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grEen News
from Smithfield Gardens
June 2010
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Dear Friends,
What person who was ever once a school child doesn't like the month of June? Even for the more senior of us it brings back fond memories of summer, time on the front porch, iced tea, cook-outs and the first tentative dips into the ocean. June is also the month when many of our perennial gardens begin to peak, offering loads of blooms to enjoy. Of course here at Smithfield it is the month we celebrate one of our favorite perennials - the Daylily.
This year's Flower Festival will be held on Saturday, June the 19th from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. For those of you who have been saving your Flower Power Dollars, this is your day to redeem them, and those of you who have not, there is still time to earn some. Like most years, several of our friends will be here. The good people at Bon Vivant will be having a Wine and Beer Tasting with all proceeds to benefit The Isle of Wight Humane Society. Of course they will be here as well with puppies and kittens to adopt, as well as good things to eat. The Moonlight Beekeepers, Bob and Betty Schwartz will be here demonstrating their craft and selling their delicious honey. Also joining us will be the Suffolk Master Gardeners and folks from the Tidewater Daylily Society to answer your questions. New this year will be local photographer and artist, Taunya Waxham who will be showing her art and doing pet portraits. Several of us here will also be teaching free classes throughout the day, and you can get details and register below.
June is also the month when many of the first summer vegetables begin to ripen in the garden. Unless you have been living under a rock, you probably know that growing your own food, looking for all natural food and buying locally are big right now. As part of this renewed interest, the people at Batten Bay Farm will be selling their naturally grown local produce here at Smithfield Gardens. Right now they plan to set up shop on Saturdays, but they may be here at other times as well. Give us a call for more details, or follow us on Facebook for updates.
We hope to see you soon!
Your Friends at Smithfield Gardens
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Upcoming Events and Classes
at Smithfield Gardens
Going Green
Saturday, June 5th, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Find out what you can do in your own yard to help save our waterways and marine life. This class will be taught my Margie Cooper, Ann Weber and Jeff Williamson.
Our 21st Annual Flower Festival
Saturday, June 19th, 9:00 a.m. to 6 p.m.
See our opening letter for further details, as well as the classes listed below.
Gardening with Perennials and Daylilies
Saturday, June 19th, 10:00 - 11:30 a.m.
The lovely Daylily has to be one of our favorite perennials here at Smithfield Gardens. Come let JoEllen Gienger tell you how easy and satisfying this plant is to grow, as well as other perennials that you can use to create a beautiful garden of your own.
Paving Stone Pathways
Saturday, June 19th, 12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
This demonstration is part of our continuing series on how to install concrete pavers.
Growing and Drying Hydrangeas
Saturday, June 19th, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.
This old-fashioned favorite is currently enjoying a bit of a resurgence right now. Not only are they great for the garden, but the cut flowers can bring color into the house year-round. Les Parks will share with you what he knows about one of his favorite plants.
Would you like to save 10% on your purchases at Smithfield Gardens? Monday is Military Discount Day and active duty military, Coast Guard, police, fire and rescue all are entitled to a discount. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are Senior Days. Also, anyone who attends one of our free classes is entitled to a discount on the day of the class. All of our discounts apply to any item not already on sale and can not be used towards landscaping services or bulk materials.
Other Events:
Clean The Bay Day
Saturday June 5th
Events are happening around the region, come out and do your part. For more information visit here.
Calcareous Ravines--A Habitat where Mountain Plants survive in the Coastal Plain
Saturday June 26th, 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Presented by the Williamsburg Botanic Garden, participants will see a model of a Calcareous Ravine exhibiting the unique microhabitats that support certain "mountain species" that in nature also grow in limey soil in deep ravines in the coastal plain of Virginia. This free event will be held at Freedom Park and will be led by Dr. Donna Ware and Dr. Gerald "Jerry" Johnson of William and Mary. More information is here.
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Attract Butterflies with These Colorful Annuals and Perennials
Baby Sun Coreopsis | Who wouldn't want to spend time tending a garden with the added bonus of graceful butterflies flitting around nearby? It's easy to attract these "flying jewels" with a little sun and the right combination of plants. Flowers in the Compositae family (shaped like daisies) and plants with clusters
of tiny flowers are always a good choice because they provide nice flat landing pads where butterflies can rest and feed. Butterflies like a lot of the sun-loving annuals and perennials you already may be growing, but the
Profusion FIre Zinnia | addition of a few host plants for their young is an easy way to keep butterflies in your area longer. Plant some parsley and fennel and you'll see Swallowtails. Remember that the beautiful Monarch butterfly must have plants in the Asclepias (Milkweed) family for egg-laying.
Ann Marie Lantana | Many gardeners are already familiar with tough annual lantanas, but they aren't aware that 'Miss Huff', 'Star Landing' and a few others are hardy in our area. Sometimes, though, a bright pink, soft lavender or pure white tropical lantana is just the color you need for that special container combination! Since lantanas bloom until frost, you'll definitely get your money's worth ---even if you select the annual type.
Nicky Phlox | Petunias, vinca (check out the recently introduced Cora series that is resistant to aerial phytophthera), cosmos, zinnias, tithonia, dianthus, gazania, impatiens and sweet alyssum are annuals that will keep the butterflies in your garden for months. Goldfinches will also visit your garden if you let a few flowers go to seed on cosmos. You may want to find out more about 'Snow Princess' Lobularia, a recent introduction that was all over ads in our trade magazines last fall. This long-blooming sterile cultivar was heat and humidity tested in places like Texas, Georgia and Florida and it passed with flying colors..
