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The Garden Club |
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Perovskia ‘Little Spire Sage’ (Russian Sage)
Another Beautiful Plant for Fall
Low Maintenance and Long Blooming ‘Little Spire’ is a very low maintenance, deer resistant plant - just plant in well-drained soil in full to part sun and it will thrive. Its drought resistance makes it a choice variety for the hottest and driest gardens. ‘Little Spire’ is a great selection for mid border to background use in the perennial garden as it’s compact size makes it the ultimate fill-in plant. It is also striking planted in clusters in front of spring-blooming shrubs or combined with thread leafed coreopsis, daylilies and ornamental grasses. ‘Little Spire’ attracts butterflies and honeybees and is excellent in cut arrangements. Planting and Care
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Garden Club Frequently Asked
Lawn Care Questions Question: I planted bearded iris in my flowerbed, last year. The colors were beautiful purples, oranges, whites, etc. When they re-bloomed this spring, they were again very beautiful colors. They are now blooming again, but they are all white blooms. What happened to all the beautiful colors?Answer: Very few tall bearded irises re-bloom, but one of the most reliable for fall bloom is the pure white Immortality. Undoubtedly, mixed in with your iris is this very excellent reblooming variety. Next spring I suspect you’ll have the full range of colors again. Then next fall you will only have the white Immortality blooming again. Question: I usually aerate my lawn every fall, but this year we had a heavy infestation of Cicadas and there are lots of holes where the cicadas came out that are really close together in my lawn. Do you think it is necessary for me to aerate this year? Answer: I think the Cicadas did a more than adequate job of aerating your lawn this year. Their tunnels go deeper than any mechanical aerator. You can leave the aerator in the shed until next year. Question: I want to use Confront to control the violets and Creeping Charlie in my lawn this fall, but I am really confused. Last week on the radio show you told a listener that it is okay to use Confront now, but he had to wait 4 weeks to reseed. In your newsletter a couple weeks ago you suggested holding off on using Confront until the spring. What’s the story? As you can tell I follow everything you say and my yard is looking the best if ever has.Answer: Weed killers work best when the weeds are actively growing. No matter where you live or what the weather is, weeds are always actively growing in the spring. In many locations, in most seasons, they are not actively growing in the summer. Along the eastern seaboard from the mid-Atlantic to New England the weather has been unseasonably cool and moist, and the weeds are still actively growing this summer. The radio listener was a local, not an Internet listener and I knew that his weeds must be actively growing. A couple of weeks ago I wasn’t sure what the weather was going to be in mid-late August and of course we have newsletter subscribers throughout the United States. As you are local, by all means take advantage of this year’s cool and moist August. Go ahead and apply the Confront now and put down new grass seed in 4 weeks. Question: I love listening to your show on the radio. It is very interesting and informative. We have seen what I believe are wild strawberry weeds growing in our grass. Regular fertilizing doesn't seem to do anything. Any suggestions? Answer: Wild strawberries are difficult to kill. Fertilizing will do nothing. Confront is the best weed killer to use on many difficult-to-control weeds. Apply Confront now or in early spring when the weeds are actively growing. Wild strawberry may require several applications for total eradication. You can make one now, then again in the spring after the wild strawberry gets its new leaves and finally 5 weeks later if necessary. If you reseed this fall you must wait 4 weeks after the application of Confront and you cannot make the first spring application until the grass has been cut 3 times.Question: For the past several years I have had a large, beautiful Pampas Grass. I cut it the way I usually do this spring. I cut down to about a foot tall which was as low as I could go. Even that was a job. It was so hard to cut through the thick stems. This year I have only a few small shoots coming up around the side. Why did this happen and how can I prevent it in the future?Answer: Your Pampas Grass literally crowded itself out. Next year when the Pampas Grass starts to send up new shoots, dig up the dead, old central plant and throw it away. Plant those young vigorous side shoots in its place. If you were to try this now, the shoots would undoubtedly perish in the winter. Pampas grass benefits from division, just as the new side shoots develop in the spring, about every third year. When dividing, you can dispose of any dead central portion that has no sprouts. Question: Hi Alan, I look forward to the Carroll Gardens newsletter and your answers to gardening questions. There always seems to be advice I can use. I have a recurring problem...year after year. I can't control annual bluegrass growing in parts of the lawn and flowerbeds. I'm always applying Round Up and seeing dead patches in the lawn. What can I use to control this dreaded problem? Thanks.Answer: The best way to control annual bluegrass in the lawn is with Dimension Crab Grass Preventer. This product prevents the annual bluegrass seeds from germinating. Two applications are needed. One in early September; the second in early spring—when the forsythia is blooming. You cannot reseed the season you apply Dimension. Thus, if you start this routine now, you will not be able to reseed your lawn before next autumn. Weedscreen granular weed preventer applied on the same timetable to flowerbeds will keep annual bluegrass seeds from germinating there.Question: Alan, I enjoy your radio program every Saturday but have never been lucky enough to be able to call. Here is my question. I have recently and suddenly decided to move to a location about 10 miles away. I have a Hydrangea bush that was given to me by my mother-in-law as a cutting almost 30 years ago. I don't know the variety but it is the only hydrangea that I have ever seen exactly like it, has blooms well over 12 inches in diameter. Actually it has been producing fewer blooms the last few years probably because I haven't fed it for a very long time. Anyway, my question - is there any way to move this now without killing it or at least taking a cutting for my new location? Thank you.Answer: If you dig your Hydrangea very carefully you can move it now. I would sacrifice next year's blooms and cut it back by half when you move it. One of the reasons it is not flowering is that after 30 years it must be crowded and overgrown. I suggest you dig it up again before the leaves appear in the spring and divide it with an axe. Don't try to divide it this fall; too much risk of winter kill. Make its permanent home in a place with protection from the afternoon sun. Be sure to mulch your hydrangea(s) well this winter and next winter.All hydrangeas can be easily grown from tip cuttings taken in summer. Take your cuttings from this year's growth. Do not select the freshest, tenderest growth, but that which has matured. I suggest a cutting 4-6 inches long. Cut the cutting straight across, 1/4 inch below a pair of leaves. If your cutting has a bud or flower at the tip, cut it off. Strip off the bottom row of leaves. Cut all but the top-most leaves in half. Dip the cutting in rooting hormone and insert in a flowerpot filled with soil less, very light, professional potting mix. So that you don't remove the rooting hormone as you insert the cutting, use a pencil or a stick to make the hole. Press the soil firmly around the cutting. Insert the cutting so the bottom row of leaves is about one half inch above the soil and about one inch of the stem is below the soil. If you use an 8" flowerpot, you should be able to make 4-6 cuttings in the one pot. Water it lightly. Place a plastic bag as a tent over the cuttings and tie it with a piece of string around the pot. Before you do, insert a stake in the pot so that the plastic bag is not lying on the cuttings. Make a few small holes in the plastic bag so there is some ventilation. Place the flowerpot in a shady place where the sun will never reach it; otherwise the cuttings may overheat and die. Check the pot weekly to be sure the soil has stayed lightly moist and that none of the leaves have rotted. If any leaves have rotted, remove them: even a leafless cutting will sometimes root. After about 6-8 weeks, check to see whether or not the cuttings have rooted. If they have, remove the plastic bag. Keep your rooted cuttings indoors over the winter and treat them as a house plant. They will do best in a sunny window. Keep them lightly moist and fertilize after mid February with Sea Mate. (1 tablespoon to a gallon of water with each watering). Next year, after Memorial Day, you can separate the rooted cuttings and plant each one outside.
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