Archive for extend plant life – Page 2

Hydrangea Love

Designers mom with  favorite hydrangea

My Mom with Oliver, the Hydrangea

Hydrangea Love

There are several lessons in this story for you, O gentle reader………..how to successfully transplant a shrub or tree in July heat……, how to prevent hot weather damage to your plants when we have intense hot weather right on top of weeks of cool rain, (more critical if you agreed to have your garden on a fundraiser tour).  This will also work to restore plants in a container that you forgot to water???? ……………..these helpful lessons all fit into this story.

The story:  My mom and dad planted and named the two hydrangea by the back patio, Mary and Oliver.  Mary was beautiful no matter what but Oliver had troubles.  Every year in early summer, Oliver’s flowers would get crisped.  If they had planted Oliver a few feet closer to the covered patio there would be no problem and no story.   They planted Mary in the afternoon shade of the patio but Oliver got the early afternoon sun in June and July. He was just not a super sun tolerant kind of guy.

He could handle the sun better once the leaves and petals had hardened off in July but in early June, while the leaves and petals were full of spring, freshly unfurled, a 100 degree day or two would toast all the new flowers on the plant.  So Oliver’s flowers would scorch and my parents would then over water Oliver trying to get some water back into his petals. They did not understand that once petals are scorched they stay that way. Oliver’s new flowers were fine but now the plant’s leaves looked terrible. Over watering caused the leaves to wilt and yellow. Oliver was a mess.  I offered to come over and protect Oliver from them. The human Mary and Oliver had long since gone on so these were not really plants to my parents, but symbols of their dear friends.

Protecting plants from heat stress in Portland Area Landscape Design

The Sheet Trick

So how did I do this?  The Sheet Trick!  My first solution was to water once a week and the second solution was to protect Oliver from intense sun.  My solution was time consuming mostly because I lived in NW Portland and my parents lived in Gladstone.  If I was expecting intense sun,  I would drive over, get out some binder clips, drape a white sheet over Oliver to cover all his leaves and flowers and then clip the sheet onto various large stems so it could not blow off.

Because the leaves were covered (this is science folks!) they held in the water rather than letting it go, this is called transpiration. Transpiration is part of the plants photosynthesis process with the sun.  See Wikipedia on photosynthesis.  Since the flower petals and leaves kept their water, they stayed cool enough and did not scorch. I would not leave the sheet on for more three days at a time so I didn’t have to go over there every single day, just when I knew it was going to be hot.

Hydrangea PistachioWhat’s important for you gentle reader is that this sheet trick is handy beyond belief for all kinds of things.  Number 1  best tip ever for transplanting a shrub in the summer…….keep it covered for 3 days and I mean immediately or even during the digging of the plant if you are feeling compulsive.  Use it to protect flowering plants if we have intense heat while the flower petals are still new and soft. Use this trick if you have had an irrigation boo boo and your plants in one area didn’t get any water and  have wilted.  Presto, sprinkle the leaves with water gently, water the plant and cover for a few days……..your plant will have a better chance of recovery.

Every generation loves hydrangeas, my parents loved theirs, I love them although confess I have none of my own down here on the floating river house, my step daughters would love to have them…..maybe I can fix that this year.  They also look mighty fine with ornamental grasses so not just for an old fashioned garden but could be used in more modern gardens if placed thoughtfully.

Garden Tips: Top 5 Spring Garden Prep Tips

Evergreen Orange Sedge with path light in Portland Oregon Landscape Design

Groom Evergreen Orange Sedge grass but DON’T cut them back

Garden Tips: Top 5 Early Spring Garden Prep Tips

Here are my Top 5  garden tips for things to do January to early March:

Cut back deciduous (gets dead looking in winter) grasses to 2″ tall stubble. Fountain grass, switch grass and japanese silver grass are just 3 that should be cut back this drastically.  Don’t cut back evergreen grasses-they grow  too  slowly  and  will  leave  a hole  in  your  plantings  for  a year.

American Switch Grass -Panicum Virgatum in a low water garden Raleigh Hills Portland Oregon

Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’-American Switch Grass gets cut back in late winter.

 

Modern concrete paver patio design Sellwood Moreland Garden Design in Portland

Freshly installed hydropressed concrete pavers creates patio in shady back yard.

