More “Flower” to you!

But what if they don’t meet up to our expectations? Plants like people have basic nutritional needs. And plants just like people can’t live on just energy drinks or water, you need a meal now and then. Water alone is not enough. Well more “flower” to you. If your annuals need to go “potty” and are in a hanging basket or pot every time you water nutrients are carried out the drainage holes with it. The nutrients need to be replaced.

I recommend a combination of water soluble and time release or granular fertilizer. One is the energy drink and the other is meat and potatoes. The great thing about water soluble fertilizer is that is quickly available to the plants and can be taken in through the foliage or roots.

Slow release “dry” on the left and water soluble fertilizer on the right

Most water soluble fertilizers recommend use every 7 to 14 days. It depends on how often you’re watering the plant. You may want to consider using it more frequently than 14 days and going to half strength. Remember that even though many of today’s annuals are sold as “self cleaning” a good pinching or pruning now and then with a dose of water soluble fertilizer will rejuvenate blooming. A dry granular feed in combination with the water soluble in tandem will get you best results. The “dry” or slow release feed is the meat and potatoes. My favorites are Osmocote and Flower Tone. Osmocote because it’s easy to scoop into a pot and provides feeding for 3 months or more. Flower Tone because in addition to the Macro Nutrients it has essential Micro Nutrients and is affordable. More “Flower” to you!

Ready to go!

Every year when the race is done I look forward to putting some Tomatoes in the ground and running in the event again next year! Here’s to running with friends and getting the garden growing!

Proud of my daughter Stacey…..a chip off the old patio stone!

Fifth Third River Bank Run

Finish line in sight

Supertunias in a mixed container

Today Petunias or as I call them Pet-”New”-ias are aggressive re-blooming self cleaning disease resistant beauties perfect for planting beds or containers. My favorites are Supertunias, vegetatively propagated from cuttings, or Wave petunias which grow like a groundcover.

Calibrachoa or ‘Million Bells’ look like tiny petunias but are actually an entirely different species and perfect for containers or hanging baskets.

Calibrachoa

The versatile Viburnum

I’m glad you asked because the woody deciduous shrub that looks like a low growing “tree” is one of my favorites. I say take a dip in the hot “shrub.” Or “bush” it to the limit. Viburnum plicatum tomentosum also known as Doublefile Viburnum. Versatile and well suited to Michigan conditions, Viburnums have beautiful spring blooms, heavily textured summer foliage, summer berries birds love and gorgeous fall foliage color!

Jack Frost nipped at this Hosta’s nose

What happened here? In years where we have an early spring warm up and Hosta foliage emerges followed by late April frosts that get into the 20′s there is damage. The damaged foliage looks ugly and can be a pathway to disease. Select the most damaged of foliage and prune them out. When you cut them out new foliage will flush back out but not be as large or beautiful as the original expectations. Hosta la vista baby.

I “Hosta” do something about this

Hosta frost damage

When it comes to weeds you’ve got pull….and now is time to be pulling. Each plant produces thousands of seeds so if the plant is invading your landscape now is the time to pull before they go to seed. Garlic mustard is ahead of schedule like many other plants due to the unusually warm March weather. This invasive herb comes in waves and will dominate and choke out desirable plants like the Trillium I enjoy on my runs. Garlic Mustard was brought to the United States as a culinary herb in the 19th century. It fits the description be careful what you wish for as it produces lots of seed and spreads like wildfire. Be “weeding” by example, now is the time to identify and pull. Remember when it comes to weeds you’ve got pull.

I have had samples of turf brought to me the past few years like the one pictured here:

Pennisetum Ornamental Grass reseeding in the turf

When we have a mild fall and winter season here in Michigan we will get turf samples where Pennisetum ornamental grasses like Hameln or Moundry will seed in the turf. This causes panic for the home owner in spring as it begins to outgrow the desirable turf. Maintain your “composture” if this happens. Repeated mowings of the lawn will usually solve the problem as the ornamental grass will get exhausted and wear out as it is unaccustomed to repeated haircuts and a low profile. This is the best option because if you take the Roundup approach you will be doing some reseeding.

