Message Board

Active Growth Phases

Langston — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:20:12 GMT

I was wondering if anyone knew of a good resource/reference online or in a book to find out when the active growing phases of local trees are. I live in Northern New Jersey.

Thanks for the help!

Langston

Forum: Trees and Shrubs

Seed Catalogs/Online Sources

Arlene — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:47:52 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering what some of the favorite sources that folks here regularly use for ordering vegetable and flower seeds. (I need to stop wishing for spring when it's barely even mid-November

Forum: Topical Discussions

prairie cherries

kimberley — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:38:42 GMT

Hello, I am wondering what the sweetest cherry would be to grow on the prairies. I did plant one this year (possibly cupid?), but am looking for a few more. The cherry tree would be mainly for fresh eating. Thanks

Forum: Edible Gardening - Fruits and Vegetables

Hot Topic - What's Up With This Screwy Weather?

Moderator — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:14:19 GMT

November's Hot Topic:

What's Up With This Screwy Weather?
Something Funny Is Afoot!

It's true that as northerners, complaining about the weather is nothing out of the usual. When your livelong days are spent in an environment that ranges anywhere from bitter cold to searing heat and everything in between, it's bound to be the topic of conversation every once in a while.

But something has been decidedly different about the weather in 2009. It's not just that the weather has been out of whack for the majority of the year, but more curiously it's been out of whack for the majority of the continent! Most years somebody somewhere in the North will experience a weather anomaly worthy of mention at the water cooler klatch, but never has it been so extensive as 2009. The weather this year has certainly been one for the books!

Our commitment at Northscaping has been to give northern gardeners and home landscapers a forum in which to share our common experiences, good and bad. So without prejudicing the nature of this conversation, let's use this forum to vent our frustrations with the wacky weather year of 2009 and commiserate among friends. This is one year we can truly say that you are not alone!

Jim Says...

If you're a gardener on the Prairies, this is one year that you'll be able to say with all honesty that this was not a desirable place to be. And this is coming from folk who are rather accustomed to extremes of weather that make those soft-coast westerners wonder if we're missing a few screws living here!

Let's recap. It began with a winter that would never end, which eventually led to a non-existent spring which turned into a non-existent summer. The facts bear this out - officially we had below-normal temperatures every consecutive month from December to August, which in itself was a record. I have no idea how (or why) the trees and shrubs and perennials did their thing this year, because the sun and heat were no-shows during the critical months of the growing season.

Then along came the hottest September in recorded history here, with the added bonus of this being the only year on record where September was the hottest month of the year. Did this portend a good omen? Hell no, October went back to brutal cold and rain, with a premature dose of snow just to toss a little salt into the wound that we call 2009. Fall? Sorry, we never had one - the below-freezing temperatures turned the leaves from lush green to crispy brown without as much as a hint of red or yellow. Makes me glad I planted all those maples for their fall color, no?

And now the "real" winter is coming...

Andy Says...

The weather is one of the easiest things in the world to complain about, and we all know how I love to complain, but this year I think I am well justified. Locally, there seems to have been at least a one month shift in weather pattern (particularly the warm ones), and I have heard similar stories from others as well. Every time I turn on the news, there seems to be another incident of mass flooding, droughts or out-of control forest fires. I'm just waiting to see Wolf Blitzer's interview with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to round things off.

Some say this is Global Warming, but the term Global Weirding seems much more apropos. Let's just say for the moment that I don't mind wearing a bathing suit one day and a winter parka the next; after all, I can adapt and complain about either, but what about the wildlife? The migrating geese are so confused they have started flying in the shape of a question mark when they are not bumping into each other. Also, along the Florida coast boatloads of penguins have begun to arrive, buying up timeshares to get away from the crazy weather (and enjoy Mackerel Margaritas on the beach).

So I say to Mother Nature, "Hey, what's up?" Whatever we did to make her angry, it's time to buy her some really, really nice flowers and admit that we were wrong and she was right. Maybe then she will dial back the wrath a little bit so the geese can stop wearing helmets. It's worth a shot.

What Do YOU Say?

Post your replies to this thread and BE HEARD!

