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In response to the positive feedback we have received lately, this week's
newsletter features a number of questions and answers once again.
First, however, a few quick notes.
Flower bulbs are now back in stock at Carroll Gardens, so be sure to place
your order for your favorite variety today. Also, for all patrons of
our Garden Center in Westminster, Maryland - your tulip coupons are now
redeemable. Question
My roses really look poor this year. They are taller than usual, almost
leafless and haven’t re-bloomed like they usually do in the fall. Do you
think it would help if I cut them back?
Answer
As we mentioned last week, you do need to spray whatever new foliage
emerges with a fungicide. A light haircut should encourage some new
foliage to emerge. Be sure you are not cutting off newly formed flower
buds. I think this is the wrong time for a heavy pruning of most roses.
I think that should wait for early spring.
Question
I have hundreds of dwarf English boxwoods around my house and they’re all
developing brown patches. I have followed your spring tonic for boxwoods
and they looked much better, but now they look awful and I’m really
worried about them.
Answer
You have legitimate reason for concern.
Dwarf English boxwood is very tight and
thick and with all of these evening rains we have had on the east coast,
the boxwoods remained as a sodden ball of foliage and diseases have spread
throughout. These boxwoods must be opened up to air circulation. You
need to remove about half of the branch structure. I suggest you cut out
any stems bearing foliage that is off color (any shade other than deep
green), and pluck out additional foliage so that you can almost see
through the boxwood. Then use your shop vac to remove any leaves and
small twigs that have fallen down into the center of the plant. I don’t
know of any chemical spray that will be effective.
Question
The foliage on my Clematis plant has turned mostly brown. Should I spray
with something or should I cut it back to the ground now? I think the
plant is still alive because there are a few new leaves at the top. Once
I had a clematis that turned brown and died almost overnight. You told me
to cut that one to the ground and treat the roots with a fungicide and it
re-sprouted and has been fine ever since, just like you said it would be.
Should I do the same with this clematis?
Answer
The last clematis had “clematis wilt”. I believe this one does not
have the wilt and is just suffering from some leaf funguses caused by a
wet season. I feel that all clematis should be cut back to the ground
every 3-5 years just to get rid of the tangled mass of partially dead
leaves and stems. Even if your clematis has not been severely pruned
in the last 3-5 years, I suggest cutting it to the ground early this spring
just before the leaves emerge. I wouldn’t do such a severe pruning now
because that will encourage the clematis to send up new tender growth
which the frost will kill. Be sure to put all of the prunings into the
trash and rake up all stray clematis leaves. Then spray the area around
the clematis and the dormant crown with lime sulphur. Finally, put an
inch of mulch around the clematis but not against the crown, which always
should be mulch free. All of the latter procedures are intended to
discourage re-infection from spores that may still be lying around. On
some varieties of clematis, bloom maybe less or later than usually as a
result of the cut back.
Question
I just returned from vacation in the
Austrian Alps where I saw a large mass of what appeared to be white and
pink cosmos. When I looked more closely they weren’t like any cosmos I
had ever seen before. The leaf was not ferny and had 3 sections that
looked remarkably like a small maple tree leaf. What were these plants
and can I grow them here?
Answer
I am almost sure you saw Japanese
anemones, a perennial that grows as well here as it does in the Alps.
It likes almost exactly the same conditions as the snowdrops mentioned in
the question below - some protection from the hottest afternoon sun and
the classic moist, well-drained soil. Just like snowdrops, anemones don’t
like a place that is sodden in the winter or parched in the summer.
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Winter Red Holly
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Question
I love snow drops. They bloom so early,
but I just can’t seem to get them established. I plant a dozen and maybe
1 or 2 come up. What am I doing wrong?
Answer
Snowdrops (Galanthus) bulbs really
resent being dug in late summer, dried and shipped half way around the
world to be planted months later. Snowdrops are indeed delightful little
bulbs, but they should be planted now rather than in October or November.
Even so, all of them will not survive to come up next spring and they
won’t give their best performance for a year or two. Then, they should
naturalize and grow into large established clumps. Choose the bulbs
carefully to be sure that what you are getting is still alive. Be sure to
plant your snowdrops in the conditions that they like. Because they
really don’t go dormant in the summer, snowdrops should be planted in a
place that is not sunny, hot and dry in the summer. They do best on a
hillside with afternoon shade, where the water runs down the hillside.
This gives them the classic moist, well-drained soil.
Question
I saw what appeared to be some giant crocuses blooming now. They were
really beautiful. Do crocuses bloom now?
Answer
There are fall blooming crocus including the culinary “saffron” crocus,
but I doubt that is what you saw, because they bloom a little later and
the flowers aren’t particularly larger than spring blooming crocus. If
the crocus you saw were yellow, you saw Sternbergii lutea, a distant hardy
relative of the amaryllis. They take a year or two to get established but
in full sun and well-drained soil they slowly increase into large
clusters. The flower is a waxy golden yellow.
More likely you saw autumn flowering colchicum which blooms in shades of
pinky lavender and white. Colchicum makes a dramatic display planted “en
masse” in rich soil, with some protection from the hottest afternoon sun.
Colchicum won’t tolerate saturated soil and seems to survive okay in dry soil
but they do best in a good garden loam that stays moderately moist.
Incidentally,
if you have a spot in dry shade, for example between the roots of a maple
tree, hardy fall-blooming miniature cyclamen bulbs thrive in such a
situation - where little else will grow.
Question
Please be of help to me. I placed fescue
sod in my yard two years ago. It has gone through the winter and this
year up until the first of August without any problem. Now big spots
maybe 10 to 15 square feet are dying out. I have checked the sod and
found that it never took root. I also found that I have many grubs under
the sod. I would like a suggestion on what may be the cause of this
dying, and could it be because of the grubs? Is there a fix to this or do
I need a soil sample and go from there? I hope you can help me.
Answer
The sod did take root. The grubs ate
the roots off. You must apply Dylox now, or you will have no lawn left.
Dylox is granular and must be watered in. Re-seed the damaged areas with
Black Beauty
grass seed now and fertilize with
Turf Trust®
also now. Finally, spray with
SeaMate™
now.
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Generous clusters of small blooms, red with
large centers of canary yellow flared with gold, held well above the
rounded, wrinkled, fresh green foliage. Blooms early, usually in
late March or early April. Durable and vigorous performer from New England
to Dixie. Probably not a pure P. elatior, but a hybrid that is not so
over-bred as to lose vigor.
More information (or to place an order)
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Primula elatior "Red" |
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Every Saturday morning from 7:00 am to 9:00
am (Eastern time) you can listen to the highly acclaimed Garden Club Radio Show online
through WCBM's website.
Click here for more information about the radio
show, including how to listen online.
If you live in or will be
traveling in the Maryland or Washington DC area, you can also listen to
the show by tuning your radio to 680 AM. Any local listeners that may be
traveling out of the area can still tune in to the show online, as
mentioned above. We invite you to call in with your questions at 410-922-6680
or
1-800-922-6680.
Happy Gardening,
Alan Summers
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