When is it important to stake trees after planting? Staking trees are important to keep the tree upright and stable in the soil; if trees were not staked, wind may cause the trees to move resulting in air pockets in the soil around the tree. This may cause the trees roots to dry out and/or may prevent the roots from anchoring well in the soil. Small trees don’t usually need staking unless the wind causes the soil around the tree to move. Stakes and guying wires (or nylon cords) should be left on the tree for one year so initial rooting and soil settling can cause stability for the tree; deep watering should take place from April to mid November- approximately 3 times per week for one year depending on soil and weather conditions. Continue watering during dry periods in following years.
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There are many ornamental grasses that can be grown in Northern Michigan. In this blog, I would just like to mention a select few. One of the shortest grasses is Blue Fescue Grass (Festuca glauca). Elijah Blue is an improved cultivar with a powder blue color and a very fine leaf texture. It grows as a rounded clump 8-10 inches tall. It keeps this color all year. Blue Oat Grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens ‘Sapphire’) has fine steel blue leaves that tend to widen as they mature. Small tan seed heads appear on tall stems. They are nice in small gardens, rock gardens and containers. It grows 18-24 inches.
Little Bunny (Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Little Bunny’) is a miniature fountain grass clump that grows only 12-16 inches tall and begins to turn red during the summer months. It has small bottle brush seed heads that appear during the summer. Hamelin (Pennisetum alopecuroildes’ Hamelin) is a dwarf fountain grass that grows 2-3 feet tall and has bottle brush seed heads that are larger than seed heads of Little Bunny. This size combines well with shrubs in a foundation planting or in borders, and is therefore a very useful grass. Fountain Grass grows similar to Hamelin, but larger- 3-4 foot. Carl Forster Reed Sedge Grass (Calamagrostis acutifolia) is probably the most popular of the Reed Sedge Grasses. It produces wheat like seed heads late in spring; therefore its plumes are showy all season long. It grows to a dense clump around 5 feet tall. Morning Lights Grass (Miscanthus sinensis) is a very attractive, fine textured grass with a silvery-green cast. It grows upright around 4 feet tall with arching leaves. Bronze red plumes turn to a cream color with age. Porcupine Grass (Miscanthus sinensis stricta) is a variegated (green leaves with distinct golden bands) spiky grass that grows 4-6 feet tall, and Zebra Grass (Miscanthus sinesis Zebra) has similar variegation, but grows more in a ball and arching shape than Porcupine Grass and does not grow as tall. Graziella Maiden Grass (Miscanthus s. Grazeilla) is a good selection of Maiden Grass that has fine green foliage with very attractive blooms in early fall that makes it an excellent selection for Northern growers. Even though there are a large number of shrubs that flower in the spring and early summer, there are a significant number that flower late in the summer and well into the fall season. Some even continue blooming over a long period of time. Butterfly Bush and Clethra not only attract butterflies, but many exhibit a wonderful fragrance. Ruby spice Clethra with pink flowers has a very distinct sweet, spicy, fragrant smell. Blue Mist is another late season plant that blends well with other late season flowering shrubs. There are mop head varieties of Hydrangea such as Annabelle (white flowers) and Nikko Blue (blue flowers). Many of the panicle flowering varieties of hydrangea have a cone shape flowering; although there are newer plants that exhibit flat flowers with fertile florets that are held apart within the flower and gives them a lacy effect. Flowering varieties of panicle flowering hydrangea are Lime Light, and Little Lamb - they have white flowers. Pinky Winky has flowers that start white and gradually turn to a dark pink. Sikes Dwarf Oak leaf Hydrangea has large oak-leaf type leaves and rich purple-red tones of fall color. Some of the many of the panicle varieties that emerge white will turn different degrees of pink as they mature. Some of these shrubs can grow 6-8 feet tall and sometimes even taller. Lime Light can be grown as a tree form. Round flowering varieties of hydrangea are often called mop head hydrangea. Mop head varieties of Hydrangea give showy late summer and fall blooms of white, to pink, to blue and red. Endless Summer Hydrangea with pink flowers extends blooms well into the fall season. The late blossoms of mop head Hydrangea can also be picked, dried and displayed for winter enjoyment.
Most ornamental grasses exhibit late season plumes that enhance fall landscapes. Leaves of some also develop distinct fall colors of brown to hew of red. We carry several varieties of late season flowering shrubs and ornamental grasses for your landscaping needs. Dorian Dobias Cotoneaster is a small, relatively open shrub with small, shiny green leaves that produces red berries. The fall color is a nice wine red and its berries persist well into the winter months. There are several varieties of cotoneaster, most of which are fast growing. The variety that we like best is Cranberry cotoneaster. It has small white flowers in the spring, followed by large red berries that begin to develop in the late summer. It is easier to maintain with regard to size than many other faster growing cotoneasters. This shrub generally grows to a mounded shape around 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide, but can be pruned to a smaller size if desired. We’ve been able to maintain a Cranberry cotoneaster as a low ground cover plant. We kept it low by pruning it (4 – 6 inches in height) and it trailed down over the top of a timber wall. Rock spray Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster horizontalis) has been another cotoneaster that has been popular. They display small lustrous green leaves; small bright red fruit in the late summer and fall; and like most cotoneaster, they have a nice red fall color. The branches shoot out horizontally and have a herring bone configuration.
