Sanhedrin Nursery – Garden Blog

• Asparagus plants should be fed with good, rich compost when you have finished cutting spears. Keep the bed mulched and weed-free all summer, and the soil moist.

• Colorful Gerberas, or Transvaal Daisies, with their large, daisy flowers are a standout in containers. Water them infrequently and give them plenty of sun for flowers all summer.

• Earwigs are out and about and hungry. Control them with the new “Sluggo Plus”, or diatomaceous earth sprinkled around the plants, or go out after dark with a flashlight and a spray bottle of Safer’s Insecticidal Soap. One squirt will put an end to the spoiler.

• Tomatoes are the most popular summer vegetable. Choose from the many varieties available now so you can enjoy delicious home-grown flavor.

• When you plant your vegetable garden, why not grow a little extra to donate to the food bank this summer.

Lovely Japanese Maples

Japanese maples are beautiful in every season, from the new growth emerging in spring to the wonderful leaf textures through the summer to the bright fall colors and finally the artistic arrangement of their bare branches in winter.

While most small trees are grown for their fleeting flowers, Japanese maples are grown for the beauty of their leaves, which come in a great variety of shapes and colors. For hundreds of years, the feudal lords of Japan bred and selected trees to find ever more beautiful specimens. Today there are hundreds of cultivars of both Japanese and Western origin.

The leaves of the most familiar cultivars look like stars because they are divided into five to seven sharply pointed lobes. On some trees, the lobes are further divided giving the leaves a lovely feathery or lacy appearance.

Leaf colors range from yellow-green to dark green, and from bright red to deep blood red. There are also trees with variegated leaves that are green outlined with white or gold. Red-leaved trees are the most prized. In an otherwise green landscape, a red Japanese maple makes a stunning accent.

Japanese maples are divided into groups based on the shape of their leaves. But generally speaking, they grow either as trees or shrubs.

‘Bloodgood’ is a vigorous lawn tree with deep, dark red leaves that hold their color well. It grows to 15 feet tall and wide, turns bright red in the fall, and is a dependable, sturdy tree.

‘Sango kaku’ is a popular tree for its bright coral red bark in the winter, pale yellow-green leaves in spring and apricot and gold fall color. It can grow to 20 feet in the landscape or be kept at 8 feet in a container.

Many of the smaller mounding types have finely dissected leaves. Typically they grow to 6 feet in the landscape, or 4 feet in a container. ‘Garnet’ is fast-growing with a rich red-orange color that develops best with some sun. ‘Inaba shidare’ is a more upright grower with a cascading form. The deep purple-red leaves retain their color better than others in the hot summer months. Fall color is a brilliant crimson red. ‘Tamukeyama’ has a lovely weeping habit and deep purplish-red leaves in the summer. It does well in hot situations. ‘Viridis’ has green, finely dissected leaves that will burn in hot sun. The golden fall leaves are touched with crimson.

Japanese maples thrive in moist but well-drained, slightly acid soil in sun or part shade. The red-leaved cultivars need ample sunlight to develop their best color. Shade from afternoon sun and protection from drying winds will keep the leaves looking their best. Occasional watering, once a week in dry periods, and a light fertilizing in the spring will keep them healthy and beautiful.

Good under oaks, as background for ferns and azaleas, or as a small tree for patios and entryways, Japanese maples are beautiful landscape trees.

• Mother’s Day is the perfect time to give a gift of a living plant. Rhododendrons, lilacs, hanging fuchsias and ivy geraniums are sure to please her.

• Plant an herb garden in a container near the kitchen door for convenient fresh spices like basil, oregano, parsley and thyme.

• Rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias provide lots of beautiful flowers for the shady spring garden. Choose now.

• Mulch blueberry plants with aged sawdust and feed with cottonseed meal or an acid fertilizer.

• Flowering dogwood trees are blooming now to help you choose a beautiful small tree for a focal point in your garden.

What’s New in Roses?

The 2013 AARS Winner, Francis Meilland, will be the last in a long line of famous roses. After this year, the All-America Rose Selection (AARS) program will be discontinued.

The Francis Meilland rose is named to commemorate the 100th birthday of Francis Meilland the breeder of the historic Peace rose. When Meilland foresaw the German invasion of France he sent cuttings to friends in Italy, Turkey, Germany, and the United States to protect the new rose. It took on different names in each country, but in the U.S. it became known as the Peace rose. The name was publicly announced on April 29, 1945, the very day that Berlin fell, considered the end of the Second World War in Europe.

The Francis Meilland rose has large, 5-inch, high-centered blooms of soft, shell pink that emit a wonderful fragrance that everyone identifies with a ‘real rose’. Though it will be white in the heat of the summer, the strong, fruity and citrussy fragrance will perfume the air. Francis Meilland is the first hybrid tea rose to win under no-spray conditions, so its dark green foliage should look good all summer.

