Things Your Landscaper Wishes You Knew:

Here are some intersting tidbits that the average homeowner doesn't realize about us landscapers...

• Chances are, I love your dog and I’m more than happy to spend a couple minutes scratching his ears when I get there. But I hate pooper-scooping as much as you do. If you want me to do that, it’s going to cost extra, unless you’re my all-time favorite client.
• The nicer you are to me on a regular basis the better deal you get. If we like you, we’re going to do our best for you and go out of our way to make sure you’re a happy customer. You want that Christmas tree hauled off? No problem. If you’re a terdball to me? Sure, we’ll take it. Next week. And charge you a disposal fee. You want that extra visit to blow your patio off before a party? If you’re nice: I’ll be there. If you’re a jerk: I’ll try to squeeze you in… oh, and next week we’re leaving 20 minutes early.
• Best ways to earn points towards being the favorite client that gets impeccable service at the best price: 1. don’t treat me like ‘the help’. 2. offer me a cold beverage on a hot day or a hot beverage on a cold day. Or let me use that bathroom off the garage. Don’t: walk by like you don’t see me, laugh and say you wish YOU could work outside, (yeah? Oh, cause you think I’ve got an easy job? Spend a day in my boots and tell me if you still think so), and don’t give me orders that conflict with what your spouse says. I’m either listening to the one who signs the check, or the one who’s the nicest… depends on my mood.
• Don’t just blow off the girls. Chances are we have a better eye for detail than the dudes who make up most of the landscape industry. And we’re better listeners to your concerns.
• You get what you pay for. In this industry there’s always a dude in a rusty pickup truck that will charge you less than I will. He’s also probably not insured, doesn’t have proper licenses, and he probably got laid off in another industry and thought “hey, I have a lawnmower, I can do this.” What that means is he’s going to do a crappy job because he doesn’t know what he’s doing. It also means that I’m going to charge extra when you call me back because I’m going to have to fix everything that he messed up. Oh sure he can cut your grass, but he probably doesn’t even know what kind of grass it is. So how can he make sure it’s as green and lush as I kept if he doesn’t know what it needs?
• We don’t like spiders either.
• We especially don’t like bees, so give us a heads up if you’ve noticed a hive since the last time we were there.
• If you pick up the kids’ toys in the yard, we’ll have more time for getting work done. If I have to spend 20 minutes piling toys on the patio so I can mow the grass, that’s 20 minutes I didn’t spend on weeds. But hey, you paid for the time; you decide how I spend it…
• If you have a dog that doesn’t like strangers or has a bad attitude, please keep him inside during our scheduled visit time. We don’t want to have to knock on the door every week to have you round him up. If you aren’t home and he’s in the back yard I’m not going back there. Mowing your grass isn’t worth being mauled by a dog, thanks anyway. Oh, and please check to make sure we’re gone before you let him out. There’s nothing like being trapped in a back yard with an aggressive dog….
• There are trade organizations, like MALTA in Atlanta, that I could be a member of. In theory: the more of these that I belong to the better my reputation and the more I’m held accountable by my peers. So I should be a safer bet than someone who doesn’t choose to interact with the industry in this way. But there are exceptions to every rule: I may also try to keep my overhead lower by avoiding membership dues to things like this.

Knowing these facts can help you build a more productive working relationship with the people who tend your landscape.  Think that it's not important?  Do you know that good landscaping can increase the value of your home by 15%?  You spent a lot of money for that landsaping whether it was there when you bought the place or not. Don't you want to know what those folks are doing to protect that investment?  I know if I had people walking around my house, working in my yard once a week, I'd want good communication and no ill will between us. But maybe that's just me...

Jessica Watters, GCLP                      Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

Things Your Landscaper Won't Tell You:

• I’ve peed in your yard... multiple times. Unless you’ve said “the basement/garage door is open, feel free to come in and use that bathroom in the corner there” we’ve gone number 1, and if necessity dictates, number 2 in your yard. Because depending on the company I work for I may not be allowed to make any unscheduled stops- and my truck has GPS tracking. Gotta do what you gotta “do”…
• If you’re rude to me, you get worse service. Why would I do my best for you when you don’t appreciate it?
• If I’m not insured and I get hurt on your property…. Guess who’s footing the bill. Hint: not me!
• If I’m applying any chemicals (even Round Up) in your yard someone in the company has to have a Pesticide Applicator’s License and the company has to have a Commercial Applicator’s license. Am I going to get in trouble if I’m not properly licensed? Only if you ask to see my license, which is supposed to be in my wallet, and then tell on me if I can’t produce it. This is an attempt by the Department of Agriculture to prevent people from applying chemicals improperly. The test to get licensed is pretty difficult, but you want someone who knows his stuff well enough to pass- these chemicals are no joke.
• If you aren’t home, I may eat my lunch on your lovely patio, by your lovely pool. I may even put my feet in the water. If I have a poor work ethic, I may be on the clock while I do that.
• I probably don’t know how to prune properly. There’s a lot of technique to pruning, and it usually doesn’t involve any equipment with a motor on it. Landscapers who know how to prune will have a pair of pruners in a holster on their hip, and they won’t be shearing all of your shrubs every two weeks. If you want this kind of detail work and don’t see those red handles sticking out of a leather holster, find another company. (You will pay more for this knowledge though.)
• The company I work for may be based on quantity not quality. I may have as many as 15-18 customers to visit in a day. That means I’m running behind my mower while the other dude starts blowing and we’re out of there as fast as possible and on to the next job. What about your weeds, you ask? Weeds? We didn’t see any weeds… You’re going to have to pay a little more to get a company who’ll spend the time to do the detail work needed to give you a great landscape: weeds, pruning, maintaining your flower beds, etc.
• Just because I’m a landscaper, doesn’t mean I can do landscape design. Ask to see my portfolio with references if you’re thinking about upgrading your property. If I don’t have one, look elsewhere.

Coming soon: "Things Your Landscaper Wishes You Knew"

Jessica Watters, GCLP                       Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

A Few Notes on Plant Selection

Alrighty kids, today’s lesson is about plant selection. Half of the issues that I see in landscapes, whether they be pruning, disease, or just unhappy plants, are the result of poor plant selection.

There are many factors that you should take into consideration when choosing a plant for you landscape:

Mature size: you see a shrub in the nursery and say “this plant is 3’ tall and 2’ wide and it’s awfully cute and it’ll go perfectly 1 foot away from the corner of my porch!” So you go home and plant it and it looks great! But a few years later (or less) if that shrub is actually say… a Nellie R. Stevens holly- which are sold in cute little sizes- that means your cute little shrub is actually going to try and be a tree and grow to a height of 30’! See the problem? You will be fighting a losing battle trying to keep that thing from taking over the sidewalk and everything else within a hop, skip and jump of where you planted it. (Like the top photo, right.)  A much better option would be something like a Steeds holly, which will politely stay under 5’ tall and about half as wide, with a lovely cone shape.  (The lower photo on the right is a strangler fig growing on top of a ruin. It didn't start on the ground, it started on the top and grew those roots down to the ground, an extreme example of bad plant placement, I know.)

Sun exposure: Have you ever seen a hydrangea looking wimpy in the full sun? What about a rose that’s planted in the shade and never flowers? Plants are biologically programmed to have preferred living conditions. If that hydrangea is planted in afternoon sun; a. it’s going to wilt EVERY day, b. the leaves will literally get sunburned, and c. it will hate you forever. Many plants prefer full sun though, especially heavily flowering and fruiting ones (not necessarily though) which will never produce a good flower show or fruit crop if not given enough daylight. So that means that you should do some research! Reading the tag on the plant may not be enough though. Many plants in your retail garden centers come from the prestigious Monrovia Growers for example, but did you know that Monrovia has nurseries in south Georgia as well as in Oregon? So if a tag on a plant grown in Oregon says full sun that may not mean full sun here in Hotlanta nor will the one from south Georgia that says shade necessarily thrive in the shade in Seattle. So try and find a local resource for your exposure and hardiness research. Oh, and just because a garden center here sells it, doesn’t mean it will survive here. I saw queen palms at Home Cheapo this summer; they’re hardy to zone 9B. We’re zone 7. Big difference.

Pest and Disease considerations: Are you one of the many folks that are moving with the trend to become ‘green’ by staying away from chemicals? But oh, you loooove hybrid tea roses. The problem? Roses get a multitude of pests and diseases: black spot, aphids, thrips…. So what are you going to do? Give in and spray or have crappy looking roses? If you don’t like chemicals buy disease resistant plants that aren’t prone to pests. Again, do your research before you buy.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again:  Like needing the right tool for the job, you need the right plant for the space.

