MENUAeration is one of the kindest things you can do for your lawn before putting it to bed for the winter, especially if you have the heavy clay soil that predominates our area. Fall is a good time to aerate your lawn, and I recommend that you do it before you do any overseeding.
Plant roots need water and oxygen. When soil is compacted, there’s little space between soil particles for these essentials. Aeration removes plugs of soil, giving the particles a little more breathing room. The spaces created by aeration quickly close up when a heavy lawnmower is run over it every week and the family plays on the lawn. As a result, aeration may be an annual part of lawn care in many area communities.
At first glance, aerators may look like a big walk behind lawn mower. Instead of blades, though, an aerator has spoon like tines or hollow tubes that the machine drives into the sod. The tubes come out of the soil filled with sod and deposit it on the lawn surface. The “plugs” are left in place to decompose and return organic matter to the lawn.
Initially, the holes left by the sod plugs provide a wide open space for water and oxygen to enter. With time, though, the holes close up with surrounding soil, which expands to fill the empty spaces. The looser soil provides the water and oxygen with a path to penetrate the whole lawn.
Aerators can be rented at equipment rental stores. If you decide on the DIY approach, I think it’ll be a one time task. Next time, you’ll turn it over to our lawn care professionals. An aerator may look like a lawn mower but it’s heavier, takes more strength to control and operates slower than a lawn mower. When you calculate the cost of renting the machine, transporting it to and from your home and the sweat and hard labor you put into the task, I think you’ll opt for having the job done professionally.
Two other jobs that are often associated with aerating are rolling and dethatching. They shouldn’t be. Lawns should not be rolled, especially those growing in clay soil. Rolling is done to take bumps out of the lawn but the soil in those bumps needs to end up somewhere. It fills up already restricted spaces between soil particles, further compacting the soil. If you do roll, it’s best to aerate right after, whether you planned to or not, in order to allow the soil to breathe. Dethatching is the gathering of dead grass plants that accumulate in turf, not grass clippings. Some lawns never need dethatching and most don’t need it as often as aerating. A lawn care professional can advise you on any services needed for a beautiful, healthy lawn.
When you think about fall color in your landscape, what comes to mind? Colorful leaves that give trees and shrubs a moment of brilliance before falling to the ground for you to rake up? Or perhaps chrysanthemums (mums)? Colorful leaves are short lived and mums all by themselves are quite boring. This post gives you ideas for other colorful fall plants that are hardy in our area.
Flowers that provided early spring color can also provide late fall color. These include violas like pansies and violets. Snap dragons and marigold will also bloom well into the fall, as will petunias. You may have to refresh or replace them in the late summer or early fall, especially if they didn’t get enough water or deadheading but they’re well suited to the weather that’s in store.
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 just 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.
I’m not trying to minimize mums. Mass plantings are beautiful. I’m just making the point that they aren’t the only plant that flowers in fall, and suggesting that you diversify your autumn plant palette. Monoculture (limiting your plantings to one species) is never a good idea. Asters are 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.
Don’t forget shrubs when planting for fall color. The hydrangea is an example of a late blooming shrub. Witch hazel blooms in late fall into winter. But shrubs can show color in other ways. For example, the beauty bush displays its fruit (pictured) well into the fall and dogwoods are famous for their red twigs.
Fall doesn’t have to be any less colorful than spring and summer. Before you start packing things away and battening down the hatches for winter, why not take a trip to your garden center and see what they’ve got to make your autumn more colorful than ever? We have two or three months before you have to think winter. Make it joyful and colorful. Fall is for planting bedding plants and perennials as well as trees and shrubs. If you’d like help making selections and planting them, our landscape professionals are happy to lend a hand.
Fall doesn’t officially begin until later in September, but everyone considers Labor Day the unofficial start. Typically, the nighttime temperatures begin to fall while the daytime temperatures stay warm. It’s also when the rains return so new plantings will receive sufficient water without your having to supplement it with irrigation. And, that’s exactly why the nursery industry reminds us that Fall is for Planting.
Garden centers join in on this promotion, too. Contrary to some people’s opinion that garden centers just use the fall season to get rid of leftover nursery stock, reputable garden centers actually get fresh stock for the season. They may mark down stock that’s left from spring sales, also. That’s OK because most of their nursery stock will be perfectly fine, if they took care of it. So, how do you tell a good tree from a bad one? The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) published a consumer information bulletin, Buying High-Quality Trees, in which they offered the tips below.
A high-quality tree has….
• Strong form with well-spaced, firmly attached branches.
• A trunk free of wounds or damage.
• A quality root system to support healthy growth.
Conversely, a low-quality tree has…
• Weak form in which multiple stems originate from the same point and branches grow into each other.
• A trunk with wounds from handling or incorrect pruning.
• Limited, crushed or circling roots in an undersized root ball or container.
Some of the ways you know a tree’s form is strong is even spacing of branches along the trunk. Avoid branches facing upward and forming narrow angles. As the branches grow, they’ll compete with the trunk for the limited space between them and branches usually lose the fight and break. Trees in which the trunk splits into two equal leaders can be a problem as it grows. Those two leaders are called co-dominate but one is always stronger. If the angle between them is narrow, the weaker will inevitably split. This can be prevented by cabling and bracing but that’s an extra expense. It should be noted that the limbs you see on a young tree will seldom survive to maturity, but the spacing will remain true to form. Branches don’t grow upward; they remain in the same position for life. As the trunk grows higher, it shoots out new branches, while the lower ones are shaded out by the upper branches or have to be pruned off for clearance purposes.
Always inspect the trunk of a tree you’re considering buying. Look for signs of insects, wounds like frost cracks (injuries to the bark that run vertically up the tree), and improper pruning cuts. Sometimes the grower removes the lower branches to encourage a fuller crown. If flush cuts – those flat to the trunk – were made, special tissue in the branch collar was removed. This tissue contains cells that help the pruning wound to callous over to protect the tree from insect or diseases. Any pruning cuts should bulge out like a donut but shouldn’t leave any branch stubs. If the trunk is wrapped in protective material, remove it and inspect the trunk before you buy the tree.
Whether the tree is bare root, balled and burlapped or containerized, you should check the roots before buying. Bare roots are easiest to check. Make sure the roots are moist and not discolored or crushed. The roots were probably pruned when the tree was dug. Make sure the root ends are cleanly cut, rather than ragged as though they were ripped from the ground. If the roots are long, the ragged end can be pruned so it’ll grow correctly. Containerized plants are the next easiest to check at the garden store before buying. Slip it out of the pot and look for roots encircling several other roots. If present, try pulling the offending root out straight. If it’s too big to be straightened, pass on the tree, unless the garden center offers to fix it for you at no charge. The repair involves cutting the offending root and removing the section that crosses other roots. A girdling root that remains in place can eventually kill all or part of the tree. Also check the root collar, the point at which the root and trunk connect, to be sure it’s not buried in the container soil. If it is, pull the soil away and make sure that collar remains exposed when you plant the tree.
Balled and burlap roots are the most difficult to check. However, you can check the root collar and make sure it isn’t buried. Be sure to retain the right to return the tree if you find any root damage like girdling root when you get the tree home. You’ll cut the string or wire holding the burlap to the trunk when you plant the tree, and that’s when you can examine the rootball closely.
