Pruning Azaleas

     Azaleas need to be pruned between the end of blooming in the spring and before the 4th of July. If you prune after this date you will risk losing next spring’s blooms! You can begin the pruning process before they’ve finished blooming- take some of your clippings inside and enjoy them!

     There is a school of thought that disagrees with this rule however. Some experts say that if you’ve got very overgrown azaleas and you want to prune them to dramatically lower their height, called rejuvenation, do it in the late winter or early spring before they bloom. You will lose the flowers for that year. (Rejuvenation means starting over: when a plant is rejuvenated it is cut back to structural branches, usually bare, that act as a base for the plant to come back from- it isn’t pretty and not all plants will tolerate this, azaleas will). The reasoning behind the timing of this theory is that the azaleas will need a significant amount of energy to come back from being pruned severely and they also require a significant amount of energy to produce flowers… so they will come back much better from the rejuvenation if they are spared the stress of producing blooms: this needs to be done before you see any color from the flowers. The photos below are of a rejuvenation project half way done- you can see that the azaleas have been lowered by about 2/3 of their height. The photo on the bottom is a year later; see how much of the fence is visible now?

                                                        

     These photos are courtesy of Rick Smith at The Pruning Guru, www.PruningGuru.com    

    
     Another way to significantly reduce the size of your azaleas but keep your blooms, and avoid undue stress to your plants, is to spread the pruning out over several years: remove a few of the tallest branches every year. Patience, Grasshopper.

     One other concern about the timeline is Encore azaleas that have a second, or even third, bloom later in the year. You’re pretty much sacrificing a bloom cycle by pruning them, anytime. Since the spring bloom is the showiest, prune immediately after that has tapered off. Your fall show may not be as good as last year but you should still have some blooms.

     As with pruning anything, cuts should be made just above a lateral branch, any branch coming out from the main stem, branch or trunk. Cuts made in the middle of a branch will cause several problems: the wood between the cut and the branch below it will die and be an entry point for disease, or a bud (or several buds) along that branch will produce a sucker that will grow straight up, way above the existing canopy- which means more pruning for you, and it will not conform to the regular growth habit, neither result is pretty. Be sure to remove any dead wood.

     While you’re up close and personal with your azaleas it’s a good time to check for any insect or disease activity goin’ on. The most common problem with azaleas is lace bugs. If you see splotchy discoloration on the tops of the leaves and dirty looking smudges on the back, the smudges are lace bug poo and eggs; the discoloration on the top is the damage they cause (below). You may see tiny fly-looking bugs with transparent wings about ¼ an inch in length, these are the culprit. There are a number of chemicals available to nuke ‘em, read the labels at your local supplier or big box store- be sure to spray the underside of the leaves (that’s where the buggies are) when applying the chemical. Read the entire label and follow the directions exactly; pesticides are not to be taken lightly. The damage to the leaves is permanent but future growth should hide the damaged leaves.

                      Photograph by: James Castner, University of Florida/IFAS, used with permission

Azaleas really require very little pruning and maintenance but with just the right amount they will astound you every spring. If you’re rejuvenating your azaleas or they’ve got lace bug damage they’ll appreciate a balanced fertilizer (10-10-10, or similar) in the spring.

Jessica Logan, Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

PLANET SCD

The next SCD meeting is Wednesday March 24th!  Don't forget you need to be studying!!! 
Just for fun here are some pictures of past events.

2009's 3rd place team!

Irrigation assembly

Irrigation troubleshooting

paver installation

it's not all work...

February Book of the Month

     February's book of the month is Ortho's All About Gardening series.  Technically not a single book, this series has books titled Ortho's All About: Roses; Orchids; Lawns; Trees; Perennials; Annuals; Pruning, and on and on!  I personally own Ortho's All About Roses and Ortho's All About Pruning.  These books are easy to read even if you have no technical knowledge of the subject and they have great photos. 

A Rose By Any Other Name... Will Still Have Thorns

Pruning Roses:

    Grab your leather gloves, some band-aids, and a tube of Neosporin. You’re going to make it out alive, but chances are: you’re going to be scratched up pretty good. Pruning roses can be a time consuming, challenging, and potentially painful process. The way you prune your roses will vary depending on that type of roses you have. If you’ve got your garden-variety shrub rose, like the wonderful Knock Out, they’re not going to be the least bit picky about how they’re pruned.   You could run them over with your truck and come spring they’ll come right back. (This is not recommended.) Other varieties, such as Hybrid Tea roses, will be picky.  These instructions will suit hybrid teas, Knockouts and most other roses just fine.
      Technically you don’t have to prune them: you can let them get as big and as wild and wooly as you like! Pruning does have benefits though: we have a group of red Knock Outs here on campus that is every bit of 8 feet tall! Sure they’re beautiful when they bloom, but they’re kind of monstrous the rest of the year. Aside from maintaining a pleasing and manageable size, pruning encourages better blooming. Roses bloom on new growth; and pruning encourages growth.

