Expert landscape help for the do-it-yourselfer
Atlanta Magazine February 2010
I was delighted to learn that I was listed in a feature article in Atlanta Magazine in their February 2010 edition. The article is titled “67 Things Every Atlantan Must Do”. I am number 47. Woo hoo!
Posted in General.
– February 6, 2010
Taylor and I have a friendly bet going on when this amaryllis will open.
Anticipating when this will open
I bought this bulb in a kit from Home Depot for several reasons. For one, I wanted something else to brighten the house during Christmas. Well, I started too late for a Christmas bloom, so now I’ll settle for simply brightening the house during the winter doldrums…which is fine. The other reason I bought this is because my Grandaddy Hargett was enthralled with these plants and had perhaps several hundred blooming in his landscape in Jacksonville, Florida. He had nearly every bloom iteration known at the time, and having just one of these is enough to remind me of his passion.
I have potted this thing and have kept it near a sunny window and kept it watered. It has done well. This most common mistake most people make is not allowing enough light. This will cause the bloom stem to be spindly, or ‘etiolated’, to use a proper hort term. As the much-awaited blooms have developed, I began to try to anticipate when they would open. I have included my oldest son Taylor in this speculation and it has become a friendly wager, of sorts. The winner gets nothing more than bragging rights.
Taylor is majoring in Environmental Horticulture at a nearby tech school. As such I thought it would be a good exercise to try to anticipate when the amaryllis will open. Why? Am I a hyper-competitive type that has to make a game out of everything? Hardly.
In the practice of landscape management, anticipating or predicting when nature will perform is an important skill to develop. It’s really more ‘art’ than science. If I can predict when the bermudagrass will green up, or when the leaves will finally clean themselves from the trees in the fall, I can plan my work, prioritize my purchases, and be prepared for any number of potential cultural challenges.
I’ll let you know who anticipates the amaryllis best.
Post Script: I claim victory!
As the massive buds began to swell, then split, and reveal their velvety petals, Taylor and I both began to fudge our prediction of when they would finally open. I must say that my estimation was a little closer, but then…it’s my blog, anyway.
Posted in General.
– January 9, 2010
This morning I awoke to find the thermometer reading 10 degrees. I had to rub my sleepy eyes and look again at the read-out of my remote thermometer. The forecast was for 14 degrees, and I admit I didn’t think about it much last night after I returned home late from the movie theater. It has been unusually cold for this part of Georgia for far too many days and I guess I have become a little jaded to the cold temps.
I’m a little concerned about this.
Ten degrees is the upper end of the threshold where we typically find serious winter damage to trees and shrubs. There are several factors that contribute to this, including the species of the plant, it’s location, or micro climate, in the landscape, available moisture in the soil, and how well the plant is acclimated to cold weather. Rather than fret over all the details, the only practical approach is simply to wait and see what the damage may be.
Winter damage usually will not be apparent until the weather warms. Today’s forecast says we may have at least 48 more hours of temps below 32 degrees, which is extraordinarily unusual for this area. After the thaw, the injury may take 2 days or 2 weeks to become apparent. I look for brown or black limbs, especially on the north or northwest side of the plant. Look for leaves with brown or black edges, or sometimes they simply look wilted and dull green rather than a shiny green.
After I’m sure I have waited long enough for the damage to show, I cut off the dead parts. It’s important to cut off the dead parts because the ‘dead’ can spread if it’s ignored. The other issue I have to consider is the looks of the plant. If I go hacking off dead limbs I can ruin the looks of a plant. If the damage is severe enough I may have to cut off a good many healthy limbs to maintain the shape of the plant.
In addition to shrubs, young, thin-barked trees may show long splits or cracks in the lower trunk. In extreme cases frost cracks can be so extensive that it kills or stunts the growth of the tree. I have noticed this particularly with Crepemyrtles, Red Maples and young Oaks that have been planted in a landscape. I have not noticed splitting on young native trees and I don’t know why. I wonder if anyone has done a study on that?
Treatment of frost-damaged trees is a little different but no less important. As the damage becomes evident, the bark will usually shield or cover a dead area that will eventually rot out and leave the heart wood exposed. The extent of the damage can take several months to a year to show, so I have to be patient before I treat. Trees don’t heal from an injury like we do so the treatment is different. By late this summer or early fall I will inspect trees that have frost cracks from this winter. I’ll determine the extent of the wound and how much dead or loose bark is covering it. I’ll cut that bark away with a fresh blade in my box knife, exposing the entire injury area to the air. Without this, bugs, disease, and rot-inducing moisture can be harbored underneath. Cutting away the bark allows it to dry and continue the healng process. In the next year I will look for the edges of the injury to look ‘rolled’ or like it has a lip on it. This is called callus tissue and is a sign that the healing is continuing in the right direction.
Frost crack on a tree
Several things can be done to prevent or minimize frost damage to plants in the landscape, but that’s for another post.
Post Script: It’s been a full month since that Saturday morning when the thermometer dipped to 10 degrees. I have seen some mild or limited damage to Camellia sasanqua in the form of leaf burn, but nothing significant.
Later that day (after I posted) I noticed another type of frost damage. My irrigation well plumbing had ruptured and was gushing all over the ground. I confess with all the rain we’ve had I had not used the well in a while and had neglected to winterize it. (DOH!) I now have a reminder in my Blackberry to drain the pipes next November.
Posted in General.