Regardless of whether you buy a bare root, containerized or balled and burlapped tree you should keep the roots moist but not sopping wet if you aren’t going to plant it right away. When you do plant it, dig the hole two or three time larger around than the rootball but only as deep. Before planting, remove the pot from containerized trees but just the string or wire from balled and burlapped trees. The burlap will decompose in the ground. Spread the roots out when planting bare root stock. As you backfill, stop periodically to tamp down the soil lightly but not enough to compact it. Be careful not to bury the root collar. Finally, water the backfill.
It’s already that time of year when I remind you to check your lawn for grubs. These pests have been destroying lawns for decades. We can’t eliminate them but we can manage them with a little diligent observation.
During June and the first couple weeks in July, grubs in their adult stage have been flying around trying to find a mate. You may have seen…or heard them. They’re big, brown beetles with either an attraction to light or a very poor sense of direction. We usually become aware of them when they fly right at our windows, making a distinctive sound as they hit. There are usually enough of them that it sounds like a hail storm. If you’ve experienced this phenomenon, it’s a safe bet that you have grubs in your lawn, or soon will.
The beetles are either European chafers or Japanese beetles. After mating, the female lays eggs in the turf of your lawn. The immature stage is crescent-shaped white grubs. Upon emergence from the eggs, grubs immediately burrow into the root zone of your lawn and begin feasting on grass roots. They continue feeding until the soil surface temperatures go down and winter sets in. This is when they burrow deeper into the soil, where it’s warmer. In the spring, they rise back up to the root zone and continue their feast until they’re about two inches long. They then pupate, morph into adults and begin flying into your windows all over again.
The best time to wage war against grubs is in the fall. This is when they are small and weak and don’t require aggressive control measures. If you wait until next spring to control them, the grubs will be bigger, stronger and more resistant to control measures. And they will have had more time to destroy your lawn.
You can start looking for grubs now. You may not see them on your first try but keep at it. To check for grubs, cut several one-foot squares of sod from different areas of your lawn. A sharp knife is the only tool you’ll need. Roll the pieces of sod back and check both the bottom of the sod and the hole for little grubs that look like the picture. If you count six or fewer grubs in each square, you don’t have a big enough infestation to warrant treatment. If any of the squares has seven or more grubs, you should put the sod back in place and apply a treatment.
Treatment is an easy do it yourself job. You can buy granular grub control products at garden centers and home stores and spread them just as you would granulated fertilizer. Follow label directions. Don’t use more than the label directs on the false assumption that twice as much will be twice effective. Just the opposite is true. If this is a job you’d rather not do yourself, our lawn care professionals can diagnose whether you have a grub problem and, if you do, apply the most effective material at just the right strength. This service is part of our lawn care program but we also offer it to property owners who aren’t on a lawn care program.
Poet Robert Frost’s statement about fences making good neighbors may not apply to trees planted on a boundary line. Boundary trees have been sources of contention between neighbors for centuries, and it has led to laws that govern who owns boundary line trees and who’s responsible for their care.
A book, entitled Arboriculture and the Law, published by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), states that, generally, courts find that a tree positioned on a property line between two residences is common property, and thus, the responsibility of both property owners. ISA explains, “This typically means the tree cannot be pruned, destroyed, or altered without both parties agreeing to the changes. Sometimes this requires the two parties to have a written agreement on the terms of care for the tree. If a tree is securely on your property, in the eyes of the law you are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep.”
Sometimes a tree that you planted near your lot line grows and grows until it straddles the boundary between your yard and the neighbor’s. When that happens, you have a new partner in the ownership of that tree. This can lead to disagreements between you and your reluctant co-owner. This situation can be prevented by making sure you know the expected trunk diameter and crown and root spread of any tree or shrub you plant close to the boundary line and make sure it’s far enough into your property to keep it from encroaching on your neighbor’s property. As an aside, shared ownership also applies to fences on the boundary line. So, install fences several inches on your side of the line, too.
More common than a tree straddling a boundary line is a tree that’s allowed to grow unattended until branches hang over into your neighbor’s yard and drops leaves in their yard, possibly in their pool or on their patio, or drops litter on their vehicles. Worse yet are situations in which branches hanging over the neighbor’s house breaks and falls on the roof or the roots grow under the driveway, causing it to heave. Who’s responsible for such damage? According to the lawyers who wrote the ISA book, the common rule of thumb is that a homeowner should consider themselves responsible for tending to any trees that could cause harm to a neighbor’s home or person.
If you don’t take the responsibility for your interfering tree, the neighbor can take the necessary action on their side of the boundary, according to the law. They can remove any portion of the tree invading their property. ISA states that courts have determined that a landowner owns all the space above and below his property, and if something invades either of those areas, it is his
right to remove it.
If the wind breaks a branch and it falls on the neighbor’s roof you can’t escape responsibility by pleading ignorance or that it was an “Act of God.” If you could have prevented the damage by regularly checking and maintaining your tree(s), you may be able to prevent many problems in your life. It’s also a good idea to maintain a photo history with before and after of everything you do or have done. If your trees or landscape does sustain damage, ISA recommends that you….
• Contact your homeowner’s insurance company.
• Have the insurance company send a professional tree and landscaping appraiser out to your property immediately after the damage has occurred.
• Have the appraiser determine your financial loss, including the cost of removal and repair.
• Have any repairs or removal work performed by our professional arborists. We have 13 ISA Certified Arborists and one Board Certified Arborist on staff.
Fall is for planting, and that time will soon be upon us. Selecting a tree and a planting site should be no trivial matter. After all, many trees that are planted this fall may outlive their owners. You should prepare to plant with longevity in mind because it’ll only happen if you select the right plant for the right place. Otherwise, your efforts and investment could become a short-lived money pit.
If you don’t like where you’re living, you can move. Few trees have that luxury. They have to stand there and take whatever nature and the environment metes out. As stressed trees’ health decline, they begin costing money for repair. When they finally give up the ghost, the cost to take them down becomes a major investment. It will then cost even more to fill the empty space left by the tree removal.
The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) suggests you ask yourself these questions and use your answers in making your tree selection and placement decisions:
• Why am I planting this tree? What functions will it serve? Large, healthy trees increase property values and make outdoor surroundings more pleasant. A deciduous shade tree that loses its leaves in fall provides cooling relief from summer’s heat while allowing the winter sun to warm your home. An ornamental tree displays beautiful flowers, leaves, bark or fruit. Evergreens with dense, persistent foliage can provide a windbreak or a screen for privacy. A tree or shrub that produces fruit can provide food for you or wildlife. Trees can also reduce runoff, filter out pollutants and add oxygen to the air we breathe.
• Is a small, medium or large tree best suited for the location and available space? Do overhead or belowground utilities preclude planting a large, growing tree — or any tree at all? What clearance is needed for sidewalks, patios, or driveways? Selecting the right form (shape) to complement the desired function (what you want the tree to do) can significantly reduce maintenance costs and increase the tree’s value in the landscape. In addition, mature tree size determines the level of benefits received. Larger trees typically provide the greatest economic and environmental returns. Depending on the site, you can choose from hundreds of form and size combinations. A low, spreading tree may be planted under overhead utility lines. A narrow, columnar evergreen may provide a screen between two buildings. Large, vase-shaped trees can create an arbor over a driveway.
