Growing Matters

Fall Clean up
Autumn is a time of maturity and rebuilding. Fall clean up is a ritual
that makes the landscape less cluttered and helps reduce unwanted
pests.
Kill Disease
The majority of leaves and grass clippings collected can be thrown
on the compost pile. However, diseased leaves such as tar spot on
maples, silver leaf on fruit trees and black spot on roses, should be
either disposed of and burnt or sent to a municipal dumping site. If
left behind or put in a compost heap that doesn't reach 70ºC to kill
the disease, the rotting leaves will provide a source for the disease
to spread. To control apple maggot, dropped apples should be disposed
of at the dump.
Mulch and Cover
Last winter we experienced a tremendous amount of root injury because
of the lack of snow. Mulching and covering of roses and tender
perennials needs to take place at the end of October or when the
temperature goes below minus 10ºC. Use flax straw and uninfected
leaves from the local trees to completely cover the plants. A good
thick layer of tree bark mulch is recommended to be placed around
collector trees such as Autumn Blaze Maple and Prairie Silk Honeylocust
to protect the roots, especially when there if no snow. Allowing
turf grass to grow close to the tree bole is recommended for the
collector trees so that the trees will shut down early and harden off
quicker.
Protect from Munchers
Don't forget plastic tree wraps for all the fruit trees that mice and
rabbits love to eat. These wraps should start at ground level and end
at least 1 foot above the average snow level. Two or three wraps
may be required, depending on the diameter of the tree. We install
plastic tree wraps where the migrating sapsuckers start pecking their
series of holes in the bark. The wraps tend to discourage them from
pecking and can be taken down once winter arrives.
Protect from Wind
On the prairies, burlap wrapping of cedars is a common practice, yet
this is not recommended. It is best to provide wind protection with
burlap similar to a political campaign sign rather than wrapping the
tree like a mummy. The burlap sign should protect the tree from the
prevailing winds and/or direct sun exposure and be far enough away
to allow air circulation around the tree. The tighter the mummy, the
more likelihood the tree will superheat and dry out. R.D.
Mikes Summer Review
This summer I traveled the Prairie Provinces visiting different
garden centers. Since I wear the hat of grower for a great deal
of the season I admire garden centers when it comes to the challenge
of watering plants. The vast majority of garden centers are
individually watering their plants. However, the many types of pots,
plants and soil media makes this task extremely challenging.
Growers in B.C. tend to have media that drains very well
due to their high rain fall and high relative humidity while prairie
growers favor a media with good water holding capacity due their
low relative humidity. An Ivory Silk Tree Lilac or Linden grown in
a prairie media but watered at the same frequency as the same tree
grown in BC media is a recipe for a disaster.
I suggest placing a round 5 cm color plastic disc on the top
of the media. Lets say green represents prairie media and white represent
B.C. media. Then the manager on a particular day could instruct
his staff today is a “white day” meaning only B.C. trees
would get water. This suggestion would not be appropriate for container
shrubs but keep on reading this newsletter and I may come up
with a solution in future issues. If you have a creative solution for
watering plants in the garden center that you would like to share
please write me a note.
M.T.
Nursery Information on the Web
For those of you who are “connected” the World Wide
Web provides an ever-growing collection of practical information
for nurseries and garden centers. I have put together a short list of
some of the best websites for useful information and photographs.
University of Connecticut Plant Database
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/a/a.html
North Carolina State University Nursery Crop Science Website
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/nursery/
Canada Hardiness Zone Map
http://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/nsdb/climate/hardiness/ph2000webmap.html
US Hardiness Zone Map
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/
Canadian Nursery & Landscape Association
http://www.canadanursery.com/canadanursery/index.lasso
P.R.
Research Highlights
• In 2004/2005, look for a hardier upright
cedar named ‘Sky Bound’ and an outstanding
new apple named ‘Gemini’.
Both will be available through Jeffries
Nurseries Ltd.
• We have recently selected some hardy
chrysanthemums and coral bells. These
new chrysanthemums will expand the
colour range while the corals bells will
be at least a zone hardier than the existing
variegated and purple cultivars
presently on the market. It is expected
that these new perennial varieties will
be available in two or three years.
Sky Bound
Cedar
Gemini
Apple
Research
Chrysanthemum
Research
Coral Bells