Archive for the ‘Landscape & Garden’ Category

Universal Plant Health Care

You get regular check ups and take your pets to the vet – and if you are a homeowner there is one more living thing you are responsible for that needs regular check ups as well and that is your yard and garden.  Having a  healthy, easily managed, pest free and environmentally friendly garden starts with having a health care plan for you garden.

The concept of Plant Health Care (PHC) stems from the environmentally sensitive approach to pest control in the garden called Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM practices are more holistic than the name implies and include all aspects of the garden’s health, not just how to kill the bugs the most environmentally friendly way.  PHC is the first step to successful IPM techniques being utilized in your own garden.   Plant health care is a change in both attitude and technique in garden maintenance  and has been being utilized by professional landscape companies that practice organic only gardening techniques for years.  (And as my company is one of them, I can speak from 15 years experience that these techniques do work.)ladybug on flower

Turns out bugs are not your worst enemy in the garden. Many folks see things going wrong with a plant in the garden and think bugs first, however most of the time this is not the case. For example, at the Plant Diagnostic Laboratory at WSU in Puyallup half the plants submitted for diagnosis were not affected by insect pests or disease organisms but rather were sick due to cultural and environmental factors such as drought stress, winter damage and over watering.

Plant Health Care (PHC) “sees proper culture as the foundation of healthy landscapes and emphasizes working with nature rather than fighting it with a ‘Learn Your Ecosystem’ approach.”

  • Identify plants. The first step in implementing a PHC system for your yard is to identify and list all of the plants in your yard. Once you know what plants are in your yard and garden  you will then be able to research them for their cultural needs, most common pest problems and common environmental problems. While researching you may discover that you have some of the key plants that are the most problem prone and require the most attention.  If this task sounds too daunting then contact a quality local landscape company and ask for a consultation for plant identification.
  • Key problems. Once you know what kind of plants you have you can then identify key problems both biotic (insects, fungi, slugs, deer etc.) and abiotic (non-living factors such as weather, irrigation, soil fertility). Key problems are the first things to look for as they are the most likely to be impacting a plants health. ( for example; rhododendrons usually suffer from either root weevils or poor drainage. )
  • Study landscapes ecosystem. Become aware of climatic factors such as minimum temperatures, prevailing winds, seasonal patterns of precipitation and the amount of sun received in different areas of the garden. Knowing the wet spots, hot spots, dry spots etc. will enable you to match the right plants to the different habitats in your yard. Also understand what kind of soils you have in different areas and how they drain – there may be clay in one sunny area and sand in another where it is shady and these very different cultures may be only a back yard apart from each other.  This can make a huge difference in what plants will thrive in these very different locations.
  • Monitor. A large part of PHC is to monitor your garden on a regular basis (or hire a professional landscape service that understand PHC to do maintenance for you.) Monitoring at least every two weeks during the growing season of Spring - Summer and at least once a month during the Fall - Winter is essential. When out in the garden check for signs of plant distress (wilting leaves, yellowing leaves, die back) and be on the look out for developing pest problems (aphids, chew holes on leaves). Concentrate your monitoring on the key plants that get the key problems to start and you will develop your eye for problems over time as you observe for many seasons.

Once you know what you have and know what is going on with your ecosystems you will  have the knowledge to optimize your plants health.

This begins with smart planting in the first place. If you have found you have a lot of problem plants then the best thing to do in the long run may be to replace them with plants properly suited to the conditions and climate you have to work with. This will also give you an opportunity to create more diversity in the garden, which naturally limits infestations. The addition of Native plants is an excellent choice to create the right diversity in your yard for a sustainable ecosystem.

Once these changes have been made and you have the “right plant in the right place” then you must employ good cultural practices to ensure future health: Improve you soil with mulch and organic matter, pay careful attention to watering and, very importantly, prune only in the correct season for the individual plant.

Once cultural and environmental problems have been minimized then many garden problems are naturally avoided – think of it as preventative medicine! Healthy plants are naturally able to withstand insect and disease damage and small infestations will work them selves out in a healthy ecosystem.  If problems do arise then an IPM approach can then be used with great success.


