Pretty Pansies

Many people forget what flowers can and cannot be planted in the fall.  While I recommend planting all shrubs and trees (except ornamental grasses) in the fall or winter, I do not recommend planting spring flowers.  Spring flowers include petunias, begonias, impatiens, etc.  Those will die around the first frost!

There are a limited set of flowers that can be planted in the fall.  The list goes like this…Pansies, Cabbage, Kale, and Mums.  That is pretty much the extent of your choices for winter color.   These plants, except the mum, will survive during the cold temperatures and will look fantastic in the early spring.   Now, if you live in Michigan, I don’t know that these will survive.  Ya’ll really get cold up there!!  Mums on the other hand have a short window of color.  They are great for a couple of weeks with one bloom cycle and then they go away.  If you plant them in the ground, they usually will return in the spring, but not too slightly for the winter months.

As all seasonal color flowers, the pansies, cabbage and kale will die when it gets hot, so most people pull them up and replace them with spring flowers in the spring.

P.S. Late fall is the time to think about and plant your spring bulbs, i.e. Tulips, Daffodils, Hyacinths, etc.  These will not give you winter color, but come March, you will be glad you did!!

Happy Flowers

Pretty Hydrangea

Some people asked me the other day when to transplant Hydrangeas.  The answer is really a simple one…Anytime during dormancy.

Whenever the plant does not have any leaves on it is the best time to move it because it is not actively growing and will not get stressed during the move.  (Was that too much info in one sentence? Sorry)   Anyway, that means November and December is a great time for most parts of the country.  If the ground is not frozen solid January and February work well also.

When digging up the plant, dig as big of root ball as you can.  Hydrangeas have very fibrous roots and the more you can take with you the better.  You will probably need a second pair of hands due to the weight and awkwardness of carrying a ball of dirt with a plant on top.

Choosing a location is critical to its survival and strength.  Hydrangeas do not like the hot afternoon sun, but do like the sunrise very much.  If placed under a large hardwood tree (i.e. Maple, etc.) there is a good chance of it stressing due to the tree taking all the moisture out of the ground.  Hydrangeas look the best if placed somewhere that they will never have to be pruned.  The average Hydrangea will grow to be about 4×4.

Once you have planted the hydrangea in his new hole, water well immediately, then you will probably not have to water again until the spring or summertime.  “When the leaves wilt, water. “ Good rule of thumb for the brown thumbs out there.   If the plant does not unwilt within an hour of watering, the plant is stressed and try misting the leaves until they recover.

Fertilize twice per year with a slow release fertilizer such as Osmocote or Dynamite.  Don’t fertilize, however, if the plant is stressed and won’t come out a long wilt period.

Happy Hydrangeas

Mowin' da Grass

In the last blog we talked about why it is important to know your grass and how to mow it properly for good health of the lawn.  We discussed how to maintain Fescue in depth and I hope that it helps you keep your lawn in tip top shape.

Today I want to talk about the Bermuda and Zoysia family of grass.  There are two types of Bermuda that I am aware of.  The type that people love and the type that people hate!!  Let’s talk about the type people like for a minute.  If you live somewhere that has four seasons of the year, like the Nashville, TN area, then Bermuda will excel in the summer and go dormant in the winter.  When it goes dormant, it turns bright brown and does not drink water or take in any nutrients.  In the spring, the first two weeks of it coming out of dormancy, while it is greening up, it is only using the nutrients that it had stored up the previous fall.  That means, if you want to fertilize in the spring, it needs to be done after the grass has been green for a couple of weeks.

Bermuda is completely different than fescue when it comes to mowing, it excels and usually looks cleaner if it is mowed fairly short all year long.  Bermuda grows by runners, which means that one plant will turn into infinite plants.  It puts off arms and legs that reach out and root a few inches away and continues on indefinitely.  Bermuda will grow under concrete, on top of concrete, under buildings, just about everywhere except under a shade tree.  Zoysia grass grows and acts very similar to Bermuda.  If you have any specific questions about these grasses, please don’t hesitate asking.

Now for the Bermuda that people hate…I suggest moving to Canada or some city close thereof.  That is the only way to get rid of it!!

Happy Bermuda

Don't let your Fescue get this high!!

I have gotten many people over the years ask me why my grass cutting business was so successful and why my properties always look good.  I think are are many reasons, but the one I want to talk about today is, how do you cut the certain types of grass.

If you did not already know, there are many different types of grass, and they all take different maintenance to maximize their potential.  Here in Nashville, we typically have three types of grass…Fescue, Bermuda/Zoysia, and Weeds.  Yes, weeds are a type of grass around here because many yards have no actual grass, it is all green weeds that get mowed down level each week.  Sad ain’t it?  Anyway, Fescue and the Bermuda/Zoysia grasses need to be taken care of very differently.  We will start with Fescue…

Fescue is what they call a cool season grass.  This means it thrives in the cooler weather and will be green throughout the cold months.  It grows in clumps.  What that means is when a seed makes a plant, it only makes one plant and that one plant will grow tall, but never make other plants, except by new seeds if you let it grow that long before cutting it (which most people call that a hay field when it is that tall!).  That is why it is very important to overseed every fall to replenish any plants that died during the summer.  Now, back to mowing; Fescue needs to be mowed according to the weather.  That means in the spring time when we are getting all the cooler wetter weather, mow the fescue roughly 3 inches.  If you mow it much shorter than that, you will damage the plant beyond repair because as we talked about earlier, it is a clump grass.  Ok, once the summer arrives, it is very important to start cutting your fescue 4 inches or higher.  The reason being, for the most part, whatever growth you have above the ground, is what you have below the ground (meaning the root system).  Because Fescue is a cool season grass, it will get stressed out in the heat of the summer and cutting it long is critical to its survival.  Fescue will many times turn brown in the really hot and dry summers.  This is nothing more than its natural survival technique.  Once the summer is over and the fall weather arrives, start mowing it again at the 3 inch mark.  This height is great to shade out weed seeds so they cannot germinate and grow.  During the winter, fescue just sits there, green and gorgeous.

In our next blog, we will discuss the Bermuda/Zoysia family of grasses and find out how to cut and maintain them.

Happy Fescue