Site conditions to consider when making your selection and placement decisions include soil conditions, exposure to sun and wind, drainage, space constraints, hardiness zone, human activity and insect and disease susceptibility. If the site is shady, you’ll want to select a shade tolerant tree instead of one that loves sun. You won’t want to select a tree that won’t tolerate wet feet for a low part your landscape. Hardiness is the plant’s ability to survive in the extreme temperatures of the particular geographic region where you’re planting the tree. We’re in Zone 5. Planting the wrong tree in the wrong place accounts for more tree deaths than all insect and disease related deaths combined.
• What are the soil conditions? Is enough soil of sufficient quality available to support mature tree growth? When new homes are built, the soil is often disturbed, shallow, compacted and subject to drought. Most trees will suffer in these conditions without additional care. We can take soil samples from your yard to test for texture, fertility, salinity and pH (alkalinity or acidity). These tests can be used to determine which trees are suited for your property and may include recommendations for improving poor soil conditions.
Following these ISA recommendations, which I heartily endorse, can make this an autumn to remember…the start of a long and beneficial relationship.
The best time to know where you need more plants in your landscape is when the plants you have are in bloom, or recently bloomed. That time is now. So take photos and make notes so you’ll know exactly where you need more plants and what types of plants you need. Or better yet, try some ideas now.
Spring flowering plants like bulbs and flowering shrubs are through blooming for the season. Now they’re foliage plants. Does the green of these foliage plants satisfy you? Is there balance between areas that are in summer bloom and the foliage plants that have already bloomed? Or is the void of color in part of your landscape a major distraction? This is a personal preference. I’m a woody plant lover so I like mass areas of foliage.
If you want more color, take a trip to the garden center and buy annuals. For just a bit of color to break up the green monochrome, plant annuals around the base of trees or a bed of shrubs. You should have a mulched area between the plants and the grass, walkway or whatever’s adjacent to the foliage plant(s). Foliage plant beds that border on grass can be easily expanded by removing some grass and planting annuals.
You may have a space that looks barren, devoid of either flower or foliage plants. Such a space will give you a blank slate to experiment. Consider removing the sod and plant a bed of annuals. Experiment with plants of different heights and colors with a view to replacing the annuals with perennials either this fall or next spring. Since this is an experiment, I suggest saving the sod in case you decide that the space looks better in grass than flowers and be sure to take photos.
When you cut the sod, rent a sod cutter. Depending on the size bed you’re making, you’ll cut small, flat rectangles or large rectangles that you can roll up for easy handling. Roll out black plastic on the driveway or a part of your yard where it won’t be an eyesore or kill any other plants. The area you choose should get plenty of sunlight and access to water. The sod likes plenty of both. Finally, roll out the sod on to the plastic. Makes sure it gets plenty of moisture in the form of rain, your hose, a sprinkler or a combination.
Should you decide that your new bed looks better as lawn, you can just pull the flowers out, then level and rake the ground. Before resodding, you might want to put down some pre-emergent weed killer to keep from having unwanted flowers growing up in your lawn next season. After any waiting period specified on the pre-emergent package, put the pieces of sod together like a jigsaw puzzle. Walk on it to make sure it makes good contact with the soil and water it.
An easy alternative for temporary fill-ins for flowerless areas is to use containers. Containerize annuals and place them in the area you want filled with color. If you like the color they bring to the space, leave them in place for the season and then replace the containers with low maintenance perennials. If the color doesn’t do anything for you, use the containerized plants to give plenty of color to your deck, patio, pool area or front entrance – any area that needs softening with a little color.
A landscape can never have too much color but don’t forget foliage plants. They add structure and bulk to a landscape, and they give it form. Foliage plants can also add color to your landscape without showy blooms. Choose varieties with colorful leaves and form. A weeping lace leaf Japanese red maple is a good example. Plants with variegated leaves are also good choices.If you know that an area of your landscape needs help but can’t come up with satisfying ideas, or if you prefer to enjoy your landscape without having to do the work, I suggest you work with one of our landscape designers to give your property just the look you want. And our landscape installation professionals can bring the design to life
Landscaping and gardening have a language of their own. For example, one term that some would consider an oxymoron is deadheading. You would think that deadheading would have something to do with killing a plant but it’s actually a procedure that extends a plant’s life.
Deadheading is the practice of removing spent flowers from a plant before they can go to seed. Every life process requires that energy be expended. Removing flowers when they begin looking as though they’re dying prevents them from expending energy to finish the flowering process and setting seed heads. Instead, they’ll direct that energy to blooming again to finish the reproduction process that you short circuited.
Some gardeners refer to the process of deadheading as “pinching off” the flowers. On many annuals, you can pinch the stem just below the bloom you’re removing. Some gardeners believe that pinching’s the only way to remove fading flowers. Others, me included, have no problem using tools when that will help. The stems of some annuals are just too thick to be pinched. A pair of ordinary kitchen scissors will do the trick for most annuals and many herbaceous perennials. Woody perennials are a different story.
Most flowering shrubs will only bloom once a year but it’s a good idea to deadhead them anyway just to keep them tidy. Who wants to see limp, brown, dead flowers hanging from their shrubs? Pruning shears work best for this job. You can dull kitchen scissors quickly by cutting wood with them. There’s debate over whether deadheading flowering shrubs will yield more flowers next season, but it will keep them from misdirecting energy.
Deadheading shrubs will provide you with a low impact landscaping activity on summer days when your green thumb gets itchy. Be careful when removing spent flowers, though. Look for buds and avoid them. The buds are next year’s flowers. Removing them with this year’s spent flowers will result in no blooms next year.
There’s a difference between deadheading and pruning. To deadhead, you just remove the blooms at their base. Don’t remove any wood. Pruning is for removing dead, dying, broken or rubbing branches or shoots. Pruning is also used to shape shrubs by removing or trimming back branches to maintain a particular form. This procedure is more than a simple cut at the base of a flower. Pruning cuts should be made all the way to the base of the shrub or, at least to a junction with another branch or a leaf. You don’t want to leave stubs.
If you want to do something for your landscape, even on a hot summer day, consider leisurely walking your property. The purpose: to inspect your trees for hazards. This should be done periodically throughout the year because tree needs, and hazards, change with the season. Summer is a good time to start.
Trees are much like pets. They provide you with great pleasure, but they can also be a liability for which you are responsible. Knowing the possible hazards that can turn your trees from a source of enjoyment to a source of concern can make tree ownership less worrisome and more enjoyable. Here are some hazards to keep an eye on. They were compiled by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA).
• Trees growing too close to electric wires. Tree parts that touch an energized wire can cause an outage, fire, surge or other damage. A tree in contact with a live wire can conduct electricity to the ground, causing injury to anyone who touches it. Keeping wires and trees separated is essential.
• Large, dead branches in a tree.
• Detached branches hanging in trees.
• Cavities or rotten wood along the trunk or in major branches.
• Mushrooms at the base of a tree.
• Cracks or splits in the trunk or where branches are attached.
• Branches that have fallen from the tree.
• Adjacent trees that have fallen over or died.
• A trunk that has developed a strong lean.
• Major branches arising from one point on the trunk.
• Roots that have been broken off, injured or damaged by lowering the soil level, installing pavement, repairing sidewalks or digging trenches.
• Recent site changes due to construction, raising the soil level or installing lawns.
• Leaves that have prematurely developed an unusual color or size.
• Tree removals from adjacent wooded areas.