Forum: Gardener's Edge

Toys Relive your childhood

maria cruzzgirl — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:38:25 GMT

Hi to all

Hi Im new hare and first of all ...i want to share my some of childhood days with you..

Most of us have the experience of playing with toys when we were small. The small cars or the adorable dolls that our parents bought meant the world to us and we spent many a lazy summer afternoon playing with the same. Then we grew up and lost touch with our innocent selves and nothing was the same any longer. As we grew up, we became busy in our lives. We had personal commitments to adhere to and professional deadlines to meet and the memories of our childhood days faded away. However, we can now reconnect with our childhood by buying children's toys for the little ones in our lives. These could be our nieces, our nephews, or our own children; we can gift them the best childrens toys and relive our childhood days.

http://www.pdltoys.com

800-263-6799

Forum: Specialty Gardening

Brussell sprouts

Penny — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:03:06 GMT

I had limited success with these this year and wanted to get some advice. Most of the sprouts are little bigger than a pea. They are considered "cold weather" plants but exactly how much cold can they tolerate? I still have two plants in the ground where the sprouts are marble sized. Should I leave them out a few more weeks? I did have them covered during recent frosts and they appear to be none the worse for wear from it. Should I lop off the tops so the plants concentrate their energy on the existing sprouts?

Thanks,
Penny

Forum: Edible Gardening - Fruits and Vegetables

Wintering strawberries

Penny — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:58:50 GMT

Is there anything special I should do to help my strawberries survive the winter? They are planted in pyramid structures so I thought they might need a little more protection. I was thinking of mulching them with dry leaves and covering with a plastic tarp to keep out moisture. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks,
Penny

Forum: Edible Gardening - Fruits and Vegetables

help! frozen ground, bare root plants.

beth — Thur, 15 Oct 2009 19:36:35 GMT

i need help!

ordered a whack of bulbs and perennials from a mail order company. received some of the order a couple of weeks ago but much was backordered. now the ground is frozen about 3 inches deep and my hostas, peonies and daylilies are supposed to be arriving next week.

what do i do?

1) chip through the frozen and plant anyway

2) pot them up and overwinter outside, in garage or house

3) leave in bags and hope they make it to next spring

i would appreciate some advice.

thanks, beth

Forum: Annuals, Perennials and Flowers

Autumn Blaze too close to house?

Joe — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:08:11 GMT

Hello! I would appreciate any help you can give me on this subject. We just moved into a subdivision last May,onto a half acre lot. We built a new home with a poured wall basement. An Autumn Blaze Maple was planted about 16 feet from the house. Its about 12 feet tall presently and doing well; the branches are not widespread (still probably 13-14 feet from the house). My concern is after reading an article here is whether I might have a problem at some point with the root system causing damage to my basement, and if so, how many years that would take to develop. I really don't want to dig up the tree if at all possible. What are your thoughts? Thanks very much.

Joe

Forum: Trees and Shrubs

late pruning?

ellen judd — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:37:40 GMT

I missed pruning my roses (or any other winterizing) before the snow and cold. Is it too late? Would I harm them by pruning when it warms in a few days?

Ellen

Forum: Roses

what happened to fall?

akeimou — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:48:33 GMT

looks like we went straight from summer to winter in Calgary. leaves did not turn yellow/red and fall on the ground---they were frozen right on the trees. our highs are barely 0C, it's approaching 1pm and -6C/20F plus wind chill outside as i write this. or is this normal and could it be that we had a long summer and got spoiled by it? brrrrrrrr cold!

--meg

Forum: Topical Discussions

Hot Topic - Leaving The Last Plant Standing

Moderator — Thur, 01 Oct 2009 18:33:50 GMT

October's Hot Topic:

Leaving The Last Plant Standing -
Do You Cut Before Or After Winter?

Here's a pretty straightforward debate. When preparing your gardens for winter, do you cut back your perennials and annuals and remove the dead stalks and flowers, or do you leave them standing in the garden over winter and then clean them in spring?