Jessica Watters, GCLP                               Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

A Few Notes on Pruning:

     It’s summer now and your plants are probably lookin’ pretty darn good. They had a rainy spring without any bad frost and the rain has politely continued into the summer, for the most part. So they’re kickin’ butt. Maybe they need a little pruning…

     I want to address a pruning issue that is all too common: incorrect pruning of suckers. They are most often referred to as suckers, but I think technically the term is actually water sprout or epicormic shoot (yeah, who’s going to remember that?). This is a bit of growth that has just gone nuts and shot straight up out of the plant and now towers over the rest of the canopy of your shrub, or is sprouting off the trunk of a tree. It may not have many branches and the stem is probably a lighter color than the rest of the bark on your plant. This growth occurs most often when a plant has been heavily or incorrectly pruned, has been damaged (see photo, right, of a severely damaged tree that has grown suckers, this is an extreme example), is diseased or dying, and when there is a significant light increase due to the removal of nearby plants. Some plants also seem to grow suckers no matter what you do. When suckers occur they must be cut all the way back to their point of growth. They can’t just be tipped back to where they’re hidden inside the canopy! Why? Because a multitude of suckers will branch out of that severed sucker and come back with a vengeance. Then you’re up a creek, because you’ve lopped of several of the original suckers and they’ve now come back 5-fold and your plant looks so much worse than before. Take the time to remove it from the branch- or the base of the plant- where it came from. It will be a lot less hassle in the long run.
     Now, a lot of you are thinking “well I just take those hedge trimmer things and buzz ‘em all off…” I’m not going to get full-fledged onto my no shearing soapbox, but I’ll give you a preview: Okay, so you’ve sheared those few original suckers, you’ve sheared the many that came from those cuts, you’ve sheared the exponential increase from those cuts…. Now you have a super ugly plant don’t ya? You’ve got all the cuts and not a whole lot of foliage. Plus, you’ve got to shear the freakin’ thing every week or it’s hairy again. Here’s a hint: the more you prune; the more you have to prune. Making all those zillion cuts stimulates the plant to try to recover from the damage and it wakes up those epicormic buds and tells them to grow with all their might, and so they do. Then you whack ‘em back again… and again. Eventually you get this shell of growth where you’ve been cutting every time and it blocks light and air circulation to the interior of the plant which is an invitation for pest and disease. Not to mention that it’s highly unattractive. So, if you see think ‘oops, I’ve been shearing, is my plant unhealthy?’ Go outside, and pull the top branches apart and look inside. If the interior of your plant has very few or zero leaves, the answer is yes: your plant is unhealthy. You need to make a few large cuts to open the canopy to allow light and air into the middle of the shrub. Then it will look like a shrub again and not a green meatball.

Jessica Watters, GCLP           Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

The Landscaper's Bane: Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy: the mortal enemy of green thumbs everywhere. Every landscaper, gardener, dude who’s weedeated in shorts, and kid who’s played in the woods has inevitably encountered poison ivy, Toxicodendron radicans. And boy they knew about it!

Interesting facts you may, or may not know:

• You grew up hearing your mother say ‘leaves of three, let it be!’ She was mostly right! Poison ivy always has a compound leaf with 3 leaflets, though other plants also have this leaf arrangement.
• It spreads by reseeding- birds love the berries so they are carried far and wide, by creeping roots, and vines that put down roots as they grow.
• It can be a creeping or climbing vine or a shrub.
• It has oil that causes the rash when you contact the leaves, and if you encounter the roots or cut the stem, you’re in a heap o’ trouble cause that releases a crap-ton of oil.
• Some people say they’re immune… they just haven’t gotten it yet. I do admit that there are, obviously, varying degrees of susceptibility.
• If the oil stays on your skin for longer than a half hour, you’re doomed.
• The oil on surfaces such as your gloves, clothes, or garden tools can be just as potent years later as if you’d just touched it.
• You can get it in the winter even though it doesn’t’ have leaves.
• If you burn poison ivy and inhale the smoke… well, I’ll send flowers. (It can be fatal in severe cases but it’s likely you’ll survive with some severe lung irritation and an ER visit.)
• If you come in contact with poison ivy, wash in cold water with a dish soap to remove the oil.  Warm water will open your pores and allow the oil to penetrate... not good.
• No creatures besides humans suffer from the rash from poison ivy.

 A similar plant to poison ivy is poison oak. I grew up with my mother telling me that 5 leaves was poison oak. What she thought was poison oak was really Virginia Creeper- Parthenocissus quinquifolia, bottom photo, which is completely harmless (See update below).  Poison oak is Toxicodendron pubescens, top photo. and looks nearly identical to poison ivy, but does not climb and grows only in shrub form. It also has more deeply lobed leaves.

