Archive for Fall Gardening – Page 3

Five Important Garden Tips

Landscape Designer Irvington Portland Landscape Designer Carol Lindsay in M Wynton design

Carol Lindsay at Garden Designers Tour 2013 M. Wynton Design

Five Important Garden Tips You Need

Weeds and Garden Mulch

Use mulch or even bark dust initially. The first two years in your new landscape are critical for controlling weeds. While installing your new plants, the soil has probably been disturbed and this wakes up dormant seeds causing perhaps hundreds to germinate a a time. If you are diy, cover your soil with 2″ of garden mulch. Mulch is best for your soil and plants but if you have to have low maintenance no matter what, top dress your soil yearly with a dark hemlock bark for the first two years. After you are through the worst of it start applying a garden mulch at least once a year. This mulch will feed your soil and you won’t need fertilizer. 90 percent of plants live happily and healthily with applications of garden mulch and do need commercial fertilizers. There are many exceptions to these rules: SW desert style or xeric plantings like manzanita should not be fertilized or even top dressed with garden mulch ever. Gardenias are fertilizer pigs. Edibles like tomatoes….need fertilizers to produce food.

Get rid of blackberry and ivy

Treating blackberry and ivy with Roundup at the wrong time of year (spring and early summer) is pretty much useless.  In the Pacific NW late summer and early fall is the time when blackberry and ivy are most susceptible to glysophate (Roundup) herbicide. It’s a million times more effective in late summer and early fall.

In an ideal world we would not use herbicides at all;  if you are going to use them, use them sparingly correctly, and at a seasonal time when they will be effective.  For more information see my blog:  Treating blackberry and ivy .  I want acknowledge in light of recent research and court cases, we don’t know the full extent of harm Roundup and other herbicides cause.  It’s still the most practical way to reclaim our native plant areas from the stranglehold of Himalayan black berry and English ivy.  Digging out small areas of blackberries is also effective and better for the health of  mammals and other life forms.

Learn how to water-Watering every day is not your friend

Over watering or under watering new plant material is a typical cause of plant loss. Your common sense watering will kill your plants if you don’t have the specific information for the specific plant type.  You can’t water a new tree the same way you would water your petunias.  I insist my garden coach clients have a written watering plan for the first two years of their new landscape.  I tell them how long to water and to hand check the soil to see if their efforts are successful.  Last, but not least, if you’re watering every day you are in line for losing a lot of new plant material.

Sedum s Red Carpet in winter

Colorful tough ground cover for full sun

Plant labels lie.

Trust me it’s not a conspiracy, but they write the label so that it makes sense for the entire country.  In the Northwest we have the ideal growing conditions so plants will grow taller and wider than indicated.  In addition, just because a plants mature size is 15’ tall, does not mean it will stop growing once it gets there.

Learn light requirements for your plants

It’s not so easy. Labels don’t have enough room to explain the complexities of sunlight, let alone the four different kinds of shade.    Great Plant Picks is a great information resource in many ways, and has an excellent explanation about the different kinds of shade.   There is no perfect solution, even checking the Web will get you four different suggestions for light requirements on a single plant.  This is why experienced gardeners often move plants that don’t seem to thrive in the first location they select.  Others hire designers who know these things first hand.

Carol on a garden coach appointment in Irvington neighborhood Portland Oregon

“Thank you so much for all your information today and your helpful phone call Saturday.  I was pulling out plants in my mind as I was going to sleep last night.  I can’t wait to get started!”  D’Anne Oneill

No hedge pruning unless it’s a hedge

Pruning.  My best advice is don’t let your father-in-law prune your Japanese Maple!  Do not do hedge pruning on plants that are not hedges.  Too much learning already? most of my clients don’t want to become an expert gardener anymore than I want to become a computer technician!! Most just want a healthy and attractive landscape.  In which case, hire someone else to prune for you. While I certainly advocate for hiring a garden coach (since I am one) you can learn from a local nursery, community college or someone who has trees and shrubs that don’t have a bunch of stubs on them.  We want pruning that will enhance a plant’s natural and unique shape. Better yet, contact me to see if I have a real gardener I can refer you to.  Twice a year visits or less to handle pruning will save your trees and shrubs from your good intentions.

