Month: July 2013

Neon continued!

I’ll follow Bert’s highly informative, thought-inducing post with something not statistically significant. Hey, it’s summer.

My last post on ultra-bright “neon” plants had a comment from Sarah…

“I saw some iresine in a local garden center the other day, sun coming
through it at just the right angle, and the shade of blazing pink that
came through was basically every Barbie accessory I ever had. It just
seemed wrong somehow. Took a picture of it with my phone.” … Continue reading this article “Neon continued!”

How to lie with statistics

I’m attending the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) meeting this week in sunny (and hot) Palm Desert, CA.  Tomorrow I will be presenting some of the early results from the SOME-DED-TREES study.  For those that are new to the blog, SOME-DED-TREES is the acronym for the Social Media DesigneD TREe Establishment Study.  Last year, my students and I established a landscape tree study in which the treatments were suggested by Garden Professor’s blog readers.  Actually, we ended up installing two studies: one to look at fertilization at planting and one to look at impacts of mulching at planting. … Continue reading this article “How to lie with statistics”

Neon for your garden

Was wandering through Target on Monday for the first time in months.

Helloooo!? The 80’s called and wants its neon crap back.

Didn’t care for it then and certainly don’t care for it now. Though there is the increased safety factor of being highly visible at all times, whether in sunglasses or underwear.

But never mind my lack of style.

It made me think about a few plants that, if the light is right, certainly display that glowing, saturated color, found in the “Astro-Brite” pack of copy paper usually reserved for yard sales and such.… Continue reading this article “Neon for your garden”

Brace yourself

The photo below (graciously sent to me by former MSU Extension Educator Jennie Stanger) graphically illustrates the importance of removing ALL staking and supporting materials from trees once they are established.

 

 


Just a matter of time (Photo: Jennie Stanger)

In this case the stakes were removed but the strapping material was left around the tree.  Since this is a spruce, Jennie supposes no one wanted the prickly job of wading into the center of the tree to take off the strap.  … Continue reading this article “Brace yourself”

The heartbreak of ‘Carrot-top’ syndrome

The perk of participating in a blog is you get a platform to vent on your pet peeves.  Recently I’ve seen several classic examples of ‘Carrot-top’ syndrome.  No, I’m not talking about the red-headed comic; though he tends to annoy me too.


Annoying Carrot-top #1.

The ‘Carrot-top’ I’m referring to occurs when white pine trees are sheared as Christmas trees but then planted as landscape trees.  The typical result is that the side and lower branches remain suppressed while the terminals go crazy.  … Continue reading this article “The heartbreak of ‘Carrot-top’ syndrome”