March Landscape Activities

10 March 2008

Virginia Cooperative Extension, Charlottesville/Albemarle County Office
460 Stagecoach Road, Charlottesville, Virginia 22902
phone: 434.872.4580   fax: 434.872.4578

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It is almost spring. What do you want to get done in your landscape?

Pruning?

When pruning or cutting roses, cut all flower stems 1/4 inch above a complete (5 leaflet) leaf, leaving two complete leaves below the cut bud. Always use sharp, pruning shears and cut on a slant.

After pussy willow catkins have passed their prime, prune the plants drastically to encourage long branches and large catkins for next year.

Hedges can receive their first pruning this month. As you prune, be sure to leave the base of the plant wider than the top. This allows sunlight to get to the bottom of the plant, creating a full, dense hedge.

Be sure to employ properly trained tree trimmers. Pruning is not a particularly difficult job. However, it does require an understanding of the growth habit of the plants and the form needed to secure the desired landscape effect.

Do not leave stubs when pruning. Stubs usually die and are entry points for disease. Cut just outside the branch collar, the slightly thickened area at the base of the branch. Pruning should never be done in damp or wet weather when the fungal spores and bacteria that infect plants through fresh wounds spread easily.

Trees that bleed, such as birch and maple, should not be pruned until after their leaves are fully developed.

Once new growth begins on trees and shrubs, cut back winterkilled twigs to living, green wood.

For more compact pyracanthas without the risk of losing berries, pinch back new growth now.

Prune evergreen shrubs before growth starts. Prune spring-flowering shrubs after flowering is completed.

Boxwood should be pruned by thinning the outer foliage of the plant and cutting back the branches to retain desired height.

If you are not sure when to prune a particular plant, ask us for a pruning calendar.

Transplanting?

Plant new rose bushes in properly dug beds. Fertilize established roses after pruning. It is wise to have your soil tested about every two years. If black spot or powdery mildew has been a problem, start applications of a recommended fungicide. Contact your local Extension agent for current recommendations.

When transplanting dogwoods, it is best that the trees be small (2 to 3 feet tall) and dormant. These do better than larger ones. The larger the tree, the greater the risk of death due to transplant shock since more roots are removed during digging. Dogwoods and magnolias should only be moved in early spring. Always move magnolias with a ball of dirt.

Research has shown that young trees allowed to move with the wind develop greater trunk strength than trees rigidly staked.

Plant roses and bare-root shrubs while they are still dormant, about four weeks before the average date of the last frost. This is around May 1 in central Virginia but you might wait until Mothers Day to be sure.

When transplanting a young shade tree, it may help to orient the tree in its new location the same way it was in its old home. This will prevent previously shaded bark from suddenly being exposed to afternoon sun and causing injury. When not possible or desirable, or if the original orientation is unknown, wrap the trunk in biodegradable tree tape or coat the sunny sides with white, exterior, latex paint for one growing season.

Synthetic materials enclosing the roots of trees and shrubs must be completely removed to ensure success of the transplants. If you purchase balled and burlapped plants, to be on the safe side, remove the material covering the soil. If the tree is very heavy, peel the burlap down to the bottom of the hole if you cannot remove it completely.

If you are buying bare-root trees, look for ones with a large root system in relation to the top growth. It is not necessary to purchase a very, large tree to get a quality plant.

If you are planning to plant a rhododendron, consider the planting space. A good rule of thumb for planting rhododendrons is to put them in an area that is slightly shaded and protected from wind. Also, the smaller the leaf (i.e., R. carolinianum, R. laetivirens), the more tolerant it is of winter sunlight. Large-leaf rhododendrons, such as R. catawbiense or R. maximum, have more winter injury when planted in bright locations.

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For more information about this and other landscape topics contact your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office. The local Virginia Cooperative Extension office numbers are Albemarle 872-4580, Fluvanna 591-1950, Greene 985-5236, Louisa 540-967-3422, and Nelson 263-4035.