     Basically when pruning roses, your objective is to establish a structure for new growth to come out on in the spring. You should prune your roses back to about 12-18” from the ground. (If you’ve got a climber, or a rose that only blooms once a year, you need a different set of instructions). You should remove any canes the look diseased or are damaged. Before you start the structural pruning take a time out and think about the growth that will come from the cuts you make. The direction the bud is facing will be the direction of your new growth; you probably won’t be pruning to a branch like you would for normal pruning, but to an OUTWARD facing bud. If you cut to an inward facing bud the new growth is going to head back to the center of the plant- not ideal or pretty. If you just chop haphazardly, and don’t cut near a bud, the wood will die back to the next bud leaving several inches of dead wood which is a haven for disease.

     I’ve included some photos of one of my roses I just pruned-February to early March is the perfect time to prune them. There are before and after shots and a photo of how the cuts should look (right). The cut on the left is too far away from the bud- that extra wood will die and be a gateway for pests and disease, the cut in the center is too close to the bud- the cut is so close it’s caused structural damage that won’t support a new branch that will come from that bud, and the last one is just right!

     During the growing season removing the spent flowers will encourage most varieties of roses to bloom even more!

If you’ve got a climbing rose I suggest you do a bit of reading before you tackle this one, especially if it only blooms once a year.  A great resource is Ortho’s All About Roses by Ortho Books and Thomas Cairns, for all roses not just climbers.

Quick note: the title of this article implies that there are no roses without thorns, that isn't exactly true.  There are a few of them; Lady Banks climbing rose being the most common in  my experience.

    

Jessica Logan, Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

Valentine's Day: A Brief Guide to Giving Roses

     Well, I was going to summarize the history and meaning of giving roses on Valentine's Day. In doing some research I discovered there are many, many different explanations and stories about how and why Valentine's Day and the giving of roses came about. They range from Roman gods to young single people in French society to Middle Eastern myths about birds picking their mates on February 14th. Of course, the history that we are most familiar with is the one of St. Valentine who was a Catholic priest. He was found guilty of performing marriages during a time when the Roman emperor had banned marriage. Saint Valentine was put to death on February 14th in 269 AD.

     What does this mean for you? Well, for guys it means: buy her something pretty or you're in trouble. For ladies it means: I'd better get something pretty or he's in trouble. Valentine's Day is also jokingly called "Singles Awareness Day" where people without significant others would rather vomit than see any more pink and red hearts in store displays.
     What does that flower really mean? The giving of a rose has different meanings depending on the color and the number given.  Giving a single rose is generally a gesture of new love or infatuation.  The giving of a dozen or more represents commitment and devotion.

         Red means passion and sincere love

         White- innocence and purity, young love

         Pink - thanks and appreciation

          Yellow- Joy, Welcome home, delight, friendship and in Victorian times it meant jealousy! 
     Roses aren't the only flower suitable for Valentine's Day: be creative! Tulips are fabulous, daisies are sweet... plus these non-rose alternatives will be cheaper!  Personally, gerber daisies are MY favorite... hint, hint.

The rose pictured above is from my garden, called 'Double Delight,' it's white and dark pink... so it can mean whatever you want it to I guess!

Jessica Watters, Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

Water Woes

     Georgia has had some crazy water issues for the past several years. First it was extreme drought and we couldn’t water at all. Then it was monsoon season and we didn't need to water, now it hasn't rained in weeks! But, here are some tidbits about you should know and utilize about watering your landscape.