• Topping or heavy pruning of trees.
• Forked trunk with branches and stems equal in size.
Trees may appear strong and majestic, and they are. But they are also very complex organisms. These two factors are why tree care isn’t a DIY activity. As you inspect your trees, the only task for you to do is pick up any fallen branches. Everything else is a job for our professional arborists. If a tree on your property has any of the conditions in the checklist, there’s the danger of branches falling on you, and believe me, they’re heavy. People have been killed by falling branches. If rot is present, there’s a chance that portions of the tree will break when you put weight on them. Or the whole tree could topple injuring you and any bystanders and damaging property.
July and August are called the dog days of summer for a reason. Many people like to lie down and sleep on a hot afternoon, just like a dog does. Kind of lazy like. Well if you and your dog feel lazy and just want to be left alone, what makes you think your landscape plants want to be pampered on hot days?
I recommend that you get everything done now and then just sit back and take in the beauty. One thing you can do is make sure your plants have sufficient water. They like an inch a week. If you don’t have an irrigation system, you could set up a network of soaker hoses. Then you’ll be ready to water them, if need be. All you’ll have to do is turn the spigot(s) on a quarter turn. Turning them on any further can cause the soaker hoses to burst.
You may have to prioritize to keep your water bill from going through the roof. I recommend placing young and newly planted trees and shrubs at the top of the list, followed by perennials. Losing these plants will result in the greatest financial loss. Watering annuals depends on your budget and ambition. If they should be changed out soon, don’t bother. Let them run their natural course and then change them out and keep the fresh plants watered.
Watering your lawn is costly and time consuming. Nature has equipped turf with a defense mechanism. Lawns go dormant when it’s hot and dry. That’s why the grass turns brown. When the temperatures cool and the rain returns, it will green up again. Caution 1: Avoid walking on the brown grass. You’ll break the blades and leave unsightly footprints. And, if you shouldn’t walk on dormant grass, you certainly shouldn’t mow. Caution 2: Be sure you fertilize now if your lawn needs a late spring fertilization. Fertilizing during the dog days can burn the grass when it’s dormant.
One task you can do all summer is deadhead your flowers. Deadheading is removing spent flowers before they go to seed. This enables the plant to redirect its energy to producing another flush of flowers, rather than dropping seeds. Also, make sure all your plants are well mulched. Mulch moderates soil temperatures, cooling it in summer and warming it in winter.If you really feel ambitious, you might consider building paths, if you don’t already have them, so you can walk through your landscape without having to walk through your planting beds or across your lawn.
A lot of emphasis is being placed on landscaping for small spaces because more and more busy people are opting for smaller yards. If that’s the trend, where does that leave the owners of big landscapes? It can leave the creative person with the best of several worlds. You could divide your large garden into several small, themed gardens, or outdoor rooms.
Some of the theme gardens to consider include…
• Cottage Garden. Quite common in the United Kingdom, where properties tend to be small, cottage gardens are full of colorful plants, spaced close together to discourage weeds. The gardens often look as though seeds were scattered in the garden and they grew randomly. Actually, they’re carefully planned and planted, and they’re meticulously cared for.
• Wildflower Garden. At first blush, a wildflower garden may seem like the American equivalent of a cottage garden. However, the seeds for these gardens are purchased as mixtures and scattered, much like planting a lawn. Also called meadow gardens, wildflowers are often planted on hillsides and other large, hard to manage pieces of property. They usually have to be mowed only in the fall so that the seeds that fell on the ground can grow next spring. Buy only branded seed mixes. Bargain mixes may contain weed seeds and others that you don’t want.
• Cutting Garden. This is a utilitarian garden of flowers you’ll cut and display in vases in your home. You can plant either in rows or any creative shape you want.
• Pollinator Garden. A pollinator garden can be free standing or simply bright colored, deep flowers and plants caterpillars like mixed into another garden. You should have a butterfly house and water puddler nearby, too. Don’t worry about bees; they can find your garden from their hives miles away.
• Edible Garden. This is just another word for a vegetable garden. It, too, can be free standing planted either in traditional rows or as you’d plant an ornamental garden. Or you can be trendy and mix edibles and ornamentals in a single garden.
• Secret/Meditation Garden. This should be a completely enclosed space planted mostly with foliage plants and, possibly, a few flowering plants. The mood should be tranquil and relaxing – a place where you can retreat to and shut the world out.
• Japanese Garden. More often than not, your garden would be a Japanese style garden rather than an authentic Japanese garden. If you’re going to design your own, I recommend researching Japanese gardens online or at the library. There are very definite rules for plants and their placement, as well as hardscape features like statuary and rocks. Japanese gardens usually require more space than the other styles discussed above.
Ideas are endless. The mix of styles is limited only by your imagination. The number and size of each garden depends on the size of your property, as well as the ambiance you want to create. If you need help with the design and installation, we have a staff of creative landscape designers who can take the stress out of evolving an idea into a cohesive plan that you or our installation professionals can bring to reality.
Wildlife, birds and pollinators should all be considered when planning a new landscape or changes to your present landscape. Do you want to attract wildlife? Would you prefer that the furry creatures not visit but birds are welcome? Surely you want pollinators, unless you or someone in your family is allergic to bees.
The wild guests you’ll welcome will influence the plant material you specify. All wildlife need food, water, shelter and a place to bear and raise their young. If you want to attract mammals, investigate what mammals live in your area and specify the plants they like to eat. Keep in mind that wild animals have a mind of their own, as evidenced by the damage that’s done to woody plants every winter by deer and rodents. Remember, too, that they can bite and scratch if you try to be too friendly, and some carry diseases like rabies.
Perhaps it would be wiser to keep them close enough that you can enjoy their antics but far enough from your living area that they’re less apt to do any damage. Then plant their food sources near the edge of your property. Research what kind of shelter they need and put that further out, too. A water feature in your outback would provide them with their hydration needs. If you don’t want to attract wildlife, discourage them by not providing any of their necessities.
Birds have the same four basic needs as mammals. Getting birds to visit is as easy as providing for those needs. Putting out bird feeders is sure to bring them to your yard. Before you buy bird seed, make a list of the birds that visit your yard so you can buy a seed mix they like. Be sure to buy, or build, bird feeders that are difficult for squirrels to access. They’ll scare the birds away and make a mess of the seed. To provide water for birds to drink and bathe in only requires a birdbath that can be purchased at any garden or home center.
Most birds are very particular about their shelter. Robins will nest almost anywhere – in trees, in birdhouses, in the eaves of your house. Wrens like birdhouses. They are the birds that settle into homemade birdhouses the most. When making birdhouses, be sure the entry hole is the right size for the bird you want to attract. If it’s too big, a lazy bird you don’t want may take over the house.
Bluebirds will use birdhouses for winter shelter, as well as a nesting shelter to raise their young. Cardinals also like birdhouses but they and blue jays will also roost in thick evergreens. If you have a mosquito problem, you may want to attract purple martins. These birds like to live in special apartment houses, which are sold at specialty bird supply stores and online. The employees at a specialty bird store can give you advice on attracting the various birds that call your area home.
Attracting pollinators is all the rage these days because the bee population is dying off and monarch butterflies are in decline. If you have annuals or perennials with bright colored flowers then you’ll attract pollinators. If bees visit your yard, you don’t have to worry about providing shelter. Their apiary may be miles away but they’ll find their way home. Hummingbirds, also good pollinators, roost in their nests or in tree branches, often sleeping upside down.
