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All Star Award

 A Gold Medal

Goes To...
 A gold medal goes to...

Michele Bouma. Michele was the first to submit the correct answer to our June trivia question: "What part of the banana is used to make banana oil?" The correct answer is "none." Banana oil, a synthetic compound made with amyl alcohol, is named for its banana-like aroma.

Michele won a $15.00 Wedel's gift certificate and you could too! Just be the first to respond with the correct answer to our monthly trivia question.
 
Congratulations, Michele!! 
A Thought
 from the Garden  
Ah, childhood!   

"I'd give all wealth

that years have piled,

The slow result of

Life's decay,

To be once more a little child

For one bright summer day."

 

~ Lewis Carroll, "Solitude"

Consider A

Butterfly Garden 

Your Garden

Swarms of butterflies can transform a backyard patch into a magic garden. But there's no mystical tip for making them flutter around your house. You see, butterflies are attracted to flowers that have a heavy perfume because they contain more carbohydrates that are needed to fuel their high-intensity mating and flower-pollinating.

 

A few butterfly favorites:

 

    * Milkweed 

    * Lantana 

    * Valerian

    * Zinnia 

    * Buddleia

    * Red zinnias

    * Orange marigolds

    * Lavender.

 

Be sure to plant these flowers in a sunny spot that's protected from high wind. And don't use a light touch -- butterflies love abundant patches of nectar.

 

Another tip: Plan the flowers so that you have at least a few nectar-bearing blooms throughout the summer months, that will keep the butterflies from having to seek out new feeding grounds.  

 

Just for Grins... 

"A man should never plant a garden larger than his wife can take care of."  

-  T.H. Everett

    

Did You Know?

1. A pineapple is a berry.

 

2. An average ear of corn has 800 kernels, arranged in 16 rows.

3. Ginger has been clinically demonstrated to work twice as well as Dramamine for fighting motion sickness, with no side effects.

4. The plant life in the oceans make up about 85 percent of all the greenery on the Earth.

Wedel's News

Volume 4, Number 4                                                               July, 2011    
It Began With
A Beautiful Spring

by George Wedel
 
George Wedel  

As gardeners transition from one season to the next, let's slow down and put into our memory bank the beautiful spring God blessed us with this year. Tulip and daffodil blossoms lasted for weeks. Flowering trees have never been more beautiful from the early Amelanchier to the lilac trees still in bloom - it's been quite a show. Remember the early forsythia? They showed their golden flowers for nearly a month.

 

To help our landscapes and gardens continue to provide color and cheer all summer plant some of these beauties:  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. Wedel's grows and sells 16 summer blooming hydrangeas.

 

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

 

Have some spaces in your perennial garden that need some color? Why not drop in a few large, full of bloom, one gallon size annuals? Petunias, wax begonias, impatiens, galardias and marigolds are a few of the "blooming beauties" now available at Wedel's that will liven up any garden.

 

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 Siberian Pea, Weeping Filbert, 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. Irrigate lawns with one-half inch of water every third day. Irrigate between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

 

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.

 

Have a safe and happy 4th!

George 

Garden Natives 

Pickerel Rush

Pickerel Rush

The Pickerel Rush is a member of the Pontederiaceae family which includes the water hyacinth and is a native of North America. It bears shiny olive-green leaves that can grow to 8" x 3" making a narrow arrowhead shape. Flower spike clusters begin blooming in early summer and continue until fall. This water plant can grow to a height of 4 feet.

Plant in 2 to 3 clusters in a large container and locate so the roots are covered with 2 to 12 inches of water or plant directly in the aquatic soil in your pond. This plant is tolerant of varied conditions in that it will do as well in cool soil, when conditions are dry, as in a foot of water when conditions are more ideal.

The Pickerel Rush does well in partial shade to full sun however planting in full sun will result in the best display of blooms. Plan to fertilize 2 to 3 times per season. Valued not only for its beautiful ornamental qualities, this plant filters out great quantities of algae through its root system.

Wedel's carries both the cardata blue and pinkpon (pink) Pickerel Rush.

 

 
 
Store Hours  
Monday - Saturday
9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Independence Day 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.



To Do In July   


Apply Scotts Step 3.
Apply lawn disease control.
Apply Weed Free Zone for lawn weed control.
Feed roses, fertilize flower beds.
Stake plants.     
 
Fun Shopping
July Shopping List

Scotts Step 3

Fertilome Weed Free Zone  

Grass seed

Starter fertilizer

Scotts Lawn Fungus Control  

Repellex Mole Repellant 

Suet

Bird seed

Gift certificate

Bird feeder

Pruners

Pruning sealer

Plant labels, stakes, twist ties 

wkzo
Saturday Mornings

Birdwatch 8:07 a.m.
with host Roger Taylor answering all of your birding questions
Call in at 382-4280 or 877-382-4280.
  
Over the Garden Fence 9:07 a.m.
with host Andy Wedel answering all of your landscape and gardening questions
Call in at 382-4280 or 877-382-4280.

Visit our web site at www.wedels.com for archives of previous Birdwatch and
Over the Garden Fence programs!
 

  Note from the Editor    

  

Today is the first of July, the first day of the second half of the year. Time after time I'm surprised by how quickly time passes. And it isn't just me. Just about everyone I'm talking with says the same thing when the conversation involves time or seasons or milestones. It's July so it's time for the All Star Game. Didn't we just watch the homerun derby and all of the festivities surrounding the All Star Game? I'm not a sophisticated enough sports fan to have a favorite team other than our Detroit Tigers so I'm looking forward to seeing the Old English D representing in a few days.

 

It simply wasn't that long ago that I was looking forward to soon seeing the 2011 seed displays at Wedel's. (That was in December. Half a year ago. I'll be watching the deliveries arriving at the garden center, anxious to see the seed displays for 2012, in another half year...no time at all, right?) Speaking of seeds, the displays are shrinking but we still have lots of them. It's pretty late to plant some things but there's still time for others so stop by and have a look.

 

How is your summer going? Sure, the summer is only a few days old, by the calendar anyway, but remember all those things you were looking forward to when the cold winds were blowing and ice had to be scraped from the windshield? Now's the time. Make that addition to your landscaping, the new tree, shrub or flower bed or the addition of some new annuals or perennials. It might be tempting, after a long week of work, to say "I'll do it next weekend." If you're not careful you might find yourself arriving at next weekend only to find you're running out of shopping days for Christmas! I'm not trying to get all Latin on you but, tempus fugit...carpe diem!

 

Monday is the 4th of July and it looks like the weather will be ideal; sunny and a high of 83. Rain and storms are predicted for us tonight but the radar shows any precipitation traveling from the north due south to be straddling Kalamazoo. As Wikipedia says, "Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, family reunions, political speeches and ceremonies, and various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States. Independence Day is the national day of the United States."

 

I hope you have a great Independence Day celebration however you plan to celebrate. We'll be enjoying a patio picnic at my sister's house celebrating not only the 4th of July but the 21st birthday of one of my sister's kitties. Happy Birthday, Eppie! 

 

Ready for another trivia question? Here we go: What is the name of the evergreen shrub from which we get capers? The first reader to respond with the correct answer will win a $15.00 Wedel's gift certificate. The gift certificate must be picked up here at the garden center and remember, you are eligible to win once every 90 days. Good luck and have fun! 

 
'Til next time, have a safe and fun 4th of July!   
Jim
 
jimdavenport@wedels.com

"Blessed be the Lord for the beauty of summer and spring, for the air, the water, the verdure, and the song of birds."

-  Carl von Linnaeus