At first glance this may seem like a simple question, but ask it of a dozen different gardeners and you'll get a dozen different answers. Everyone seems to have some magic formula or spell they conjure up to justify what they leave standing and what they remove. Some clean out their gardens entirely, while others leave everything standing all winter long. You'll get arguments about diseases and insects overwintering, preservation of winter beauty, trapping snow cover, and much more.

Is there experience, fact and science behind these assertions, or is this just another example of common folklore in the realm of gardening? Do you leave plants up for the winter, or do you take them down in fall? If so, what's your reasoning for and against? Here's what our less-than-superstitious debaters have to say this month;

Jim Says...

I'm the kind of gardener who prefers to leave my perennials and annuals standing all winter long, and then clean them out in spring. For one thing, I like the appearance of these plants, especially the taller ones, as they rise above the monotony of the snow cover all winter long. I find chrysanthemums particularly striking as their dried flower heads remain intact throughout the winter. Ornamental grasses are another wondrous sight in winter gardens. I also appreciate how they trap the insulating snow and buffer the winds around the garden, reducing erosion.

I've heard stories about cleaning your gardens out in fall so as not to create a winter oasis for nasty insects and diseases, which can then rear their ugly heads in spring. My thinking is that in their native environments these plants remain standing all winter, surrounded by dead foliage and snow, and they seem to do just fine. I can see making exceptions for plants like Monarda which are susceptible to powdery mildew or roses and their ubiquitous black spot, but it's never truly made a difference for me in the past - they still seem to be troubled by these tenacious afflictions no matter what I do in fall!

However, the one exception I make is to the vegetable garden which I clean out entirely in fall. I am far too concerned about sheltering various foliar diseases and insect pests to worry about how it might look, and for these plants even a little improvement can be worthwhile. Besides, there's not a lot of aesthetics to be found in bedraggled tomato plants standing as skeleton-like sentinels in the garden all winter.

Stefan Says...

For the greater part I suggest leaving your plants up for the winter, with a few notable exceptions. The benefits go beyond aesthetics.

Retaining the vegetation of perennials through the winter in colder climates allows for the capture of snow. The trapped snow provides insulation for the crowns of the plants as well as a suitable habitat for over-wintering beneficial insects like ladybugs. It also helps to protect the cocoons, chrysalis and pupa of moths and butterflies. And if there is little or no snow cover, the leaves alone will create a slight amount of insulation for the ground itself - not allowing the frost to penetrate as quickly.

Aesthetically, the dried stems, fronds and frozen blossoms protruding through the snow provide relief from the blanket of white by adding vertical elements and color to the bleak winter landscape. So I'd say to leave them up.

What Do YOU Say?

Post your replies to this thread and BE HEARD!

Forum: Gardener's Edge

Help ID evergreens, please

Arlene — Thur, 01 Oct 2009 15:32:34 GMT

Hi. Hoping the Tree/Shrub experts can provide a suggestion for a Z3 Full Sun/Avg Moisture substitute similar to the Picea 'Papoose' shown in the link below. And also for the upright "free-form" evergreen which is directly behind the Papoose (I already have some established Magic Carpet Spireas growing in a similarly curved pattern). Plant Search yielded Thume Blue Spruce or Dwarf Blue Scotch perhaps? Thanks!
http://www.gapphotos.com/imagedetails.asp?imageno=38290

Forum: Trees and Shrubs

Climbing trees?

Sherwood Botsford — Thur, 01 Oct 2009 03:45:54 GMT

At some point we will have a raft of grandkids running around loose. Recommendations for trees that are good climbing trees?

The ideal tree:

Has solid side branches.

Is not prickly

Has perch points to rest.

Has an interesting structure.

AND

will give a climbable tree in a reasonable period of time.

Forum: Trees and Shrubs

Willow Jungle gym?

Sherwood Botsford — Thur, 01 Oct 2009 03:41:30 GMT

Would it be possible to plant a bunch of golden willow in a circle, spaced about 6-8 feet apart, prune to 3 stems each, train one up, one toward each neighbor.

Where they cross, lap graft tongues to get the branches to fuse.

As they get taller:

Prune away branches that fill the open squares.
Lean them in, so the net effect is a tepee or cone.

Forum: Outdoor Living, Style And Design