Ever wonder when you might expect to find a great display of fall foliage, either in your own area or another part of the country? The United States Forest Service has a toll-free Fall Color Hotline you may call: 1-800-354-4595. The site also lists spots of particular beauty for fall viewing.
Archives: Garden Tips
Gardening tips and suggestions.
Garden Tip #94
The Pacific Northwest is an excellent climate for growing evergreens because our winters are generally mild. We can grow far more species than just Douglas Firs and Red Cedars, and in city gardens dwarf conifers are much more suitable. Explore the wide world of conifers, plants that produce cones, by joining the American Conifer Society. Membership costs $25 per year which includes a nice quarterly journal with color photos. Their website has a database with descriptions and photos, as well as information on becoming a member. Call (410) 721-6611 to join.
Favorite four conifers as voted on by members of the American Conifer Society:
- Picea orientalis ‘Skylands’
- Abies koreana ‘Silberlocke’
- Tsuga canadensis
- Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Nana Lutea’
Garden Tip #93
A reference book is available to help gardeners solve pest problems. Pests of Landscape Trees and Shrubs: An Integrated Pest Management Guide (University of California, $42.00) diagnoses common diseases, insects and environmental stresses with color photos and suggests appropriate solutions. This book also has a chapter on how to get your plants off to a healthy start with proper planting techniques.
The Integrated Pest Management approach tell us the most important fact to remember about plant problems is that poor growing conditions like soggy roots or bone-dry roots inevitably leads to pests and diseases. Select the right plant for the garden conditions to avoid problems later.
Garden Tip #92
New gardeners will appreciate a month by month to-do list with advice on when to divide perennials and when to plant shrubs. The New Twelve Month Gardener – a West Coast Guide (Whitecap Books, $20.00) is a few years old now, and refers to the west coast of Canada, but is still quite useful for gardeners in Western Washington. Use the monthly “Garden Highlights” to plan a garden that has interest in all seasons. Each month features a few in-depth articles on topics like flowering trees and species tulips.
Garden Tip #89
Take root cuttings in autumn, once rain has arrived, to make new plants of many popular perennials like oriental poppies, verbascum, garden phlox and black-eyed susans. The September/October 2004 issue of Horticulture Magazine gives clear instruction on this easy propagation technique, and suggests many other suitable plants. In a nutshell:
- lift the plant to be propagated with a garden fork
- shake off soil to expose the roots
- cut the root into 2 inch pieces
- insert the pieces into a small container of potting soil, with the top end just under the surface
- keep the container moist, not wet, and inside in bright light until new growth appears
- transplant into individual pots when growth is a couple of inches tall
cut out a few roots that are about the thickness of a pencil, noting the “top” of the root (closest to the plant)
Garden Tip #87
Trees are the answer! Or at least trees make our lives better by casting shade, cleaning the air and giving refuge to birds. It’s important to find the right tree for the right place.
- Great Plant Picks has selected plants that are proven performers in the Pacific Northwest. Complete profiles of all selected trees are available at their website www.greatplantpicks.org or give them a call to get their free booklet (206) 362-8612
- Use SelectTree, a database from the Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute to select attributes that you want your tree to possess, such as clay soil, dry, resistant to verticillium wilt and fragrant flowers (that search suggested ornamental pear). Over 1,000 trees are profiled.
- More tree information can be found at Virginia Tech Dendrology department fact sheet database, including a recording of the proper pronunciation of the Latin name. Over 800 trees are listed.
- Friends of the Trees promotes planting trees in our cities to improve our quality of life. Their website also offers tree profiles and has a list of suggested trees for planting under power lines.
Garden Tip #84
Cyclamen start blooming in the fall. Diana Wells, in her book 100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names (Algonquin Books, 1997) reports that Cyclamen’s common name is “sowbread” because they were supposedly used to feed pigs. The name cyclamen comes from the Greek “kyklo” meaning circle and probably referring to the seed stalks that curl up to a tight coil as they ripen.
Wells writes about another autumn flower, Japanese anemones. Plant hunter Robert Fortune sent seeds of the plant to England in 1844. He noted these white flowering perennials were often growing on graves in China and remarked Anemone “[a] most appropriate ornament for the last resting places of the dead.”
A few other fun books on the lore and history of plants are Cornucopia the Lore of Fruits and Vegetables by Annie Lise Roberts (Knickerbocker, 1998) with colorful photos and recipes and the classic Who named the Daisy, Who named the Rose by Mary Durant (Dodd, Mead & Co., 1976) that gives a folk history of American wildflowers.
Garden Tip #83
Act in October to defeat the Winter moth (Operophtera brumata). These moths mate in autumn and then the wingless females climb up tree trunks to lay their eggs. In early spring the little green inch-worm like larvae eat flower and leaf buds from the inside out. The many host plants include maples, oaks, crabapples, apple, blueberry, and some spruces such as Sitka spruce. To detect female moths place a band of heavy paper covered with Tanglefoot (a sticky goo available at nurseries) around susceptible tree trunks. If females are found it may be a good idea to spray the tree (trunk and branches) with dormant oil to smoother the eggs for reliable control. If the little caterpillars start \”ballooning\” out of trees in high numbers spraying with Bt (caterpillar killer) will provide control. For more information go to this University of Massachusetts Extension publication
Garden Tip #88
Make new plants by taking softwood cuttings. Cuttings Through the Year, a booklet published by the Arboretum Foundation(available for sale at the Washington Park Arboretum gift shop) suggests which plants to propagate month by month and how to do it. A few September plants include:
Rock Rose, Salal, Lavender, Holly, Penstemon, evergreen azaleas, Sweet box, Salvia, California Lilac and many others.
For a tutorial on taking softwood cuttings go online to a Fine Gardening article complete with clear color photos: www.finegardening.com/propagate-your-shrubs-softwood-cuttings
Garden Tip #85
If you think a shady garden is a liability there is a good book that will change your mind. Gardening in the Shade (Horticulture Books, 2004) was compiled from articles that originally appeared in Horticulture Magazine. The book is divided into four sections: techniques, general design, plant for shade and step by step projects. Some of the plants suggested are Epimedium, sedge, Cyclamen and Japanese Spicebush (Lindera obtusiloba). Any one with cedar trees in their garden will want to read the essay by a local Northwest writer on coping with dry shade.
Other resources for shade gardening include the classic book, The Complete Shade Gardener by George Schenk (Timber Press, 1984) and the web page created by University of Missouri Extension.