OVER THE GARDEN FENCE

MAY 3, 2003

Could there be a more beautiful place than Southwest Michigan in May? Certainly not! Our landscape is so brilliant now with spectacular blossoms of every hue. Woodland wild flowers in pink, yellow, and white are at their peak. At the wood's edge, Amelanchier and cherry trees, as white as snow, are mixed with purple-flowering redbud, making quite a show. White-flowering pear, pink and red crabapple, magnolia, purple P.J.M. rhododendrons and lilacs thrill our senses in almost every direction. Even the pleasing chartreuse green of blooming sugar maples become part of the color parade. Add to these beauties the riot of color from beds of tulips planted in nearly every home landscape. I hope that each of our "Over the Garden Fence" friends has the opportunity this weekend to enjoy the most colorful place on earth - Southwest Michigan.

Have you been thinking that more blossoms would enhance your landscape? There is no better time than today to plant a flowering tree or shrub. At Wedel's Garden Center we grow and stock 100 varieties of flowering shrubs and over 70 varieties of flowering trees ready to move to your home. First, take a color tour and record your favorite varieties of flowering trees and shrubs. Next, visit Wedel's to pick our your favorites. At Wedel's, there are eleven Michigan Certified Nursery Specialists to help you select a flowering tree or shrub variety that will excel in your landscape. Often, beautiful plants with so much potential are planted in impossible locations; a spruce tree too near a house, a rhododendron planted in full sun, or a weeping cherry in a windy area. Our professional staff will help you be sure that your planting experience will be a pleasant one.

Electric power companies are constantly plagued with trees planted in the wrong place and eventually growing into utility lines. The root cause of plants versus utility lines is that homeowners fail to consider the mature height of the trees they plant. For whatever reason, many people cannot fathom that the blue spruce or white pine that they plant today will reach utility lines within ten to fifteen years and require pruning or removal.

The key to avoiding tree-utility problems, of course, is to not plant fast-growing trees under utility lines. Consumer's Energy delineates zones under and near overhead electrical distribution lines.

Zone D-1 is directly under to 20 feet away. The maximum height of trees or shrubs should be 25 feet. Plant shrubs such as burning bush, forsythia, and viburnum, or dwarf trees like Japanese maple, serviceberry, star magnolia, and Japanese tree lilac.

Zone D-2 is from 20 to 30 feet away. The maximum height of trees should be 45 feet. Plant Kousa dogwood, redbud, hawthorn, or crabapple.

Zone D-3 is more than 30 feet away and can have the maximum height no greater than 70 feet. Plant Ginkgo, white pine, dawn redwood, white oak, red oak, red maple, or American beech.

Once a homeowner has selected a tree with the proper mature height based on its D-zone, the next step is to call "Miss Dig". Miss Dig is a free service provided by all the utilities that provide underground service including electrical, telephone, cable, and natural gas. At least three days before digging, call the Miss Dig line at 800-482-7171 and utility workers will mark all the buried utilities on your property. A quick call to Miss dig can save service interruption, embarrassment, and possible serious injury.

Before selecting any plants this spring, check with the Michigan Certified Nursery Specialists and Master Gardeners at Wedel's, who can help you with plant selection and location.

Every out-of-door enthusiast, whether passive, sports-minded, hunters, or gardeners, should take note of an insidious invader of Southwest Michigan's roadsides, woods, parklands, and even gardens. The culprit is the garlic mustard plant. Currently, garlic mustard plants are eighteen inches to twenty-four inches tall and about ready to bloom. Unfortunately, they are not hard to find, being very numerous in our area.

Garlic mustard poses a severe threat to native plants and animals in forest communities in much of the Eastern and Midwestern United States. Many native wildflowers that complete their life cycles in the springtime such as spring beauty, wild ginger, bloodroot, Dutchman's breeches, hepatica, toothworts, and trilliums, occur in the same habitat as garlic mustard. Once introduced to an area, garlic mustard out-competes native plants by aggressively monopolizing light, moisture, nutrients, soil, and space. Wildlife species that depend on these early plants for their foliage, pollen, nectar, fruits, seeds, and roots, are deprived of these essential food sources when garlic mustard replaces them. We are also deprived of the vibrant display of beautiful spring wildflowers.

