News from Wedel's Nursery, Florist and Garden Center

This past September we gardeners have enjoyed many comfortable days to work in our gardens. Ample rains and mild temperatures have encouraged both gardens and gardeners. Earlier sundown and cooler nights are gentle reminders that Southwest Michigan's growing season is coming to a close. As our annual flowering plants bid us good bye and the burning bush out by the vegetable garden begins to turn red, we are reminded that we had better be about our autumn landscape and garden projects. Let's use every good October gardening day to help our lawns, gardens, and landscapes look their best next spring.

October always presents a flood of landscape, lawn and garden opportunities. Experienced gardeners know taking advantage of every good day to plant, fertilize and weed, will reap great dividends next year with plants that will bloom better, have earlier spring green up and enjoy fewer pest problems.

Need some inspiration to jump start your landscape improvement project? I suggest first walking or riding through several neighborhoods, parks, or the local countryside. Take note of attractive shrubs and trees, pick a few leaves, then pay a visit to Wedel's Garden Center. We will identify the plant of interest and show you the plants that will grow best for you and improve your landscape enjoyment.

Wedel's nursery sales area is bursting with fresh plants just received from our nursery farm including beautiful sugar and scarlet maples, bright lush green arborvitae, white pine, hemlock, concolor fir, black hills and blue spruce evergreens, and brilliant Alatus Compacta Burning Bush. Hundreds of chrysanthemums have arrived in bright fall colors. Cheery pansy plants are anxious to brighten up any garden. Flowering kale and cabbage are real show-stoppers. Check out the beautiful asters in blue, red and pink that will repeat bloom year after year. Also in the greenhouse are over 300 varieties of tulips, hyacinths, crocus, daffodils, and a host of specialty bulbs to tantalize every gardener.

Our spring bulb selection is bound to inspire every green thumber.

Planting spring flowering Dutch bulbs every autumn is high on the priority list for most gardeners. This fall, let's take on the challenge to plant bulb partners. Here are some flower combinations that will thrill the eye next spring. Try mid-season Delft Blue Hyacinth with Princess Irene salmon-pink tulips. Another mid-season combination winner is the Narcissus Professor Einstein, which is a large-cupped daffodil in clear white with a flat orange cup, planted with Fritillaria Persica with its thirty-inch spires of plum bell flowers. Another winner would be Blue Grape Hyacinths with Kikomachi Tulip and Flower Record Narcissus with its large-cupped white and yellow bloom. You'd also enjoy Francoise tulip with its soft white flame with yellow bloom planted with yellow Mona Lisa tulips. Parrot tulips bloom in my one-quarter shade, three-quarters sunny garden usually until just after Memorial Day. My favorite Parrot Tulip is Estelle Rijnveld with its red and white petals.

You've seen them in their full glory lighting up the landscape beds on 12th Street and Texas Drive every spring at Wedel's Garden Center. They are none other than Wedel's Pride Tulips. These extra-large blooming tulips on sturdy stems are the hit of the spring flower gardens. Pride tulips are choice Darwin Hybrids that, unlike most tulips, grow a much larger bulb which develops a larger flower. Pride tulips bloom between mid April to mid May. Pride of Texas Township is golden yellow, Pride of Kalamazoo bright red, Pride of Michigan striking pink, and Pride of Portage ivory white. Want outstanding spring garden color? Plant Pride tulips.

Don't miss one of the greatest shows on earth, a beautiful spring bulb garden. This fall, when planting your spring bulb garden, be sure your selection includes bulbs that will give continuous blooms from March through June. For successful bulb plantings, plant in well-drained soil at the correct depth with a teaspoon of Espoma Bulb Tone fertilizer under each bulb.

Another very important project is applying fall fertilizer now to encourage lawns to thicken up. With the weather changes at this time of year bringing shorter days and cooler nights, the turf grows less rapid vertically than occurs in the spring. More lateral growth now results in improvement of turf density after the rigors of summer, so an application of Lawn Pro Winter Guard in the fall deserves top priority. Fertilizing now also encourages turf so that more of the carbohydrates manufactured by photosynthesis will be stored, building energy for early spring green-up.