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Where Did All This Water Come From? Addressing Drainage

standing waterWater has a close association with life itself. Lush verdant environments thrive on it. Too much water can cause problems too. Before we picture homes  sliding down hillsides we picture mold and fungus showing up on lower siding and trim. Many plants languish in saturated soil without air to their roots. You may want to contact a local recommended landscape professional for help with your yard. Let’s look at some drainage basics:

Soil Level. Soil around your house perimeter must always be lower. Code minimum is 6″ to siding. Even if soil level is even with your siding it is highly recommended to maintain a lowered border area even if this means sloping out to a low point six feet out from your house. Even if you can’t deal with all the water in your yard, this border is a priority. Never let landscape bark and leaves accumulate against your house.

Key Questions. To develop a general plan for overall yard drainage ask these questions:

  • Where are the potential low places to which you can send water away from your house and yard?
  • If this is into your neighbors yard (instead of the street) is this the natural slope as in a series of houses on a hill (as in normal or unavoidable) or would you be doing your neighbor wrong?
  • Where are the sources of water, such as roof runoff, all or part of yard sloping toward house, neighbors yard draining into yours?
  • Do the problems of either source or where to put water indicate a joint project with a neighbor?

Standing Water. Water standing or saturating an area that is away from homes may be okay if drainage is not possible. Plant life will be affected of course, but such an area might be the only solution if you have no access to a lower point.

Dealing with a Low Point. If you do have a low point, the first plan is to contour yard soil so as to drain your yard toward that point. You may have to drain first in what seems like the wrong direction to a low area which is slowly drained by a very gradual low swale which eventually reaches the target point.

French Drains (See my previous article explaining French Drains). One application can be to facilitate good evacuation of water in a very low sloped swale. Even if your collecting swale is flat, you may have succeeded in draining your overall yard. A french drain in a flat swale that leads to a place that can take the water will still work (even if flat!). The other consideration for a french drain is against the house to gather water that gets there in spite of your other efforts. In any case french drains function as a secondary consideration after use of grading.

Plant life.  Plant roots need oxygen to survive. You can landscape in raised beds as a way to create sufficient drainage for root systems, but make sure you are not creating a dam in the process. Similarly merely filling in a low spot in your yard without an overall drainage plan usually doesn’t help much. Plant drainage  can be created for individual plants to some degree if they aren’t located in saturated soil. When planting my rhododendrons, for instance, I dug holes three feet deep and about that wide. I filled the hole with high quality garden soil plus extra humus (digested plant matter) and a little sand. So far my Rhodies are happy.

Downspouts.  Making sure the water coming down your downspouts from your roof makes it to a place that will take it away is important. Some homes have downspouts already piped into the public sewer system.

Special Note: Unfortunately most municipalities send sewer water and all runoff water to the same place tremendously overburdening public sewage treatment systems. There is likely little you can do to participate in a more sustainable model. Perhaps in the future drainage systems will let runoff water bypass the treatment plant (lawn chemicals are not being treated anyhow), while the treatment plant only receives sewage.


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Garden Mistakes: The Established Garden

an established garden

So if you followed the “rules” for putting in a new garden then you want to make sure your investment will thrive and give you that beautiful garden you worked so hard to get. The work is not over once the garden has established itself but it’s certainly less than when it was growing. It takes many years for a garden to establish itself so don’t mess it up along the way with these 5 garden mistakes we’ve all made!

Here’s a list of practices to avoid in caring for an established garden:

1. Don’t let a few weeds become a million weeds – Weeds seed and grow and seed and grow and we all know this happens as soon as your back is turned! A new planting would have been cleaned out of all weeds, but if you let them come back, or have problems with them in the established garden, the best way to control them is to get the yard fully weeded out, have proper mulching done, and then don’t let them get ahead of you again.

Weeds will flower and seed all year long and the best time to get some control is Fall or Spring when the majority of them are setting seeds. Once they  have been wiped out  then start doing a regular tour of the garden and pulling any weeds as soon as you see them come up…..and for sure before they flower and seed. This also promotes an excellent habit of checking out the garden often so you will notice problems sooner and can deal with issues right away that might lead to long term problems.

2. Don’t overuse chemicals to control weeds or pests  – Make that DON’T use chemicals on your living garden - If I had my way they would all be banned from use anyway so do your back yard, your kids bare feet, your animals that lick their paws and the planet in general a big favor and ban them from your garden too.  Lots of information on Organic practices can be found and many landscapers have turned to organic only practices with great success. You can have a beautiful, healthy, and successful garden using nothing but your muscles, some compost and some mulch.

