Hydrangea macrophylla 'Mini Penny' (PP#15,744) Over the past few years several re-blooming hydrangeas have been introduced, but none is really compact like the old once-blooming, not-really-winter-hardy Hydrangea Pia. By special arrangement, we are able to offer a pre-release of the 2008 introduction 'Mini Penny.' This hydrangea blooms from spring to fall, is mildew resistant and grows only 3-4 feet tall and wide.
A Compact Reblooming
Mophead with a Special Legacy
'Mini Penny' 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. In
addition, even if the buds survive the late fall frost and winter cold, they
often start to grow early in the spring and are subject to late spring freezes.
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 'Mini Penny', flower buds are formed not only in the
fall, but also in spring and summer. As the 'Mini Penny' Hydrangea 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 2-3 cycles
of bloom instead of the usual one.
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Garden Club Questions and Answers
Question: I applied Turf Trust in the fall. Should I apply Espoma's Turf-tone for the early spring feeding? Should I apply it now or wait? Also, I need to put something down for crab grass preventer. Should I apply Dimension now? Can I apply that at the same time as Turf-tone, or do they need to be done at different times?Finally, I typically get a good amount of clover and other weeds (dandelions, etc). Part of the problem is that my neighbor does not treat his lawn and another part is that I back up to a conservation area that has a lot of weeds in it. Should I use Turflon Ester? When should I apply that?Answer: Your lawn should be fed now. You could use either the Turf-tone or the Turf Trust. Most of our customers are now using Turf Trust for all three feedings. The new Green Light Crabgrass Preventer is applied when the forsythia shrub is in early-mid bloom in your area. That would be several weeks after you fertilize. You can prevent broadleaf weeds from seeding into your lawn by using Portrait Broadleaf Weed Preventer, also when the forsythia is in early-mid bloom. I suggest you try the Speed Zone liquid lawn weed killer on your existing broadleaf lawn weeds. This product is especially good on clover. Speed Zone is applied once the weeds green up and start to make new leaves.Question: After this winter, my pansies look terrible. I am not even sure they are alive. Also some of my evergreens look really bad. I don't ever recall them looking like this. Even my pine trees which are about 20 years old have been totally scorched and the needles are the color of straw. My euonymus, nandina, and evergreen magnolia also look bad. Do you have any suggestions? Answer: If there is any green at the base, your pansies are alive. In any event, I wouldn't pull any of them out just yet. Cut back everything that is obviously dead or straggly, but leave the central based rosette. Even if it appears to be dead, fertilize with granular Bulb-tone and liquid SeaMate. If there is any life at all your pansies should quickly recover and start blooming. Continue feeding with SeaMate once a week for about a month.On your evergreens it is too early to tell how severe the winter kill was. Branches that have leaves or needles that look totally dead can often resprout new leaves or needles so that by the end of the spring a plant that appeared almost totally dead will show no evidence of winter damage. Question: I read that I can organically kill crabgrass in my lawn with a propane torch. Will this really work? Answer: Not really. A propane torch does not kill crabgrass seed. It will kill crabgrass plants but you are going to have to torch before the crabgrass goes to seed. The torch will kill the surrounding good lawn as well. Because all crabgrass does not sprout at the same time, you will have to torch your lawn several times, about a month apart, over the summer. Obviously the lawn is going to look awful all summer long. These torches are expensive, as is the propane. Torching is a slow and tedious process. The only situation for which I can imagine torching being at all practical would be between pavers where you really don't want anything to grow at all. Question: I noticed one of your competitors listed one of their roses as "row run." I have never heard this term. When I called, the person who answered the phone had no idea what I was talking about. Do you? Answer: "Row run" means exactly what it says. It means that they are selling everything that grew in the row without regard to the grade. You might get a good rose at a good price. Or you might get a runt that is not worth planting. In general, I recommend avoiding roses where the seller can't tell you the bareroot grade or the pot size if you inquire either over the telephone or by e-mail. This is definitely worth checking out. Last week I had a call from a very disappointed lady who thought that she was getting a bargain on a dozen roses. When they showed up (I can't believe they were shipped to Illinois now) the whole dozen was in a box smaller than a shoe box and the plants were just rooted cuttings wrapped in wet newspaper. Based upon the variety she bought, the roses will probably survive, grow and mature in a couple of years. But, they are going to require potting and must be kept indoors for several months before planting outdoors. The bargain roses turned out to be a rip off and certainly not worth the price she paid. Question: Alan, perhaps you will remember me. I am the man from Pennsylvania with all the weeds in my new lawn. It was almost all weeds. I used to come in very early on Sunday mornings. You looked at my weeds and concluded that based upon the types of weeds that I had, they must have come in with the grass seed, rather than the straw or the top soil. I followed your instructions. I killed all of the weeds but I have almost no lawn left. I tried to get the builder to put in a new lawn. But the best I could get was some free grass seed which I am going to put down with a slit seeder per your instructions. The builder told me that he gave me the same seed that he used before. It has a big sticker on the bag that says "99% weed free." Are you sure that my weeds came from the grass seed? I don't want to go to all this work and have the same problem. Answer: Now that I know that your grass seed was 1% weeds, I am even more certain that the grass seed was the problem. These measures are taken by weight. Weed seeds tend to be smaller and lighter than grass seed. I recall that most of your weeds were dandelions and plantains. Dandelion seed is so light that it floats in the air. I estimate that seed what was 1% weeds by weight was probably 20% weeds on a seed count basis. In addition these particular weeds are broad and spreading (while the grass is narrow and upright). It is no wonder that your lawn turned out to be solid weeds. If you plant the seed that the builder gave you, you are going to wind up in the same situation as last year. I suggest that you buy new grass seed and throw away what the builder gave you. For example, Black Beauty has virtually no weed seed.
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