Butterflies need the most help. The adults suck nectar from flowers, and in the process pick up pollen on their feet. They deposit the pollen on another flower when they stop for another drink. However, one of the best things you can do to attract butterflies is to plant food for their young. Monarchs, for example, will only lay their eggs on milkweed plants because their caterpillars will only eat milkweed leaves. Milkweeds aren’t the most attractive plant so you might want to plant them in a less prominent place in your yard. The butterflies will find them.
You can help these beautiful workers by investing in a butterfly house, also known as a butterfly box, and a puddler, which is a shallow vessel butterflies use to drink and bathe from. You can find these online or at specialty bird stores. The staff at the bird store can also provide you with information on what species live in your area and their caterpillars’ food needs.
If you want to attract wildlife, birds and/or pollinators without doing the necessary work and research, our landscape designers are fauna experts as well as flora experts. All you have to do is share your desires with them and they will take it from there.
Water isn’t scarce here. We have the Finger Lakes to the south and Lake Ontario to the north. But that’s no reason to waste water. After all, most of us have to pay for each gallon we use. Luckily, we seldom have to irrigate our established landscapes.
New plants do need supplemental water if they don’t receive at least an inch a week from precipitation. Once they’re established, they will also like at least the inch a week. However, the roots of many established plants find a reliable water source, except when we experience a drought. You may have to irrigate some of your plants this season because rainfall for the year is well below last year’s level. Keep an eye on your plants and irrigate any that begin to look droopy and stressed.
When planning new landscape, or changes to your present landscape, here are some water conservation techniques to consider:
• Check the nursery tags of the plants you’re planning to buy. They should have a section on water requirements. Look for those that say, “Drought Tolerant.” No plant is drought loving, except possibly some succulents that won’t grow here anyway. But there are plenty of drought tolerant plants at area garden centers.
• A landscape of all drought tolerant plants might not satisfy your aesthetic desire. In your design, you can group your plants according to water needs to conserve water. If you do have to irrigate, you’ll be able to snake soaker hoses around the group and water them all for the same amount of time.
• Use the terrain in your yard for water conservation. Plant those that need the most water in the lowest area of your yard and those that need less water on higher ground. Then, when it rains, the plants on the higher ground will receive the water they need and the excess will flow downhill to supplement the rain falling on the thirstier plants. You can see that principal at work in nature. You seldom see trees like willows or cottonwoods growing on a hill. They’ll be in the lowest, soggiest place. On top of the hill, you’ll find plants that aren’t fussy and need only minimal moisture.
• Use mulch liberally. Organic mulch, such as wood chips, is one of the best water conservation measures. The mulch absorbs water and then releases it slowly. It prevents a belly gushing rain storm from flooding the site. Lots of rain all at once runs off before it can soak into the soil. Mulch holds the water and releases it gradually. As the mulch decomposes, it returns organic matter to the soil to nourish the plants. Spreading one or two inches of mulch in every planting bed and two or three inches under every tree is one of the healthiest ways to a beautiful landscape. You can buy mulch in bags at your garden center for small properties. For the average suburban landscape, however, it’s less expensive to buy in bulk. We can deliver it by the cubic yard and dump in your driveway for you to spread, or we can spread it for you.
If you incorporate these suggestions into your landscape, you’ll spend less time tending to your landscape and more time enjoying it. You can sit on the deck or patio sipping a nice, cool drink of the water you didn’t have to use to irrigate your plants.
Memorial Day is the unofficial start to the gardening season in New York’s Rochester and Finger Lakes region. That day was selected for both edible and ornamental gardens and landscapes because we can be pretty sure there won’t be any more frosts or freezes this spring.
With Covid still on people’s minds, this three-day holiday weekend will find many families staying at home. That doesn’t mean you have to stay in the house. You can have a fun filled staycation outdoors planting a garden. Make it a family affair.
Planting annuals and vegetables affords you an opportunity for the whole family to get involved. As a family, walk your property to see where annuals and veggies should be planted. If you’re familiar with flowering annuals, you can make a list of the number of each variety you need to fill your spaces. Estimate on the high side so you can plant them close together and discourage weeds. If you aren’t that familiar with the various plants, measure your beds and then rely on the nursery tag information and advice from the garden center horticulturists to guide you in making your choices. Also let the garden center horticulturists guide you as to which plants to buy as seeds and which to buy in pots and six packs.
Include in your plan an area just for the children to plant and take care of. While it’s up to you whether you plant veggies in rows or mix them in with the flowers, I suggest that the kids’ garden be a mix of both. It will show them the difference between ornamentals and edibles as they grow side by side. They will also get great satisfaction from being able to pick and eat the fruits of their labor. Can’t you see the smiles on their faces as they pick juicy red tomatoes fresh from the vine, bite into them as the juice runs down their chin? I hope you have your phone with you to take a photo you can cherish forever. Last but not least, combination gardens are very trendy today. As long as you’re teaching them to garden, you might as well teach them the most modern way. Who knows, you might want to plant the grown-up gardens the same way.
If you take the whole family to the garden center, everyone can have a say in what will be purchased. There’s no sense in buying annuals that don’t appeal to other members of the family or veggies that won’t get eaten. When you get home, you might want to begin by helping the kids get their garden planted first, especially if they’re excited about getting started. You have a three-day weekend and, hopefully, more patience than the young ones.
A Memorial Day weekend like this, modified in the face of a pandemic, can become a family tradition for many Memorial Days ahead.
The gypsy moths are back in greater numbers than last year. It’s only the beginning of June and all of the tan egg cases haven’t even hatched. Yet, we’re seeing all kinds of destruction.
There are so many gypsy moth caterpillars that they’re eating any tree they can find. Although their preferred diet is oaks and maples, they’re even eating conifers this year like white pines and blue spruces. While deciduous trees can survive a year or two of a gypsy moth infestation before succumbing to this pest, I don’t believe conifers have that resilience, and expect that we’ll see an unusually high number of fatalities among evergreens.
As if the destruction they wreak on our trees isn’t bad enough, gypsy moth caterpillars make a mess of the properties on which infested trees are located. When a tree canopy becomes overloaded with caterpillars, the weaker ones either fall out of the tree or are pushed out by their stronger relatives. As a result, back yard toys, outdoor furniture, cars and walkways are covered with these hairy caterpillars, identified by parallel rows of red and blue dots on their backs. Some choose to change trees. They spin silk threads to take them down to the ground and land on passerby’s clothes and get tangled in the hair. Those that land on walkways also create a slipping hazard for pedestrians.
Our plant health professionals are spraying smaller trees with a fast-acting insecticide and are injecting material directly into the trunks of large trees. Upon request, they can also apply Bacillus thuringiensis (BT), a bacteria that only attacks caterpillars. However, this organic treatment requires a couple of weeks to begin working and often requires multiple applications for control. Most property owners prefer a single treatment that begins eliminating this pest in days.
Its best to treat your trees now, while the gypsy moth caterpillars are small and weak. They’ll continue to grow all summer, reaching up to two inches. Then they’ll come down the tree, pupate in the soil, emerge as adults, mate, climb up the tree, lay their eggs, and the cycle of destruction will start all over again.
