The Garden Club April 28, 2005

April 28, 2005

A Gift That Mom will
Enjoy for Years.

- 'Endless Summer' Hydrangea - Save 20%
- Garden Q&A
- Tips for Planting Trees and Shrubs

A Unique and Thoughtful Mother's Day Gift
With Mother's Day fast approaching many of us are looking for gift ideas for the special women in our lives. This year you can break the tradition of the bouquet of flowers and a card by giving a Hydrangea that can be enjoyed for years - the 'Endless Summer' Hydrangea. We are currently shipping large plants from two-gallon pots!

Blooms Throughout the Season
'Endless Summer' is the first Hydrangea macrophylla that blooms on both old and new wood for repeat-blooming color all season long. Mop Head Hydrangeas always set their buds reliably in the fall, but Hydrangeas tend to go into the winter with soft and tender tips and that's where the buds are located. In addition, if the buds survive the late fall frost and winter cold, they start to grow early in the spring and are subject to a late spring freeze. As normal Mop Head Hydrangeas do not produce flower buds in the spring and summer, when these fall-produced buds die (or are eaten by deer), there will be no bloom that year. On 'Endless Summer', flower buds are formed not only in the fall, but also in spring and summer. As the 'Endless Summer' continues to grow, it is forming buds that will flower all season long. Prompt removal of the faded blooms will encourage new growth and new blooms. Expect to see two to three cycles of bloom instead of the usual one.

In addition to repeat blooms, 'Endless Summer' Hydrangea is unusually hardy, even in Zone 4 climates (its from Minnesota!). Expect it to mature at 4 feet tall by 4 feet wide, perhaps a little larger. Unlike other macrophylla Hydrangeas which can only be pruned just as the flowers fade, 'Endless Summer' can be pruned at any time - although late summer to early fall is probably still preferable. 'Endless Summer' Hydrangea prefers moist soil (not wet) in a place with afternoon shade and morning sun. It makes an excellent choice for foundation, specimen and shrub or perennial borders.

Planting and Care

For best results plant in early spring to late summer.

Plant in well-drained soil, add aluminum sulphate for blue blooms and lime for pink blooms.

Will perform best in moist, but not wet, soil. Add Soil Moist if you think the soil is too dry.

Plant so the top of the root ball is a half inch below the surface of the soil.

Prefers an area with morning sun and afternoon shade.

For blue blooms, use Leaf Gro compost at planting and fertilize with Holly-Tone.

For pink blooms, use Chesapeake Blue Crab Compost at planting and fertilize with Bulb-Tone.

Use a handful of fertilizer at planting and again in early December and early March.

Hardy in zones 4 to 9.

From 2-gallon pots.

Our Garden Worthy Certification means that your satisfaction is guaranteed.

'Endless Summer' Hydrangea

Garden Club Frequently Asked Questions

Question: I thought I had Ground Ivy. Does Ground Ivy have purple flowers?

Answer: Ground Ivy (sometimes called Creeping Charlie) has bluish lavender-purple flowers that bloom just about now. But several other lawn weeds are blooming now with purplish flowers. Ground Ivy has new growth at this time. When new growth is present, Ground Ivy is most susceptible to lawn weed killers. Because granular Confront is no longer available, we recommend the liquid Turflon Ester. Properly applied, this weed killer will not harm the grass and controls a very large broad range of difficult-to-kill weeds.

Question: I have had varied success planting trees and shrubs in my yard and am never sure I am planting correctly. Are there any rules that I can follow that apply to all the different balled and potted trees and shrubs that I might buy from my nursery?

Answer: Many plants have their own particular requirements; in addition the instructions you follow depend upon the type of soil you have.

But here are some general rules:

1. Dig the hole 3 times wider for both trees and shrubs but no deeper than the ball or container size. Loosen the soil at the bottom of the hole, but do not "fluff" it.

2. Mix the soil that you remove half and half with aged humus or compost. Also mix in a couple of handfuls of natural organic fertilizer such as Plant-Tone or Cottonseed Meal (a big balled tree might take 6 handfuls, a potted 1 to 2 gallon shrub will take 1-2 handfuls) as well as an organic root simulator such as Kelp Meal. Use half as much root stimulator as fertilizer.

3. If the container plant is tightly rooted around the sides of the pot, pull the roots apart with your fingers and/or butterfly it by making four one-inch deep slices right into the root mass along the sides and two one-inch deep slices under the root mass. Pull apart the two sides of each slice. Balled shrubs do not require slicing.

4. Place the balled plant with the burlap still tied or the butterflied container plant in the hole pushing and compacting enough soil under the root mass so that the root mass is level with the surrounding soil.

5. If the plant has plastic burlap or green-dyed, rot-proof burlap it must not be buried. Untie it and slip it out from under the ball. Regular burlap can be untied, pushed to the bottom of the hole and buried as best you can. If necessary, excess burlap can be trimmed away with a scissor or knife. If a tree has a wire basket. do not remove it. Plant the tree with the wire basket in place. Fill the hole with the compost/soil mixture in layers, firmly compacting each layer as you go.

6. Use the excess soil to make a collar outside of the root mass to hold water.

7. Water thoroughly, preferably with an added liquid bio-stimulator such as SeaMate. Mulch with 2 inches of shredded bark mulch being sure to keep the mulch from touching the central stem.

8. Stake trees, if necessary.

Question: I planted a dozen bare-root mail order roses a few weeks ago. They were all the same variety, some have leafed out and some have not. The ones that have not leafed out are still green. Do you think they are going to make it?

Answer: Just as seeds all planted the same day often sprout over a period of weeks, the same is true of bare-root trees, shrubs and roses. As long as the canes are green, I feel confident the roses will sprout out and catch up to their more active brethren.

Question: While driving around I thought I saw a white blooming Redbud. Is there such a tree?

Answer: The white-flowering Redbud, Cercis canadensis Alba, does indeed exist and it is a delightful tree. The blooms are pure white without a trace of pink. It is just as easy to grow as the common Redbud. There is also a cerise pink Redbud, having the brightest deep pink flowers without a hint of lavender. Its name is Appalachian Red. A mass of Appalachian Reds with a few whites interspersed is indeed a spectacular sight.

Question: I love plants with purple leaves. I have a Japanese Maple and I had a purple-leaved plum, but it died. I loved the plum, but I always have bad luck with them. What other small purple-leaved trees are there?

Answer: Purple-leaved plum is definitely a problematic tree. Consider the purple-leaved Kwanzan cherry called Royal Burgundy, the purple-leaved smoke tree called Velvet Cloak or the purple-leaved Redbud called Forest Pansy. You may also want to consider the dark-leaved Mimosa tree called Summer Chocolate, but it is not quite the same maroon shade as the other three. Cardinal Crabapple has maroonish leaves, but there is some green running through them in the summer--definitely not as purple (maroon) as a red maple.

Have you tried the new purple-leaved Weigela called Midnight Wine? You may also want to try the purple-leaved Oxalis (shamrock), it is usually sold as a house plant. Here in zone 6 it has come through the last few winters outdoors just fine. It makes a nice ground cover.

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