Visit
Our Website
Previous
Issues
Buyer's
Guide
Tell A
Friend
Bookstore
Magazines
Gardening
Catalogs
Site
Search
Contact
Us
Submit
A Tip
Feature
Articles
Rose
Tips
What's
Hot...
Turf
Tips...
Winter
Wisdom
Books
We Love
Great
Products
Web
Resources Event Calendar
Local
Sponsors
National Sponsors
Subscribe
Unsubscribe
Address
Change
Tell
A Friend
Privacy
Pledge
|
May
9, 2001
The
Mother of All Careers...
Three years ago I started one of life's greatest
journeys. I left the "corporate" world and began
a career as a full time Mom. When you give birth to a child
you take on a new persona. One of great love and
devotion. I never really new that becoming a full time Mom
would teach me so many things about life. Although the
children depend on me for love, care and nurturing, I too depend
on them for the same things. It is true what they say about
the love you share with and for your children. It is
irreplaceable. It is also true that we as parents shape and
mold our children. I like to think that I take that part of
my job very seriously. I want my children to go out into
this world armed with kindness and compassion, confident in
knowing that they have my support in everything they do. I
will always be there for Morgan, Noah & Jake, in good times
and bad - naturally because that is what a good mother
does. From my house to yours, Happy Mother's Day!
If you are
still thinking about what to give your mother or wife for
Mother's Day think about buying peonies from Bannister
Garden Center. Peonies are their specialty and no one
grows peonies like proprietors Tony and Neva Mistretta.
They will have over 40 varieties cut and displayed so that you
can see which cultivar will be best for you. Take a plant
home for spring planting or order one for fall. If you love
peonies like I do you won't want to miss this festival. For
more general information on peonies read our feature article Peonies
- A New Old Favorite. The Peony Festival starts
Monday May 14th, 2001.
~
Shelly
A Clip
In Time...
The proper time to prune continues to vex many
gardeners. This time of year can get confusing because some
shrubs are flowering, some are done, and others are still getting
ready. Here's the deal:
Shrubs that flower in the spring are normally pruned
immediately after flowering. Examples of these types of
plants include forsythia, Vanhoutte spirea, flowering quince,
lilac and mockorange. Though pruning during the dormant
season does not harm the health of the plant, the flowering
display will be reduced. Shrubs that bloom on current
season's growth or that do not produce ornamental flowers are
best pruned in late winter to early spring. Examples
include Rose-of-Sharon, Bumald Spirea and Japanese Spirea.
There are
three basic methods used in pruning shrubs:
- Thinning
is used to thin out branches from a shrub that is too
dense. It is accomplished by removing most of the inward
growing twigs by either cutting them back to a larger branch
or cutting them back to just above an outward facing
bud. On multi- stemmed shrubs, the oldest canes may be
completely removed.
- Heading
back is removing the end of a branch by cutting it
back to a bud and is used for either reducing height or
keeping a shrub compact. Branches are not cut back to a
uniform height as this will result in a
"witches-broom" effect.
- Rejuvenation
is the most severe type of pruning and is normally done during
the dormant season. It may be used on multi-stem shrubs
that have become too large with too many old branches to
justify saving the younger canes. All stems are cut back
to 3- to 5-inch stubs. This works well for spirea,
forsythia, pyracantha, ninebark, Russian almond, little leaf
mock orange, shrub roses and flowering quince.
Source
Cutworms
Collared...
Cutworms can be a real problem for gardeners setting out
transplants. Protect newly transplanted plants
with collars. Simply cut strips of cardboard 2 inches wide by 8 inches
long and staple them into a band. Place this collar around
the plant stem and press it about 1 inch into the soil.
We're
Cookin' Now...
If you are a cook as well as a Savvygardener one of the great
joys of summer is stepping outside to pick or cut fresh herbs for
preparing a fine meal. In addition to their obvious use in
foods herbs are great additions to most gardens because they are
generally pest resistant, smell great, and many are a joy to
behold.
Conveniently,
most herbs have similar growing habits and requirements.
Because their essential oils are much more concentrated under
cool growing conditions you will want to locate them in a cool
but sunny area which receives at least 4 to 6 hours of full sun
each day. Areas exposed to the morning sun are better than those
areas with mid-day and afternoon sun.
If you
didn't start any herbs from seed buy some healthy looking plants
from your favorite plant source. However anise, coriander,
dill and fennel aren't too fond of being transplanted. Sow
their seeds directly in the garden.
For a list
of over 30 herbs and specific details about growing them check
out "Growing
Herbs" in our Feature Article section.
Share
Your Love Of Gardening!
Tell Your Friends About Savvygardener.com!
Click
Here Now!
|
Butterflies
Will Flutter By...
Last week we talked about our love of hummingbirds.
It's hard to think about the hummers without also being reminded
of the hundreds of types of butterflies found in the
greater Kansas City area. Attracting them to your garden is
easy if you follow some simple rules.
- Grow
plants that caterpillars enjoy eating and let them eat.
Remember, it takes a healthy caterpillar to make a pretty
butterfly! Try dill, clover, and fennel.
- Grow
flowers that butterflies enjoy visiting for their nectar.
Aster, butterfly bush, coneflower, cosmos, and milkweed are
excellent choices.
- Be
careful with insecticides. In addition to getting rid of
other pests these poisons kill caterpillars and butterflies.
This is a good reason to establish a separate butterfly
garden.
Back to the
hummingbirds for a moment. Last week we recommended using
red food coloring in hummingbird feeders. Many of you wrote
us with warnings about the effect of red coloring on the
hummingbirds' health. We did some research and found that
the data is inconclusive. So, better safe than sorry, this
year we've left the food dye out.
Got
Irrigation?
We stumbled on this tip and couldn't resist passing it
along:
Here's a use for
those used gallon milk containers - seep irrigation.
Simply use a large nail to punch holes in the sides of a jug,
spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bury the jug, leaving the neck
protruding from the soil. Fill the jug with water (solutions of
liquid fertilizer may be used to water and fertilize at the same
time) and screw the cap on firmly. The water will gradually seep
out, providing a slow, deep irrigation for surrounding plants.
Source
What's
Hot On The Hotline...
Last weekend marked the Mexican Cinco de Mayo
celebration. Our Hotline experts took the opportunity to
list and describe some of the many horticultural items for which
we can thank our neighbors to the south. Check it out in this
week's What's
Hot on the Hotline...
The Arthur
Murray School of Mowing?
Most of
us are creatures of habit. When it comes to mowing your
lawn you probably follow the same back and forth pattern every
time you cut the grass. Unfortunately this regular practice
will eventually wear ruts in the lawn where the mower wheels
repeatedly follow the same path. To avoid this problem try
a four-way rotation of cutting patterns. Picture your lawn
as a sheet of paper and try these patterns. Next week -
tango lessons:
- Horizontal
- left-to-right, turn, right-to-left across the lawn.
- Vertical
- top-to-bottom, turn, bottom-to-top across the lawn.
- Diagonal
1 - bottom-left to top-right, turn, top-right to
bottom-left. Work toward corners.
- Diagonal
2 - bottom-right to top-left, turn, top-left to
bottom-right. Work toward corners.
Finally... "A
mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and
sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of
prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine,
desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling
to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to
dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to
our hearts." ~
Washington Irving, 1783-1859 |
|