3. Don’t over fertilize - Fertilizer does not feed plants -  it feeds the soil which then feeds the plants. We think we are giving them a “meal” but it really does not work that way. If you have healthy soil you can actually kill your plants by adding too much fertilizer and most plants once established in beds that have been properly mulched don’t need any extra fertilizer at all.  Native plants will not thrive if  fertilizer is used so keep it away from them for sure.  If you do need some for your lawn or container plantings use only organic products and BE SURE to follow the directions for amounts.

4. Improper pruning – I have posted some other articles about pruning when and how’s so check them out for more information but most of all don’t prune your plants in the wrong season and don’t top trees!!  Pruning in the wrong season or doing it wrong can cause a myriad of problems that sometimes can’t be fixed.  So if  your not sure consult a recommended landscaper to help get you on the right track. Pruning wrong is maybe the number one mistake I see people make and something that is almost impossible for a plant to bounce back from.

5. Don’t overwater in the Summer - The established garden needs a lot less water than a new one, that much is obvious, but how much can be a riddle for some.  Established gardens can actually thrive better by having some, but not too much, supplemental water given to them in the hot months. Making the plants work for their water encourages them to grow deeper roots as they search for ground water. This makes them stronger and less susceptible to being damaged in the harsh weather of other seasons. This is especially true for trees and shrubs.  Having you irrigation set to the age of your garden is something people forget to do a few years after a new garden has been put in so have that done if you have an automatic irrigation system. Monitor your garden for what the just right amount is for your landscape thus saving precious water, money and benefiting your landscape to boot.


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Garden Mistakes: The New Garden

ugly gardenAhhh, mistakes in the garden – we have all made them and the trouble is that sometimes takes a season or two, or even a few years, before we realize what we have done. When you choose the wrong paint for a room it can be fixed pretty quickly but no so in the garden, so here are some hints on how to take the ‘Oops!’ out of your landscape.

I think the number one rule when starting a new garden, or renovating an old one, is to enlist the help of a experienced, recommended landscaper. This can be essential for a great final product.  If your knowledge of gardening is less than pretty advanced you would be doing yourself and your check book a huge favor by working with a  professional gardener to help you in the planning process and to keep you away from making costly mistakes. If you want to do the work yourself then at a minimum pay for a consult and consider a design as well.  With all the considerations that need to be taken when planning a garden you would be best served by utilizing the knowledge of someone who has made all the mistakes already and learned from them what not to do.

If you do go it alone – or plan on doing the plant purchasing and planting on your own - here are some of the DON’Ts to consider.

  1. Don’t fall in love with those gorgeous displays at the nurseries – An avid gardener knows this lust, you see it and must have it! But is it really the right plant for your location? Do you have room for it?  If so, will it enhance the plants already established and play well with the others? All things to consider when that must have feeling hits.  Successful and easy to maintain gardens are well planned and  introducing a impulse buy plant to the group on a whim can sometimes lead to problems later on.  If you just cant help yourself  just buy some nice big containers and use them as mini gardens for those plants you just couldn’t say no to.  (I do this all the time as I cant help myself either…..nurseries to me are like shoe sales are to Carrie Bradshaw.)
  2. Don’t plant too close together – This is what else happens when you go nuts in the nursery. Planting to close together is instant gratification but all the plants will suffer as they reach full size. Read the tags and make yourself aware of the full grown size of the plant and space accordingly – you’ll be so much happier with the results in the long run, so will all you plants.
  3. Don’t buy plants when in full bloom – This also happens when you fall in love with a full blooming flowering plant and sometimes it  just cant be helped - But try to train yourself to look for plants that have new growth, healthy structures and healthy roots rather then a big display of flowers. Some plants actually bloom more when the are in distress – it is their way of trying to make as much seed as possible in case they are getting ready to die! So look for long term health traits instead. If the plant you want is coming into it’s blooming season then try to pick the ones with nice buds so you can enjoy the full flowering season.
  4. Don’t plant in the wrong season – Spring bulbs are planted in the Fall, trees and shrubs are best planted in fall thru winter, and be careful of non-natives that seem complaicent but then explode with growth during the growing season. Most of all dont plant anything in the hot summer months, especially trees and shrubs, unless you plan on not going anywhere that summer and instead plan on staying home and watering every other day for 3 months. Irrigation will not do the right watering for a tree or shrub planted in the summer as they are set for established plantings and the new plants will need more detailed attention to their watering needs.
  5. Don’t take short cuts with site preparation – There is a saying I heard long ago called the 80/20 rule. 80% of your garden budget should be put into soil and bed preparation and the other 20% toward plants.  If you give it a good home it will grow.  Go this route and you can save some money by buying smaller plants that will thrive and mature faster than if you did little or  bad prep and threw in big new plants.