There is still time to improve lawn soil. If you suspect your lawn soil is too compact, bring samples into Wedel's lawn turf experts for testing. Compact lawn soil will be greatly improved by running a coring machine over the turf and then applying gypsum and Clay Soil Conditioner. Be sure to irrigate lawn with one and one-half inches of water twenty-four to thirty-six hours before coring.

When the ground is not frozen under the security of deep snow, moles begin to plow up your favorite turf. To avoid winter mole damage to lawns and flower gardens, I suggest applying Repellex Mole Repellent soon. I have found one application of Repellex gives me four to five months of mole relief in our yard.

Want a weed-free lawn next spring? If so, kill perennial and bi-annual broadleaf weeds now. One spray of Weed Free Zone broadleaf weed killer in October will assure you of a dandelion-free lawn next spring. Weed Free Zone works well in cool fall weather.

As the tree leaves fall on lawns, be sure to remove them quickly or pulverize them with a mulching lawn mower before they smother grass and cause bare spots. Michigan State Uuniversity research shows that tree leaves, when chopped fine, may be left on the lawn. Sharpening the mower blades will help grind the leaves finer. Take care that the pulverized leaves do not cover the grass blades entirely.

Now is the time to cut down all dormant perennial flower and leaf stems that have turned from their normal green. Leave stems six inches tall to help catch and hold snow. Next, and most important, feed perennial plants now. The following is George's fertilizer recipe that works very well in Joyce's perennial flower garden. Mix well in a half bushel size container ten pounds of composted cow manure, one cup of bone meal, five cups of Plant Tone and one cup of Plant Sure Plus with Mycorrhiza. Apply one cup of the mix around each medium size plant. Scratch in three inches deep. This is a sure formula for healthy, strong blooming perennial plants next year.

This is also the best time of year to fertilize deciduous shade trees. In October and November before the soil freezes, trees expand their root systems and store up energy for next spring's growth. Homeowners who value their trees should care for them this autumn. I recommend using Espoma Tree Tone fertilizer around every tree. This is my proven method: pour one-half cup of Tree Tone in holes two feet apart under the tree. Drill feeding holes in three circles, one at the drip line, one five feet beyond, and another five feet inside the drip line. For oaks and nut trees, begin with the circle of feeding holes at the drip line and work back to the tree trunk. Use a tree feeding auger attached to a cordless drill to speed up the task. After feeding trees, irrigate them with two inches of water.

Feeding rose bushes in late autumn is the secret for more vigorous plants and blooms next season. Fertilize rose bushes the first week in November with one-third cup Espoma Super Phosphate and five pounds of composted cow manure. Cultivate this mixture in three inches deep around each rose bush.

Autumn soil moisture for woody plants is critical for the ability of trees and shrubs to absorb mineral nutrients and translocate foods to storage before leaf fall. One or two good, long soakings can help your trees and shrubs to better acclimate for winter. This is especially true for plants planted this year that have not established their root systems as well as older plantings. Lastly, do not underestimate the importance of mulch in conserving soil moisture. Mulch also helps insulate the soil and protects roots during the early cold snaps.

It is time to lift out summer bulbs that will not take the cold weather. One of these evenings soon we will experience a killing frost. Be sure to have begonias, cannas, and other tender bulbs dug before the cold soil or frost injures the tubers, rhizomes, and bulbs. If these roots become too cold, they won't store well over the winter. It is very important to be weather wise right now. I winter store these tubers in large pots packed with Fertilome potting soil placed in a cool corner of the basement. Stop in to Wedel's for a complete bulb and tuber storage instruction sheet.

Now is the time to begin applying rabbit and deer repellents to plants susceptible to winter feeding. Laws banning hunting in some localities have increased deer damage to landscape and native plants tremendously. Both deer and rabbits begin to browse on woody plants after the first hard frost. I recommend Repellex Deer and Rabbit Repellent to protect valuable plants. Repellex can be purchased in a pre-mixed sprayer or as a concentrate and applied with any compression hand sprayer. For best protection, spray now, in mid-December, and again in February.

Whenever you have gardening questions, feel free to come to Wedel's Nursery, Florist, and Garden Center, your twelve-month horticultural center. The nursery is stocked full of beautiful trees, shrubs, and fresh dug evergreens. Our experienced Michigan Certified Nursery Specialists and Master Gardeners are always happy to help you any day, any season.