Greetings!
Yard work season is almost done. If you haven't laid down a winter lawn fertilizer do that now. Reduce your mower height from 3 inches to 2.5 inches. If the leaves on the ground are light, mow over them and keep it as mulch.
Water evergreens and young trees until the ground freezes.
Wait until the dormant season to prune trees and shrubs for cosmetic or structural purposes. Remove diseased/dead branches now.
Hold off on pruning trees susceptible to fire blight right now. Wait until late winter. The most commonly affected are: pear, apple, crabapple, mountain ash and cotoneaster.
Cattales is taking the winter off and will reappear in late winter. Have a wonderful holiday season and joyous New Year. |
| ID and Remove Buckthorn |
 Drive by a wooded area in late fall and you'll see first-hand how invasive buckthorn is. When everything else has gone dormant, all the green understory vegetation is buckthorn. The two buckthorn varieties invading our woodlands is common and glossy buckthorn. It is a problem because it out-competes native vegetation and degrades wildlife habitat.
Glossy buckthorn has been sold by the nursery trade in two different forms. The cultivar Columnar is has a narrow and tall form; the cultivar Aspenifolia spreads up to 10 feet and has narrow leaves that give it a ferny texture. Common or European buckthorn has small alternate simple leaves, black berries, and a flaky bark. The side branches have short terminal spurs, or thorns, which are literally a pain if you try to remove the plant. Glossy buckthorn has leaves similar to those of European buckthorn, but it has smooth bark and no spurs. The fruits are less numerous than those of European buckthorn.
During the summer, buckthorns sometimes resemble a number of small trees, including wild plum and some cherry trees. Fall is the easiest time to identify buckthorn. The leaves of buckthorns do not change color until late in the fall, after most other trees have changed. The berries usually stay on the branches until March.
Cut down all buckthorn trees greater than 3 inches in diameter. Dig out the stumps or treat them with an herbicide. Of the several chemicals that work well, the two most common ones are glyphosate (Roundup) and triclopyr (Brush-B-Gon). Pull up small trees (less than 1 inch) by hand. They do not have strong roots. Remove seedlings with a hoe. |
| What's Blooming? |
 Often overlooked in foundation plantings is having plants with winter interest. With easily 5 out of our 12 months being winter, plants with interesting bark, shape and form, and persistant fruit are critical. Evergreens are always a good choice to provide color and texture, but there are other plants we can consider for their winter interest.
Prunus maackii, amur chokecherry, is a large ornamental tree. Because of its glossy, amber to reddish brown to cinnamon-brown bark, it is identifiable a mile away. As a young tree, its habit is pyramidal and becomes more rounded with maturity. White fragrant flowers appear in May and are followed by red fruit that matures to black in August.
Amur chokecherry grows 25' - 50' by 25' feet tall and wide and is tolerant to zone 2. Plant in full sun in moist, well drained soil. Because of its beautiful bark use amur chokecherry as a specimen plant or patio tree.
When planting take extra care with the root ball to remove circling roots. |
I welcome your feedback on the newsletter. If there are topics you want to learn more about, please email me at nancy.dahl@integra.net.
Sincerely,
Nancy Thorman Dahl, CLP
Cattail Design LLC
Creative Designs for Land and Lakeshore | |
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| Eco-friendly Tip |
Be more green with your holiday traveling by purchasing renewable energy credits. |
Looking for an alternative holiday gift for someone who does not need a thing? Want a way to off-set your carbon footprint with all of your holiday traveling? There are a number of options to choose from to meet your needs. The Arbor Day Foundation has their Trees in Memory and Trees in Celebration programs which plant Jack Pine Trees in our nation's forests which have been destroyed by fire, disease or insect. Currently, they are planting trees in Huron-Manistee National Forest. At BeGreenNow.com you can offset your carbon emissions from your holiday travels by purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) from solar, wind and biomass facilities. Trees for the Future has been helping communities around the world plant trees. Through seed distribution, agroforestry training, and country programs, they have empowered rural groups to restore tree cover to their lands. Tree Planting Certificates and Adopt-a-Village sponsorships are available. American Forests' Global ReLeaf campaign has been planting native trees in rural and urban ecosystem restoration projects across the United States and around the world. About 85% of American Forests' projects occur in the United States and 15% are international efforts. Designate a contribution to a specific campaign such as Katrina ReLeaf, California Wildfire ReLeaf, or Trees for Tigers.
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