Sunshine = Happiness

At long last 70 degree days and sunshine in the forecast. The cold and wet early spring seems to finally have run its course.

Now is the time to:
Put down crabgrass preventer. Don't procrastinate too long on this one.
Seed your lawn.
Remulch beds and gardens with wood chips and cypress mulch (my favorite).
Plant window boxes, planters.
Divide perennials.

The only thing I would wait another week or so to do is plant warm weather plants such as tomatoes, peppers and putting out tropical plants like hibiscus.

Short of what I just mentioned above, this is the time of year that you can do darn near anything and everything in your yard and garden.

Get out and enjoy the sunshine...these are the days that we live here for!

Make your weekend a great one.

Container Gardening

Here are a couple of recipes for some great looking container gardens.

Shade Container Garden
Hosta ‘Independence’ (Any hosta with white in the leaf can be used.)
Caladium - White
Tuberous Begonia – White
6” Fern
Lime Light Dracaena



Sun Container Garden
Fancy Leaf Geranium
Look for plants with some burgundy color in the leaves.
The fancy leaf geraniums are grown for their leaves not their flowers.
Standard geraniums can be substituted – choose plants with deep red or burgundy flowers.
Potato Vine
Red
Variegated
Coral Bells ‘Obsidian’ (Any red leaf coral bell plant can be used.)
Purple Fountain Grass
Bauer Dracaena

Mulch and More

I finally got a fresh layer of cypress mulch put down around my shrubs and perennials.

Why mulch? First it looks good and gives the garden beds a finished look. It helps keeps weeds from growing and during hot weather; it helps keep moisture in the soil so I don’t have water as often. Mmmm…less weeds and less watering…two good reasons for me. I like cypress mulch because it decays slower than other wood chips such as locally ground up trees and it does not attract insects or bugs. I like to get this done early each spring before the plants start growing and as slow as this spring has been in getting going, there has been plenty of time to get it done.

Make your day a good one.

Spring is officially here!

I can now declare that spring is finally here. The calendar - nope it’s just a date. The first robin sighting - no way, some don’t even leave for the winter. I know its spring when I see the first forsythia and magnolia blooming. I could have declared it spring last Wednesday (April 30) that is when I spotted both in bloom. That is a full three weeks later than last year.

Here are a couple of pictures that I snapped in my neighborhood. Yes, you can grow magnolia here in the north – they are not exactly the same as those in the south, but still make a beautiful decorative tree.

For information on various varieties of magnolia that can be grown here, just click here.


For information on forsythia, click here.


Make your day a good one.

A Rainy Weekend...

Patience, patience, patience….mmmmm….something that I’m not very good at. As I write this today, I hear the raining pouring down. The weekend right now looks like it will be hit and miss as far as doing anything in the yard. Saturday looks like it will be a wash, but Sunday might be ok. Before you dig around in your yard, remember to make sure the soil is dry. Digging around in wet soil will usually leads to the soil becoming compacted down.

A few other things:
I would wait one more week to put down crabgrass preventer.
Hold off on dandelion treatments for another week too.
I would not put the warm temperature loving plants out yet. That includes, impatiens, petunias, geraniums and of course anything tropical.

Stay dry, be patient. I know spring will get here eventually.

Make your day a good one.

Cut back your summer blooming shrubs

I didn’t get to putting down the cypress mulch in my yard this weekend, but I did finally get the spireas cut back and the hydrangea tree in the front yard trimmed back. Here are some before and after pictures. If you have not cut back your summer blooming shrubs, have no fear. Our late spring start is giving you plenty of time. You probably have at least one more week to get it done.






For more information on pruning, click here.
Make your day a good one.

Happy Arbor Day

Our weather continues to be less than spring like, but have no fear, there are things that you can do right now. Some of which include planting trees, shrubs and evergreens. It’s also a great idea to put fresh mulch around your plants. As we head into the weekend and weather permitting, I will be mulching my yard. If you want more information on planting trees, click here.

Stay warm, stay dry.
Make your day a good one.