they’ll decompose over the winter and fertilize the lawn. If more leaves fall, there’s no reason why you can’t run the mulching mower over the lawn again, unless it has been unusually rainy, in which case you’ll have to rake or blow.
Whatever you do, though, don’t let the leaves stay on the lawn. Like long grass, leaves will retain the water from melting snow and provide the perfect climate for fungal diseases to infect your valuable lawn.,
A little preventive maintenance in the fall can go a long way toward assuring a lush, green lawn in the spring.
If the annuals in your flower beds and containers are looking rather tired, you have a decision to make. Do you replace them with more summer annuals or change them out for fall annuals? I think hesitation at fall annuals right now is the false notion that chrysanthemums, or mums, are the only choice. The truth is that there’s a great selection of annuals that bloom in the fall.
Some flowers that may have been providing color all season will continue blooming well into fall. These include violas like pansies and violets. Snap dragons and marigolds will also bloom well into the fall, as will petunias. If you didn’t have any of these in your landscape, check with your garden center. It’s not too late to plant them and enjoy their fall flowers.
If you did enjoy these flowers all spring and summer, you may have to refresh or replace them now, especially if they didn’t get enough water or do enough deadheading during the summer. Next spring, add these to your list of annuals, keep them happy and they’ll continue to keep you happy in the fall.
If you started the season with crocuses, you may want to end the season with the plant we call fall crocus. This bulb isn’t a rebloom of the spring crocus. It just looks like it. Actually, the spring crocus is a member of the same family as the iris while the fall crocus is a member of the lily family. Another common name for the fall crocus is meadow saffron but don’t get excited about the saffron name. In fact, you won’t want to confuse it with the very expensive spice. The meadow saffron, or fall crocus, is actually poisonous. The fall crocus photo was taken in October at Chanticleer, a public garden in Wayne, Pennsylvania.
Asters also are fall bloomers. In fact, they’re the most common companion to mums. That’s because they both have similar growing requirements and blooming schedules. The list of fall blooming plants also includes Black Eyed Susans, Autumn sedum, Cranesbill (hardy) geraniums, sweet alyssum and heuchera, which is also called coral bells. Daylilies can also bloom into the fall, as can sunflowers. Bleeding hearts, another early spring bloomer, also adds another dimension to your fall plant palette.
Mums are beautiful flowers for fall but they’re overused, resulting in a monoculture in many landscapes. Monoculture (limiting your plantings to one species) is never a good idea. It’s like putting all your eggs in one basket. You drop it and they all break. That’s why it’s better to diversify your plant palette for any season.
Fall Is For Planting has been a nursery industry slogan for decades, and it’s based on sound horticultural science. It’s all about giving plants a head start on getting established in their new home. For you, it means less maintenance work than planting in the spring requires.
Granted, fall doesn’t officially start until later in September, but Labor Day is its unofficial beginning. The beginnIng of September is also when the weather starts becoming more autumn-like. Nighttime temperatures moderate while daytime temperatures stay warm. Cool nights and warm days help plants get used to cold temperatures gradually. When winter arrives, they’ll be established and ready for dormancy.
The nursery industry recommends planting most deciduous trees and shrubs in fall. Deciduous plants are those that lose their leaves in winter. Fall is also the best time to plant or split herbaceous perennials. And spring flowering bulbs like daffodils and tulips need to be planted this fall if you want them to bloom next spring.
In spring, trees and shrubs planted in the fall will break dormancy and begin growing several weeks before spring planting can get underway. Because of their earlier start, last fall’s plants require less care during the summer than spring plants. That means less watering and, possibly, less fertilizing, saving you both time and money.
Evergreens are a different story. Wait until spring to plant these trees and shrubs. Evergreens retain their leaves or needles and don’t go completely dormant. Thus, the name – evergreen. If planted in fall, they can be subject to unsightly winter burn, unless you apply anti desiccant. Also, wait until spring to plant perennials that flower on new wood like butterfly bush and big leaf hydrangeas. Otherwise, you’ll have to prune the old wood away in the spring to allow new wood, and flowers, to grow.
Contrary to the belief of some cynics, Fall is for Planting isn’t just a way for garden centers to get rid of their leftover nursery stock. Most buy fresh stock for the fall. If plants look like they are leftovers, don’t buy them. If they look fresh, go ahead. Nurseries aren’t going to invest in stock that they’ll have to overwinter.
Homeowners who want to enjoy the results of fall planted trees and shrubs without the work, turn the whole job over to our landscape professionals. Then they can be sure they have winter hardy plants and that the right plants are planted in the right places. Then all you have to do is sit back and enjoy their new plants this fall, next spring and for years to come.
As summer begins to evolve into fall, it leaves behind a voracious creature with an insatiable appetite for grass roots. I’m referring to lawn grubs.
Grubs are the larvae of Japanese beetles and European chafer beetles. Many of you have already been introduced to the parents of the grubs that will be feasting on your lawn this fall. They’re last year’s grubs in their adult stage – the big brown beetles that have been flying around. They make a nuisance of themselves by flying into the glass of your windows. Because they started this aggravating ritual a couple months ago, both species of beetles are commonly called June bugs.
Aside from their unpredictable flight patterns, June bugs are harmless to humans. Their navigation instinct may have been short circuited by their mating instinct. Once successful, the females lay their eggs in turf. When the eggs hatch, the small grubs burrow down into the sod and begin feasting on the grass roots.
As the weather gets colder, the well-fed grubs burrow further down in the ground where they overwinter. When the ground warms up in the spring, they’ll come back up and continue feasting until it’s time to pupate and morph into adult June bugs.
Don’t be lulled into complacency because you didn’t experience June bugs smacking into your windows. They aren’t restricted to laying eggs in any one spot. You may still have their progeny in your lawn. There’s an easy DIY check to see if you have grubs. Cut a one foot by one foot square of sod from several areas of your lawn. Fold back the sod. Look for any white, crescent-shaped creatures like in the photo. Check both the bottom of the section of sod and the hole from which you took it. If there are six or fewer grubs per test area, treatment is optional. There are too few to do any damage. Seven or more call for control measures.
Grubs have been destroying area lawns for decades so there are several effective grub control products available at garden and home centers, including one that’s manufactured locally. The products are granular and spread with the same spreader that you use for fertilizer.
The product label may say that it can be applied in spring or fall but a fall application is more effective. The grubs will have just hatched so they’ll be small and weak. By next spring, they’ll be well fed, strong and several times bigger than they are now. As a result, you may have to make more than one application in spring but only one in fall.
Another reason for a fall application is that the fully grown grubs will damage your lawn. You’ll see brown spots where they’ve eaten the roots. In the fall, the young grubs are eating less, causing less surface damage.
Lawns on our lawn care program receive grub control in the fall if they need it. We can also apply grub control for those not on our program if you don’t want to bother checking for grubs and applying control yourselves.
