Anyone who spends time outside knows the fear, the shock, and the lasting pain erupting from an attack by stinging insects such as wasps. You’re tending your business and your garden, and this villain darts out of some unseen burrow to strike down the spade-wielding giant. You swat, you squeal, you retreat, but to no avail. You’ve been stung.
It happened to me one summer, late in my adolescence, dutifully trimming about the retaining wall behind the old homestead with a top-o’-the-line weed-wacker (nothing but the best for my Pops). I hovered a bit too long over an area concealing an extensive yellow-jacket colony. I noticed the impending commotion, and the innocent lawn-care appliance quickly became my only means of defense. Taking out their front line with ease, I slowly backed away, thinking the battle was done. A lone soldier broke through my defenses and landed a winning blow right on my ear, knocking me to the ground.
I’m sure it was the surprise of the blow that took me off my feat and not the force. A yellow jacket is still only an insect. But, I conceded that battle– my head was swollen for a week.
This rambling story is prelude to a helpful gardening tip, I promise. Wasps and bees can bee stopped without buying a stinky poisonous spray. If you use a spray adhesive your insect enemies will drop right out of the air. Spray adhesives don’t contain any of the harmful poisons of bug spray, and if you buy the one with environmentally safe propellants instead of CFC’s, they are also better for the atmosphere.
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Planting a rock garden is one of those projects that really allows the gardener to become an artist. Texture and color are paramount when planning a rock garden, and beyond a few conventions, the yard becomes an uncarved piece of marble, bracing for the sculptor’s creative touch. The touch must be sensitive, however, because the objective is to simulate an alpine environment. Alpine ecosystems exists in the outcrops above the tree line in mountainous areas. The air is too thin to support trees, and the alpine plants thrive in this cool rocky environment. One cannot create the thin atmosphere, but alpine plant life, rock formations, and soil conditions are within the range of the home gardener’s spade.
The choice of rock largely depends on local availability, and for the sake of thriftiness, local rock is the best choice. Porous rocks like sandstone and tufa are preferred by the plants, limestone works well in rural areas, but will bleach in the more polluted areas near cities. The stones should be of various sizes up to about 60 lbs.(27 kg). The plants will not like anything smooth like granite. According to conventional standards for aesthetically pleasing rock gardens, one never mixes types of rock or uses broken concrete (concrete will also be more susceptible to environmental conditions).
There are a few things to consider when choosing alpine plants for a rock garden. If the intention is to have a garden feature that is interesting throughout the seasons, plants chosen must bloom at various times and provide color when others have faded. Choosing shrubbery and small trees with interesting architecture will ensure that a rock garden is interesting even through the bleakest winter. The trees and shrubs will affect the overall look, providing height and shape to the rock garden. The flowering and carpeting plants will add most of the color.
Early in winter, Helleborus will be the reliable source of color, but as winter winds down, Iris, daffodils, and crocus will start to peak out from behind the stones. Choosing spring plants requires moderation and keeping in mind the overall objective of an architecturally interesting feature– clematis and ramonda are great spring flowers for the rock garden. The summer offers similar abundance of choice, but low-growing bright flowers like phlox and dianthus work best. For fall, carpeting plants, cyclamen, and early crocus plants do really well.
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The purpose of fertilizing your garden or lawn is replacing soil nutrients or amending deficient soil. In nature, organic material falls to the ground and is reincorporated within the soil. An area rich with life constantly replenishes itself. In domestic situations, the soil is cleaned of debris and any interfering organisms that might be future food for plants. Even pruning and removing fallen leaves and fruit removes potential food. Harvesting and cleaning plant debris in your garden removes a possible source of nutrients– when left, your plants could be self-sufficient, maintaining a constant size and humble blooms and fruit. However, humanity did not master agricultural practices millennia ago just to let the plants do all of the work. The essence of technology is manipulating one’s environment. We can prune and keep our garden free of debris and still amend the soil to get better than average returns for our labors.
While we do this we must remember that there are other aspects of soil care that also affect plant performance. Temperature, aeration, moisture, and acidity are also very important. You could have the best grasp of fertilization, and still have poor performance because you missed another key element. Here I just intend to talk about fertilization.
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Black is beautiful. Black is slimming. Black is the epitome of elegance and sophistication. Streamline your garden with the mystique of timeless style by adding these enchanting beauties. Black plants from the dark side of Wayside Gardens will draw attention to your garden. How else can one sing the praises of springtime and be noticeably and utterly forlorn if not by growing a black Iris?
If you want intrigue in your garden, grow the dark flowers. Grow something completely foreign and unexpected. Maybe plant just one of these strange varieties, as a focal point, for novelty, or maybe plant a whole garden of nothing but black plants ( a little too ‘Edgar Allen Poe’ for me, but hey, do what you must). BTW, The black calla lily is my favorite.
