Trees

 It will be October in less than a week, and many of you may have given up on your gardens for the winter. When most gardeners think of October, they think of raking leaves and cleaning out for the spring.

But, if you have a garden project you are just itching to finish, don’t wait. The horticulturists around here stress that fall is the best time to plant. This may not be safe for some of the colder parts of the USA, but for most of us, the weather is mild and the soil is willing. Actually, it’s even a little warm here in South Carolina today.

This is a great time to get those shrubs and trees in the ground. For most plants. as long as they are listed as hardy to your USDA hardiness zone, then you can plant them most any time of the year, unless the ground is frozen. Planting in the fall will allow more time for good strong roots to develop before spring. Your trees will perform better than if you wait until it warms up next year to plant them.

As gardeners we have an opportunity to be a little more in tune to the changes and happenings as the seasons change. Migrating birds, the coming and going of pesky insects, clouds of pollen, budding, blooming, and eventually, seeding are all things that pass under the nose of the ever-observant gardener. Watching nature can teach you so much about your own garden. One of the biggest questions we get is, “when do I plant this?” The answer for most shrubs, trees, bulbs, and perennials will almost always be: “in the fall.”

Wildflowers, trees, and shrubs all seed in the fall in nature- the summer is filled with fruit and blooms, but the seeds don’t hit the ground until fall. They spend the winter dormant and sprout up right on time in the spring. This works just as well with bulbs and bare-root plants shipped in the fall. They spend their dormant period searching the ground with their roots, slowly becoming established, and they will have a huge leap on any plants planted in the spring.

It is not necessary to plant in the fall, most plants will do just fine as long as the ground isn’t frozen, but the fall planting season is ideal for most varieties. You will have earlier blooms and more productive plants in the following spring and summer.

Okay, pleasing tactile and auditory sense organs may be a stretch, but the texture of the fruit is nice, and the sound of rustling leaves on your patio is peaceful. But, my point is, Citrus kumquat 'Nagami' goes a long way towards turning your modest patio garden into a tiny tropical oasis.

The sweet fragrance of the blossoms and the fruits will be the first thing you notice, a refreshingly crisp natural smell, leagues beyond any store-bought air freshener. The bright blooms and glowy orange fruit against the dense green foliage makes for a very classy and cute tree that visitors will love to look at. And the fruit itself can be eaten right of the tree, a sweet tangy summertime treat.

Check out the complete collect of Wayside Gardens Citrus Trees.

Cornus kousa Venus® is a brand new dogwood with bigger blooms, improved drought and cold tolerance, and better resistance to the most common dogwood diseases.

The huge snow-white blooms float on the outside of this peculiar tree like big butterflies. Venus® has an odd but interesting habit, with branches all the way to the ground, creating a cloud of large, bright blooms from the ground up. It will reach as tall as 20 feet and at least that wide and requires very little maintenance.

Dogwoods are notoriously thirsty, but Venus® shows a stronger tolerance of dry periods than her fragile cousins. This tree also thrives in cooler climates where dogwoods are usually unavailable (up to zone 4). And, since it's resistant to the most common dogwood ailments, Venus® maintains beautiful deep green foliage right into fall.

Standard Dogwood Care Tips:

• Soil: Dogwoods need a good balance: a blend that drains well but also contains enough organic matter to retain some moisture.
• Mulch: A layer of mulch goes a long way in maintaining soil moisture levels and protecting your roots from climate fluctuations.
• Pruning: Only to remove unsightly dying limbs if necessary.
• Water: Water deeply every couple of weeks, at least for the first year.
• Fertilizer: Use an all-purpose flowering-plant or shrub fertilizer. Rich organic material, like compost, worked into the soil will usually provide more than enough nutrients for your tree.

This weekend I bought a big bag of kumquats.  I had never actually tried one, though I’ve been fascinated by the little guys for years.  Not only is it one of the most fun fruit names to say, they’re like tiny, perfect little oblong oranges.  I was pretty sure that you’re supposed to eat the fruits whole, so I rinsed one off, popped it into my mouth and bit down, ready to savor the citrusy goodness.  Not, as it turns out, how you eat a Kumquat.  The taste of the pulp is much closer to that of a lemon than that of an orange (only even more tart), and when you just eat it like that the rind is very bitter.  To the internet I went, looking for the proper way to eat them (peeling them all seemed just too ridiculous to contemplate).  The trick, I discovered, is to roll the fruit between your fingers before eating to release the essential oils in the rind.  Then you need to chew thoroughly.  The sweetness of a kumquat is in the rind, and it needs to be chewed into the sour pulp.  Once you’ve got the trick down, though, it is an amazingly delicious, complex fruit.  Man, I remember thinking, wouldn’t it be amazing if I could grow fruit like this for myself?

It turns out that I can.  Wayside Gardens has several citrus trees that thrive in containers, so all of us can grow delicious citrus fruit almost anywhere in the country.  I might just grab up a Washington Navel Orange which will produce juicy, flavorful and nutritious fruits which all are sure to love.  Plus, it’s blooms are fragrant and the tree itself is handsome enough to become a living ornament indoors. If you’re looking to grow limes for Mexican cuisine or mixing drinks, you can’t go wrong with the seedless ‘Bearss’ Lime.  You also might consider the Meyer Lemon one of the most popular container citrus trees ever.