Remember this problem does not occur every year as we unfortunately do not have a mild fall and winter every year. I wish we did. If you have a lot of these ornamental grasses that adjoin a lawn area you might want to get “shear”-ious about cutting them back in late fall to limit seed distribution.

It’s planting season. You know it was only a matter of thyme. Herbs are a fun way to get your hands in the dirt and play. Herbs are com-”plant”-able with containers liking warm soil and plenty of sunlight. Containers can be moved inside if needed on frosty April evenings.  Containers will also hold rambling herbs like the various Mints in bounds as opposed to running rampant in your garden beds. Herbs have been used through “thyme” and memorial by the Greeks, Egyptians and ancient Romans as well as the Chinese. Nothing new here. Herbaceous plants have been used for flavorings, scent, food and medicinal purposes for centuries. Herbs and there aroma can trigger some of the strongest and enduring memories for a gardener….we never forget a good whiff. For me it’s Cilantro, a favorite, along with Basil, Lavender and Oregano and Nepeta. How about you? Parsley? Chocolate or Lemon Mint? Regardless it’s “grow” time when you use a good quality container soil and containers that are sizeable enough for root mass but not too large to move into the sun or under cover in the event of a frost event. Some people will tell you not to feed the herbs in your container or they will lose their scent and oils. My position is to feed them, but do it with a slow release fertilizer designed for container growing like Osmecote. You may want to also add a few crystal polymers to the soil to help you with watering even though herbs are more tolerant of some water neglect than other herbaceous plants. The idea is to avoid high nitrogen and quick release fertilizers when growing herbs.

Finally make sure to add a few flowers with your herb container. I like a few edible Pansies or Violas like this one called “Blueberry Thrill.” Another great edible flowering plant to add would be Nasturtiums. If you have some “Thyme” on your hands and a container Herbs may be the answer to get you growing!

Nitrogen fixing clover and the grass as well as other plant life show their green after a spring thunderstorm

It can also be done in an abiotic or atmospheric way via a good lightning storm. Air has nitrogen gas but it is inert and can’t be used by the plants until lightning converts unusable nitrogen into fixed nitrogen. Super charged lightning ionizes the air and the nitrogen oxides are carried by the rain as usable form of greening power. That faint ammonia like odor in the air after lightning is the atmospheric “hotline” answering nature’s call for more greening power in the form of “fixed” nitrogen. Plants can receive and use the greening power of nitrogen as nitrate ions, ammonia or urea. Even though atmospheric nitrogen generated by lightning may produce only 5 to 10 percent of a plant’s nitrogen needs, it is a dramatic way to light up the landscape in green after a spring storm!

Magnolia in bloom March 21, 2012

In the matter of just a week soil temperatures rocketed into the 60′s. Last year we didn’t see soil temperatures in the 60′s until well into May.  GDD accumulations (growing degree days) climbed at daily rates of 20 GDD plus getting us to 175 GDD when last year at the same time we were at 7. This past Wednesday we added 22.5 GDD in one day with a high temperature of 83 degrees and low temperature of 62 degrees. The landscape responded by exploding to life 3 to 4 weeks before “normal” dates. Take for example a tree like Bradford Callery Pear. The tree in a “normal” spring would bloom at around 165 GDD or an average date of around April 15-25. This year ornamental pear trees exploded into color on Thursday March 22.

Ornamental Pears blooming by March 22, 2012

In addition to the ornamental pears, other blooming landscape plants burst into bloom at the same time from Magnolias to Redbuds, from Cherries to Flowering Crabs, from Forsythia to PJM Rhododendrons, no gradual blooming this year as they all went “Ka-Bloom” at the same time.

Weather conditions in March 2012 caused the landscape to explode from Daffodils to Forsythia it's all blooming at once!

Crabgrass controls should be applied now with the soaring ground temperatures. Let’s hope we can avoid some hard frosts in the next few weeks as bloom and tender growth has emerged on many plants from 2 to 4 weeks earlier than normal! We have to let nature take it’s course so “spring” it on baby!