One of the numerous negative ecological effects of urban development is a higher rate of soil erosion. Forests naturally hold on to soil with their roots. Trees slow the fall of raindrops to keep them from disrupting the soil. The natural bumps and hillocks in the landscape break up the flow of water, giving it more opportunity to be absorbed by plant roots and filtered through the soil before it winds its way into creeks, streams, and rivers. These natural soil-defense mechanisms do not exist in developed land, where rain falls on rooftops, asphalt, and flat lawns covered in relatively sparse, shallow-rooted plants. All this means that on developed land, wind and rain carries off much more top soil, dumping it into storm drains and into the water table. This not only degrades the soil quality, but also dumps soil into the local water supply, along with oils and often-toxic pollutants.
For the sustained health of your garden and your community, you should try and minimize erosion and runoff as much as possible with careful garden design. Where downspouts empty onto your yard or where storm waters flow through it, you should take every effort to absorb and filter this water. A well-designed garden will capture water effectively, keeping plant roots moist much longer while also holding on to the soil’s nutrients and keeping pollution out of the local water table.
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Spring Garden Preparation Checklist
Spring is right around the corner, which means the gardening season is starting! Make sure you are prepared with this article from Wayside Gardens, including information like what plants to prune in spring, how to properly plant a tree, how to make the most of your compost, how to divide daylilies, and more!
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Gardeners have a love/hate relationship with winter. The cold is one of the biggest killers of plants, but at the same time many plants have a chilling requirement—having adapted to a cold climate, they now require a certain length of wintry conditions to allow them to undergo the mysterious process of vernalization.
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Hydrangeas have become very popular cut flowers due to their bold presence, attractive colors, and versatility—they can be used in fresh-cut arrangements or dried as everlastings. Out of all the types of Hydrangeas, lacecaps are really the only ones that don’t dry very well.
We have put together a few tips to help you get the most out of your cutflower Hydrangeas, including how to keep them fresh as long as possible as well as how to dry them for use long after the season has passed.
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Few blooms provide more showy appeal than Hydrangeas: long-blooming, with showers of magnificent clusters of colorful flowers. However, some of us may be wondering why that beautiful pink shrub that we planted last year has now turned a bright shade of blue! Hydrangeas may produce pink, blue, or lavender blooms, depending on where it’s planted and how it’s fed. The presence of aluminum in the plant ultimately determines the color, and pH affects the uptake of aluminum. Alkaline soils, pH of 6.0 or more, are more likely to produce pink blooms, and more acidic soils, pH 4.5 to 5.5, produce blue flowers.
You can change your bloom color to blue, pink or red with acidic or alkaline soil!
- Always test your soil before planting (Soil Test Kits are available online).
- Know your Hydrangea variety: white, panicle, and climbing Hydrangeas do not change color.
- In slightly acid or neutral soil (pH 6 to 7), blooms can be a mix of blue and pink on the same plant.
- If your soil pH is very high (alkaline) it will be harder to lower its concentration. Plant pink and white varieties only.
Acidic Soil (pH below 6) Blue flowers: 
- Hydrangeas can be turned blue by applying aluminum sulfate to lower pH, adding available aluminum to the soil for plant uptake. To lower the pH of your soil, add Espoma® Soil Acidifier to alkaline soil by following label directions.
Alkaline soil (pH above 7) Pink or Red flowers: 
- Applying lime to raise the pH level will help blue Hydrangeas turn pink. This is done by applying a high phosphorus fertilizer and/or Espoma® Garden Lime according to label directions.
PRO TIP: If your soil naturally produces very blue or very pink hydrangea flowers, you may need to grow your hydrangeas in containers or raised beds to achieve the desired color.
PRO TIP: If you do attempt to change the color of your blooms by adding these minerals, dilute them well, and add sparingly. It is very easy to scorch your plants by adding too much. Always follow the product’s application instructions for the safest and best results.
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Bulbs should be firm and never mushy or rotten—small amounts of surface mold should be okay. If only a small part of the bulb seems to be mushy, try slicing off that part with a knife and stick it in the ground anyway. It’s better to give it a fighting chance than to just assume it’s dead and throw it away. Even chancy plants can live a healthy life if you’re diligent.
Bulbs that have already sprouted will be vulnerable during the winter, so make sure your bulbs have as little new growth as possible. Larger flower bulbs, like tulips, produce bigger plants and tend to come up later in the season than plants from smaller bulbs. Plants with smaller bulbs, like crocus, come up much earlier.
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