For the next post I will cover the garden mistakes we all tend to make once the garden is in so check in for that!

Find recommended landscape design professionals to help with your garden planning.

Also See: Common mistakes with an existing garden


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Indoor House Plant Care

How to care for your houseplants and your “indoor garden”

Midwinter can be a tough time for us avid gardeners, there isn’t much to do in the garden and the seed catalogs are just starting to come in to inspire our Spring dreams of vegetable gardens and new planting beds, so what’s a green thumb to do this time of year?

Give those houseplants some love and attention!            house plants 1

Watering in the winter: The amount of water needed in the winter will depend on how high the humidity is in your house and how warm you keep your indoor temperatures. Since most all your plants are usually near windows the relative humidity and temperature may be less then in the middle of the room so a good rule of thumb is too water less frequently but to monitor the soil moistness so you can establish a good watering schedule. The best way to do this is to stick your finger into the soil and if it is very dry over an inch down it is time to water.

Succulents and Cactus need to be watered even less in the winter and since their medium is usually more of a mix of small gravel and perlite than soil it can be harder to use the finger test so use the look at feel of their leaves to determine when they need water.  The plumpness of a succulent or cactus is caused by Tuger pressure in the cells of the plant and if the plant needs water the leaves will be less plump and look a little soft and wrinkled - when they start to look like that then it is time to water.

Humidity: Proper Humidity levels are essential and is the key to keeping houseplants happy and with our heaters going in the winter indoor humidity can be a problem. Misting your plants as much as every other day if it is very dry in your house can be very helpful to your plants overall health and vigor and can even add the little extra humidity we humans need to keep our nasal passages from getting too dry and irritated in the winter. Another way to increase humidity is to place your plants on a humidity tray which is basically a saucer filled with gravel or decorative stones that you fill with water.  The evaporation from the tray or saucer will provide extra humidity to the air around the plants and the home in general.  Having one of those outdoor/indoor weather stations can be very helpful in determining the general humidityof your home as it will give you a reading of both the indoor and outdoor temperatures and humidity levels. Around 50% humidity is the best for inside your house not just for your plants but for you and your pets too. High humidity levels can cause molds and mildew to form and also create diseases in your houseplants which can then aggravate mildew growth and your nasal passages, so getting a good reading and adjusting accordingly can be a great enhancer to all the living things in your home.

Light:  In general East and West facing windows are best for houseplants. Most all house plants want bright but not direct light – if you seen sunburn marks on your leaves adjust the plant so it is not in the direct sunlight. Succulents, Cactus and plants with tropical origins need as much as 12 hours of daylight, which can be difficult to come by in our dark PNW winters, so add a supplemental light source on a timer for these plants. Full spectrum bulbs that mimic the spectrum of the sun’s light can be easily purchased and may even help your own moods feel better in the middle of winter.  Besides a nice, easy to look at light, shining down on all your healthy green plants is enough to make anyone feel a little better in January!

Fertilizer: It is best to forgo the fertilizer in the winter months as even your houseplants have a light “dormancy” period that is healthy for them to go through in the winter. As the temperatures warm up come Spring and you maybe start to open a window or two your houseplants will come out of their dormancy and this is a great time to fertilize. A water soluble fertilizer mixed at 1/4th strength is a good choice and can be used each time you water.

Pests: Check your plants often for signs of pests as dealing with a possible infestation right away is the best way to manage an outbreak. Wiping off foliage with a damp cloth both removes dust and can increase humidity. The most common indoor house plant pests are white fly, aphids and spider mites. If you find them immediatly wipe the leaves witha wet cloth and spray with Neemoil or another organic pest control.  Using a drop cloth under the plant you spray will help keep the floor or furniture from getting the spray on it.