Mushroom Season Dangerous to Dogs

Dog with mushrooms

Are these mushrooms poisonous? http://www.petfinder.com/dogs/dog-health/pets-poisonous-mushrooms/

Mushroom season dangerous to dogs.

While walking with a friend and her dog in late November we noticed a miniature forest of mushrooms under a large tree right next to a dog park.  My advice is to presume they are toxic even though they may well be harmless.  Pick them as soon as you see them; (make sure you are wearing gloves) bag them and put them in the garbage and not in your compost.   When they are toxic they can be deadly.  Humans can have a liver transplant but dogs cannot.  Watch closely wherever you have removed trees.  The roots will decompose and fungi will grow.

“If your dog becomes ill, and you suspect mushroom ingestion, place the vomitus and any bowel movements in a plastic bag for identification, and refrigerate the bag. Try to have the contents identified within 24 hours. Notify your veterinarian that your dog may have ingested a mushroom, so that he or she can be alert to clinical signs that may require treatment.”  http://www.petfinder.com/dogs/dog-health/pets-poisonous-mushrooms/

I’m not fond of creating blogs with scary content, but there are many people who do not know about poisonous mushrooms in their home landscape.

Hydrangeas: More Popular Than Ever!

So much it deserves repeating: hydrangeas are more popular than ever! They belong on the list of plants for new gardeners who demand low care plants and also on the lists of seasoned gardeners who live to be working in their garden. They are easy care. Some people do almost nothing at all and the plants give them lots of satisfaction. Some gardeners fine tune their hydrangeas with thoughtful but simple pruning and applying the correct fertilizer to create the most vivid colored flowers.

The selection and diversity of hydrangeas has expanded to a dizzying level. You probably will need me to help you find the right plant for your location, and personal style.  Fall is an excellent time to plant hydrangea.

That said, here is a list of most kinds of hydrangeas available at nurseries and garden centers:

Oak Leaf Hydrangeas
Rustic good looks followed by dazzling fall color on leaves, a backbone garden plant and easy care. Select a dwarf variety unless you are among the rare homeowner with tons of land. The species can easily be 8′ x 8′ given time. There are dwarf and semi dwarf plants to fit every landscape. I will repeat myself, this is a very low maintenance plant IF you get the right size. Its a sad day and a no win situation if you get one that gets too big. You’ll chop on it and spoil it and it will have to go. It is low water once established but must have good drainage. No fertilizer is needed, I would use garden mulch or compost each fall for the nutrients needed.

Basic Mop Head Hydrangea
The old tried and true Hydrangea macrophylla is beloved by old and young, in modern and cottage garden styles.

Mop heads need a special fertilizer called Nitroform Blue if you want the intense blue flowers they are so well known for. It can take a few years to accomplish so be sure no other fertilizers get near these plants. Joy Creek Nursery stocks it.  The new thing with this plant is the twice blooming or ever blooming hydrangea such as Endless Summer and Blushing Bride. The 2nd flowering of fresh flowers in the fall is beautiful. It was developed for areas that are so cold you can lose the first flowering.  Here on the west coast the price you pay however, is you lose the subtle and yummy intense coloring of the flower that ages in place.

Hydrangea paniculata
The biggest changes in hydrangeas have occurred in this species. We now have many varieties that require nearly full sun. The size of the flower has also increased dramatically. They use to only come in whitish green (such as the old Pee Gee Hydrangea) but now they have created varieties of palest pink to raspberry sherbet.

Here is my list of hydrangeas you should know about.

Lace-cap Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Blaumiese’)

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Blaumeise'This vase shaped hydrangea can take a great deal of shade but don’t get crazy. There are no hydrangeas for deep shade.

Mine was attractive in deeply dappled afternoon sun.

It’s also listed as a Great Plant Pick so other experts have picked it out of the crowd.


Mountain Hydrangea (Hydrangea preziosa ‘Serratta’)

Hydrangea serrata 'Preziosa'
This smaller hydrangea (highlighted in my October enewsletter) takes a lot of sun, has intense fall flower color changes and the leaf has strong fall color which is unusual for a mop head.

 


Dwarf Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea Quercifolia ‘Sikes Dwarf’)
Hydrangea quercifolia 'Sikes Dwarf' at The Morton ArboretumThis hydrangea will mature at 24 to 30” tall. Be sure to plant it where it has excellent winter drainage, so never in a low or a heavy clay area. Hydrangea ‘Pee Wee’ is larger, more like 4’ x 6’, so don’t be fooled by the name Pee Wee. (Pee Wee can also take a lot of sun.)  Sikes Dwarf is best with some afternoon shade.