February Landscape Activities

28 January 2008

Virginia Cooperative Extension, Charlottesville/Albemarle County Office
460 Stagecoach Road, Charlottesville, Virginia 22902
phone: 434.872.4580   fax: 434.872.4578

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While the snow was providing a nice blanket and water source for our plants it has also given us an excuse to walk around a see what is happening in the landscape and maybe plan for the new season. If you find yourself looking for something to do with your kids while they are home from school try a tour of your landscape.

Trees with large cavities in their trunks should be evaluated yearly as to whether or not they should be removed for safety reasons. When a cavity takes up over 75 percent of a limb or trunk, the wood could give way anytime. If you suspect a problem, contact an ISA certified arborist. Many are listed in your phone book under Tree.

Broadleaf evergreens can be pruned before new growth begins this spring. This will enable new growth to cover the cut surfaces and exposed inner branches.

Shrubs for spring planting should be ordered now. Bare root, deciduous types should be planted while still dormant, about one month before the average date of the last frost - this is usually in late April. Hardy, container-grown and balled and burlapped shrubs may be planted anytime, except during severe, cold weather. It is also time to transplant deciduous native plants if the ground is not too wet or too frozen.

Watch for signs of heaving among your small shrubs. The freezing and thawing of the ground can force shallow-rooted plants out of the soil. Replant any that have been heaved and mulch with 2 inches of organic material to reduce soil temperature fluctuation.

Try forcing branches of some shrubs to bloom during the bleak days of late winter and early spring. Possibilities include winter honeysuckle, fragrant viburnum, Japanese andromeda, mountain andromeda, azalea, rhododendron, and mountain laurel. Buds of native trees such as dogwood, spicebush, serviceberry, and redbud will blossom indoors as well. Make long, slanted cuts when collecting the branches and place the stems in a vase of water. Change the water every four days. They should bloom within three weeks.

Pussy willows that have been forced can be halted at any stage of their development simply by removing them from water. They will keep perfectly in dried arrangements for years.

Check valuable trees and shrubs for tent caterpillar egg masses and bagworms. Remove them to reduce the number of destructive pests this spring. Eastern tent caterpillar egg masses are gray and varnished looking and form a collar around twigs. Their nests are commonly found on wild cherry, apple, and crabapple, but may be found on hawthorn, maple, cherry, peach, pear and plum as well. Bagworms look somewhat like a pinecone hanging at the end of branches and seem to prefer arborvitae and eastern red cedar but can be found on many others.

Prune most shrubs and trees on warm days this month after the coldest weather is past in your area. Wait until after bloom to prune your spring-flowering shrubs in order to get maximum blossoms.

Remove honeysuckle and other weedy vines from deciduous plants while the plants are still leafless and easier to distinguish from the weeds.

Continue to water shrubs in your landscape throughout the winter on warmer days if the soil is dry. Evergreen plants transpire water from their leaves whenever the air temperature is above 40 degrees F.

Late winter is the time to prune many deciduous trees. Look over your plants now and remove dead, dying, unsightly parts of the tree, sprouts growing at or near the base of the tree trunk, crossed branches, and V-shaped crotches. Call your local Extension office if you are unsure when and how to prune each species.

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For more information about this and other landscape topics contact your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office. The local Virginia Cooperative Extension office numbers are Albemarle 872-4580, Fluvanna 591-1950, Greene 985-5236, Louisa 540-967-3422, and Nelson 263-4035.

November Landscape Activities

12 November 2007

Virginia Cooperative Extension, Charlottesville/Albemarle County Office
460 Stagecoach Road, Charlottesville, Virginia 22902
phone: 434.872.4580   fax: 434.872.4578

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November is a time for thanks for the many things we appreciate. It is also a time to think ahead about the holiday season ahead and the ways our landscapes contribute to our well being. Stop for a minute before the holiday rush and take time to appreciate your landscape as it settles into fall and consider some of these activities to improve or make use of your landscape.

