George Wedel

Happy 4th of July!  It sure is amazing how fast the spring days and months flew by. Equally amazing was how beautiful a spring God blessed us with. Seldom are there so many plants in bloom at the same time. The flower parade began early and stayed late with crocus, tulips, and daffodils leading out; magnolia, forsythia, lilac, and crab trees following; rhododendron, peonies, and dogwood near the end. But wait! Your blossom parade need not stop! Well-planned landscapes and gardens will continue with their parade of color every season of the year. Any garden can be just as attractive in July as in May with the inclusion of the right plants. Liven up green gardens now by planting perennial white Shasta Daisies, hybrid lilies in white, pink, orange, yellow, and red, astilbe in pink, golden coreopsis, Blue Hills Salvia, and the rainbow of yellow, red, pink, and orange daylilies.

To liven up landscape plantings, I suggest planting some summer blooming shrubs. Summer flowering shrub choices are many and include some of the following.

Clethra is often called Summersweet.  Clethra Hummingbird has white flowers and Ruby Spice has a bright pink bloom. July and August are bloom time for Clethra. An added bonus, Clethra grows well in 80% shade or full sun and can tolerate very wet or normal soil conditions. Use Clethera as a three to four foot background plant for perennial plantings or as an ornamental. You'll not only enjoy the summer blooms, but also great green glossy summer leaves and autumn yellow foliage. And the scent! Clethra is very fragrant.

Repeat blooming hydrangeas are always a favorite. There are several new varieties at Wedel's this year including Vanilla Strawberry, Invincibelle Spirit and Pink Annabelle. Blossoms of the Vanilla Strawberry open white, change to pink and then to strawberry. Since it is a repeat bloomer you will have blossoms of all three colors at the same time. Invincibelle Spirit hydrangea is the very first pink flowered, mop-head form of Hydrangea arborescens. The blooms are extremely attractive both in the landscape and as a cut flower. The Pink Annabelle; finally a pink hydrangea that's not fussy and is great for sun or shade. It's a very hardy excellent performer.

Other colorful summer blooming shrubs are Buddleia (Butterfly Bush), Althea Rose of Sharon, hydrangea, Itea, potentilla, weigela, and eight colors of spirea.

Ornamental trees with great summer value include my favorite, Tiger Eyes Goldleaf Sumac. This baby takes the prize as an all-season stand out. Tiger Eyes has bright yellow compound leaves, a dwarf habit and makes any green area of the landscape really come alive. Other outstanding trees that will liven up the summer landscape include Weeping or Tri-color Beech, white bark White Spire Clump Birch, Weeping Camperdown Elm, Weeping Katsura, Purple Leaf Smoke Tree, Royal Red Leaf Maple, and Weeping Mulberry. These trees will be all-year assets to any landscape.

Why settle for a landscape full of "straight as soldiers" trees? Liven up your landscape with a few weeping deciduous or evergreen trees. Think "outside the box". Let your imagination run. Plan and then plant now for a more colorful and interesting landscape and garden to enjoy this summer and for many years to come.  Each day, month, and season our gardens provide so much beauty and enjoyment. Has yours reached its full potential? For help adding more colorful plants to your landscape and garden, visit Wedel's Nursery, Florist, and Garden Center where ideas abound and a vast array of plants are anxious to move to your home.

 
Current maintenance needs in most landscapes include:  With the onset of summer weather, be alert for lawn disease problems. We have seen samples at the garden center this week of Rust, Melting Out, Leaf Spot, Patch, and Fusarium Blight. If any of these are showing up in your lawn, be sure to apply Scotts dry Lawn Disease Control or Banner Systemic Fungicide spray to stop lawn diseases in their tracks before they do even more damage. If in doubt about what might be causing brown spots in your lawn, bring in a six-inch by six-inch by six-inch size turf sample to Wedel's Diagnostic Center for identification and a prescription for cure.

Remember, keep lawn mower cutting height at three to three and one-half inches. Scalping lawns with a low cut now will encourage poor turf density, stress, and conditions for more crabgrass and broadleaf weed problems. Mowing turf at the highest setting will encourage deeper grass roots, which conserves moisture and discourages weeds.

Bacterial Speck, Bacterial Leaf Spot, Early Blight, and Anthracnose are showing up on tomato plants.  Tomato leaves, stems, and fruit can all be affected. Keep plants sprayed with Daconil 2787 to control these tomato diseases.

Colorado potato beetles are very numerous this season. Check your potato plants daily. When Colorado potato beetles are present, spray plants with Spinosad to control them.

Check cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and other cole plants often for cabbage worm damage. Sevin or Pyrethrin will control cabbage worms.

For homeowners, there is no registered weed control for sweet corn. I have found that the "old timer's" method works very well.  I continually mound up loose soil at the base of corn plants. This not only smothers and controls weeds, but the mounded soil provides for better support and stronger stalks because the air roots grow into the added soil. Hill up or mound sweet corn about every two weeks.

Now that spring flowering shrubs have finished blooming, it is time to shape them up. By shaping up, I mean it is time to prune them to the shape you desire for the plant.  Many folks hesitate to prune for fear of harming a favorite shrub. I've always felt that pruning never harms, but only improves plants. Pruning will make all shrubs more compact and produce more blooms on a stronger plant. 

 
Some perennial flowers will bloom more than once a season if spent flowers are dead-headed. Cutting of the flower stems will, of course, enhance the beauty of the garden, but it will also encourage some perennials to have a second burst of blooms. To encourage a second bloom time on perennial flowers, be sure to scatter Flower Tone under plants and soak foliage and root zone with Fertilome Blooming and Rooting water-soluble fertilizer. The same techniques apply to annual bedding plants; trim off old flowers, feed every ten days with Bloom Booster, and keep them evenly moist.

Fall flowering garden mums and asters should be pinched back now. Tall, ungainly asters and mums in our autumn gardens are seldom an asset. By pinching or pruning mums back now to about eight inches tall, they will grow more compact and attractive this fall with many more blooms.

Recently, I've noticed the top leader stem on many white pine and spruce trees are curved and bent over. As white pine weevil feed under the bark of the leader stems, they will bend over into a shepherd's crook shape and usually die, thus changing the tree shape. Infested trees should be noted and sprayed next spring. Control white pine weevils with a spray of 38 Plus in late April and again in mid-May. This October, use a soil drench of Fertilome Systemic Insect Drench around trunks of white pines and spruce.

When the central leader of a pine or spruce tree is deformed, a new leader can be encouraged to develop by tying the next lateral shoot in an erect position with a bamboo stick and stretchy plant ties.

Cooley Spruce Galls will be opening soon to discharge the aphids from inside the gall. These galls, which look a bit like small pineapples, occur on the branch tips of Colorado Spruce. Before they open, cut off and destroy them. This October, apply a soil drench of Systemic Insect control and next spring in May a spray of 38 Plus will prevent your prized spruce from being disfigured.

A well tended lawn and garden will naturally attract moles. In the summer moles move from dry neighbors' yards and adjoining fields to well maintained lawns. My solution to the mole problem is Repellex Mole repellant and Grubex. The nearest lawn to my yard is a quarter mile away yet we are nearly mole-free. A spray of Repellex in the spring and autumn and a yearly application of Grubex in July works for my lawn.