Timely Tips from Over the Garden Fence
You can catch George Wedel on Over the Garden Fence, 9:05 am Saturdays on AM 590 WKZO.
And return here each week at www.wedels.com for the latest in Wedel's timely tips.
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TIMELY GARDEN TIPS FROM OVER THE GARDEN FENCE JULY 19, 2003 I've said it before and I'll say it again, southwest Michigan is a great place to live. After a trip this week through east central Indiana, central and southern Ohio, it was so evident why. First off, our rains soak into the soil faster, in Indiana and Ohio the soil is so heavy rainwater collects in low areas and suffocates plant life. We saw acres and acres of drowned out crops and lawns. Our plant life is more diverse with more native species and far more landscapes adorned with attractive trees, shrubs, and flowers. Southwest Michigan is richly endowed with hundreds of crystal clear lakes we all enjoy. Go 75 miles south of here, the best they can do is dam-up a muddy river to play in. No need to add more... Southwest Michigan is the best place to garden, to grow, and to live. Speaking of growing, how is your garden performing? I hope just fine. It sure is exciting to visit a weed free flower or vegetable garden. We're not supposed to be envious, but I'm sure many "green thumbers" have from time to time visited another garden and wanted as many blooms and fruits in their own. If your summer garden is suffering a color "let-down" stop into Wedel's Garden Center where the nursery is over flowing with colorful plants all ready to move to your home to brighten-up your gardens and landscapes. In bloom this week and ready to plant are Gloriosa Daisy, Rudbeckia, Yarrow, Daylilies, Liatris, Garden Phlox, Meadowsweet, Coneflower, Campanula, and Mallow Malva. More great summer choices include bright gold helianthus, delphiniums, over 40 varieties of hostas and ornamental grasses for both gardens and landscape. There are tall and short grasses, green, blue, and variegated foliage grasses, and many with plumes of all sizes. Wedel's stocks over 24 ornamental grass varieties. Possibilities abound for folks who want to use summer flowering shrubs to liven up their landscape. Wedel's extensive selection of summer shrubs is now in bloom and ready to move your home. Be sure to see the all new blue hydrangea shrubs that have just arrived at Wedel's. Endless summer is the name given to this new hardy hydrangea. Endless summer is a mop-head type hydrangea with the unique ability to bloom consistently on both old and new wood. The result is a plant that provides beautiful blue flowers all summer long. The flowers develop into large 8-inch blooms on 3 to 4 foot plants. Gardeners, Endless Summer Hydrangea is a real winner. A visit to Wedel's garden center is always exciting when you see the many possibilities that can turn your landscape into a great outdoor living area. Most plants are in containers that enable homeowners to successfully plant during summer. Shade trees, flowering shrubs, roses, flowering trees, climbing vines, evergreens, and the over 500 varieties of flowering perennial plants that can all be planted right now with complete success. Wedel's is unique in the fact that we not only retail garden and landscape plants, but we also grow most of the plants that we sell. Consequently, we usually have the plants that you need whenever you want to plant. Currently, our sales yard is bursting with fresh plants that arrive daily from our nursery farm. One of the most interesting and beautiful decorations in the garden are butterflies. On a warm sunny day these visitors provide color and motion that doubles the pleasure of gardening. How fortunate for the gardener that it takes very little effort to make the yard attractive to butterflies! Butterflies will visit, and possibly stay to lay eggs, wherever there is a variety of plants for food and shelter, and some moisture. Their appearance in your backyard ultimately depends on whether their favorite plants are growing there- certain ones to support their larvae, many others to support adult butterflies. Many gardeners design their landscape and flower gardens to be butterfly friendly. These folks enjoy seeing colorful butterflies flitting from flower to flower throughout the summer growing season. If you would like to attract butterflies to your garden try these tips. Provide moisture, Butterflies cannot drink from open water. Try filling a bucket with sand, bury it to the rim, and keep it moist, and you will have a butterfly watering station. Place a butterfly house on the south side a tree trunk and you'll provide and overnight resting place and possibly a few adult butterflies will even overwinter in the slotted shelter. Butterflies visit flowering plants that are in full sun and in sites sheltered from wind. Flowering shrubs provide shelter for roosting too. The more fragrant, the better. Plant at various heights; because, like birds, certain butterfly species prefer to feed at certain heights. (Some species are even quite territorial and try to chase others from favorite plants.) Adult butterflies will be attracted to the flowers of yarrow, Joe-Pye weed, ageratum, butterfly bush, coreopsis, liatris, cosmos, coneflower, asters, sunflowers, daylily, lantana, and petunia. More of their favorite flowers are sedum, garden phlox, black-eyed susan, and butterfly weed. Plants that butterfly caterpillars feed on and could be used in your landscape to attract butterflies include; snapdragon, lupine, passion flower, milkweed, parsley, marigold, hibiscus, hollyhock, asters, willow, crabapple, and popular trees. All of these plants that attract butterflies are available at Wedel's Garden Center. Some gardeners are experiencing poor growth of annual flowers lately. Plants exhibit yellow leaves, slow growth rate, and some even collapse and melt. Upon examination, we often find the soil is too soggy. Most annual plants will not perform well in soil that does not drain properly. If you need to replant a flowerbed that has poor drainage, I would recommend that you consider raising the bed slightly. To improve soil drainage, add Profile soil Conditioner or perlite to your existing soil, then replant. You will find your new plantings will root better and perform the way they should. It is so important to water flowerbeds manually, not with a timer controlled lawn sprinkling system, which nearly always over waters flowerbeds. For annual flower plantings that show yellow leaves and poor growth, where poor drainage is not the problem, try coaxing some good foliage color and new growth with low salt, water soluble Schultz Instant Plant Food. Mix Schultz Instant Bloom Plus in a sprinkling can and sprinkle on leaves and soil once every ten days. The recent rains have been a boom to an ever growing crop of earwigs. These pesky insects hide during the day and feed at night. Earwigs are scavengers and feed on dead plant and animal material, but also will damage flowers, and ripening fruit. To control earwigs in the garden and to keep them from entering the home, use Bug-Geta-bait pellets around plants and spray around buildings with 10% Permethrin or scatter Permethrin granules by foundations. Lawns that are off color could be lacking trace minerals in the soil. Three weeks ago, I applied Turf Nurture to my lawn and it responded perfectly. Turf Nurture an organic base lawn food that is perfect for summer feeding, promoting deep roots, disease resistance, and great dark green color. George Wedel |
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