If you are an early Christmas tree shopper looking for a live tree for the holidays, be sure to select a Christmas tree that will survive in your climate and soil. In Virginia, white pine (Pinus strobus), Norway spruce (Picea abies), and blue spruce (Picea pungens) are good choices for live Christmas trees that can also be planted outdoors after the holidays.

To protect an upright evergreen from snow damage, drive a strong stake into the ground near the trunk of the tree. Tie a rope to the bottom of the stake and, using the rope, wind up the branches in a circular pattern around the tree. This is a two-person job on large trees. At the top, secure the rope to the stake.

Check guy wires around newly planted trees to be sure hose sections still cover the supporting wires or ropes so they will not damage the trunks in windy weather. Remember that most trees do not need support after the first year.

Continue deep watering of evergreens until freezing weather occurs.

Cut away suckers from the base of lilacs, forsythia, and crape myrtle.

Erect wind breaks to protect newly planted evergreens, especially tender, broad-leaved types, such as Japanese holly and camellia.

If roses are to be planted, do so before the ground freezes, and water well.

Roots of woody ornamentals used as container plants may be killed if soil temperatures get very cold. Among the least hardy are aucuba, English boxwood, camellia, pampas grass, bearberry, cotoneaster, English holly, Japanese holly, star magnolia, and nandina. Their roots are killed when the soil temperature is 20 to 25F.

Clean up rose beds. Be sure all diseased leaves are raked up and destroyed. Spring (before the plants start active growth) is the preferred season for pruning roses. Do not cut off canes in the fall. It is better to stake and tie extra long canes in fall to prevent winter wind damage.

Fertilize wisteria after leaves have fallen to avoid excess top growth and lack of bloom.

Select accent plants for your landscape that will provide interesting autumn colors. Trees that turn red include dogwood, black gum, red maple, sweet gum, and red or scarlet oak. Shrubs with red fall foliage include viburnum, winged euonymus, and barberry.

Leaf fall makes renovation of overgrown deciduous shrubs easier. Begin this year by removing all diseased or broken stems. Next, remove 1/3 of all remaining shoots, eliminating the oldest and tallest. If the bush is still too tall cut the remaining stems to a side bud or branch. Repeat the process a second or third year to complete renovation.

Trim hollies and other evergreens, such as magnolia, aucuba, boxwood, and pyracantha, to furnish material for Thanksgiving decorations.

If you are planning on having a live, balled and burlapped Christmas tree, dig a planting hole now before the ground freezes. Fill the hole with straw or hay to keep it from freezing. Store the soil in a garage or shed so you will have workable soil when you need it for planting the tree.

Inspect trees and shrubs for spindle-shaped silk bags camouflaged with bits of foliage, bark and other debris that are the homes of bagworms. Remove and destroy them to reduce pest populations for next year.

If there is any evidence of scale on trees and shrubs, spray with dormant oil in late fall and again in early spring.

Nurserymen and landscape architects may be less busy over the next few months and be more available to help you with plans for improving your landscape.

Where circumstances necessitate very late planting of trees and shrubs, remember to mulch the area heavily to keep the ground thawed so roots can become established.

Registrations for Master Gardener Volunteer training classes are being accepted in Albemarle, Fluvanna, and Louisa Counties. Please call your local Extension office if you are interested.

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For more information about this and other landscape topics contact your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office. The local Virginia Cooperative Extension office numbers are Albemarle 872-4580, Fluvanna 591-1950, Greene 985-5236, Louisa 540-967-3422, and Nelson 263-4035.

July Landscaping

2 July 2007

Virginia Cooperative Extension, Charlottesville/Albemarle County Office
460 Stagecoach Road, Charlottesville, Virginia 22902
phone: 434.872.4580   fax: 434.872.4578

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We had some great weather for gardening this past weekend but many areas are behind on their rain requirements. Keep up as best you can, use drip irrigation where possible and slow release water sources on specific larger plants. Newly planted trees and shrubs are the most susceptible. As the summer heats up there are plenty of other activities to keep your landscape attractive and healthy. Here are a few to think about.