Scrub your flagstone

Scrub your flagstones, especially in the odd corners where they have become very slick. Same for concrete, where you don’t typically walk, it can be very slippery. Bleach will harm your stepables and if you track bleach in on your carpet, it will be a sad thing.  Some do use a 1 to 10 water and ammonia on their flagstone with stepables.  (10 is the water, 1 is the ammonia okay?) Chemicals to remove moss are harmful to your plants.

Cut back Lavender

Cut back Lavender to just above the lowest bits of new growth. Do this before mid March. February is best and as I like to say, January isn’t wrong.

Don’t prune your Rosemary now

Trim a bit of rosemary and make some good chicken soup but don’t prune your rosemary yet because it’s going to flower and our bees need all the help they can get. Prune it after it flowers.  Prune thyme, oregano, sage in February or early March.  Speaking of rosemary, the flu season has me making a lot of soup with rosemary. We have had our patience sorely tested waiting to get over this years flu (2011). Rosemary is both fragrant and flavorful. It lifts my spirits just picking it, I also like it with eggs and potatoes for breakfast, so simple, so good and so easy to step outside my door and snip.

Time to mulch?  Don’t bury your plants.

Time to start thinking about adding an inch or two of compost to place on your planting beds for as soon as you finish spring clean up or April 15 which ever arrives first. Do not bury the crowns of the perennials or other plants.  It can contribute or cause rotting.  Don’t fertilize unless you know what you are doing.  So many new plants and especially trees should not be fertilized their first year and many don’t need anything but good quality compost or mulch applied twice a year.

I hope these tips were helpful.  Please contact me for garden coaching if you are an existing or previous client.  Alana (associate designer and garden coach) and I want to help you have confidence in caring for your landscape.

Carol Lindsay

6 Tips to Prep Your Garden for Winter

  1. Winterize your irrigation system. This may mean flushing out an older system, or just draining your drip system.

    Hen and Chicks

    Remember: no mulch over your Hen and Chicks

  2. Bait for slugs all through fall and early winter.
  3. Don’t bait for slugs if you live in the woods, you will kill all the big native slugs who don’t even eat Hostas, or your garden plants. Instead don’t plant things the little gray french slugs like. It is easy to do, just ask your designer or give me a call to schedule a garden coaching session.
  4. Schedule your winter mulch application for last week of November through mid-December. If you can’t stand being out in December’s cold—do it now.
  5. Hire a blowing service such as Bark Blowers. Did you know they will blow the good Mighty Microbe Mulch instead of bark dust for you if you know to ask them. Email me for contact info.
  6. Did you mulch? Great, now go back out and un bury all the crowns of your plants, especially if you blew in the mulch. Some gardeners cover plants with black nursery pots to try to avoid having the crowns buried. A buried crown often means a rotted plant come spring.

How to Prune Your Lavender Plants – Best Practice

How to Prune Your Lavender Plants – Best Practice

How to Make Your Lavender Last for Ten Years-Prune Twice A Year

In late winter, (January and February) pruning lavender is an optimistic and happy task.  If you are in on the secret this is when lavender gets the biggest cut.  (See video below for the how to.) For decades people were taught to prune only in late winter.  This outdated practice does not give you a long lasting plant.

In the fall no one wants to prune their blooming (still colorful if faded) lavender plants.  (NOOOOO! I don’t want to prune them, they are soooo pretty right now!)  I agree gentle gardener, but please let me persuade you to try this new technique and prune them the second time.

Trimming lavender back by half (late summer/early fall) and trim again in late winter/early spring.  This gets you ten years instead of  three in  your garden! Learning how to do this in a garden coaching appointment is a confidence builder. Once you learn how, you can have fabulous low care lavender the rest of your gardening life.

Another bonus to pruning twice; lavender can look tidy for winter if we prune them correctly in the fall.  How to properly prune lavender. The video was created by our own Stonegate Lavender grower from West Linn (who sadly closed up shop in 2015). I agree with her technique and her video is still live, teaching people the right technique.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to use a lavender saw, you can use your trusty Felco pruners or other clippers – the lavender saw Sarah is using is pretty cool and is old school as in 1500’s.

Lavender is an excellent plant for feeding our native bees and endangered bumble bees.  Not any old plant will do for natural bees. Contact me for a landscape design that includes easy care colorful plants that are good for our pollinators.