What to do when you get the rash from poison ivy or oak:

• If it is severe or on your face seek medical attention. 
• There are several prescription or over the counter topical creams to aid the healing.
• Don’t pop the blisters. The juice won’t make it spread, but it’s gross. It could also get infected.
• Hot showers can ease the itching for several hours… it also feels instantly better. Run the water as hot as you can stand it and let it run over the rash, it burns, but at least it isn’t itching!
• Go to the beach. That salt water does amazing things… rubbing alcohol also dries it up pretty well.

Well, there you go: some interesting tidbits on your favorite plant to hate, poison ivy.

Oh, wait.  How do you get rid of poison ivy growing in your yard?  See below. 

Seriously though, several applications of a non-selective or a broad-leaf weed killer should do the trick.

UPDATE:  Thanks to the heads up from a reader I've done some research and it appears that while Virginia Creeper doesn't have the rash-inducing oil on its leaves like poison ivy, it is fairly common for people to have a severe allergy to it.  So, pull Virgina Creeper with caution.  I've never gotten this rash, but apparently it happens.

Jessica Watters, GCLP                             Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

Pesky Pest: Japanese Beetles

     Japanese beetles, Popillia japonica, are probably the most frequent pest insect to harm our gardens and landscapes. Native to Japan they were first discovered in 1916 and were suspected to have hitched a ride in a shipment of iris tubers that arrived at a nursery in New Jersey. Since then, they have gone on to establish themselves in nearly all of the eastern United States as far west as Arkansas and north to Ontario Canada.  They are about a half inch long and have a greenish to brownish metallic sheen.

     Japanese beetles are not a problem in their native Japan because of natural enemies that keep their populations down, but here in the US that’s not the case. Here they tend to gather in large numbers and decimate plants. (see photo below, taken by D. Gordon E. Robertson). They eat the tender parts of the leaves between the veins so that they’re ‘skeletonized’. They love roses, filberts, Japanese maples, sycamores, and many, many other plants. They do tend to avoid evergreens, I guess the leaves aren’t as tender.

     Well, how do you get rid of them?  One form of control we’ve seen for years is that bag trap thing you hang in your yard with the pheromone/scent lure. Well, research has shown that yes they do attract beetles very well, but unfortunately, they do not trap that many. The beetles are attracted to your trap and eat your plants on their way to the trap and they eat them as they hang around not being trapped in the trap… So hanging one in your yard will actually cause more damage to your plants than not having one at all. So maybe sneak one in the yard of that mean guy down the street… (kidding!) Seriously though, there are many different chemicals to control Japanese beetle populations out there. Despite this they are still hard to control. You have to apply a chemical to your turfgrass in early spring to kill the grubs, and then you have to spray for adults repeatedly through the summer because they are so mobile they can come to your yard from anywhere. So to me, that sounds like an awful lot of chemicals that aren’t that effective. One old school way to kill them that works for small infestations or small yards is soapy water. You can just knock them off the plants early in the morning when they’re sluggish and drop them in soapy water.  Sraying soapy water is somewhat effective as well.

     Now the best Japanese beetle control, according to our esteemed Mr. Bishop is to make margaritas. His advice is to take the down-the-street-neighbor’s full trap, dump it in your blender, add some water and spray this delightful concoction on your plants. And of course, don’t use that blender again for actual margaritas. Having never done this myself, I can only say that research has shown that live beetles avoid dead of their own kind.

So, good luck!

Jessica Watters, GCLP Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

Beneficial Bugs: The Lady Bug

There are many different critters and creepy crawlers that you’ll find in your garden.  What most folks don’t realize is that a lot of them are good guys! Now, I’m not asking you to cuddle up to some freaky spider or to think scorpions are cute; the critter we’re talking about today is much easier to love- the ladybug! It’s also known as a ladybird or lady beetle. There are hundreds of varieties of ladybugs and they range from the red and shiny ones that you know and love to plain brown guys that you’d never label as a ladybug. Nearly all of the ladybug species are considered to be ‘beneficial insects’.

     Ladybugs are considered beneficial insects because they eat the bad guys! They eat aphids, mites, and scale insects- all of which are harmful to our gardens and crops. In fact an Asian ladybug was imported for its voracious appetite for scale insects- it saved the pecan crop from cottony cushion scale! One drawback of these imported ladybugs is that they’ve taken over food resources from the native ladybug species. Native lady bugs are severely outnumbered by Asian and European ladybugs to the point that conservationists fear for the survival of several species of ladybugs. Now don’t hate the intruders; they’re still doing a good job eating bad bugs.