The gypsy moth is an invasive species but not in the sense of some of the more recent invaders who came here undetected in packing material. In the 1860s, gypsy moths were imported from Europe in an effort to establish a silk industry in the United States. Some of the caterpillars escaped and, as they say, the rest is history.
Since gaining their freedom more than 150 years ago, the gypsy moth decimated trees in New England, where the “experiments” were being conducted. They then spread into adjacent states and to the Midwest. Much of the spread has been aided by unwittingly motorists. Gypsy moths lay their eggs in places other than trees, including the undersides of vehicles like campers.
Upon its arrival here, the gypsy moth had no natural enemies. Today, they are subject to attack by some other insects, pathogens, birds and mammals. However, when gypsy moth caterpillars are devouring your valuable trees and raining down on your family and possessions, I doubt if you want to wait for nature to take its course. Our professionally applied control treatment will help you get back to enjoying life again quickly.
You have a substantial investment in your landscape. It shouldn’t be abandoned every night when the sun disappears over the horizon. But that’s exactly what happens to many landscapes. You can change all that with garden lighting. The mission of garden, or landscape, lighting should be twofold – for safety and enjoyment.
Nothing beats a summer evening outdoors, unless lighting is inadequate or nonexistent. Garden lighting should be part of every design so you can enjoy grilling and dinner on the patio. It also allows you to garden even after the sun, and temperature, goes down. You’ll want a variety of lights on the patio to illuminate your various activities in that outdoor room. This may be a series of strategically placed floods attached to the house and hardwired to switches. Or they may be lower intensity lamps placed where needed. For example, you’ll need to light the grill or outdoor kitchen, the dining area and the sitting areas where you relax and read or even watch television.It’s not a good idea to just start hanging lights and hope they do what they’re supposed to. It’ll save time and money to try various portable lights in different positions, to be sure they can be aimed correctly, than to go right to the permanent installation. Be sure all outlets are GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) units. These have built-in circuit breakers that will shut them off, rather than shocking you, if they get wet.You may also want motion detector activated lights in key locations in your landscape. Spot or floodlights may be needed for security or to light the area when you want to work out there in the evening. Some lights may be located in trees and angled down to the area you want lit.Poorly lit garden paths are dangerous. It’s so easy to misstep on a poorly lit path. If your garden paths are lined with solar powered stake lights, consider replacing them with low voltage stake lights. They’re brighter. They can be controlled, and they turn on even when the sun wasn’t out that day. Low voltage lights are connected by wires to a transformer box plugged into an outlet rated for outdoor use. You can buy boxes with on/off timers that will allow you to control what time they turn on and off, rather keeping them on from dusk to dawn.If you have a water feature, consider lighting it, especially if it’s a pond. A pond should be lighted for safety, but it can also be lit for effect with LED lights that change color and reflect off the water. Fountains aren’t as hazardous as ponds so safety is less of a concern but picture the view of lights playing off the rising and cascading plumes of water.Actually, I place lighting installation in the same category as tree work. For your health and safety, it’s best left to the pros. You can locate where you need lights and then hire a licensed electrician to install them. Or you can work with our landscape professionals to design and install all the outdoor lighting where in will be the most beneficial…and beautiful.
The growing season is almost upon us. It officially begins on Memorial Day, which is just over a month away. Many people are outside working on their landscapes much earlier.
Now is a good time to begin planting trees and shrubs, but I recommend waiting until Memorial Day to plant temperature sensitive plants. We could have a late frost or freeze that will wipe out all of your hard work. That doesn’t mean you can’t get everything ready during the next month, though.As soon as the soil is firm enough in your beds, you can remove any extra mulch you added for the winter. If the beds are slow to dry out, rake the mulch to the edges of the beds to let the soil beneath it dry. Then rake back just the summer thickness of mulch. Don’t be alarmed if you only have enough mulch for the summer depth. Some mulch may have decomposed over the winter or it may have simply sunk into the wet soil.When your lawn’s soil is dry enough to hold your weight, so you won’t leave footprints in the grass, then it’s safe to walk on and to prepare for the season. It may not be firm enough, or long enough, to mow yet. You can, however, fertilize, spread pre-emergent weed killer, overseed and pull weeds.You can save time by dragging a garbage bag or other container along as you do these tasks and pick up any trash you find along the way. That way, you won’t have to go on a walk around the yard just to pick up trash. If you picked up trash on nice winter days, you shouldn’t have much to pick up now.I don’t think spring cleanup ranks at the top of anyone’s list of favorite landscape jobs. Combining it with more pleasant jobs, as I’ve proposed above can make it more tolerable. If you’d rather just enjoy your landscape without doing any of the jobs above, we have landscape professionals who can do these and any other landscape maintenance job you’d like them to do.
Flowering bulbs are the first to announce the pending arrival of spring. The crocuses are the first to peek out, often through the snow. They’re followed by daffodils, then tulips and hyacinths. Then what? Many people go back to late winter drab until shrubs like lilacs and forsythia flower. It’s too early for most annuals.It may be too early for most annuals but not all of them. There’s a group of cool weather annuals that can take up the slack. Around here, the most popular of that group is, arguably, the pansy. Even at the southeast entrance to Highland Park, at the corner of South Goodman Street and Highland Avenue, visitors are greeted by a sea of color from the pansy bed. When Mother Nature delays the lilac bloom, the pansies still come through.
Pansies are in the viola genus, as are violets, which also are cool weather species. Marigolds and snapdragons are popular early spring flowers, too. Additionally, the 70 species in the Nemesia genus can be planted locally. So, you have a wide choice of plants to provide post bulb color to your landscape.It’s recommended that you plant these cool weather annuals in containers. You don’t know what kind of weather we’ll have this spring so it’s not a good idea to work in your planting beds until you can squeeze a handful of soil that will be damp, but no water will run down your arm. The containers will look nice on your patio, deck or porch. Or even in your planting beds.If you do place containers in your beds, place them near the edge so you don’t have to disturb the wet soil in the bed. They may not want to stand up in the wet soil. They could sink or tip, so put them on a platform of flagstone, bluestone or wood. In addition to keeping the containers upright, a platform will also keep them cleaner than standing them in soil.Most gardeners have their own potting technique. The most common potting method is to place potting mix directly in the decorative container and plant the flowering plants in the mix. The drawback to this method comes if you plan to change the plants out for warm weather annuals later in the season. You’ll then have to empty the container, wash out the inside and sanitize it with bleach before refilling it with potting mix and planting the new plants.An easier method is to buy your cool weather annuals in nursery pots that will slide right into your decorative container. When you’re ready to change them out, buy your warm weather annuals the same way and make the swap. If your garden center sells the flowers you want only in six packs, ask them if they’ll pot them for you in nursery pots. Some will and some won’t. Shop around until you find one that will.If you can’t find a garden center that will pot up your plants, it’s still easier to pot your purchases in nursery pots than decorative containers. If you don’t have a collection of different size nursery pots at home, shop the garden centers and landscape companies. You’re sure to find someone who will give them to you or sell them to you for a half a buck or less
Low maintenance landscapes don’t have to look unkempt. The amount of care your landscape requires depends on both the design and the particular plants you select. Keep in mind, though, there’s no such thing as a maintenance-free landscape. Here are some ways in which you can substantially reduce the time it takes to make, and keep, your landscape picture perfect:• Plant Evergreen Shrubs. Boxwoods, taxus (yews), some junipers, euonymus and dwarf evergreens require little or no pruning and they are green the year around. Besides looking nice during the growing season, they add color, other than white or brown, during the winter. The branches on evergreens are very flexible. Snow can bend them to the point that you want to go out and knock the snow off. Yet, if you resist the temptation, they’ll return to their normal position when the snow melts.• Select Native Plants. Plants that are native to an area have adapted to the environment. As a result, they’re able to live in the native soil and survive on nature’s precipitation. Of course, they may need some fertilizer or compost if you have very bad soil with virtually no nutrients in it. And they may need water when your area is hit with a drought. Native plants also attract birds, wildlife and pollinators. Check with one of our landscape designers or a garden center horticulturist to be sure your plant selections are native. Many maples, for example, are from other places, and there are many cultivars of native maples.• Plant A Cottage Garden. Small yards lend themselves to cottage gardens, but you can also set aside an area in a larger lot to plant a cottage garden. Cottage gardens are a staple in England and they’re catching on here as well. These informal gardens, composed of herbaceous perennials, give the impression that the plants just grew where the seeds were dropped but they are really very carefully designed. Here’s another place where native plants will be your best choice. Be sure you’re selecting the right plant for the right place. Add topsoil or compost if your soil is less than the best. Position the plants close together to discourage weeds and mulch between them. Then sit back and enjoy a sea of color all season long and for many seasons to come.• Replace Some Turf With Groundcover. Your lawn is, arguably, the most labor-intensive portion of your landscape but few people around here want to part with it. An increasing number are willing let go of some grass and replace it with groundcover. Lawns require weekly mowing, multiple fertilizations and weed control applications during the season. Groundcover requires none of that.These ideas should be viewed as thought starters. Bringing your low maintenance landscape to fruition will require research online, as well as visits to garden centers to read plant tags and consult with staff horticulturists. Or you could just work with one of our landscape designers. After you discuss with them what you have in mind, they will have already done much of the research and are able to make recommendations, which will save you a lot of time. The designer can then present you with a plan that has all the right plants in the right place, and our installation professionals can build your landscape so all you have to do is enjoy it.
