Garden Success Tip of the Week

When it gets hot and dry in the summer, and Mother Nature is stingy with the rainfall, you have to supplement.  So today, let’s take a look at 3 great ways to water your trees.

Soaker hoses – Made out of recycled rubber and very porous, soaker hoses above the roots slow drip irrigate the soil below.  Once in place, soaker hoses can remain there all season long.  They can save you time and money, have less water loss and they’re a recycled product.  Maximum length for effective soaker hoses would be about 100 feet – use them on level ground, and make sure you leave them on long enough to soak the soil 4-6 inches deep, or deeper.

Treegator Bags – Now here’s a great way to water new trees (or trees up to 4-6 inch trunk diameters), that saves you watering time, while it slow drip waters the root system.  Most bags hold 20 gallons of water and can be zipped together to add more gallons per tree.  Simply fill the bags once or twice a week, and the Treegator bag slow drips water to the tree’s immediate root system with almost 100% water absorption into the soil.

Ross Root Feeder – One of my favorites, the Ross Root Feeder was originally designed to feed trees and shrubs with water soluble fertilizer injected below the soil surface.  But using it without fertilizer, you inject water below the soil surface, giving a deep watering to the roots with little or no evaporation.  In addition to injecting water, the pressure of the water coming out of the feeder also opens small crevices in the soil helping to open up that compacted clay soil.

Remember, as a general rule, established plants would like 1 inch or rainfall every 10 days or so for optimum growing conditions.  If Mother Nature doesn’t come thru, these are three great ways for you to help her out.  Your plants are thirsty – why not join them for a drink?

Plants of the Week

This week there are two plants to look at!  Our first one is the actual plant of the week, with the second plant deserving a little attention as well.

1.) They may be two weeks early, but they’re still one of my favorite summer blooming bulbs.  You see, its during their flowering times, that I can be driving down the road, or standing in someone’s yard, and yell out, “Look at that naked lady!”, to which most folks have no idea what I’m talking about.  Just last week we were at my daughter’s house, and I noticed a few Naked Ladies in the yard across the street.  So I started my usual “Look at the Naked Ladies” routine, to which my son-in-law was looking everywhere trying to see a naked lady, saying “where, I don’t see her?”   And then as I pointed out the Naked Ladies flowering in the yard across the street, he just gave me a frown and mumbled something like, “only my father-in-law”.  Oh well, I enjoyed it.

Naked Lady

Nevertheless, appearing two weeks earlier than usual, our plant of the week is Lycoris squamigera, or commonly known as (yes you can guess it) Naked Ladies, Surprise Lily, Resurrection lily, or Magic lily.  It is a herbaceous plant grown from a bulb, with basal, simple leaves which are not present when the flowers emerge from the ground. (The leaves sprout and grow in the spring, then die back during June.) Then in mid August (depending on weather) the flowers appear. The flowers, which are white or pink and slightly fragrant, spring up dramatically from the ground.  In only four to five days from first emergence they are in full bloom. This suddenness is reflected in its common names.  Attractive to butterflies and people alike, but the deer do not enjoy them.  I guess they’re offended?  (Bulbs usually available for planting spring or fall – can be dug and divided after foliage dies back in the spring, or after the flower is finished in late August.)

2.) All season long, dandelions can pop up in the lawn and in the landscape beds.  And for some folks, dandelions can be very frustrating – which makes dandelions one of the most unwanted weeds around.  But did you know at one time, there were no dandelions in the United States?  Dandelions, along with several other lawn weeds, were brought here (mostly from Europe) to serve many purposes.  And the dandelion is one workhorse of a plant.  -The roots, which can get an inch thick and grow deeper than most trees roots, were harvested and boiled for making a tea used for medicinal purposes.  -The dandelion foliage was harvested and eaten fresh or cooked, as well as the unopened flowers.  -The opened flowers were used for making dandelion wine, as well as battered and fried for a nice warm snack.  And of course, the dandelion flowers are also an excellent source of pollen for honeybees all season long.  So, if dandelions bother you, they can be a tough one to get rid of.  Spot treat as needed with a water soluble weed killer (make sure dandelions are on the label – best time is actually in the fall), dig them out by cutting the root about 6-8 inches below the soil surface, and do all you can to keep the lawn as thick as possible so dandelions won’t have a place to grow.  And remember, if you can’t beat ‘em, you can always eat ‘em!

Plant of the Week

One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, and one to surely make anyone smile, is the sunflower.  Here is an annual that originated in North American (has a great history thru the past), and today, I am told there are more than 60 species being grown!  The sunflower belongs to the genus ‘Helianthus’.  ‘Helios’ translates ‘to the sun’ in Greek, and yes, sunflowers really do track the sun when they’re in bud stage (green / not a flower yet).  That process is called ‘heliotropism’.  Once those green buds become flowers, the stem becomes frozen in an eastward facing position.  Remember that when planting your sunflowers, so you can see the flower heads when they freeze facing east!

The sunflower head looks like one huge flower, but it’s actually hundreds of tiny flowers called florets.  The yellow petals around the outside were actually the protective leaves that covered the immature head while it was growing.  And it’s each of those small florets that eventually form the sunflower seeds.  Pretty cool, huh?