     Ladybugs especially like aphids and they eat them in every stage of their development, the photo of the ugly bug (left) is actually a larval lady bug. I know you’ve seen this guy and said “Ew! Look at that weird bug”! Well, don’t squish him ‘cause he’s one of the good guys!! Don’t let your gut reaction be killing every bug you come across, by spray or by shoe (exceptions being roaches, ticks, and mosquitoes, of course).

     If you’re spraying for insects in your garden you may want to think twice. Nearly any pesticide you spray is going to kill ALL bugs. This includes all the good guys; ladybugs are especially sensitive to pesticides. If you leave them to it, your ladybugs and other good guys will probably keep your pest populations under control. Now you’re wondering how to get the good guys back into your yard after you’ve been annihilating every insect or arachnid you saw for the past who-knows-how long. Well, it’s going to take a couple of years for the ecosystem to regain its balance in your garden and unfortunately the bad guys will reestablish first. There is something you can do however: you can buy ladybugs online. What??! I know! How cool is that? You can just buy a bag (they’re usually shipped as larvae but you can buy adults, too) and release them into your yard! If you do go this route try and find a vendor who sells the native species: we may as well go the extra mile since we’re already being environmentally-minded here.

In conclusion: don’t kill ladybugs! Instead of using a chemical spray, use beneficial insects to control your pest insect populations. And lastly, if you purchase them try to find a native species.

Jessica Logan GCLP, Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College

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

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

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

Pruning Crape Myrtles

     Okay.  First thing is: wait!  Don't prune your crape myrtles (Lagerstroemia spp.) (By the way: it's crape not crepe- they're not pastries) until after the new year, February is ideal.  If you prune too early the wound left by the cut won't heal as it would during active growth: water and disease can enter and could cause that branch to die back several inches.  You could be left with ugly dead sticks at every place you made a cut.  Also, pruning too early can cause premature growth during the random warm spells that are not uncommon during the winter in this area; the new growth will then be damaged and probably killed once temperatures return to 'normal'.   Don't wait too long though, have your crapes pruned by the Ides of March (the 15th): you want to have the pruning done before the new growth starts in the spring. 

     Second thing: Don't commit "Crape Murder".  There is no reason to whack your crape myrtles back to a certain height every year. I repeat: THERE IS NO REASON TO DO THIS.  Despite popular opinion, crape myrtles don't have to be pruned at all!  *Gasp!* It's shocking, I know, but they are trees and can be left to grow as such.  The reasons that we prune crape myrtles are 1. because our neighbors do it. 2. to concentrate those fabulous blooms into tighter more showy clusters and 3. to keep a cleaner look, as crapes like to sucker and look a little messy. 

Here we go:

• First, choose your tree carefully if you're thinking of putting one in.  There are some cultivars, like 'Natchez', that will grow to 30'+, and then there are shrub forms, like 'Victor', that will stay under 5'.  Like needing the right tool for the job, you need the right plant for the space.
• A good rule of thumb is to not remove more than a third of your tree's height. 
• When you make a cut to remove a branch, make it just above the branch collar (the little wrinkle at the base of the branch where it attaches to the trunk) pruning above or below this can damage the tree.  When you make a cut to shape the canopy you will not prune to a branch, just cut it at the height you want on the branch at an angle so water doesn't sit on it.
• Remove any branches smaller than your pinky finger, these branches will not support the weight of a bloom cluster.
• You should be pruning 8-12" above the cut you made last year; cutting in the same place makes a big knot of wood at the top of a thick trunk with teeny tiny branches coming out of it: it looks ridiculous. 
• Remove any branches growing from the outside edges back into the center, these can rub on other branches and cause wounds that allow disease to enter. 
• The finished product should look like a snow cone: V shaped with a rounded dome; the branches in the middle cut higher than the ones at the edges.
• Please see the photos, courtesy of Rick Smith at The Pruning Guru.

 Now, raise your right hand and read these words outloud:

"I (your name) do solemnly swear that I will not butcher my Crape Myrtles.  I will do one of the following three things:  I will follow these directions, I will hire a competent professional, or I will leave them alone.  With liberty and justice for all."

Now your correctly pruned crapes will be on their way to being happy, healthy and giving you beautiful blooms to enjoy all summer! 

Jessica Logan - Horticulture Technician, Chattahoochee Technical College