Garlic mustard is a cool season biennial in the mustard family with heart-shaped, toothed leaves that give off an odor of garlic when crushed. First year plants appear as a rosette of green leaves close to the ground. Rosettes remain green through the winter and develop into mature flowering plants the following spring. Flowering plants of garlic mustard reach from two to three and one-half feet in height and produce button-like clusters of small white flowers.

Garlic mustard frequently occurs in moist, shaded soil in areas that are most susceptible to rapid invasion and dominance. After spending the first half of its two-year life cycle as a rosette of leaves, garlic mustard plants develop rapidly the following spring into mature plants that flower, produce seed, and die by late June. A single plant can produce thousands of seeds, which scatter as much as several feet from the parent plant. Additionally, because white-tailed deer prefer native plants to garlic mustard, large deer populations may help to expand it by removing competing native plants and exposing the soil and seedbed through trampling.

Due to the long life of its seeds in the soil, which may be five years or more, effective management of garlic mustard requires a long-term commitment. The goal is to prevent seed production until the stored seed is exhausted. Hand removal of plants is possible for light infestations and when desirable native species coexist. Care must be taken to remove the plant with its entire root system because new plants can sprout from root fragments. This is best achieved while plants are small and the soil is moist, by grasping the base of the plant firmly and tugging slowly and gently until the main root loosens from the soil and the entire plant pulls out. Pulled plants can be left onsite or removed. Second year plants that have grown a flower stalk can be eradicated with a power weed whip or brush cutter. Cut flower stalk flush with the soil. Cutting before flower stalk growth will result in resprouting. Cutting in early May has resulted in 99% mortality and eliminates seed production.

For heavy infestations, application of the systemic herbicide Kill-Zall is also effective. Kill-Zall may be applied at any time of year as long as the temperature is above 50 degrees. Care must be taken not to get Kill-Zall on desirable plants as the product is non-selective.

It is very important for everyone to become familiar with garlic mustard and destroy all visible plants. We all need to work together to help protect our Michigan landscape from this pest.

The most asked question this week was, "Is it too late to apply crabgrass preventer?" The answer is yes, there is still time for Scotts Lawn Pro Crabgrass Preventer to be applied and have 100% success. I would suggest irrigating the lawn after application to activate the crabgrass preventer. The second most asked question this week was, "Is it too late to sow grass seed?" The answer is no, if you haven't already applied a crabgrass preventer to the area to be seeded. Grass seed can be planted any time in spring, summer, or early fall if irrigation can be provided. Don't plant seed of any kind without providing moisture. If irrigation isn't possible, then sow grass seed on September 15th or November 15th. Remember, when watering grass seed, it is frequency, not quantity, that is important. Keep the top half-inch of soil, where the seed is, continuously moist with several light sprays of water daily. Spreading Seed Aide Mulch with your grass seed will reduce the need to water as often.

If flowering crab and mountain ash trees haven't been protected from leaf scab, spray now! This is the time to spray with Halt fungicide to prevent summer leaf drop.

Birch trees have broken bud in most landscapes, which means birch leaf miners will become active soon. When birch leaves are one-inch long, spray with Cygon and again on July 1st to prevent birch leaf miner damage.

Remember to protect your spruce trees this week from spruce galls. Spray Pyrethrin and Canola Spray Oil now and again in two weeks.

Last week, on "Over the Garden Fence", Mary asked about plants that were resistant to deer feeding. The following are plants that Wedel's Garden Center sells that are rarely damaged by deer: barberry, birch, boxwood, holly, Leucothoe, Colorado spruce, and Pieris Japonica. Plants that are seldom eaten by deer include bittersweet, dogwood, hawthorn, beech, forsythia, locust, juniper, mountain laurel, Kolkwitzia, Norway spruce, Black Hills Spruce, Mugo, red, and Scotch pine, lilac, and Kwanzan cherry. Additionally, there is a long list of plants that are only occasionally visited by deer. There is also a list of the deer's favorite fare that should, of course, be avoided. A complete copy of plants to consider and those to avoid may be obtained on your next visit to Wedel's.

George Wedel