Modern landscaping calls for more color and less maintenance than ever. This is a very difficult combination to achieve when the color is to be provided by flowers, be they annuals or perennials. Thus we are turning more and more to plants with colorful foliage, especially shrubs and evergreens, because of their lower maintenance and longer period of color. Amongst these "woodies", those with variegated foliage, as well as those in the shade's of gold, red and blue predominate.
In a sunny location, dark green evergreens associated with blue and golden foliated evergreens, a red-leaved deciduous plant such as a Japanese weeping thread-leaved maple, and a few colorful foliaged perennials or annuals, combine to form a handsome tapestry indeed. Amongst the blue foliaged evergreens, one of the mainstays has always been our western North American native, Colorado Blue Spruce.
In many situations blue spruces can get too large, growing to 90 feet tall—and they are not easily pruned. They often outgrow their location, lose their bottom branches, decline in vigor and cease being an asset. In addition most blue spruces are grown from seed and show great genetic diversity in "blueness'' (some are almost green) branch spacing, density, speed of growth, and ultimate height and width. For this reason, seed-grown blue spruces should never be used in mass plantings of more than one specimen. A mismatched hodgepodge will result.
Baby Blue Eyes: Everything You Could Possibly Want in a Colorado Blue Spruce.
We have recently been introduced to a relatively new blue spruce - Baby Blue Eyes. This cutting grown selection has all of the desirable traits of the best possible blue spruces combined into one plant:
Use Baby Blue Eyes as a corner-of-the-house evergreen in a foundation planting, massed for screening or as specimen, either in the lawn or in a mixed planting of shrubbery. Ideal as a Christmas tree, either potted or in the ground. Outdoors, Baby Blue Eyes will remain a manageable size for Christmas decorating; no helicopter will ever be needed to attach the star.
Planting and Care
Bushy,
well-shaped, cutting-grown 18-24 inch plants from 3 gallon pots. $ 38.85
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Notes from Alan We are getting literally dozens of calls about mushrooms, toad stools and other fungi coming up in the lawn and garden. This is a normal occurrence with the late summer and fall rains, especially after a prolonged dry period.
Mushrooms and toad stools in the lawn are usually an indication of decaying buried wood, either building debris or roots from a no-longer-existing tree from which the roots were never removed and now are decomposing. I am unaware of any way to prevent the various fungi. The best way to treat them is to break them up with a rake and let them shrivel up in the sun. Usually their appearance is a once-a- year event; although where there is a lot of wood buried, a repeat performance after a heavy rain is not uncommon.
(Greenlight Dimension has returned to stock).
If you have been careless with fertilizer that contains iron, you may have rust stains on your sidewalk. They can be removed with a product called Iron Out which is available in most well-stocked hardware stores.
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Garden Club Questions and Answers |
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Question: I purchased a hardy hibiscus Plum Crazy from a mail order company (not Carroll Gardens) because the mail order catalog said it was deer resistant. The deer have eaten mine literally to the ground. We have lots of deer and I wouldn't have bought this Hibiscus if it was not deer resistant. Do you have any experience with deer and this plant? Answer: My experience has been that no perennial hibiscus (including Plum Crazy) is deer resistant. I've had lots of inquires about the deer resistance of this hibiscus. Apparently lots of people bought it from the same mail order company under the mistaken belief that it was deer resistant.
Question: Baby daylily plants have formed on the flower stems of
some of my daylily plants. Can they be grown and if so how? These baby plants can be removed, with a small section of the stem attached, and rooted as if they were cuttings. Apply rooting hormone and bury the bottom part of the plantlets in a light soil mixture in a flower pot. Place the pot in a shady place, keep it moist, and cover with a plastic bag (with a few with holes in it) to increase the humidity. Once the plantlets has rooted remove the plastic bag, but keep the pot indoors in a sunny window throughout the winter. In the spring, after the threat of frost has passed, move the plants outdoors to their permanent places. Question: I am not sure how much Black Beauty grass seed I need to reseed this year. If I buy extra, will it keep until next year? How should I store it? Answer: For over seeding, plan upon 5-7 pounds per 1000 square foot. For new work, plan upon 10-12 pounds per 1000 square foot. Surprisingly sod growers tell me that they believe tall turf fescues actually show slightly improved germination after a year of proper storage. Proper storage means avoiding temperature extremes. Thus, a closed garden shed is not ideal. (It usually gets too hot in the summer). A basement or garage is usually better. Store the grass seed in a metal container to protect it from mice. |
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