Pomegranate Yarrow | When selecting perennials, try to extend the season of bloom past late spring and summer. When the "kids" become butterflies in the summer they are looking for a nectar source, and late bloomers like asters, Eupatorium coelestinum, goldenrod, ironweed and helianthus are just the thing. "Bread and butter" perennials for summer enjoyment include garden phlox, coreopsis, 'Becky' daisy, bee balm, gaillardia, Asclepias tuberosa and incarnata, liatris, salvias and verbenas. While you're visiting us check out tall and airy Verbena bonariensis, a goldfinch and butterfly favorite.
Cape Plumbago | Removing old flowers from perennials and annuals (deadheading) will keep them blooming longer, as well as looking better, and therefore there will be more nectar for your flying friends. Remember that you should not use pesticides in your butterfly garden since these chemicals will kill butterflies. Now, research a few of these selections online and get yourself to the garden center. The butterflies are waiting!
Ann Weber |
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What's New In The Hydrangea House
Last month I wrote about some of the new Roses for 2010. This month I would like to introduce you to some the newer Hydrangeas we are carrying. Every year there seem to be so many new varieties available, and there is no way I could carry or try all of them, no matter how much I want to. I usually decide which of the new Hydrangeas to carry based on several factors: what I have read on-line and in trade magazines, from the recommendation of other nursery people, what the growers are going to promote and advertise, and often just because of my own personal whim.
Invincibelle Spirit | Perhaps the most exciting new Hydrangea of the year, and the most heavily promoted, will be Invincibelle Spirit ™ (Hydrangea arborescens 'NCHA1'). A breakthrough in Hydrangea breeding, this is the first pink version of 'Annabelle'. It will grow 3-4' tall, is also more vigorous than 'Annabelle', reblooms, plus a portion of the proceeds go to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Incrediball  | There is also another "new" 'Annabelle' called Incrediball™ (H. arobrescens 'Abetwo'). This variety was bred to have very large white blooms with four times the number of flowers that 'Annabelle' has. With such large flowers you need to have stronger stems so they stay upright, and Incrediball™ does. This plant should mature to 4-5' tall and wide.
Blushing Bride | If you are already fond of Hydrangeas, than you likely know about or have an Endless Summer™. This was the first widely promoted re-blooming Hydrangea. However, maybe you have not heard of the two newest from this series. 'Blushing Bride' (H. macrophylla 'Blushing Bride') will also repeat bloom until
Twis-n-Shout | fall, but the color of this mophead is white blushed with the palest of blue or pink. The latest from this series is Twist-n-Shout™ (H. macrophylla 'PHIIM') which is a re-blooming lace cap flower that will either be pink or periwinkle blue depending on your soil pH. Another nice feature of this variety is its sturdy red stems and red fall foliage color.
Big Daddy | While not new this year, we have really come to like 'Big Daddy' (H. macrophylla 'Big Daddy'). At 12-14" across, the pink or blue mophead flowers could be called gigantic. Fortunately the branches and stems of this one are appropriately sturdy, and the overall size
Fuji Waterfall | should top out at 5-6'. I also really like 'Big Daddy's large glossy green foliage. Another relatively new variety is 'Fuji Waterfall' (H. macrophylla 'Fuji Waterfall'). Several of us fell in love-at-first-sight with this Hydrangea when we saw it bloom. The fresh, white, lace cap blooms cascade down in a tiered effect.
This spring we have other new hydrangeas available for sale, but I wanted to especially mention those above. If you would like to know more, I will be teaching a class on Hydrangeas the 19th as part of our Flower Festival. You can register directly in our Events Calendar on this newsletter, or give us a call.
Les Parks |
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Summer Lawn Care
Summers can be brutal in the Tidewater area. With lots of sun and very little if any rain your lawn will usually show damage by the end of July. However, with proper maintenance and a few preventative measures you can lessen these effects and have a healthier and more beautiful stand of grass. I have compiled a few tips that I hope will benefit you with this task.
Warm season grass can be any of the following: Bermuda, Centipede, Zoysia and St. Augustine. These grasses are best suited to our area since they can stand up better to less water in the warm months. However, they will still show signs if damage if proper maintenance is not done. Mowing height for this group of grasses should be 1" to 1.5". NO LONGER!! Fertilizing is also very important and should be done twice during the growing season. The first application should be when the grass breaks dormancy in the mid-spring and then again in July. Remove the thatch before it becomes to hot. This promotes good air circulation and allows the running tips of these grasses to make contact with the soil which will make a thicker and denser lawn. Anytime you can increase the number of grass plants you reduce your weed growth and that is a very good thing! Reducing thatch also helps to reduce the insects and fungus growth. Several insects such as fleas, ticks and cinch bugs will live there. So take away their home. You and your pets will be much happier. Fungus, many times, gets its start in thatch due to water being trapped in the layers and not evaporating or being soaked up by the plants. This also hinders any watering that you will do.
For those of you that have cool season grass (fescue and heat tolerant bluegrass) you already know our summers will require you to do lots of watering. This is probably the #1 summer task for this type of grass. Lawns need one inch of water per week to keep them green and healthy. Always water in the morning to allow time for it to evaporate which in turn will help eliminate fungus development. Treating your lawn with a fungicide from late spring through the summer months would also be beneficial. All fungicide has directions for the prevention of and curing of lawn fungus. Mow your lawn to a height of 3.5", and no fertilizer until you reseed in fall. Weed killers are also a bad idea until August. Make sure to check on all bags of herbicide (before using) the time frame for reseeding. Believe me, you do not want to miscalculate your reseeding times. Last but not least check in July or early August for white grubs. As we all know those are future Japanese beetles and it is far easier to take care of them now instead of later.
I hope these tips have helped somewhat in your quest for a great summer lawn and as usual please come by the Garden Center or e-mail any questions you have. We are always here to help!
Margie Cooper |
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