Here’s a snippet of a photo I shot this summer:
What is this mysterious glowing object? (I did not manipulate this photo in any way other than to crop it) Answer Monday!
By the way, Lynn asked if we could do a posting on how to make our landscapes more wildlife friendly. We’re doing even better than a posting – we’re doing a whole week’s worth of blogs on the topic! Thanks for the suggestion – and the rest of you feel free to suggest topics as well.
Like Linda, I believe that we don’t plant enough bare-root trees. Trees that are harvested and sold bare root tend to establish better and recover faster from transplant shock than trees sold in containers or as B&B (balled and burlapped) stock. But, in general, trees that are purchased in as bare-root stock are smaller than the other two styles, with B&B generally being the production method which yields the largest trees.
I disagree with Linda that, as a general rule, B&B stock should have its roots washed off prior to transplanting — I’ve done it and I’ve lost trees. Most of the B&B trees that I know of where root washing has been successful have been small, relatively easily transplanted stock. Once we have a few nice, big, long term studies that shows that B&B trees with their roots washed perform comparably to, or better than, normal B&B trees I’ll start to believe. (I will note that, as a rule, it looks like B&B stock is dug and cared for much better here in Minnesota than Washington!)
I’m not going to go into the nuances of the arguments here — we’ve done it before if you want to check the archives. But what I am going to point out is that a new study in Oregon has shown that bigger trees might help to deter crime. Yet another reason for the people of this country to demand larger stock.
Despite what all of the research shows (that it’s better to plant smaller trees — preferably bare-root) people want big trees — they want an instant landscape. They want it because to them it looks nice — and now its a way to protect your family too.
Historically this big stock comes B&B and is very expensive, cumbersome, and not the easiest things to successfully plant. We need a new, cheaper way to grow large stock. A number of researchers are working on different methods to produce large stock (special containers, bare root from a gravel bed) but nothing has worked out perfectly yet. It’s going to be interesting to see how all of this shakes out in the future — especially with the loss of ash trees in the Midwest.
I’ve blogged before about the importance of getting tree roots in contact with the landscape soil during transplanting (you can find those posts here, here, here, here, and here). My advice to bareroot woody species upon installation is often ignored in favor of the quick-n-easy methods so often showcased on HGTV (“A complete landscape makeover in a weekend!”). And of course everything looks great…for a while. Let’s see what happens after a few years.
Below are photos of a pine tree, several of which were installed in 2007 at my children’s school (The Bush School in Seattle):
Not only is this pine tree planted too deeply (you can’t see the root flare, so it’s too deep), but the twine and burlap were not removed, leaving the roots encased in clay. Furthermore, we’re not sure how great a root system this tree has since we can’t see it. Even more horrific, the orange nylon twine is beginning to girdle the trunk. What’s been planted is a big ball o’ trouble.
I sent these photos and my concerns to the administration and advised them to have the installers (low bid, of course) redo the planting before the one year warranty expired. My advice was ignored, and here we are three years later:
This particular tree has declined to the point that the foliage is chlorotic and the uppermost needles are dead. It’s symptomatic of a root system that has failed to establish, which is what I predicted would happen. But it’s long past the warranty period, so if this tree is replaced the school will have to pay for it…again. (Though it’s hard to see in this compressed photo, the pine next to this one also has top dieback, and I’ll continue to follow its decline.)
Many professionals, including some of my fellow GPs, disagree with the bare-root approach. But based on this evidence, how could one argue that bare-rooting would not have been preferable to decline and death?
Just go back and watch the video that Bert the Incensed posted Monday. I can’t top that.
Hope he’s had a beer and calmed down since. Now I need one.
My first reaction was more like slack-jawed disbelief over the nonsense contained within. A second viewing brought my blood pressure up a notch. For instance, I swear he says “Calcium nitrate” softly and then quickly rephrases it to “vitamins and minerals.” There’s more crap in this video than a dairy retention pond. Kudos to whomever put the “Garden Professors” comment on the site.
If the content is reasonable, I can overlook questionable video production values, such as the host also serving as the director (“Over here…there ya go!”) and the bug crawling across the lens. But for this train-wreck of misinformation, it was doubly irritating.
Deep breath. Let’s part on a positive note, shall we?
Here’s the little-known, summer and fall-blooming Salvia involucrata (Rosebud Sage). Alas, it is not hardy for me, but is for Zone 7 and up. Took this last week before the hard frost (I really do think of y’all when I’m running around with my cocktail and camera at sunset…)
Fresh, light green foliage to about 4′, nice branching habit, pinkish petioles and stems, topped with a fabulous, fuzzy, flower explosion. In HOT PINK no less.
Glorious. And perfect for getting your Garden Tart TM on!
Thank you so much, Linda – I believe you’ve coined the perfect description of my gardening style. Hee, hee.
Well, this was a tricky puzzle! Here’s a more complete picture of this interesting plant:
This, believe it or not, is a weigela – specifically, a patented cultivar named Kolmagira. You can see part of a tag in the lower left part of this photo:
As the patent description reads, this shrub possesses “…yellow green and dark green variegated leaves with purple-colored margins…”
Some of you guessed that the leaves might be variegated due to fall senescence, or disease, or drought stress – all very good guesses. And now I’m going to reveal one of my biases (yes, I am opinionated! I know you’re surprised!)
I dislike these types of cultivars because they look environmentally stressed and/or diseased. I’m a plant stress physiologist by training, and that’s just the way I look at abnormal leaf coloration. And on a more aesthetic note, do our gardens really need these tarted-up plants? Let’s discuss it!
