This greenhouse is located in Pandy's Garden Center, 41600 Griswold Road, Elyria, OH 44035. But has some good advice. See what you think?
Can I transplant and prune my shrubs yet?
I have been inundated with questions of moving plants and shrubs and pruning questions this past couple of weeks. Here are my recommendations of when, how and why....
First let's talk about transplanting.... Perhaps a plant is too close to another, it's grown too big or just hasn't done what you expected. For whatever reason you wish to move things, it's getting real close to the time you can do it. If you are not a seasoned digger and know the long process of digging and moving plants, the best time to transplant most evergreens and shrubs is AFTER we receive a hard killing freeze. Cold weather is knocking on our door and soon plants will begin to change color and defoliate their leaves. This is the tell tale sign they are going dormant.
By waiting another week or so for the cold weather, your success rate for transplanting will increase ten fold. Plants shut down and prepare for old man winter. By taking a sharp spade and creating a earth ball around the base of a tree or shrub, the plant can be moved to a new location with no stress on the plant. The key is to start large and keep whittling away until you see many roots. If you dig too big of a ball, it may break when you go to move it. If you dig to small, you may not have retained enough root mass for the plant to flourish. You need to be like Goldilocks and pick the right bowl of porridge or in this case root ball size.
Once dug, move to its new location and plant. I always like to use soil conditioner to amend the soil which predominantly is clay based in our area. Dig a hole 1.5 to 2 times the width of the root ball and plant elevated from the surrounding soils a couple of inches. This assures good drainage and allows a fudge factor for settling in case you have dug the hole too deep. The mixture of pine bark mulch soil conditioner and clay should be placed an and around the root ball as back fill for the plant. I compact the soil as I am planting and create a little basin or bowl around the root ball. This is a great thing to do to help the plant capture and hold water. Add a 2-3" layer of mulch on top and water plant. If dry weather continues, you should try and water once a week. Give the plant a good soaking so you know it's good and moist. Typically the fall rains are enough to keep plants irrigated.
Now, moving on to trimming. It is always best to wait for a hard killing freeze as well. Once dormancy sets in, the thinning process can begin. Keep in mind, the rule of thumb is, plants that bloom in the spring, you do NOT want to prune. Lilacs, azaleas, hydrangeas which flower in a ball not a cone, rhododendrons and andromedas are a few plants which you would not want to prune now. If you really feel you need to trim these, keep in mind, you will be cutting off your blossoms for next year. Sometimes you got to bite the bullet and do what you got to do.
Grasses are a debatable plant. In my personal experience, I like to leave them untouched till spring. The leaves and plumes add some winter interest. In conducting a test of grasses we kept over winter several years ago, I got half of them back in November and left the other half intact. The ones I had not pruned in fall, but waited till March to trim started out quicker then the ones that had been cut. In all honesty by June, you could not tell them apart, so the decision is yours.
Roses are another fickle plant. You must really wait till they drop their leaves. This may not happen until late in November. They must be dormant and pruned down to 12-18" tall. Then they need covered with mulch to help insulate the graft and avoid freeze and thaws on the bud union. A good cypress, or pine mulch does the job well. Just remember to remove in mid to late March before they start to grow. As for knockout roses, they pretty much can fend for themselves. My roses bloomed some years into late December and I just let them be. I waited till spring to prune them. They were fine! In strange winters which are brutally cold, I have lost a knockout rose which I just left alone and did not mulch. This is a rare occurrence but could happen. Many of my clients will cut knockout roses down now and have no problems. You can error on the side of caution or gamble on the weather.
If you do have an area that seems to be windy part or all of the winter, and you have broad leaf evergreens planted such as azaleas and rhododendron, japanese or regular holly, andromedas or inkberries, I would recommend you spray them with wilt stop from Bonide. This spray seals in moisture of the leaves so the winter winds to not dehydrate them and you end up with winter burn in the spring. Again, wait till a hard killing freeze and coat all the leaves with this spray. A burlap barrier placed with stakes blocking the wind will help with winter burn as well. Many of my clients erect fences to help with protection on newly planted Junipers and arborvitates.
And speaking of arborvitaes, and junipers and pines and all newly planted evergreens, be prepared for a defoliation of needles and leaves on the interior of the plant. First year evergreens can lose up to 50% or more of their interior leaves and needles. They simply turn yellow and fall. Your plant is not dying. This is something that occurs until the plant gets established and gets it's feeder roots out. This happens with all new evergreens.
As for perennials, it's a great time to clean up the dead leaves and trim back growth in preparation for winter. By removing diseased leaves and dead branches, your perennials will start fresh and healthy come spring. A light coating of mulch on top of perennials will help insulate their roots from freeze and thaws this winter giving them a better chance of surviving.
Hope to see you soon, J.R. Pandy, "The No B.S. Gardener"
taken from sales@pandysgardencenter.com
till next time this is Becky Litterer, Becky's Greenhouse, Dougherty Iowa
Can I transplant and prune my shrubs yet?