Obviously sunflowers are grown for their ornamental value (what a show they put on!), but also grown as a source of food for humans, wildlife and baseball players, as a source for oils used in a variety of ways including cooking and as a lubricant, to help make plastics, and even used for fuel.

Now, if you would like to brighten your day, drive to Deerfield Township, corner of Snider Road and Irwin Simpson Road.  You’ll find our 2010 planting of really bright sunflowers!  It’s Natorp’s Nursery manager Bill Newton’s way of trying to brighten up everyone’s day.  And it really works!  Enjoy.

Plant of the Week

Here’s a great plant guaranteed not many are familiar with, yet once you see it, you want one in your landscape!  Our plant of the week is Vitex agnus-castus, or commonly known as ‘Chaste Tree’.  And it’s not a tree but is a large shrub.  In our zone, Chaste Tree usually reaches 8-10 feet tall and wide, and is sometimes considered a woody perennial (meaning it may die back over the winter and re-grow the next season).  The attractive leaves are opposite compound palmate (similar to Buckeye leaves), with a dark grey green above and grayish below, and are slightly aromatic when crushed.  Chaste Tree begins to flower in June / July and may last until September, flowering on the ends of the new growth with blue- purple, lilac or lavender spiked flowers.  Vitex prefers full sun to partial sun, works well in the shrub border, and really is an attention getter with the great foliage texture and wonderful summer flowers.  Another under-used plant in the landscape.

Plant of the Week

Our plant of the week is definitely not one that many folks are familiar with, but more and more are learning all about it!  Its Sorbaria sorbifolia (say that one 10 times straight!) or commonly known as ‘False Spirea’ or just ‘Sorbaria’.  Here is an erect, somewhat stiff multi-stemmed shrub (suckers freely) with beautiful alternate pinnately compound dark green leaves (mountain ash like), growing 5-10 feet high and wide, making a nice mass planting, clump planting, bank cover, etc,  staying full of foliage from top to the ground.  In June and July, the new growth is topped with large plumes of creamy white flowers very similar in appearance to those of astilbe.  Grows in sun or light shade, prefers moist well drained loamy soils, has little to no insect or disease problems, and requires very little maintenance (maybe deadheading).  Just give it plenty of room to sucker out and grow.  There is a more compact selection named ‘Sem’ which has bronze new growth, changing to green, still has the plume flowers, but stays more in the 3-4 foot range.  Can be grown in containers as well!

Garden Success Tip of the Week

Controlling Bagworms – During June and July, you seem to notice a loss of needles on your evergreens, and an increase in cone-like structures hanging from the branches.  Upon closer inspection, you realize the cone-like structures are actually moving, and devouring your evergreen’s needles!  The culprit – the common bagworm.

Description – Bagworms are caterpillars that during June, July and early August, make distinctive spindle-shaped bags comprised of leaves, needles, sticks, bark, etc, and actually live inside the bag (mature bags can reach 1 ½ to 2 inches long).  They carry it with them as they move around both deciduous plants and evergreens feeding on the foliage.  They are especially damaging to evergreens (juniper, spruce, pines, arborvitae, cedar, cypress, etc.) as stripping the plants of their foliage may result in death of the plant.  And they largely go unnoticed as they do resemble pine cones!  The female remains in the caterpillar form, but the male eventually develops into a winged bee like creature (August).  He mates with the female, resulting in the fertilized female laying from 300-1,000 eggs in her bag.  The bag is then attached to a plant branch with a silk-like band, to hang in place over winter. Those eggs over winter in that bag, and hatch out late May and early June, starting the entire bagworm process all over again.  These tiny bagworms are so small, they are carried in the winds to other evergreens (ballooning stage) or they may stay on the plant where they hatched.

Control – 1.) Hand Picking – Physical removal is a great way to rid your plants of bagworms.  Whether during the feeding times or over the winter and early spring before the eggs hatch (which happens late May thru mid June), picking the bags off the plants and destroying them stops the bagworms before they ever get started.  Destroy the bags by smashing, soaking in soapy water, or burning.  2.) Chemical Control – There are no preventative sprayings for preventing bagworm infestations.  You can only spray for control after the bagworms have been noticed actively feeding on the plants.  Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) and Captain Jacks Deadbug Brew is very effective against the early stages of bagworms, and very much environmentally safe.  Spray these towards mid to late June after all bagworms have hatched.  Other insecticides will also control bagworms, and remember that earlier sprays against younger larvae are more effective rather than later against older larvae.  And the silk bags will become an impermeable protectant for the bagworm, so spraying means making sure the foliage is soaked.  Eight, Sevin, Malathion, Rotenone, etc are a few of the many insecticides listed for bagworm control.  Two sprayings may be needed for total control.  If you do not realize that there is a bagworm problem until late in the season, forget the sprays. Handpick what you can, and wait until next mid June to spray the newly hatched bagworms when they are most susceptible to sprays.  Use this tactic for controlling bagworms in the tops of tall evergreens that cannot be hand picked.  Wait for hatching, and then spray as needed.