One of the oldest environmental observances will take place all over America on Friday, April 30. That’s when we observe the 149th Arbor Day. The first was held in Nebraska in 1872, and soon, each state scheduled Arbor Day during the best time to plant trees in that state. Since 1970, the last Friday in April has been recognized as National Arbor Day.J. Sterling Morton is credited with the birth of Arbor Day. When Morton, a newspaper editor and politician, moved from Illinois to Nebraska City in the Nebraska territory, he was surprised by the lack of trees, and set out to change that. One million trees were planted in Nebraska on the first Arbor Day, April 10, 1872.Arbor Day can be a real teaching moment for families. Sometimes schools observe the day by sending a tree seedling in a styrofoam cup home with each student. Some get planted and some don’t. Some get planted in the back yard with no protection around them and fall victim to the lawn mower. This year, hybrid and remote learning programs may cause cancellation of this tradition.If your child brings home a seedling, I suggest planting it in a container to give it a better chance of surviving. Find a container that’s big enough to hold all the roots. Don’t pick one that’s too big or weeds will grow in it and use up all the nutrients you want for the tree. Some seedlings may be small enough for a 4” nursery pot. Other seedlings may need a bigger container but I doubt if any will need one larger than one gallon.To plant the tree, put some potting mix in the bottom of the pot. Then have someone hold the tree up in the pot so the roots are just below the top of the pot. Fill with potting mix all around the tree roots. Then push down on the soil until the tree stands up on its own. Be careful not to compact the potting mix and don’t plant the tree too deep. Finally, water well.Trees aren’t houseplants. They have to live outside, so place it on the deck or patio, or in one of your planting beds. Keep it watered. For the winter, find a spot that’s sheltered from the wind but still gets sunlight. Wrap the pot in bubble wrap or other insulating material and put plenty of mulch around the pot. Each spring, transplant it to a bigger pot until it’s big enough to join the other trees in your yard and still survive.If you don’t get a seedling, you can schedule a family outing to your local garden center to buy a sapling or larger tree and plant it in the yard together as a family. Dig a hole two or three times wider than the root diameter but only as deep as the rootball. Remove the tree from its pot before placing it in the hole and backfilling. If it’s balled and in burlap, put the tree in the hole and cut the string or wire holding the burlap in place but leave the burlap. It’ll rot away. Backfill being careful not to plant the tree below grade level. Tamp down the backfill and water well. Don’t stake unless it is in a windy area.When selecting your tree, be sure it’s the right tree for the place you’re planning to plant it.Regardless of how you observe it, have a happy Arbor Day.
You might call the emerald ash borer (EAB) the invisible killer. That’s because they spend most of their life inside your stately ash trees. When the adults finally do emerge, they ‘re smaller than a penny and only live long enough to mate and start the next generation on its path of destruction.[caption id="attachment_950" align="alignleft" width="174"]
Photo: Howard Russell, Michigan State University, Bugwood.org[/caption]High up in the tree the females carve out indentations in the bark of the tree and deposit one egg in each. Each female can deposit 60 to 100 eggs. They hatch in about a week and the youngsters immediately begin boring galleries into the tree’s phloem, where they eat the food the tree has made through photosynthesis. The EAB starts its destruction at the top of the tree, which is why trees die from the top down.With treatment, that beautiful ash tree growing in your yard can fend off this tiny attacker. Without treatment, it’s doomed. Unlike some insects, the EAB isn’t drawn to weak or distressed trees. They like them all, as long as they’re ash trees. Granted, it would be cost prohibitive to treat a forest of ash trees but it’s a very good investment to treat that specimen in your yard, and you can have it treated for decades for the cost of removing and replacing it after it succumbs to the EAB.We have looked into all of the control products on the market and have found only one that we consider to be truly effective. This product is injected directly into the tree trunk near the base. Trees that haven’t been attacked by the EAB only need one treatment every two years. Control may be achieved on trees that have been attacked but only if the destruction is limited to a quarter to one third of the tree. These trees have to be treated annually.The product we use can only be applied by New York State Certified Pesticide Applicators. I wouldn’t apply anything else to my own trees. It’s just not strong enough. Ash trees are beautiful trees that deserve all the help we can give them to survive.
Few things are more frustrating than having a lawn full of weeds before the grass is high enough to mow. That doesn’t have to be. You can apply pre-emergent weed killer now, while the weed seeds are still dormant.You may be familiar with pre-emergent crabgrass killer. Applying this pre-emergent is really the only way to control the highly invasive crabgrass. There is no effective post-emergent product for crabgrass. For broad leaf weeds like dandelions, both pre and post emergent products are available. So, it’s easy to spread both crabgrass and broadleaf pre-emergents at the same time.Like annual flowers, weeds drop seeds to the ground before frosts and freezes kill off the plants. I believe Charles Darwin referred to that as survival of the fittest. And when it comes to strength, weeds are stronger than grass, or any desirable plant, it seems.Applying pre-emergent will prevent the seeds overwintering in the soil from germinating but it’s not one and done. Once untreated seeds from the neighbors’ yard or the side of the road begin blowing some are sure to take up residence in your lawn.One way to reduce the opportunity for weeds to set down stakes in your lawn is to be sure it’s nice and thick. If your lawn has thin spots, or you can see soil through the turf, overseed it with a good, hardy seed mix. Weeds are adventitious plants. They’ll germinate in a spot where they have the least competition from other plants. Thick turf discourages weeds from trying to compete.To overseed, rough up the soil with an iron rake. If you typically fertilize your lawn, spread fertilizer and then seed. Go over the overseeded areas with your rake, again to be sure the seed and fertilizer are worked into the soil. Then be sure it receives at least an inch of water a week, either from rain or irrigation. While doing the overseeding, pull any weeds that you come across before they get a foothold.If you’re a Birchcrest lawn care customer, you’ll receive pre-emergent crabgrass and broad leaf weed treatments. We also offer this service on an ala carte basis. Our lawn care professionals would be happy to help you achieve a weed-free lawn.