Take a look around your landscape to see what is working and what is not. If there are plants that have outgrown their space, need to be divided or moved, flag them now so you will remember to do something about it this fall.

Replace leggy or spent annuals with drought tolerant plants such as salvia, portulaca, and melampodium.

Divide hostas anytime before fall but the best time is after flowering. Pinch back chrysanthemums and asters.

Water and mulch your azaleas, rhododendrons, and camellias as they are producing buds for next year.

Protecting your dogwoods from drought stress can go a long way toward keeping them healthy. Make sure they have been mulched in a wide ring with organic material, about 3 inches deep (do not use dogwood leaves or wood as mulch, and pull back from trunk). During prolonged dry periods, water dogwoods thoroughly.

Some tree companies shred their trimmings on site and give them away free-for-the-asking to anyone in the neighborhood. Do not be shy! Your use of the chips keeps them out of the local landfill.

When drought hits, if you cannot water rose bushes, do nothing else. Fertilizing, pruning, applying pesticides, or even cutting flowers can harm plants that are water-stressed

Prune big leaf or French Hydrangeas (H. macrophylla), those with large, pink or blue "snowball" flowers, immediately after flowering.

Tip dieback of redbud (Cercis canadensis) may be caused by saturated soil. Redbuds are very intolerant of "wet feet" caused by prolonged wet soil and high humidity.

Some woody ornamentals attractive to hummingbirds are crabapple, hawthorn, Albizia, Siberian pea shrub, tulip tree, buckeye, and horse chestnut.

University of California research showed that newly planted shrubs watered every few days outgrew shrubs watered every 10 to 12 days by almost five times. Once they are established one good soak per week is sufficient.

When pruning away twiggy young growth from rose bushes, make use of the cuttings by rooting them and producing new plants. Treat stem bases with rooting hormone, stick them in soil in a cold frame that is out of the sun and water them well. Keep them watered. If some die before rooting, it's no great loss. Just toss them in the compost, which is where they would have ended up anyway.

Root holly, azalea, and camellia cuttings in a sand and peat moss mixture set in a cool, shady location. Ivy and periwinkle can be rooted now to fill in any bare spots in your beds. Do not allow cuttings to dry out.

During dry spells, trees may shed up to 10 percent of their leaves. This leaf loss reduces water losses through transpiration and causes little or no harm to the tree.

Inner leaves and twigs of trees normally drop from lack of sunlight, but falling clusters of leaves attached to short twigs may result from insect or squirrel activity. Girdling insects make shallow, encircling depressions, while twigs broken by squirrels have diagonally severed ends.

During hot, July weather, be sure to mow your lawn to the appropriate height. This reduces water loss and helps lower soil temperatures. Leave clippings on the lawn to decompose.

Observe the lawn area and the shade it receives. Plan to thin major shade trees next spring to increase light reaching patchy turf.

Proper watering means deep soaking. Light sprinkling is often harmful. Wet the soil to the bottom of the roots (4 to 6 inches deep).

Dull or improperly adjusted mower blades that shred grass rather than cut it can cause a brown or grayish cast over lawns. Sharpen your mower blades at least once a year.

When mowing your lawn, watch out for your trees and shrubs. Lawn mower and weed whacker injury to trees opens wounds that make trees and shrubs more susceptible to insects and diseases.

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For more information about this and other landscape topics contact your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office. The local Virginia Cooperative Extension office numbers are Albemarle 872-4580, Fluvanna 591-1950, Greene 985-5236, Louisa 540-967-3422, and Nelson 263-4035.