Photo courtesy of The Morton Arboretum


Mop head Hydrangea Pistachio (Hydrangea Macrophylla ‘Pistachio’) 
Hydrangea Pistachio
This is a new “over the top” chartreuse and raspberry sherbet colored flower and has to be seen to comprehend. Portland’s own famous garden writer, Kym Pokorny loves it!

I am not sure about it using it casually in a design.  It needs integration and special placement.

Photo courtesy of Ball Ornamentals


Hydrangea paniculata ‘Pinky Winky’

hydrangea paniculata pinky winky

Its roots will mature into taking a full sun position but the plant will show sun damage for several years even with much needed regular irrigation.

For more fun and less fear, plant it where it will get shade at the hottest part of the day.

Photo courtesy of Proven Winners

Apple Tasting at Portland Nursery

 

Designer Carol Lindsay with her grandboy Becket at apple tasting event

Landscape Designer Carol Lindsay, (with nicely chilled grandboy Beckett) samples heirloom apples at Portland Nursery

I am sharing my top three apples out of 50 selected at Portland Nursery’s 25th Apple Tasting Celebration.  A  garden tip is to research (hint taste)  and plant special varieties of edibles in your garden, not common types.  The Peoples Choice apple this year  is Ambrosia which is wonderfully sweet and fresh tasting.   David, a mid sized red is a different sweet tasting apple but like Ambrosia it will not keep for months in a cool place.  But you don’t care about this!!!  Buy em when they are in the stores and enjoy!   My third apple, Ashmeads Kernal, a late season apple, will keep til January or longer if properly chilled.  Liberty  (not in my top three),  is very good and the plant is mildew and apple spot resistant so great for the home gardener.    My grandboy, Becket is a serious apple connoisseur so this was the perfect event us. The price for apples?  99 cents.

Garden Tip: Plant Your Trees in the Fall

Before we forget how hot it was this summer and how precious shade was, let’s talk trees. Is it time to consider planting trees for shade or privacy? I love to plant trees, especially if I am starting out with a bigger specimen……….in the fall.

If you are looking to prioritize what plants to buy first in your design, consider planting one large specimen tree. A big sized tree planted first will make a big impact.  Protect your investment by planting in the fall when winters cooler temperatures and rains will establish the roots.  Have a professional  plant it.  The root ball of this tree at time of planting easily weighed 500 lbs.

Privacy landscape design in Woodstock neighborhood for side yardBig Tree Planted in Woodstock Neighborhood

Paul and Leah live in the Woodstock neighborhood of Portland, Oregon.  They hired Design in a Day 5 years ago. (2007)  We planted a 6″ caliper shade tree. (6 inches through the trunk at 4 inches above the ground).  We selected a big tree so we would have shade on the deck sooner rather than later for their growing family to enjoy.

Japanese Elm Zelkova serratta ‘Wireless’

One of my favorite shade trees is a Japanese elm tree- Zelkova serratta ‘Wireless’.  It’s called “Wireless” because it grows very wide (36′) but it fits under secondary power lines at 24 feet tall.  Because it has strong wood, it is the perfect shade tree for near the house because it’s less likely to suffer broken limbs that might damage your roof. It’s also a popular street tree for extra wide parking strips.

‘Wireless’ also has great fall color, early leaf drop and is a low water needs tree.  The leaf canopy is thick enough for shade but allows dappled sun through for the lawn.  What more could we ask for?

Other trees we selected were Carpinus betulus ‘Franz Fontaine’ (a columnar “skinny” hornbeam) and semi dwarf Magnolia Grandiflora ‘Little Gem’.  These trees were purchased at typical homeowner DIY sizes, 1.5 inch caliper and maybe 8′ tall for the hornbeam and a ten gallon pot for the evergreen magnolia which was about 5′ tall.

Big Tree Helps Re-sale

Paul and Leah sold their home two years later.  The internet sales photos showed a backyard ready for fun and a small  significant shade tree for their south facing deck.

I drove by this landscape 9 years later and took photos.  Check it out.

See these trees 9 years later.