Archive for Garden Tips – Page 35

Pick Dwarf Fruit Trees To Fit Your Yard

This time I’m engaging in one of my favorite activities: Myth Busting!

It’s amazing how much flat-out misinformation is available online to gardeners of all levels of experience. The worst of it occurs when the misinformation makes gardeners reluctant to try something new or choose the wrong variety for their situation. The negative effect of misinformation is especially bad when the topic is fruit trees.

Just Give Me the Fruit, and Be Quick About It!

You want a few trees, and some homegrown fruit, not an orchard.

I bet that you just want a few fruit trees and home-grown fruit, not an orchard. And, that you don’t want to spend countless hours learning the whole Horticultural Science thing. If I’m right, here are three myths that can affect your fruit tree success:

§ Myth #1: Dwarf fruit trees won’t grow enough fruit. This is so wrong, I could start laughing and never stop. Please forgive me and then believe me: dwarf trees have been developed to put out a lot of fruit! How? They are grafted to a root stock of a compatible but different much smaller tree. This means your selected fruit tree is using the root system of the smaller tree.  This inhibits size and can also add many wonderful attributes to your tree and fruit.

§ Myth #2: The root stock name doesn’t matter. If you are at a nursery where the plant tags ONLY say mini or dwarf apple,  walk away.  Just as you would probably avoid buying a car that gets ten miles to the gallon of gas,  you want a high-performance fruit tree.  You don’t just want a dwarf fruit tree. You want one that is grafted to a new, super-cool, disease-resistant, clay soil-tolerant root stock, which can help you avoid or overcome serious obstacles to success. There are many to choose from, it can get a little overwhelming until you understand what the different root stocks do and can sort through the options by how you want your trees to grow. See the link in my next blog for the root stock list.

This drawing illustrates fruit bearing wood on a dwarf apple tree

§ Myth #3: We must endure making mistakes as an inevitable part of learning gardening skills. Wrong! You don’t have to make all the typical beginner mistakes, even if it does produce what our parents call character. Helping you avoid character-building pain is what people like Vern Nelson (and even me) are for. We are here to help you get satisfying results on your first try. Vern Nelson, The hungry gardener, is the edibles genius I turn to for straight talk and he also teaches hands on classes at his private garden.

Next time: Four excellent ways that dwarf fruit trees grown on special root stock add pleasure and convenience to your gardening experience.

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.

Oregonian Home and Garden blog features Carol Lindsay, Design in a Day Video

Hi, here is my recent exposure in the Oregonian’s Home and Garden blog by Kym Pokorny.  This blog gives me credit for starting the Design in a Day way of doing landscape design oh so many years ago and has an amazing photo of me with the amazing Barley Dog.

carol.jpg
Courtesy of Carol Lindsay
Designer Carol Lindsay and her late dog Barley.

Longtime Portland garden designer Carol Lindsay was one of the first to implement the idea of Landscape Design in a Day, which would be why she named her business that. The concept is a four-hour consultation with Carol, who will listen to your needs and wants and then come up with a do-it-yourself design. She also offers garden coaching and full-scale garden design.

In checking out her website recently, my eyes spied three topics, probably because Carol and I share a love of dogs. Her sweet, adorable cocker spaniel Barley sadly passed away this year. He will always be remembered.

Her dog-related posts include:

Dog-pee-proof plants.   Synthectic lawns and dogs: Do they go together?

Dog-friendly landscapes.

But the big news is a video Carol made for About.com about rocks walls.

(About.com has closed access to this video.)

Rock Garden Video

Videographer in Rock Garden designed by Design in a Day Carol Lindsay

As an example, she uses one that she designed 10 years ago with small plants such as heathers, ferns, dwarf ornamental grasses and ground covers.

“We started out with 10 or 20 little 4-inch specialty ferns,” Carol says on the video. Over a 10-year period of time, these little ferns crossed with each other and created all these little sporelings … Out of those 20 little ferns that we bought 10 years ago, there are 100 ferns here now, if not more than that.”

“It’s high interest, easy to care for and beautiful to look at.”

Sign up for Carol’s seasonal home and garden tips.

Kym Pokorny

http://www.oregonlive.com/hg/index.ssf/2012/09/portland_garden_designer_recor.html

Treatment for Blackberry and Ivy – How To Get Rid Of It

Garden Tips for getting rid of Plant Invaders

The best time of year to treat blackberries and English ivy is coming right up…..so prepare now!

Blackberry Fruit

How can anything so sweet, be so evil?

Plan to treat invasive blackberry in September and early October. The reason for the specific timing is this: only in the fall will the plants pull an herbicide to the roots, thereby killing the entire plant. The rest of the year treatments are only partially effective. For greener garden practices that use less chemicals treat the plants only in the fall, and water your bad old blackberries well prior to treatment. In fact you could even fertilize them and pamper them for about two weeks…….and then treat them with an herbicide.