– January 9, 2010
I recently attended the Horticulture Research Field Day at the University of Georgia horticulture research farm near Watkinsville, Georgia. There was a wide variety of work being done, and I will highlight a few of the projects on this blog in several posts. Today I want to share a little about the work of Dr. Gary Wade on cold hardy palms.
In October of 2004 Dr. Wade, with the help of the Southeastern Palm Society, planted several species of palms that are native to locations known to have colder winter temperatures than most palms will endure. These were planted in ordinary Georgia farm soil, placed under drip irrigation, mulched with pine straw, and fertilized with plain old 16-4-8 fertilizer. He recorded low temperatures and growth rates during that time. There is a detailed chart showing all of this data that I will be glad to scan and email to whomever would like to see it. It’s only one page and may help someone decide which palm to plant in their landscape.
There was also another chart included in the handouts that listed eleven species or cultivars of palms, the low temperature at which damage occurs, and the lowest temperature from which that palm can recover. Again, I will be delighted to email this on request.
Notably, Dr. Wade commented that winter survival for palms is determined by how well established they are prior to cold weather. This makes sense to me. Any plant, not just palms, are much more hardy when they are well-established. Why then, would Dr. Wade start the research project in late October? The beginning date on his hand out is October 22, 2004 and that tells me several things: First, Dr. Wade really is confident of his ability to gets plants established prior to the onset of cold weather. Second, he had very good cultural conditions at the farm (which can easily be duplicated at home, by the way). And last, it’s OK to plant palms now.
There is one little secret ingredient that Dr. Wade used. I’m not sure how significant it is, and perhaps a little more research would be helpful to know. He used trace elements in addition to the fertilizer on the palms. I”m not clear if he used a fertilizer that included trace elements, or if he added them. I suspect the latter is true. In greenhouse crops, having those trace elements available can make or break a crop. In native soils, where many or all of those trace elements are already present, it’s tough to tell if they help.
It’s a little bit of a chore to locate trace elements if you wanted them. If I were doing this I would go to a greenhouse or grower supply house and buy a bag. Try finding it online. In fact, if it’s available online,it might be easier to find a dry or water soluble with trace elements mixed together. In either case, don’t expect to find it in small, homeowner-sized quantities. It will be in large bags meant for growers, so share it with fellow palm aficionados.
Reading between the lines in Dr. Wades research, I think it is worth emphasizing that all of his palms are being grown in the ground! Many times we want to put palms in containers to show them off in the landscape, but containerized plants of any type are much, much more prone to cold damage. Those in containers should be dragged in to the garage on the coldest nights.
The coldest night recorded in Watkinsville in the last five years was a reading of 12 degrees just 90 days after planting. No damage was noted on the handout. The project continues, stay tuned.
Posted in General.
– October 11, 2009
It just doesn’t matter. I hate to be so negative or even cynical, but really, I’m not. I’m merely being pragmatic.
I can have the best, most wonderful, and coolest plants on a drawing. The client may love them and want them. In fact, often when a client is a real plant nerd they will suggest something very cool, so I will work it in the drawing. And then it happens.
The reality of supply and demand in the nursery business smacks me in the head like a handful of black, slimy leaves from a seldom-cleaned gutter: I can only get the cool stuff if they have it at the nursery.
So, I have learned not to get my hopes up. I have learned to temper my lust for coolness with what they have on hand at the supply house.
Then sometimes I get a pleasant surprise. Sometimes the nursery will have something even better than I had spec’d in the drawing. You never know.
Posted in General.
– August 16, 2009
Here in the South we are blessed with the presence of Crepe Myrtles everywhere. They are easy to find in the nurseries and relatively easy to grow. All you need is plenty of sun to ensure a good bloom. The biggest hurdle most Crepe Myrtle owners face is how to prune them properly. Rest assured, dear reader, that I will post frequently on the topic of Crepe Myrtle pruning. For today, however, I simply want to illustrate the results of poor pruning. As you can see in the picture, the plant appears to be weeping or drooping. Why is that?
The results of poor pruning
When crepes are pruned heavily, they respond by re-growing with a vengance. I have witnessed Crepe Myrtles grow four to six feet in one season. And while this is remarkable, the problem arises when the plant blooms in July. Rampant growth produces large blooms. Large blooms catch rain water and become heavy. Heavy blooms can’t be supported by a six-foot stem and respond by bending, or ‘weeping’ over. ”But it doesn’t look that bad, Russ,” you may say. True, but it could look so much better, and be easier to manage in the winter.
Crepe Myrtles have an elegance and sophistication to them that is only seen when they are managed well. A well-managed crepe myrtle is, first and foremost, planted in a good spot. It is surrounded by mulch of some sort, and it is pruned very, very little. In fact, the older a crepe is, the less it needs pruning.
Anyway, I will show you what a well-managed crepe looks like…when I find one. And I will certainly be posting more about pruning when it comes time to do this in the winter.
Posted in Pruning.
– July 25, 2009
That’s where I can help. I can wade into the waters for you. I can separate the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats. I can help you achieve that gorgeous eye-candy that you see in the media. It’s not impossible or unreachable. You can do it with my help.These days, there is an avalanche of information on most any subject into which you desire to delve. Much of that information is just fluff: Useless and merely filling up space. And it’s hard to know when you’re getting a dose of fluff or real, uselful information that applies to you and your situation. Such as it is with information on landscaping and gardening. The same media that brings us the mouth-watering eye-candy of gorgeous homes and their landscapes also brings us a flood of information on how to achieve those landscapes. It’s up to you to wade into the waters of information and sort through what is helpful and what isn’t.Posted in General.
– July 18, 2009