Ch-Ching! is a beautiful golden yellow rose with an occasional kiss of ruby-red. A true grandiflora, Ch-Ching! provides clusters of elegant high-centered blooms against dark green foliage and deep red new growth. Vigorous plants grow 3-6′ tall with a spread of 3-4′ and have outstanding natural disease resistance. The strong fragrance is spicy and fruity.

The new novelty rose, Ketchup & Mustard, is a conspicuous red and yellow bicolor, with red on the upper side of the petals and yellow on the backside. The floriferous, rounded plants filled with extremely glossy green foliage bloom in flushes throughout the season. It will be a conversation piece in any garden.

The long lovely pointed buds of We Salute You open slowly to tones of glowing orange, then turn to warm pink, giving two distinct colors in each lovely bloom – orangey on the inside and pinky on the outside. The big open blossoms are carried on long stems clothed with very deep green highly-glossed leaves. Warm weather brings out the best flower colors. 

Purple Splash climbing rose bears large clusters of wine-purple blooms streaked with white and accented with sunny yellow centers. It flowers repeatedly from midsummer into fall, with the aroma of sweet apples. Climbing to 10-14 ft., it does best in full sun.

Spice up your garden with a fragrant new rose and enjoy its lovely blossoms all summer.

• Petunias can be planted now. Their bright flowers will bloom all summer in hot, sunny locations and they will take a light frost.

• It’s time to put out oriole feeders. You can also attract them with fresh orange halves.

• Flower seeds can be sown directly in the garden now. Cosmos, marigolds and zinnias will give you beautiful flowers all summer.

• Feed roses to encourage a beautiful display of color later this month. Treat plants to prevent insect and disease problems.

• Plant the vegetable garden this month, but remember that late frosts can still nip tender young plants.

Helping the Good Bugs

Not all bugs are bad bugs. In fact there are many bugs that don’t eat plants at all, they feed on other insects. By encouraging these beneficial insects, you can maintain a natural balance in your garden and reduce damage done by insect pests with a minimum of pesticide sprays.

Insects that feed on other insects are divided into two types, the predators and the parasites. Predators move around looking for plant feeders such as aphids, mites and caterpillars. Lacewing larvae and ladybug larvae and adults aggressively devour aphid populations. Ground beetles prey on a variety of ground-dwelling pests like cutworms, root maggots and slug eggs. Predatory mites attack spider mites and two-spotted mites feed on many plants and can be a real problem in hot dry weather. Beneficial nematodes attack root pests like cutworms, weevils and grubs.

Parasites are insects that develop in the bodies of other “host” insects. Most parasites are tiny wasps or flies whose larvae eat other insects from within. Tiny parasitoid wasps are aggressive beyond their size when it comes to pursuing aphids and caterpillars. They provide a very effective means of insect control.

Ladybugs, Tricho-Gramma wasps, predatory mites and beneficial nematodes can be purchased to put in your garden or greenhouse.

These various beneficial insects consume large numbers of pest insects, but their diets are not limited to other insects. In fact, many of the beneficial species have periods in their life cycles when they survive only on nectar and pollen. So by planting a variety of insect-attracting plants you can keep beneficial insects going strong.

There are two plant groups that are particularly attractive to beneficial insects. They are the parsley or carrot family and the daisy or sunflower family. Most beneficial insects have short mouthparts and cannot reach far into a flower for nectar and pollen. The small flowers on these plants put pollen and nectar within reach of these tiny insects.

The carrot family includes many herbs such as anise, dill, fennel, and cilantro and vegetables such as carrots, parsley and celery. The flowers of these plants are arranged in clusters called umbels which are shaped like an umbrella. They produce large amounts of nectar as well as shelter for insect-feeding insects, another critical requirement. To take advantage of their nectar, you just let a few of your carrot, parsley and celery plants go to seed.

The sunflower family is the largest family of flowers on the planet. These “flowers” are actually made up of dozens or hundreds of tiny flowers clustered together. This family includes yarrows, marigolds, zinnias, asters, calendulas, chrysanthemums, cosmos and many more. While these plants have less nectar than those of the parsley family, the flowers last a long time, and with planning, you can have some in bloom throughout the growing season.

Alyssum, borage, statice, various clovers and yarrows also attract parasitoid and predatory insects. Low-growing plants, such as thyme, rosemary, or mint, provide shelter for ground beetles and other beneficial insects.

Get to know what the good bugs look like and lure them to your garden by growing these attractive flowers. In a few years, you may find that you just don’t need insecticides any more.