TIMELY GARDEN TIPS FROM

OVER THE GARDEN FENCE

April 15, 2006

I gathered my notes for this morning's Timely Tips on Thursday evening. I had just come inside after several enjoyable hours in our garden. The beautiful weather we were blessed with this week enabled Joyce and I to make a good dent in our long list of "to-do" projects. I was amazed to still have more oak leaves that needed to be cleaned out from under the cotoneaster, American Holly and clematis plants. Our Globe Dwarf White Pine that doesn't want to stay in bounds needed some careful pruning before it covered the garden path. It was also time to spray Repellex Mole Repellent on the lawn again. The little rascals are showing signs of burrowing under the border of the lawn and the adjoining pasture. Two or three applications a year usually works well for me.

I placed Systemic Tree Insect Control around the base of some of our valuable trees on Thursday. The Systemic Insect Control will protect our weeping larch from Japanese Beetles, the Weeping Purple Leaf Birch from borers, and the green ash from Emerald Ash borers.

While I was working on the clematis vines, Joyce made progress weeding several perennial beds - it's time to use Miracle Gro Garden Weed Preventer wherever weeding is completed so the weeds won't return.

The biggest distraction from our garden chores, not including Charlie our Golden Lab, was the beautiful spring flowers. This week, the garden is spectacular with hyacinth, daffodil, narcissus, scilla, and early tulips putting on quite a show. The Cornus Mas, or Yellow Dogwood is in its full glory. Our multiple trunk Magnolia Soulangeana must have a thousand purple and white blooms. Anemonies with their tiny white flowers carpet the wooded area and - oh yes - the swelling oak buds have pushed the last dried up leaves off to fall into the garden.

Did some of your iris show great promise last year and then sputter? Iris borers could have been the problem. Now is the time to control iris borers before they enter the iris tubers. Spray iris leaves thoroughly, using 38Plus with a spreader sticker added. Three applications, one week apart, will give good control of iris borers.

Now is the time to prevent Botrytis Mold on peony plants. Peony plants with buds that didn't open last year or exhibited black foliage should be sprayed with Halt Fungicide mixed with Spreader Sticker. Three sprays one week apart starting today will give good control.

Many of us enjoy Michigan wildflowers. For many years, only a very few gardeners were interested enough to grow native wildflowers. Other folks, though interested in wildflowers lacked the knowledge to be successful. Fortunately, wildflower gardening has hit its stride and we now find more and more gardeners successfully growing and enjoying a patch or field of wildflowers. Gardeners in our area are designing and planting areas of brilliant wildflowers of the field and forest. The many uses of native wildflowers include providing low-maintenance gardens, soil stabilization, and natural beauty. Native wildflowers are effective in both urban and country settings, gardens, fields, and roadsides.

The most popular way to start a sunny native wildflower area is with seed. Many different seed mixes are available, and since this type of gardening is new to most folks, a word of caution is needed. There are some less-than-desirable wildflower products on the market today, some in containers with beautiful labels. Attractive packaging has been known to mask mixtures of mainly common grass seed and fillers with few wildflower seeds. Check seed package labels and choose a seed mixture that will do best in your locations. At Wedel's, we sell a wildflower mixture containing yarrow, coreopsis, coneflower, black-eyed Susan, and other native perennial flowers. Be sure the wildflower seed mixture you choose is predominantly perennial. Mixes of mostly annuals seldom re-seed as one might expect. Our packs of seed mixes are exclusively native flowers of the Midwest states. These mixes will provide continuous bloom throughout the growing season. Perennial varieties planted from seed seldom bloom the first year, but become lovelier each succeeding year, in time becoming a carpet of beauty.

A walk through a Southwest Michigan woods in the spring is a treat all of us enjoy. Soft greens, pinks, whites, and yellows are an encouragement to plant lovers after a long, hard winter. Folks who wish to establish some woodland wildflowers in their shady landscape will find that starting from plants is the most successful method. Arriving next week at Wedel's will be potted native woodland flowers like trillium, Dutchman's breeches, Jack-in-the-pulpit, ferns, blood root, spring beauty, May apple, violets, wild ginger, and Virginia blue bells.

To prepare your sunny planting site, first kill out all competitive grasses and weeds. Spray KillZall to completely kill weeds and grasses as soon as they begin to grow. Four days later, till the soil to a depth of eight inches. Wait five days, then condition soil with composted cow manure and sphagnum peat moss and rototill in to a depth of three inches. After the last rototilling, apply Plant Tone show release fertilizer, rake level, sow seeds, brush in lightly, and roll with a lawn roller to firm in the seeds. Prepare shady areas in a like manner just before setting potted plants.

Ample moisture should be available for wildflower seed and plants to germinate, grow, and establish well. Watering in dry weather will be necessary the first year. Until established, pull out competing weeds. Once your native garden or mini-meadow is established, only minimal irrigation is required. Wildflowers can add color and natural beauty to many landscape and garden schemes. With a little effort initially, over time the requirements become less and less. For many of today's busy gardeners, the appeal of low maintenance as well as the benefit of season-long beauty, is ample reason to try wildflowers.