June Landscape Activities

29 May 2007

Virginia Cooperative Extension, Charlottesville/Albemarle County Office
460 Stagecoach Road, Charlottesville, Virginia 22902
phone: 434.872.4580   fax: 434.872.4578

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June is a great time to shop for new annuals and perennials. With many new varieties arriving each year there is always something new to try in your garden. Many good ideas can be found by browsing at a nearby garden center or on a garden tour. Here are some suggestions to consider.

How do you choose a good container-grown plant? Gently shake the plant from its container. Root systems should be well developed, and the root and soil mass should retain its shape when removed from the container. Avoid plants with roots circling around the pot or coming out of the drain holes.

When choosing bedding plants, look for plants that are well proportioned with sturdy stems. Leaves should have a rich, green color. Check for pests if foliage appears mottled or the edges of the leaves are curled. Try to buy packs with large, deep cells spaced far apart which encourages a larger root system.

For fragrance in the garden, use perennials such as Sweet Woodruff (Asperula odorata, Zones 4-8), Lily-of the-Valley (Convallaria majalis, Zones 2-7), and Lemon Lily (Hemerocallis liliosphodelus, Zones 5-9).

Try a dwarf form of butterfly bush. They are about half the size, and their fragrant mid-summer flowers are attractive to butterflies.

When your early, annual flowers are spent, replace them with summer annuals, such as nicotiana, portulaca, zinnia, impatiens, or celosia. Before planting, rework and enrich the soil with compost.

Gloxinia flowers will last longer if plants are moved to a cool, shaded spot once the blossoms have fully opened.

Petunias and marigolds are more useful as cut flowers than most folks appreciate. The flowers will last for several days and are very attractive in mixed bouquets.

When going on vacation, group plants in containers together near a water source and out of the afternoon sun. Grouping them will help plants conserve water, and shade will help reduce the need for water. If plants are located together near a hose, the neighbor who comes to water won't overlook any.

Leach container soils occasionally to remove any mineral salts accumulated from fertilizer and hard water. Brown leaf edges and crusting on the sides of clay pots are two indicators of a salt problem. To leach large containers, water until the soil is soaked, and then allow water to run slowly from your hose into the pot for about 20 minutes. For small pots, water each container until it drains freely from the bottom holes. Wait a few minutes, then repeat.

Bronze-leafed varieties of begonia do particularly well in full sun. Keep the foliage dry and provide good air circulation around the plants.

Grow perfect, individual flowers for shows by bagging them with a piece of spun-bonded, polyester, row cover material. Cut a square large enough to cover the desired flower, and gather the edges with strong thread so the material is snug against the stem. Insects will be unable to get to the prized bud.

For hanging baskets in cool, shady locations use trailing tuberous begonias, ferns, impatiens or fibrous rooted begonias in combination with trailing plants, such as English ivy.

Disbud chrysanthemum flowers to secure large, beautiful blooms on straight, strong stems. To disbud, remove the small, side buds that form in the angles of the leaves along the stems. This allows all food reserves to be used for one large flower rather than many smaller ones.

Plant annual flowers in tubs or large crocks for the porch or terrace. Be sure there are holes in the container bottom to provide good drainage.

Divide spring and early summer flowering perennials after the blooms fade. Instead of severing the clump in half, try jiggling the roots apart with two sharp, spading forks. This takes more time, but damages fewer roots than cutting the clump apart.

Remove foliage from spring bulbs after it turns yellow and begins to dry. Set out bedding plants to cover the bare spots using care not to damage bulbs.

When selecting a window box, it is best to choose a wooden box. Metal ones are more likely to overheat if sitting in the hot, summer sun. Also, wooden boxes allow for drainage, whereas metal or plastic ones often do not. The color of the box should also be considered -- dark ones get warmer than light-colored boxes.

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For more information about this and other landscape topics contact your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office. The local Virginia Cooperative Extension office numbers are Albemarle 872-4580, Fluvanna 591-1950, Greene 985-5236, Louisa 540-967-3422, and Nelson 263-4035.