Indoor Plant trouble signs to watch for and their causes:

  1. Sudden defoliation: Happens with too drastic a change in environment. Example; plants that get a draft from a door opening to the outside regularly or that are too near a heat source.
  2. Lower leaves turn yellow and drop: Over watering.
  3. Bleached spots on leaves: sunburn – too much light or artificial lights are too close.
  4. Lanky new growth: Not enough light and/or too much fertilizing.
  5. Does not flower if supposed to: Not enough light.
  6. Leaf tips brown: Too cold, not enough humidity, lack of proper watering. (watering too much and then too little)
  7. Wilt: Can be either too much water and the roots are rotting or not enough water…..you will know which by your watering habits.
  8. Leaf margins brown: Over fertilizing and/or too low humidity.

Quick cures for sad plants: If your doing everything right and your plant still seems sad then try top dressing the soil with 1-2 inches of humus which will provide needed nutrients, help with moisture retention and boost overall health.  Use a bagged material from your local garden store so as not to import any diseases or pests…..DONT use the compost for your out door garden or any other out door soil.

Transplanting: If all else fails and your plant has been in the same pot for years it may be time to re pot. This can and actually should be done indoors so as not to shock your plant witha drastic temperature change. L:aying down a big drop cloth will make for an easy clean up…..it’s also a nice project for relieving that winter garden fever!

  1. Use a sharp tool to loosen the soil around the edges of the pot.
  2. Gently remove the plant and prune off any dead or damaged roots that you can see. Don’t break up the root ball to find dead roots though, try to keep the root ball as intact as possible.
  3. Have a new pot ready that is around 1-2 inches in diameter larger than your former pot and add some drainage rocks to the bottom of the pot.
  4. Add enough soil - lightly tamped down – to the bottom of the pot so that the crown of your plants root ball will rest about an inch below the top of your new pot – gently add soil to fill in around the root ball and lightly tamp down.
  5. Gently water all the surface of the soil with lukewarmwater until it starts to run out of the bottom of the pot – you want to water enough to help settle the new soil against the root ball and not have any air pockets remain. (I do this in my bathtub to reduce the mess and keep my drop cloth dry) top dress with a little more soil if needed so the crown of the root ball is not sticking up from the soil – but don’t smother it – too deep and it will rot, too shallow and it will dry out.
  6. Place the newly potted plant in a low light area for a week or so to give it a chance to readjust before putting it back in its regular location.

house plants 2Enjoy the glory of your indoor “garden” !! Some professional landscape companies have indoor plant divisions and most highly-rated professional gardeners have a good knowledge base about how to get the most out of your indoor plants if you need help with diagnosing problems or transplanting.


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Pruning and topping your trees

pruning2If you are fortunate enough to have a small forest of trees in your yard you might wonder how you can contain them. Trees can be both a very beautiful part of a landscape and very effective at blocking out much desired sun. How should you go about altering them or simply maintaining them? In most cases what is best for the tree is best for the homeowner. Sometimes the needs of man and nature collide. Here are some basic principals:

  • The best pruning is ongoing, throughout the life of the tree. It is great fun to plant a small tree and live at that location long enough to see it grow into a big one. By selective thinning you can pick which branches to keep and by removing others channel plant energy into remaining ones.
  • Ongoing pruning can control tree size, stimulate healthy flower and fruit growth, and shape the tree into traditional or unique forms.
  • If you are on the early side of landscaping and planning, select tree sizes based upon their mature size. Trees planted too close to a house rarely seem so when planted from a 2 or 5 gallon container.

Pruning Tips

  • Branches 1″ or less are cut with hand or long handles pruning shears with a single cut next to the base of the tree. Remove dead and  unwanted  branches, and some of those that are grouped too close together.
  • Larger branches are cut by hand or chainsaw by first under cutting as much as 1/3 of the branch, about 2″ out from desired cut line. Make a second cut from the top down just outside your first undercut. Then cut from top down at planned location. This helps prevent bark splitting.
  • When branches split or bark is pealed apply tree salve.  Sometimes a wrapping is necessary.

What if I want to top my trees?

  • Tree topping is hard on trees. Tree topping can help bring light into your property, but severe topping weakens trees, making them more vulnerable to insects and disease. Topping is a reasonable choice if you are open to losing the tree if the tree doesn’t react well to the pruning. Some trees do survive and even thrive after a topping but you have to assume the risk of losing the tree.
  • Consider instead how limbing lower dead and insignificant branches can help bring in low angled winter light and general thinning throughout might bring in pinpoints of light.
  • You may benefit from removing some of your trees to bring in light or a betterview of your house from the street. Emotionally it is hard to let go of a full grown tree. Sometimes it opens up a whole new world for your yard and home.