    More is not always better. When the state/counties lifted the drought restrictions from level 4 (no watering –ever) you were told you could water 3 days a week, which days depending on your address. So everyone said “Must… water…!” Andy they got out their hoses and sprinkler or set their automated systems to run all 3 of those days. This is way more wasteful than you think. Just getting your grass wet does not make it happy. Water has to penetrate through the grass and down to the soil- preferably down a couple inches into the soil. If you consistently water where only ¼” of the soil gets wet, that’s where your plants’ roots will live. This means that they’ll dry out super-fast and need water that much quicker. Roots should go to a depth of 3-6” where the soil doesn’t dry out as fast. To avoid this: water infrequently (once a week) and deeply. That means you can either calculate percolation rates for your soil and precipitation rates for your sprinklers (I can tell you how to do that if you like) … or you can find a couple spots, don’t pick the lowest areas, and dig around to see how far down the soil is wet. It takes longer than you think to thouroughly soak the soil, a lot longer. If you notice that you’ve got water running down a hill or down the gutter in the street that means your watering too fast… water is hitting the soil faster than it can absorb it. This means that you should take a time out on that area after watering until you see the water start to run off , water another area, go back to the first area when the soil has had some time to soak it up, and water some more. The steeper the slope or harder the soil the less time you can water before you’re just wasting it by sending it down the gutters.

     Technically, you don’t have to water. Unless we’re in an über-extreme drought (worse than a couple of years ago) your turf will make it just fine. It may go dormant (brown, looks dead but it’s not) but as soon as it rains it’ll green right back up. You may have plants other than your turf that will need supplemental water in this situation though, like hydrangeas. These plants should be planted in their proper location- maybe they’d like more shade than they’re getting, and can be watered by themselves instead of watering the entire property to wet one small area. By the way: hand-watering with a hose is the least efficient way to water! So set up an old-school impact rotor on a stake connected to your hose. What’s an impact rotor, you ask? Think about the dance ‘the sprinkler’. Do the sprinkler! I know you’re doing it. Anyways, they are the most efficient sprinkler that can be connected to a hose. (See photo above)

     Use more efficient irrigation techniques. Drip irrigation is by far the most efficient, least wasteful way to water ever. (Sadly, you can’t do it on your lawn, only beds). Whether you install an automated system with the fancy drip hose and emitters or you go to Home Cheapo and buy the black soaker hoses, these options are way better than overhead watering. Why? Because when you water over head there is always wasted water. It gets blown away in the wind, it gets applied too fast and runs off, it’s got to soak through the mulch, blah blah. Soaker hoses and drip hoses lay underneath the mulch where the water is slowly applied directly to the soil where your plants’ roots live.

If you’ve got an automated system and don’t have a rain sensor, (shuts off the whole system when it rains!) shame on you. Get one. ASAP. It’s my water, too, that you’re wasting. Watering in the rain… sheesh.

In conclusion: water smarter- less frequently, more efficiently, and more thoroughly.  Just because the watering restrictions say you CAN water 3 days a week doesn't mean you should.


Jessica Watters, Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

Frosty Forecast? Tips For Covering Your Tender Plants.

     Here in the Atlanta area we tend to have crazy weather.  We've had a very cold winter this year but the past week has been sunny and warmer.  That's all it takes to make some of your plants think spring is here!  If you've got camellias or rhododendron with buds opening (or other early bloomers) they may appreciate being covered. 

How should I cover them?
     When covering plants you should use cloth (bedsheets, blankets, burlap) and drape it gently over the plant (using stakes to hold it up if necessary) and anchor it to the ground with rocks or garden gnomes. Be sure that your blanket is going all the way to the ground- the ground is going to stay warmer than the cold air temperatures and the blanket will help trap some of it around your plant.  Notice that I am saying blanket or cloth.  Do not use plastic.  Using plastic creates a greenhouse situation; when the sun comes up in the morning it rapidly increases the temperature under the plastic and can damage the plant more than if you'd just left it alone.  Rapid changes in temperature like this are detrimental to plants.  By the way, you need to remove the blanket in the morning to allow the plant to get some sunlight. 

Well, when should I cover them?
     Honestly, you don't have to cover them.  Camellias are notorious for having their buds killed by freezes before they bloom but the shrub will not die from spending the night uncovered. If you cannot live without your camellia blossoms, they're on the north side of an exposed hill, and it's supposed to get down to 23 after several sunny days of highs in the 50+s, cover them. This is pretty much what you risk with leaving shrubs uncovered- flower bud loss and foliage damage.  It's usually sustained cold that does the damage; one night of 25 isn't going to do much harm.  9 times out of 10 the plant will make a spectacular come back in the spring and you'd never know it happened.  Of course, there are times like a few years back when we had that hard freeze in April and it massacred all the hydrangeas... there was really nothing anyone could've done- that time of year there is a ton of tender new growth and that cold was just too extreme.

So really it's a guessing game.  How cold is it going to get? How long will it be that cold? Do I want to scramble around for old bedsheets and then run around in the cold?

Jessica Logan, Horticulture Technician- Chattahoochee Technical College