Spring is here. Your ornamental grass has done its thing. It provided texture and color poking above the snow. Now it’s time to press the refresh button…figuratively of course.The ornamental grass that graces your yard today is dead, thus the yellow or tan color. In order to repeat the show
next winter, the dead grass has to be cut to allow a new crop of green ornamental grass to grow. And now’s the time to do it.Your new crop will grow best if the old is cut as close to the ground as possible. Usually, that means three or four inches. You might notice new, green blades starting to show themselves among the yellow or brown stubble after you’ve trimmed away last year’s crop.The tools available for the job are numerous. Just pick the one that you feel safest using. Most people choose either power or manual hedge trimmers. These are great for large plantings of ornamental grass. Hedge trimmers cut wide swaths relatively level.If you don’t have a pair of hedge clippers and are going to buy them, I recommend that you shop both power and manual models. While the natural tendency is to go right to the power tools, they can be heavy and awkward to use. Gasoline powered models are the heaviest, followed by battery powered models and corded electric models. With corded models you also have be aware of where the cord is at all times so you don’t cut it.If you have had unpleasant experiences using old fashioned steel blade, wood handled manual clippers, be sure to check out the new ones on the market today. They have lightweight alloy blades and fiberglass handles. Be sure and try one with a geared pivot point. The old fashion models consist of the two blades held together with a pivot bolt. Today’s higher quality models have a gearing mechanism. Open them up and you can see the gearing. These are lighter weight and easier to use than even the best power unit, especially for a homeowner who only uses them once a year to cut ornamental grass.Loppers can also be used, especially if you only have a small patch to cut. Loppers are like extended reach pruning shears. Neither is very practical for a large patch. They take small cuts and the top won’t be perfectly flat. A string trimmer can be used but it scatters the clippings, making clean-up harder. Don’t even think about using a chainsaw. Besides the saw being dangerous, the grass stalks are too flexible for a good cut. This can lead to an accident waiting to happen.If you have to cut down a patch of ornamental grass, I’d suggest investing in lightweight, geared, manual hedge clippers. Whatever you use, though, the time to do it is now. If you wait too long, you’ll be cutting off green stalks, reducing the number of yellow or brown color next winter. And isn’t that the reason you planted ornamental grass?If you don’t have the time or the interest to do it yourself, we have landscape professionals who would be happy to do it for you.
Your spring bulbs – crocuses, daffodils, tulips and hyacinths – are starting to bloom. If yours haven’t appeared yet, it may be for one of the reasons listed below.
If your bulbs have bloomed in previous years but not this year, here are some causes:
• Did you cut them back to the ground after they bloomed last year? Removing green leaves when you remove spent flowers takes away the plants’ food making machines. When first planted, the bulbs had plenty of stored food. They used that food to bloom and leaf out in their first spring. It’s OK to remove flowers when they’re finished but keep the leaves on as long as they’re green. They’re making food through photosynthesis and storing it in the bulbs. The time to remove leaves is when they turn yellow.
• Did you fertilize them last year? You didn’t have to fertilize when you first planted the bulbs, but they need fertilizer in subsequent years. The time to fertilize is after the flowers are spent and the leaves are still green.
• Bulbs are naturally annuals in our climate, but many varieties have naturalized and now are perennials. You may have purchased an annual variety by mistake. Read the package to be sure you’re buying naturalized varieties that will bloom year-after-year.
• Check the bed to see if hungry animals dug them up for dinner.
If you just planted bulbs last fall and they don’t come up this spring…
• Check first for disturbed soil, which would indicate that an animal got to them.
• If the soil isn’t disturbed, dig up the bulbs to be sure they’re planted right side up. The pointed end should be facing upward and the hairy, root end should point downward. Orient them correctly and they should grow next year.
• When you have the bulbs exposed, check to see if they’re waterlogged and if the hole is too damp. If so, you’ll have to relocate the bulbs to a drier location.
Spring bulbs require little maintenance once they’re planted. Follow these simple suggestions and you will enjoy a sea of color next spring and for many springs to come.
This year, 2021, a natural phenomenon will occur that you can either marvel at or be scared of. It’s the return of the 17-year cicadas. This insect is commonly known as the 17- year locust but they aren’t even related to the locust. It’s thought that they received that misnomer because they were associated with the plague of locusts in the Bible.
Even the term 17-year cicada is incorrect, according to Michael Raupp, PhD, professor emeritus in the Department of Entomology at the University of Maryland. In a recent magazine article, Dr. Raupp refers to them as periodic cicadas because some take only 13 years to mature. He also notes there are more than one species of this insect. There are four species of 13-year cicadas and three species of 17-year cicadas.
[caption id="attachment_1504" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Periodic Cicada: Photo by Chris Evans, University of Illinois, Bugwood.org[/caption]
When we talk of them coming, that won’t be from afar like the birds in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie. In fact, if you didn’t have any in 2004 or 2008, you probably won’t have them now. They don’t go away for all those years. They’re living below the ground at the base of the tree(s) they occupied on their last visit.
For 13 or 17 years the immature nymphs live up to a foot below ground, feeding on plant roots. They go through five growth spurts, or instars. At the end of the fifth instar, they come to the surface, shed their exoskeleton and expand their wings. When their new adult exoskeleton hardens, thousands, even millions, of periodic cicadas take off all at once.
Dr. Raupp believes this swarming is for survival. Many predators like to feast on the periodic cicadas. (Some humans like them, too.) Emerging in huge swarms assures that, while many will fall prey to their hungry predators, they will overwhelm the enemy and a sufficient number will survive to reproduce.
If you’ve ever experienced periodic cicadas, you’re familiar with the din that comes forth from the trees hosting them. That noise is mating calls from the males wooing the females with their earsplitting choruses.
The females have a sharp appendage, called an ovipositor, with which they slit tender young twigs high in the crown of the tree, and deposit 20 to 30 eggs in each slit. Dr. Raupp says each female can lay up to 600 eggs. The slits in the twigs cause the tips of the branches to die.
Dr. Raupp cited research in which some trees were treated with chemicals and others with netting of various densities. The bottom line was that the only effective control was one centimeter netting. This is impractical for large shade trees, but those trees are big enough to survive. We may have to prune the dead branches, however. Small, young trees and fruit trees should be covered in netting to protect them. A periodic cicada infestation can cause significant damage to these trees.
All of this drama takes place in the spring, beginning in mid-May, and lasting until late June. After the nymphs hatch, they drop down to the ground and begin their subterranean life, until it’s time to emerge again in 2038. Reading this story almost makes you want to watch the movie (or musical play) Brigadoon, in which a Scottish village is visible for only one day every hundred years.