Trees do not look as tall as they really are from the ground. What seems like a simple task in pruning and branch removal can be a colossal chore and may be beyond the scope of work a homeowner can safely do. Consider the advice and services of a recommended tree professional (arborist) for any projects above head height and of any substantial scope.


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Rose pruning season starts on Valentine’s Day

rose pruning diagramRose pruning season is almost upon us so here are some hints to get your roses in the best shape for beautiful summer blooms.


When to Prune Roses

Traditionally the dormant season rose pruning is started around Valentine’s Day and continues through May in the PNW.  One rule of thumb I use is to prune when the daffodils start blooming because then you know that the soil temperatures have reached the point to initiate bud growth.


How to Prune Roses

The Right tools. Use CLEAN sharp pruners for the cuts made to canes and clean sharp loppers or a small pruning saw to remove any and all dead or old, unproductive canes. You don’t want ragged cuts since you will be pruning close to new buds so make sure your tools are sharp. Using clean tools is also important so as not to transfer any disease or microbes to the roses from other plants you may have previously been using your pruners on. Dipping your pruners, loppers and saw into a bleach  and water solution or wiping them clean with rubbing alcohol will kill off transferable diseases. If you have had problems with black spot or powdery mildew remove any leaves that have stayed on through the winter.  Also clean up any dead leaves from the ground under the plant and put them in your clean green container to get them off the property rather than compost them if you do back yard composting. Then be sure to re-dip or wipe your tools between pruning each plant to reduce the chances of infecting a healthy plant.

The Right cut. No matter the kind of rose the right cut is essential for a healthy bud and future flower. To start you should not prune your roses in the fall as the flowers start to die and the rose produces hips (those red to orange seed large seed pods that develop on some roses after blooming) Research has shown that removing the hips and pruning too early makes you plant more susceptible to disease and winter die back and that the hips produce a type of “anti-freeze” for the plant so it is better able to withstand cold winters with less die back and bud loss.  So leave them alone through the winter for best results and healthier plants. When it is time to prune follow the guidelines below for the type of roses you will be pruning and remember to always cut to approximatley a quarter inch from only outward facing buds on any pruning cut – you do not want to encourage inward growth to the center of the plant. A rule of thumb to help guide you to the right size of open shaped plant is to have enough open space on the interior of the plant that you could set a basket ball down inside the plant and the basketball would be held foot or so off the ground. Also be sure not to cut to close, or to far, from the bud you are cutting to – too close and it may die back into the bud, too far and you may be left with a stub that will be susceptible to disease and allows as easy entry for  systemic problems.


Different Rose, Different Pruning Approaches

Hybrid Tea Roses. These are the type of roses that produce the large flowers and usually one per stem. These roses you want to prune according to the size of the canes (stems or ’branches’) you have available.  A small cane approximately the size of a pencil should be  pruned back to four to six inches from the graft  – which is at the bottom of the plant and identified by a swelling at the base of the canes. (this is where the rose was budded onto a root stock). Medium canes  around the size of your forefinger should be pruned down to about eight to twelve inches from the graft. Larger canes that are thumb sized or larger should be pruned at around two feet from the graft. If you don’t see any buds to cut to on a large cane just cut back as far as you can to the lowest visible union – this is where a bud will come from as the season progresses. The desired effect is to limit your plant to four or five of the healthiest and newest canes so that you have an open, vase shaped plant with lots of room for air circulation and space for the flowers to bloom and not be touching each other.

Floribunda and Polyanthus Roses. These are the types of roses that produce lots of flowers per stem.  These are easy to prune, simply head the canes back to an outward facing bud about twelve to eighteen inches from the graft while also removing old canes and leaving an open center and space between the canes

Climbing Roses. These are usually the most confusing of all roses when it comes to pruning because of the mass of the plant climbing over your trellis or wall, but they actually pretty easy to prune. Limit the canes to about four or six healthy, young green canne and remove the surplus. These canes are your structure for the plant and so you only need to cut the main canes to fit the surface you are growing the plant on. Don’t cut as severely as you do with the other types, because a climbing rose produces canes one year and they do not flower until the second year. So if you cut it back severely, there will be no flowers until the next season. The growth that develops off the main canes should be cut back to a second or third growth bud, usually making it only about two or three inches long. You want the new flower buds to be close to the main canes with buds on as many available offshoots as possible for that full gorgeous look.