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Wayside Gardens horts say February is the month for pruning your roses. Some hybrid Teas need drastic pruning every year, the severity of which depends on what your intentions are for your roses. If you are pruning for professional exhibition and are looking to get nice big blooms, but maybe only a few, then you would need to prune within 3 to 4 inches of the ground. For normal garden display, 8 to10 inches will give the best results.
When pruning your roses, start by removing diseased or weak canes, cutting back to healthy wood. Next, if you have any canes that cross too closely, cut one of them back. Finally, cut back the rest of the canes to about 8 to 10 inches above the ground, pruning stronger canes less and weaker canes a little more. Of course, before you start any of this, please research your particular Tea variety, and be sure that there is no special treatment required. Some varieties do not respond well to strong pruning.
For more information you could check out this article on pruning roses from GardenerHelp.org.
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Curled up on your couch, sharing a blanket with Fluffy, and nursing a sweet warm tankard of cocoa, you look up from your book to notice that something has gone notably awry. Your jade plant has sprouted new jewels and your spider plant is crawling all over the floor. They are serenading you with the songs of spring, no matter how wildly you gesture towards the thermometer and shiver. The days are longer and your house plants are looking to stretch their legs. Spring cannot come soon enough.
If your babies have gotten much larger than they were last season, it may be time to re-pot. Just remember, don’t upgrade the container’s size too much. Allowing too much soil beyond the root ball will allow moisture to stand in the soil, possibly causing root-rot. Never increase pot diameter more than an inch or two, to ensure your roots will effectively pull the moisture from the soil.
Make sure your re-potted plant has good drainage, which means a deep pot with drain holes in the bottom. Do not put rocks in the bottom of your pot because that will just bring the wettest part of your soil right up to the tenderest of your roots which will cause root-rot.
With a new slightly wider, deeper home with good drainage, your growing house plants will do great this spring.
For more information, here is the Container Gardening Culture File from GardenerHelp.org.
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Winter’s icy mitts still have a stranglehold on most of the country, and countless gardeners are tapping their feet and wearing out their gardening catalogs. So, for those of you itching to get some green on your hands, here’s a little late-winter project that will brighten your home!
You are going to have to prune your trees anyway, so why not clip off a few nice branches with some plump buds and bring them in the house. You can force these branches to bloom and bring a little springtime ambiance into the abysmal botanical breach of winter.
This is a simple little project that anyone can do, at least that’s what the Wayside Gardens Horticulturist said. After your blooming trees have had time to overcome dormancy, usually around 8 weeks of winter weather, cut off a few branches that are a good length for displaying indoors, a foot or more. Make sure you get pieces with plenty of buds, and you will know when it’s time to cut them because the buds will have started to swell. Make sure you cut the ends at a slight angle to ensure your branches will take up water.
As soon as you get them inside, put the ends in some water, and, if possible, submerge the whole branches overnight in a tub or sink to further force them out of dormancy. For the first few days keep the ends in a bucket of water in a cool place like a garage and make sure to keep misting the branches, keeping them covered with light plastic or burlap to maintain high levels of moisture. Change your water if it starts to look cloudy to prevent your branches from rotting.
After a week or so, when your flower buds are starting to bloom and show color, you should go ahead and set them out for display. Do not put them in full sunlight or a really warm area because they may dry up and you will lose your blossoms. Put them in a bright area and make sure they stay in a container with clean water, and they should last for a while. Moving them to a cooler place at night will also prolong their lifespan.
A list of shrubs and trees that you might want to try this with:
- Magnolia
- Hazel
- Apple
- Cherry
- Pear
- Wisteria
- Puince
- Forsythia
- mockorange
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Fruit trees can be a fun addition to your home, whether you are adding them to your garden outside or growing them in containers. Having a gorgeous citrus tree full of fruit on your patio or a cute blueberry bush in your garden full of colorful berries is really rewarding. However, many people forget to consider amount of time it takes for a young plant to produce fruit.
In truth, you must wait patiently. Most fruit trees will not fruit until they mature, which usually takes about three years. Fortunately, many of the trees we sell have grafted rootstock that decreases this time somewhat. But the key is patience and to take proper care of your tree while you wait.
If you are desperate, and your tree has long matured but is still not producing fruit, here is one way that you can force a tree to fruit. We do not recommend this method to the novice gardener because there is a very strong possibility that the tree will die. So, try this method at your own risk.
In spring, after the tree has budded, tie a wire tightly around the trunk. This will trap the sugars in the tree and force them into the buds. You will start to see a bulge above the wire in the tree. If it works, there will be fruit. If not, you might have to call someone to remove a stump. Like we said, it is quite the risk and should only be used as a last resort. As they say, ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained!’
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