When the ends of the branches touch the ground, they often form roots that pin the branch to the ground. Some of the more vigorous cotoneaster can rapidly spread and grow, therefore can become quite “weedy”. We recommend choosing some of the smaller growing and less vigorous cotoneaster for your landscape such as Hessei.. There are several evergreen ground cover plants and vines that are grown for landscaping use. In this blog I will consider only a few of the most used evergreen ground covers.
Myrtle (Vinca minor) has shiny green leaves and exhibits a bright blue flower in the spring. Myrtle is a ground cover that has been used extensively in the past and can often be found around old abandoned buildings in wooded areas. Myrtle grows best in light to moderately shaded areas and likes the organic soil of the woods. Myrtle is a shallow rooting plant that grows 6 - 10 inches tall and has a bright blue flower. Myrtle transplants easily, but will need ample water to help it grow. Ajuga reptans, also known as Common Bugleweed, has a rosette type leaf at 3 – 4 inches tall and produces a 6 – 10 inch spike with a blue/violet flower on top. There are green leaf and bronze colored leaf (such as Bronze Beauty) cultivars. Catlin’s Giant is cultivar that is a large leaf ajuga and also produces a spike with a blue/violet flower and grows 2 - 3 times larger than the smaller ajugas. Ajuga likes light to moderately shaded conditions. English Ivy is a green leaf ground cover vine with a typical ivy leaf. With small tentacle type roots, it can climb up rough surfaces such as stone walls, wooden walls and other structures. There are several cultivars of English Ivy including Baltic Ivy (very hardy English Ivy) and Thorndale Ivy (an improved small leaf ivy). When planting myrtle, ajuga and English ivy, use plenty of organic soil and organic fertilizer (such as weed free cow manure or Milorganite) to enhance growth and health. There are several varieties of Wintercreeper (Euonymus fortune) that are grown as groundcovers. They are evergreens vines or-vine like plants that are grown as ground covers. Purple Leaf Wintercreeper (Euonymus f. coloratus) grows 8 – 12 inches tall and exhibits green leaves from late spring to early fall. They generally start changing the color of their leaves to a purplish-red in the fall and the color remains throughout the winter months until they break their dormancy in the spring. The leaves then gradually change to a green color. Tri-color and Emerald gaiety euonymus have silver and green leaves and Emerald & Gold euonymus have yellow and green leaves. Along with Summer Sun Euonymus (similar to Blondy) they can sometimes be shaped to a low mound 1 – 2 feet tall. Summer Sun has striking dark green and bright yellow leaves and can grow to a mound 2 – 3 feet tall. Some euonymus, like Big Leaf Wintercreeper is more vine-like with small tentacle-type roots and with a little support can grow up walls and sides of buildings. At our Garden Center the most sought after red-leaf shade tree is the Crimson King Maple. The Royal Red Maple tree looks like and grows about the same as Crimson King, but is not quite as hardy in Northern Michigan. Crimson King grows 30-35 feet tall and 20-2 5feet wide. It is a deciduous tree that has purple-red leaves throughout the season. The fall color shows a little more reddish-purple than the summer leaf color.
The Crimson King is a Norway Maple (Acer palinodes ‘Crimson King’) and not a red maple. It contrasts well with other green-leaf maples and other deciduous trees and is often used as a specimen in a residential front or back yard. It transplants relatively easily, but we have found that after planting, the tree grows quite slowly for the first two to four years - then it will grow faster after it establishes. There are upright forms of Crimson King Maple that can be used in areas of limited space or can be grown as a street tree. ‘Schwedler’ maple is a Norway Maple that has purple leaves (similar to Crimson King) in the spring. In the mid-summer the leaves gradually fade to a purple-green to almost green in the late summer. Debra Maple is a more recently improved variety of the ‘Schwedler’ maple. Other red-leaf trees such as Frost Birch and Royal Frost Birch are red-leaf birch trees that have a creamy white bark. They can be grown as a clump or grown as a single stem tree. Blood Good Japanese Maple and red-leaf birch can produce shade, but not nearly as much as the Crimson King Maple. Royalty Flowering Crab has purple-red leaves with small crab apple fruit that persists well into the winter. |
Dorian's BlogWith over 30 years of experience growing and landscaping plants, Dorian Dobias will describe some unique characteristic along with physical descriptions for over 20 groups or Genera of plants through the 2014 growing season. Many new and older Garden Center plants will be described along with some frequently answered questions about plants. Archives
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