After Spring Pruning

  • Add compost. Once your pruning is finished add a half inch of compost around the plants base – DO NOT pile the compost up against the main stem (graft) that comes out of the soil – in the wet PNW this will cause rot at the base of the plant. Leave about an inch of space of just bare soil close to the main stem and spread the compost to about two feet  in circumference around the plant. The compost will work it’s way into the soil and is there to feed the feeder roots that are just under the top layer of soil. Don’t fertilize yet as this may promote early growth that could be damaged in a surprise frost or cold snap.
  • Summer Pruning.  As your roses bloom you will need to do some summer pruning called ‘deadheading’ to encourage more blooms and we will discuss these methods in a future post.

Rose pruning can be daunting since there are some rules to follow that don’t apply to most garden pruning and a recommended professional gardener can be a real help for having this early Spring chore done quickly and correctly.

rose bud


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Plants for great Fall color

Fall is a season of glorious color but it can be fleeting sometimes!

Here’s a list  of plants  that are known for having amazing color changes, will last longer than just until the first windstorm, and are  great looking plants in your summer garden as well.

Fall is also one of the best times of the year to plant – you can go to the nursery, purchase and plant, and know what color your getting!  This makes it easy to choose the right fall color plants for your garden.

katsura leavesKATSURA- I have mentioned this plant in a previous post and I put it first in this list – The dry leaves when shuffled thru (or when you are raking them up) smell like cotton candy! The various colors during the change is what I love the most about this tree – as some of it’s leaves are still green, some are fading yellow and others into reds and purples (depending on which species you plant)…all happening at once!

fall and new roof 012FOTHERGILLA (Mt. Airy) -  Mt. Airy is the mid-sized version of this amazing Fall color plant.  It’s considered to be the best one for various changes in the leaves.  There are also dwarf and larger versions that can be used for drama, as a back drop plant or as spots of color. It also has a 3-4″  cone flower in summer.

Fall color for Blog 028RHUS (Sumac) – The Rhus family is large… And here in the Northwest we usually plant the Staghorn or Lace leaf varieties but all Sumac species thrive in almost any soil as long as they are well drained.  The females have the red cone seed pod that birds love.

Fall color for Blog 019STEWARTIA – These trees are happy in organically enriched, slightly acid and woodland gardens so they are a perfect understory tree for a woodsy garden. There are a few different species but all are slow growing, all season performers. They have large white flowers in the spring and beautiful glossy leaves for the Spring and Summer, amazing fall color in the Fall and, depending on the species, smooth bark that flakes off in varying degrees (like a birch) with patterns of different colors.

Fall color for Blog 014BLUEBERRIES- Gorgeous purple fruit high in antioxidants that even kids love to eat plus gorgeous fall color to boot – need I say more?


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Fall Garden Clean Up – Part 2

pruning

Part 2 of my series on Fall Garden Cleanup – if you missed part 1, read about fall lawncare, readying perennials, fertilizing and mulching in the fall garden before continuing!

Pruning: Many people let the garden go late into the summer and then do their pruning of summer growth during their fall cleanup.  Fall is not a good time to prune. There are a small host of plants that can be pruned in the fall but, in general, you don’t want to do any big pruning in the Fall.  All your Spring or Summer flowering shrubs should have been pruned by now.  Your deciduous trees and shrubs will be running sap as they go dormant for the Winter so Fall is a very detrimental time to prune them. (Maples especially! their sap runs fast – why do you think we use them to make syrup?!)  Wait until winter for the deciduous plants.

If you prune any of your Spring flowering shrubs in fall you will be pruning off where the buds have set up for the coming Springs bloom. If you have to make some cuts then just cut what is really in the way (e.g. if you have a few branches  that grew over the phone line this summer and your worried a winter  snow on those branches might put undue weight on the lines), finishing the rest when Winter sets in.

Weeding:  Fall is one of the best times of the year to weed! Weed control is all about getting to the weeds before they set seed.  Summer blooming weeds are full of seeds that are drying on the vine – the next wind or rain will scatter them far and wide. So concentrate on getting those weeds in the Fall!  And get to any that are in bloom or done blooming as soon as you can so they don’t scatter seeds.  Learning when certain trouble weeds bloom and eradicating them before they do is a great way to substantially reduce weed problems.