As (relatively) young professors at major universities, Linda, Jeff, Holly and I are busier than the proverbial one-armed paper-hanger. Every week is filled with the endless pandemonium of grant deadlines, students at our door, requests to review papers, committee meetings, speaking engagements that we agreed to 6 months ago and forgot about, calls from media, calls from growers, calls from homeowners, and on and on and on. Then, in the middle of all this tumult and chaos, we decide, like we got nothing better to do, to start posting on a blog every week. Pardon my French, but what the f*&@ were we thinking?!
Then I run across a web-link like this:
http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Care-for-your-Trees-Naturally-Part-12-177531642
and it all comes rushing back to me like a wave: Exposing charlatans. The fight against landscaping ignorance. The battle of science against quackery and snake oil.
I’m actually having a hard time settling down long enough to write about this. You know how you get that warm, flushed feeling you get right before you ask guy to step outside? I’m getting there. While I calm down, maybe we’ll let the readers take over. We’ll make it our Monday contest – how many stupid things wrong can our blog readers find in this video? Painful as it may be; watch the whole thing, it keeps getting better (or worse, depending on your point of view). To keep things fair, only one item per customer. In the meantime, I’ll just keep breathing into this paper bag…
It’s that time of year – leaves are turning all shades of yellow, orange, and red – so I thought I’d use this leaf for today’s puzzle:
I had to photoshop this extensively so it’s a little rough looking. But it does have a toothed margin.
So – is this an example of autumnal coloration? Or something else? Extra bonus points if you can identify the genus of this plant.
Answers and another photo on Monday!
Marketing is important if you want to sell something, but I have always been amazed at the different names that chemical companies have come up with for pesticides. Way back when, in the early 1900s and late 1800s insecticides were given soft, gentile names. Paris Green, London Purple, Bordeaux mix – really beautiful names that hint of worldly knowledge (for the most part they just indicate where the product was originally produced). In the mid-1900s names were more matter of fact: DDT, 2,4 D, 2,4,5 T — These names were indicative of the chemistry of the product being sold. Then professional marketers got a hold of pesticides and the fun started. If you’ve never farmed then you may never have seen some of these names, but to a farmer who uses commercial pesticides many of these names will sound familiar. My favorite name for a pesticide is Scythe. I don’t know why, it just strikes me as amusing that a chemical is being compared to a hand tool. Maybe Shovel, Rake, or Tweezers is next.
Here are a few names for various insecticides which include the same active ingredient, cypermethrin – a relatively dangerous insecticide — along with some of the emotions which you may feel while considering what insecticide to buy – in other words, feelings that marketers may use to drive you to select one product rather than another:
If you feel like attacking the insects: Ammo
If you’re feeling like the insects are closing in on you: Barricade
If you’re feeling like insects are closing in on you AND you’re a Civil War buff: Stockade
If you’re feeling like bailing out of the farming business altogether: Ripcord
If you want a pesticide that sounds safer than it is: Super
If you feel tough because you just watched the governor of California in an ‘80s sci fi flick: Cymperator
If you’re feeling mad as hell at those nasty insects: Demon
Okay – all of these products aren’t used for the same things, but dang….how many names can you have for one active ingredient?
During my nursery visits this summer I came across Taxodium distichum ‘Peve Minaret’, a dwarf cultivar of bald cypress. I hate it:
Why? Because it’s a crummy specimen. If it’s not quite clear, here is a close up of the double leader:
I’ve ranted a couple of times about the production nursery practice of topping young trees to create fuller crowns (you can see those posts here and here). I’m constantly taken to task for this, with comments along these lines:
1) There’s nothing wrong with it. Customers like the look.
2) After topping the production nursery selects a new leader.
3) If the production nursery doesn’t select a new leader, then the retail nursery should.
4) If the retail nursery doesn’t, then it’s the customer’s job to do it.
5) If the customer doesn’t, then an arborist should catch it.
Somehow it’s always someone else’s responsibility to do the corrective pruning needed to prevent future problems. Yet I have not seen a cogent argument about why this practice is necessary (and “customers like the look” doesn’t count). In fact, a recent email told me I’m approaching this all wrong:
“I think it would be better for you to attack this problem by teaching the maintenance industry on how to remove a few poor branch angles, and make a profit on this, then to tell the consumer that they don’t know what looks good to them.”
Aha. So we get unsuspecting customer to buy a problem tree, then charge them again to fix it!
It’s not like I have to look very hard to find these trees in nurseries. Believe me, they’re everywhere, at least in this part of the country.
So…proponents of this practice. Convince me (1) that there is a valid, evidence-based reason for this practice, and (2) it’s okay for trees like this bald cypress to end up in retail nurseries.
Here’s a bit of the fact-filled, intrepid reporting we at Garden Professors are pleased to provide.
Just back from a visit/droolfest to Pennsylvania’s "Golden Triangle" of horticulture: Swarthmore’s Scott Arboretum, Chanticleer, and Longwood Gardens.
At closing time on Saturday, I was wandering through the cavernous halls of the Longwood conservatory, looking for either my travel companion John Greenlee (Mr. American Meadow Garden), or the restroom. Found one, then followed the signs to the other…
Whoa.
And it keeps going, way on around the bend.
Unveiled just a week prior, the green wall system was designed by GSky Plant Systems. At a little over 4,000 square feet with 47,000 plants, it’s now the largest green wall in North America.
The modular panel system is very clever:
Plants are held in place by a geotextile surrounding a fiber substrate. Computer-controlled drip irrigation is woven throughout the entire structure.
Except for the glass ceiling, the corridor is subterranean. Perhaps because it was closing time and mostly empty, we found it just a tiny bit unsettling. John flailed about, muttering something like "Soylent Green is people!"
Anyhoo, it was very grand and inspiring. In case you’re wondering what was behind all those shiny steel doors:
Folks, you can’t get this kind of in-depth information on just ANY garden blog…