I have been inundated with questions of moving plants and shrubs and pruning questions this past couple of weeks. Here are my recommendations of when, how and why....
First let's talk about transplanting.... Perhaps a plant is too close to another, it's grown too big or just hasn't done what you expected. For whatever reason you wish to move things, it's getting real close to the time you can do it. If you are not a seasoned digger and know the long process of digging and moving plants, the best time to transplant most evergreens and shrubs is AFTER we receive a hard killing freeze. Cold weather is knocking on our door and soon plants will begin to change color and defoliate their leaves. This is the tell tale sign they are going dormant.
By waiting another week or so for the cold weather, your success rate for transplanting will increase ten fold. Plants shut down and prepare for old man winter. By taking a sharp spade and creating a earth ball around the base of a tree or shrub, the plant can be moved to a new location with no stress on the plant. The key is to start large and keep whittling away until you see many roots. If you dig too big of a ball, it may break when you go to move it. If you dig to small, you may not have retained enough root mass for the plant to flourish. You need to be like Goldilocks and pick the right bowl of porridge or in this case root ball size.
Once dug, move to its new location and plant. I always like to use soil conditioner to amend the soil which predominantly is clay based in our area. Dig a hole 1.5 to 2 times the width of the root ball and plant elevated from the surrounding soils a couple of inches. This assures good drainage and allows a fudge factor for settling in case you have dug the hole too deep. The mixture of pine bark mulch soil conditioner and clay should be placed an and around the root ball as back fill for the plant. I compact the soil as I am planting and create a little basin or bowl around the root ball. This is a great thing to do to help the plant capture and hold water. Add a 2-3" layer of mulch on top and water plant. If dry weather continues, you should try and water once a week. Give the plant a good soaking so you know it's good and moist. Typically the fall rains are enough to keep plants irrigated.
Now, moving on to trimming. It is always best to wait for a hard killing freeze as well. Once dormancy sets in, the thinning process can begin. Keep in mind, the rule of thumb is, plants that bloom in the spring, you do NOT want to prune. Lilacs, azaleas, hydrangeas which flower in a ball not a cone, rhododendrons and andromedas are a few plants which you would not want to prune now. If you really feel you need to trim these, keep in mind, you will be cutting off your blossoms for next year. Sometimes you got to bite the bullet and do what you got to do.
Grasses are a debatable plant. In my personal experience, I like to leave them untouched till spring. The leaves and plumes add some winter interest. In conducting a test of grasses we kept over winter several years ago, I got half of them back in November and left the other half intact. The ones I had not pruned in fall, but waited till March to trim started out quicker then the ones that had been cut. In all honesty by June, you could not tell them apart, so the decision is yours.
Roses are another fickle plant. You must really wait till they drop their leaves. This may not happen until late in November. They must be dormant and pruned down to 12-18" tall. Then they need covered with mulch to help insulate the graft and avoid freeze and thaws on the bud union. A good cypress, or pine mulch does the job well. Just remember to remove in mid to late March before they start to grow. As for knockout roses, they pretty much can fend for themselves. My roses bloomed some years into late December and I just let them be. I waited till spring to prune them. They were fine! In strange winters which are brutally cold, I have lost a knockout rose which I just left alone and did not mulch. This is a rare occurrence but could happen. Many of my clients will cut knockout roses down now and have no problems. You can error on the side of caution or gamble on the weather.
If you do have an area that seems to be windy part or all of the winter, and you have broad leaf evergreens planted such as azaleas and rhododendron, japanese or regular holly, andromedas or inkberries, I would recommend you spray them with wilt stop from Bonide. This spray seals in moisture of the leaves so the winter winds to not dehydrate them and you end up with winter burn in the spring. Again, wait till a hard killing freeze and coat all the leaves with this spray. A burlap barrier placed with stakes blocking the wind will help with winter burn as well. Many of my clients erect fences to help with protection on newly planted Junipers and arborvitates.
And speaking of arborvitaes, and junipers and pines and all newly planted evergreens, be prepared for a defoliation of needles and leaves on the interior of the plant. First year evergreens can lose up to 50% or more of their interior leaves and needles. They simply turn yellow and fall. Your plant is not dying. This is something that occurs until the plant gets established and gets it's feeder roots out. This happens with all new evergreens.
As for perennials, it's a great time to clean up the dead leaves and trim back growth in preparation for winter. By removing diseased leaves and dead branches, your perennials will start fresh and healthy come spring. A light coating of mulch on top of perennials will help insulate their roots from freeze and thaws this winter giving them a better chance of surviving.
Hope to see you soon, J.R. Pandy, "The No B.S. Gardener"
taken from sales@pandysgardencenter.com
till next time this is Becky Litterer, Becky's Greenhouse, Dougherty Iowa