Plant bulbs: Wait until Oct., at the earliest, to plant bulbs  – especially for an El Nino Winter (which is predicted for winter 2009).  Bulbs need to be kept chilled until you plant them, in a garage or a shady spot that gets no sun at all.  Then they should not be put in the ground until the soil temps are constantly low enough to keep the bulbs from warming and thinking it is time to grow.

One good rule of thumb for proper planting depth to follow is to plant the bulb half as deep as the height of the flower that bulb will produce. So a short little 3 inch Crocus should only be planted 1.5 inches deep and a tall 1 foot tulip should be planted 6 inches deep.

katsura leavesEnjoy: If you have been working on achieving diversity in your garden, then you’ll have a large array of plants that will be putting on their best show this time of year as they change into winter outfits.  Color changes,  berries from summer flowers, seed pods with dew and scents all have their best moments in the fall.

Here’s a tip for a great tree to plant  if you like scents in the garden and gorgeous fall color;  The dried fallen leaves of the Katsura tree ( Cercidiphyllum japonicum) smell like cotton candy when shuffled through!  I kid you not – and it is strong, not one of those “oh I kinda smell it” smells!  The fall leaf colors of this tree are also amazing!


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Fall Garden Clean Up – Part 1

Fall is here and it’s almost time for the fall clean up in the garden to begin!

Here’s Part 1 of my easy list to get the garden ready “for bed” before the winter:

fall-lawnLawn: If you read my earlier post on plants to stop planting in the Pacific Northwest, you know what I think big, perfectly green lawns….but if you do have a lawn and you watered it sparingly through the hot summer months, you are probably noticing that it’s greening up on its own now that fall rains have started.

The lawn is coming out of it’s natural dormancy period right now and that makes it a great time to rake out the thatch from this summer and give it a fertilizing.  Fall is the best time to fertilize the lawn; be sure to use organic fertilizer (because we’re feeding the soil, not the grass itself), follow the rate on the bag as a guide, however, don’t worry about fancy applicators or applying exactly the amount on the bag – just throw it liberally down and water it well.

Fertilizing the Gardens: In general a mature garden that is being mulched on a regular basis will not need any supplemental fertilizing – too much can create unnatural growth that is unhealthy and  unsustainable.  If things are not as green or lush as you’d like, then try a year of mulching and proper watering before you use fertilizers.  If there is a deficiency in the soil and the plants still look “sick”, consult a professional landscaper to help you diagnose the problem. Throwing fertilizers around usually hurts more than helps.  In a new landscape the soil should have been fertilized upon planting and can be gently fertilized the next fall as well – usually two to three  ”doses” of an organic fertilizer coupled with regular mulching is enough to restart the natural biotic web of food production in the root zone that then will  sustain itself with regular mulching.

Perennials: Cutting back the perennials is a standard of fall clean up but needs to be done at the right time for the best growth for the next year. Remember that the leaves of your daylily or daisy etc. are making food for storage during  the winter, so should be left on as long as they are green.  Cutting back the whole plant after it is done flowering robs the plant of this important food gathering time so wait until they die back on their own or the first frost browns them. You can, of course, leave the foliage on the plant until Spring as the dead foliage is the plants natural protector from cold – but some find it unsightly and it can create a habitat for slugs and other critters to overwinter – so better to cut it back when it is ready and then mulch for a cleaned up garden look.

first bulbs thru mulchLeaves: Once all the leaves have come down you can either use them for mulch thru the winter or compost them.  Be sure to rake them off of the tops of plants and shake them off of the shrubs. To use as mulch, spread the leaves to a depth of no more than 2-3 inches on the bare soil areas of your garden.  Leaves do an excellent job of protecting your soil from harsh winter rains and protecting the shallow root zone of perennials and bulbs.  But don’t smother your perennials with leaves.  Rather just apply them as mulch right up to the perennials base. In severe cold weather save a pile of leaves in a compost heap that you can place on top of perennials (and remove when the worst has passed!).  In the Spring, when the first bulbs start to come up, rake up all the leaves and pile them to compost and mix into the soil when you do future planting or transplanting.

In part 2, I’ll cover fall pruning, weeds and bulb planting along with a tip on one of my favorite trees!  Stay tuned…


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