This summer is already a perfect storm, and we aren’t even in hurricane season yet! If you’ve already been hit with Mother Nature’s powerful presence, your plants need help to recover. Whether it’s heat and drought or saturated soils and gale force winds – plants are suffering. They need your attention in different ways depending on where in America you live. For those horribly damaged in the East, it’s important to take a close look at your woody trees and shrubs. Storm winds can injure them in unique ways that may only be revealed upon close inspection. Pests and diseases often enter storm damaged trees through these sometimes subtle breaks in the bark. Attending to wounds now can not only help them recover faster, you may be able to prevent bigger problems down the road.
Continue reading “Healing Storm Damaged Trees”
Tag: shrubs
Hartlage Wine: An Easy-to-Grow Deciduous Shrub
We don’t have many flowering shrubs with flowers quite like the shape and color of the Calycanthus raulstonii ‘Hartlage Wine’ here in the Pacific Northwest. This vigorous shrub’s wine-red flowers are now blooming in my garden. Reaching a height of perhaps only 6-8 feet, it is easy to trim to keep lower. This deciduous shrub has been easy to grow with no insect or disease pests. I find it does best in a part shade location with protection from hot afternoon summer sun. It should be in bloom at most garden centers now.
When planting your shrub, be sure to amend the soil with Black Gold Soil Conditioner for improved organic matter and success!
Big Planting Pots, Big Rewards
If you’re gardening on patio, porch, deck, roof or terrace, you need the right pots. Choose big planting pots large enough to support long lived woody plants that offer big rewards of beauty and food. Insist on a mouth wide enough to accommodate a 5-gallon nursery pot to ensure the rootball fits without crushing.
This will support fruiting or flowering trees, shrubs and vines that can instantly change the nature of outdoor space. Obtain enough Black Gold® Waterhold Potting Soil to fill the pot to 3 to 5 inches below the rim with the new plant in place. This “freeboard” is a time saver that lets you apply a lot of water all at once so you can do something else while it slowly percolates into the root zone.
Ginkgo Biloba Mariken
At the recent KXL Plant Nerd Night, sponsored by Black Gold, one of the ‘hot’ plants was Ginkgo biloba ‘Mariken’. This is a dwarf Ginkgo with soft green leaves in summer, turning a brilliant gold in the fall. This is a winter-hardy plant for our area and would make a great container plant. I have one in a pot on my deck and am looking forward to its beautiful foliage this summer. Actually, I have several dwarf Ginkgo plants in containers and find they thrive with Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Soil. Ginkgo Biloba Mariken
Hydrangea 'Shooting Star'
I think a plant makes an especially nice winter gift for the gardener if it is blooming and so can be enjoyed indoors and then later planted in the garden. Hydrangeas from a garden center (not a florist) are usually good choices. One of my favorites is Hydrangea ‘Shooting Star’. It blooms for a long period indoors and once spring has arrived, can be planted in the garden as a permanent plant.
Mike Darcy on Lion’s Tail, November Transplanting, and Itoh Peonies
November is a great gardening month here in the Pacific Northwest. While we usually have some rain, we still get rainless days, making it ideal to work outside. This year has been no exception. This kind of weather makes it a perfect time to plant new shrubs and trees and let them get settled before spring. The rain has made it easy to dig and cultivate, and the soil temperature is still relatively warm. The roots have an opportunity to begin growing and will be ready to “spring forward” with new growth next season.
Lion’s Tail
In my November garden, I am surprised at the amount of color that I still have, not only from fall leaves but even some flowers. An outstanding flower blooming now is Leonotis leonurus (Lion’s Tail). This tall late-summer and early-fall-blooming plant has whorls of deep rust-orange flowers appearing on long stems reaching 6 feet. The bloom habit and color are quite striking and unique. This plant is technically a tender perennial, but I consider it an annual, and then if it does not survive the winter I am not disappointed. If it does survive, I am pleasantly surprised. Thus, I am mentally prepared for either scenario.
I planted my Lion’s Tail in early June and worked Black Gold Garden Compost Blend into the top 6 inches of soil. At this same time, I also added rose & flower fertilizer. This one application of fertilizer is all that I added for the entire season. I placed them in a sunny location behind a mixed border of shrubs and flowers. Lion’s Tail is a rather nondescript plant in early spring. Since it does not come into flowering until late summer or early fall, many gardeners are unaware it exists until later in the season.
This fall, after the first hard frost, I am going to cut the plants back to ground level and mulch the soil with 4-5 inches of Black Gold Garden Compost Blend to see if this will provide enough winter protection for the Lion’s Tail to survive. If not, I will happily buy new plants in the spring!
Transplanting Perennials
When we do have those sunny days, this is also a perfect time for some general garden maintenance. If your garden is anything like mine, I often put plants in the wrong place. It seems that I plant short ones in back and tall ones behind! So, this is the time when I walk through the garden and sort out what needs to be changed.
In the Pacific Northwest, November is also an ideal time to transplant hardy perennials like phlox, hostas, and peonies. Of these, peonies are one of my favorite, I have many in my garden, but extra attention must be given when transplanting them.
If your peony flower production has declined in recent years and the plants have been in their location for several years, they might need to be divided. Fall is the time to do it.
Peonies have large, fleshy roots with “eyes” or growing points towards the top. When dividing them, make certain to have one eye on each piece and do not plant them more than about 3 inches below the soil surface. One to two inches is ideal for these exceptionally hardy perennials. If planted too deep, peonies will not bloom.
Herbaceous peonies (Paeonia lactiflora) are winter hardy in most areas, and have been known to return annually for well over 100 years. Once established, they require little care, other than having good drainage and a sunny location. In November, I cut my herbaceous peonies to the ground, and add a light mulching layer of Black Gold Garden Compost Blend as winter protection.
In spring, most standard herbaceous peonies (Paeonia lactiflora) need to be staked because their large flowers are supported by weak stems that immediately flop in rain. I have seen gardeners use tomato cages as support them, and this seems to work. Just be sure to place the cages over plants as soon as they begin to grow in spring. There are also special peony supports that do a good job of holding up the stems.
Itoh Peonies
New introductions to the plant world are Itoh peonies, or intersectional hybrids. These are crosses between tree peonies and herbaceous peonies. The result is outstanding new plants. The flowers tend to look like tree peony blooms while the plant grows like the herbaceous peony. To me, their big advantage is the very sturdy stems that do not need staking.
The picture shown was taken in November, and while my herbaceous peonies have been cut to the ground, this Itoh peony ‘Bartzella’ looks almost as good as it did in the spring. ‘Bartzella’ has clear yellow, fragrant flowers that continue blooming over an extended period of time in the spring. I have had it for three years, and it is an outstanding plant in my garden.
Check out your local garden center as there are new colors being introduced. This might be November, but that does not mean you should halt work in your garden. Flowering plants, like Lion’s Tail and Itoh peonies, make great additions to any garden. I actually find this time of year ideal for contemplating what I want to change and add for next year. Enjoy the season!