The PIGG Pin

Hybid Rose Bush

With Spring (hopefully) fast approaching, let’s talk briefly about what to do with those gorgeous rose bushes.  Roses are a funny plant to take care of and with the proper maintenance, look perfect all year, but often times will produce good flowers and poor foliage.

Rule of thumb for rose pruning is to do it while they are dormant (wintertime), and don’t take more than about 1/3 of the overall plant size off.  This is extremely important if you have an old hybrid style rose bush.  You don’t want to get too far into the ‘old’ wood and damage the integrity of the plant.

If you have a Knockout Rose, you have a little more freedom into the pruning of it.  You still should do a good winter pruning to get it off to a good start in the spring, but the amount you take off is not as critical.  You will damage the plant if you take too much off, but you won’t kill it.  I have seen people cut them to the ground every year just to keep the size under control.  I would recommend pruning more often, then pruning to the ground…but to each his own I guess.

If you don’t mind using chemicals, I recommend using a systemic fungicide with a rose food in the early spring to help prevent black spot and other problems.  If you don’t like chemicals, then you will have to control fungus manually by removing infected leaves daily to prevent spreading.

I have never considered myself ‘expert’ in rose bushes, so if some of you out there are expert and have some extra advise, please share with the rest of us!

Happy Roses

Stella D' Oro Daylily

I have been working for a couple days now potting up several hundred of these wonderful Daylilies and was thinking you might want to know why I like these daylilies.

The number 1 reason why I like the Stella D’Oro daylily is because it is a rebloomer.  What does that mean?  It will bloom two and most of the time three times throughout a season.  This is unusually for a standard daylily because the original daylilies only bloom once, and then just look ugly the rest of the year (in my opinion).

The old standard daylilies we are all used to seeing are typically seen on the side of the road or on some old farm places.  They are typically that reddish orange color and the bloom will get up to about the 36 inch area.  The Stella plant is yellow in color and will max out around the 20-24 inch area.  This size and color allows this daylily to be an addition to the front of a landscape and can be intertwined with other annual flowers.  It makes a great border plant and will always give you a great show.

This daylily will almost double in size each year as far as how wide the plant is and how many blooms it gets.  I very rarely see a Stella die.  It also doesn’t need much water.  They do better in the full sun, but will tolerate some shade and will still bloom.

I will be shipping these plants all over the country in one gallon pots, if you need one, please let me know.  Oh Yeah…Did I mention I really like these plants?  I use them in 98% of all my new installs.

Happy Stella’s

Healthy grass creates a nice canopy

I want to talk for a minute today about how to prevent weeds in your lawn ‘naturally’ or ‘organically’.  Many of you/us are trying to figure out how to keep our properties looking perfect, without using many chemicals which when used incorrectly can damage the environment.  Last time I told you about using pre-emergent to prevent weed seeds from germinating, today we will talk about the natural approach to weed prevention.

It all begins with a healthy lawn.  Seeds need moisture, and sunlight to germinate and grow.  This is true for any type of seed.  When preventing weeds without chemical, you must figure out a way to eliminate at least one of the elements which allow those weed seeds to grow into plants.  The easiest one to eliminate is the sunlight.  I am not suggesting you build a big tent over your entire yard to eliminate the sunlight, but what I am suggesting is to allow your grass to create a tent-like effect over the dirt.  By keeping your grass healthy, it will create a ‘canopy effect’ over the dirt.  As the blades of grass lean in towards each other, they will intertwine themselves and ultimately shade the dirt.

There are many ways to encourage your lawn to create the canopy, the first thing is to make sure you have enough grass.  In my area, Fescue is the grass of choice, but with fescue it is a clump style grass.  Which means, if you have a clump of grass die, you will have a bare spot in the lawn until you plant more grass seed in the bare spot.  If you have Bermuda, Zoysia, or St. Augustine, these grasses will creep and fill in gaps on their own.

The second thing is to make sure your grass is healthy.  By getting on a routine fertilization program, you can insure the grass always has enough nutrients to maximize its size requirements.

The third thing is water.  You MUST water you lawn certain times of the year.  If you go through  a hot and dry spell, your grass will suffer, giving the weeds a chance to grow.

The forth thing is to not cut your grass too low.  In the springtime when you have ideal weather conditions, you may cut your grass slightly lower than during the summer when the grass can easily be stressed.  I like to say, never cut lower than 3 inches, and during the summer, move up to at least 4 in. and sometimes 5 inches.  Pay some attention to your lawn and let it talk to you and tell you what it needs. (not literally )

Happy Lawns

Weed Free Lawn

Ok, so here we are, a week away from Valentine’s Day and the last thing we want to think about is our grass.  Most of us haven’t had to mow or do anything to the lawn for many months, but what we forget ever so easily is the fact that last spring we were not happy with all the weeds in our lawn and wished we had done something to prevent them.  Well, now is your opportunity and I want to encourage you not to miss this small window of opportunity.  Planning now can dramatically change the outcome of your spring lawn.  Let’s talk for a minute about what is to come in the spring.

Crabgrass, Henbit, Dandelion, Chickweed are all annual weeds which reseed themselves every year.  These weeds do not survive the winter cold, but left their seeds last year for new plants to arrive this year.  It is much easier to prevent these guys from arriving than it is to remove them once they appear.  To do this, you must put out what they call a pre-emergent.  There are many types and brands which can be purchased, I do recommend not buying the cheapest!  Also, FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS ON THE BAG!!.  Putting out more the recommended rate WILL damage the environment and potentially contaminate the water supply.  I prefer using a granular product instead of a liquid.  It will come with some fertilizer in it which helps with overall health of plants.  As far as I know, there is no organic version of the pre-emergent.  If someone knows of one, please let me know and I will share it with everyone.

So how does a pre-emergent work?  Without getting into true science, what the pre-emergent does is create an invisible barrier along the top of the soil and will not allow seeds to germinate and turn into plants.  By putting it down in February, you are preventing weeds like crabgrass from ever growing.   You have to remember I live in Nashville, Tennessee, so February is our month.   If you live south, it is getting late in the season, if you live north, you might want to wait up to six more weeks.  If you live NE, you probably can’t even find your car today!!  I saw on the news where some of you got 40 inches of snow?!  I got 4 inches a week ago and everything was shut down…can’t even begin to imagine 40 inches.  Good luck to you!

Some tricks of the trade…consult with your local garden center…many people will split the application rate and put some down now, and wait for another application in about April/May.  With the weather in the spring, sometimes the weed seeds sprout late, and excess rain can diminish the products effectiveness and duration, so 2 applications can increase effectiveness.

Next time we will talk about how to create a lawn who will prevent weeds on its own.

Happy Pre-Emergent