My long time client Pat Tangeman  is clearing a large area of her property. She bulldozed last winter and got rid of a decades old blackberry wilderness that had an extensive root system with many large stumps. However, even a bulldozer didn’t kill all the blackberries! Many came back this spring so she called me to problem solve and design a planting plan for the area.

The result:
This fall she will treat her remaining blackberries and will allow the herbicide to trans-locate to the roots to truly kill the plant. Then she will have the remainder of large roots dug out. Once this is done she can plant the new garden we designed together. Victory over the blackberry!

Another client in the Dunthorpe area is having her English ivy treated by professionals the first of September. She is utilizing the same techniques by doing the pre-watering and pampering herself. Once the invasive plants are dead we will be ready to place her new garden plants from her garden planting plan.

Not sure still when would be a good time? Need a professional hands on approach to help get you started? There are still a few appointments for Garden Coaching open in September and October. Winter is also a great time for making plans so you can have what you want instead of taking your precious time to care for a layout and plants you don’t like.

Attack of the Root Weevils in Portland Shade Gardens

Why you should care about root weevils, and what to do about them once you do.

Many Portland established shade gardens have  leaf damage from adult root weevils (see photo showing leaf notching). It is ugly, but it doesn’t kill your plant. A lot of leaf notching can spoil the looks of the plant just when you wanted to enjoy its beauty. The serious problem is caused by their larvae who eat the roots of your plants during the late fall and winter. It is very difficult to kill the larvae because they live underground nestled into the roots of your plants to be close to their chosen food source. Think of them as tiny, tiny zombies! Rooooooooooooooootttttssssssssssssss………..

So how do you know if you have a root weevil problem? Here is what I recommend:

Root weevil damage on hydrangea in Portland landscape design

It’s the damage done to the roots that we worry about. We must control the adult weevil before she lays her eggs.

Check your indicator shrubs for notching! These are Hydrangea, Red Twig Dogwood, Azalea, and Rhododendrons. Many perennials will also show the notched leaves such as Hostas and Coral Bells (Heuchera).  If you have only a few notches, you don’t have to do anything or you could treat once a year as a preventative measure.  If you have more than a few notches, we need to talk but you can also check out my other root weevil blog for all the gory details of killing root weevils.  It is tricky to do.

Don’t bring them into your garden………Here is a timely tip, be very picky about buying plants on discount, or at fundraisers!  Look for notching on the leaves, and don’t buy any plant that has notching, or is near plants with notching.  Root weevil can walk over to the plants near by and lay eggs so even if there is no notching on a plant there are probably eggs in the potting soil.  You don’t want to introduce them into your garden. (I’m not saying they came from your freshly purchased potting soil….root weevil just walk from one plant to another and lay their eggs.)

Now the important part. How do you get rid of them?  Hand picking is the easiest to actually do but they can be very hard to spot.  This dull colored beetle is only 1/4″ and hides effectively in the top of the soil or inside a leaf crevice. It can take checking your plants several evenings a week with a flashlight to find even one.

The chemical products out there are harmful to you and the bees which we need in order to have food. Using chemicals to get rid of root weevils is definitively not the way to go.

I purchase living nematodes that are specifically listed for root weevil. Properly applied, they will swim through your soil, enter the body of the root weevil larvae, and lay their eggs. The nematode hatchlings will eat the larvae. Initially you will do this in both September /early October and the following May which are the ideal nematode vs. larvae times!

The 3 most important things:

The soil must be warmed up and moist

You must apply the nematodes at dusk, never in direct sunlight.

Get the timing right-treat in May or early June.  Treat again in September.  If we are having a cool May you may want to wait until June.  In September you want to be sure your soil is well watered prior to the treatment of nematodes, and then water well for two weeks following the treatment. This will eliminate some of the root weevil problem for the next year.  You will have to repeat the biannual treatments for a few years to get the weevils properly controlled, and then continue with a once a year preventative treatment cycle (in September).

You’ll get better results if you use Pondzyme in the water before you add the nematodes.

The good news is that it is really easy to do…ok it’s tedious but your shade garden can look so bad if root weevils become numerous.
1) Take a 5 gallon bucket and fill it up with water.
2) Treat the water with a product called pondzyme (people use it to protect their fish from the additives in our water). I use 1 and ¼ teaspoons of Pondzyme to 5 gallons of water.
3) Add the nematodes to the water.
4) Using a plastic pitcher, not metal, I then water the nematodes into the soil where I see leaf notching.
It is very little effort for a dramatic and healthy result.   Good gardening!

Resources:

March Biological is mail order.  I like them.
Living nematodes for root weevil larvae can often be purchased May through September at: Portland Nursery
http://www.portlandnursery.com/
Farmington Gardens
http://www.farmingtongardens.com/
Cornell Farms
http://www.cornellfarms.com/
and other higher end garden centers.
Tranquility Ponds has 3 locations and they sell an 8 oz bottle of Pondzyme for $26.00.  Remember you need the pondzyme to protect your nematode warriors from chemicals in our water so don’t skip this step.  It is very concentrated so it should last you a very long time.    http://portlandpondsupplies.com/