May 8, 2008 -- Carol Stocker gardening chat
Carol_Stocker: GREETINGS gardeners! I'm Boston Globe Garden writer Carol Stocker and I will be on line forthe next hour to answer uyour gardening questions. I am on line most Thursdays from 1 - 2 p.m.
Carol_Stocker: First off, let's talk about what you should be doing this week in the garden before I get to your questions. This is the busiest time of the year in the garden. It's the time to plant, to fertilize, to prune out winter damage, to clean up, to divid and move plants around, to sow grass seed amd vegetable seeds. Busy-busy! But don't work in the garden on days when the soil is wet from rain like today. You compact the soil when you work it while it is wet, and plants don't like to grow in "cement."
Carol_Stocker: I had a story in the Sunday Globe travel section last Sunday, May 10, on my 12 favorite gardens to visit. Look it up on line if you want to go see some great gardens this year!
Carol_Stocker: Sorry! The story ran Sunday May 4.
Carol_Stocker: Also, there are a lot of great garden events. Tops is Lilac Sunday, this Sunday May 11, Mother's Day at Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain. It is the one day a year you can picnic in this famous garden, which is in full bloom. The Garden in the Woods, the native wildflower garden of The New England Wild Flower Society in Framingham is also at its peak in May. Visit www.newenglandWILD.org for details of May events. This is also the best place to buy wild flowers to grow yourself.
Mike__Guest_: I have some pretty large black eyed susan's. If I wanted to divide them and plant in other areas, how big should they be
Carol_Stocker: This is the best time to divide black-eyed Susans and most other summer and fall blooming plants. I like to divide up perennials into fairly small units, say three to five stems per division, and then plant the units about six inches apart in good soil. They soon fill in and they don't get overcrowded as fast that way. If you plant a larger clump, you get instant results, but the roots in the center have not room to expand so they tend to die out and the plant just ends up flowering at the edges of the clump with less action in the middle.
Rose__Guest_: How long do you wait to decide if lavender is a goner? Some of mine looks good, some looks like sticks.
Carol_Stocker: If some looks good, then the rest is probably dead because it should be sprouting at the same time as the good looking lavender that survived the winter.
Mark__Guest_: I have a small collection of 3-4 japanese maples of differing varieties that I am keeping in containers. Any advice? How about winter care?
Carol_Stocker: If you want to keep them dwarf so they don't outgrow their containers, you'll have to prune the roots each year as well as the topgrowth. This technique is called bonsai and you can learn more about it at the website of the American Bonsai Society (www.absbonsai.org). Since maples lose their leaves in the winter and go dormant you can leave them outdoors, but you have to protect the containers from breaking and from thawing and freezing which will also hurt the tree roots so you need to store them somewhere cold and out of the wind and wrap the containers with insulation as soon as the maples lose their leaves. They don't need watering while dormant until spring returns. In late March you can move them back into a sunny place and take off the insulation. Do not store them indoors or it will be too warm and they won't go dormant.
EllenonHillside__Guest_: Hi Carol! Fun to see you online
Carol_Stocker: Hi Ellen! I never get emails from people I actually know. this is a first!
ddd__Guest_: Is the frost danger over?
Carol_Stocker: No it's not. We may have had our last frost already. But we don't know for sure. So if you plant things that could be killed by frost you are taking a chance. The "safe date" is Memorial Day weekend. But go ahead and plant if you are willing to gamble. Don't put houseplants outdoors for another three weeks, however.
EllenonHillside__Guest_: Got a questions about keeping our Hemlocks going. What can you tell us about that root treatment vs. Spraying for the Wooley Adelgid!
Carol_Stocker: The thing that works best is injections of Merit insecticide, the root treatment, and you can save money by skipping a year. Spraying really doesn't accomplish much in my opinion.
nobees__Guest_: we have the variety of rhododenron (sp?) currently in bloom, small purply... we get so many bees, many many bees, mostly bumble bees. first, is it true they don't sting? you walk by and all you hear is a loud hum of buzzing. should we keep these shrubs small so that the bees don't get so out of control? i don't mind the bees, but they get more and more each year it seems. we got rid of a large nest, but i don't think it was the bees. anyway, want to be bee friendly and all, but when it starts to make people nervous on the way to the door i have to rethink them. it's not even full sun, in fact it's barely got sun at all. in front of the north facing house. thanks for any input.
Carol_Stocker: I've never heard of bumble bees stinging anymore. Honey bees are in terrible decline out so you probably do have mostly bumblebees. Bumblebees are solitary little insects who don't build hives or live in colonies so the nest you found was probably something else like wasps or hornets, which do sting. Rhododendrons have shallow roots so even the big ones are easy to move. If you don't want bees by the front door, I would dig up the Rhody and move it as soon as it finishes blooming. This will work better than hacking it back as Rhodys do not like to be pruned and it could just get ugly and then die if you try that.
Carol_Stocker: One more thought about hemlocks: don't fertilize them, as this can worsen pest attacks and end up actually weakening the tree.
Carol_Stocker: It's always better and more important to water plants over hot dry summers than it is to fertilize them. The chemical companies just push fertilizers as a cure all, when they are not.
marty__Guest_: would the drought last year be the cause of some flowering trees not blooming then?
marty__Guest_: not blooming this spring I mean...
Carol_Stocker: Yes, especially when combined with a harsh winter. I lost a weigelia to last summer's drought. But I think most trees have bloomed heavily this spring.
yougogirl__Guest_: Hi Carol, what is the secret to successful clematis, specifically Ville de Lyon?
Carol_Stocker: I love Ville de Lyon. I think it is the best red clematis. That said, mine died for no good reason after ten years. Clematis do sometimes die for no reason and this is frustrating because they need 6 years to get good. Here's what I do with clematis...sprinkle a handfull of lime around them each year. Make sure they have netting or something good to climb on. Plant them deed when planting, so the first 4 inches of stem are under the ground. Put them where their feet are in shade but their tops will grow into sun. Don't be afraid to dig them up and transplant them if they are in the wrong spot. But don't otherwise dig around the roots or you could sever them.
marty__Guest_: Thanks...we had next to none
South_County__Guest_: Hi Carol, First the good news: My Nikko Blue Hydrangeas have lots of buds on last year's wood! Now my question: How ane where best to plant a bleeding heart?
Carol_Stocker: I planted a dozen bleeding hearts yesterday. This is a very tough plant that will take a lot of shade. The large ones, dicentra spectulus, go dormant in the summer, so the best time to plant those or to dig them up and move them is after the leaves turn yellow. But bleeding heart are not fussy so I plant them anytime in part shade.
grubs__Guest_: Hi Carol let me know what you think of my plan. I'm going to mulch my lawn. When the weather gets hot let's say ninety. i plan on spreading a thin layer of peat moss and then watering. i'm thinking the peat moss will hold water and lower evaporation rates. more or less act like sun block. Is this a good idea or am i all wet?
Carol_Stocker: Not a good idea. It is very hard to get peat moss to absorb water unless it is thoroughly mixed in with soil for one thing. Water just rolls off pure peat moss.
Macha__Guest_: Do you have any advice on an organic method of keeping beetles off my oriental lilies?
Carol_Stocker: Yes. Go outside, preferably in early morning, but anytime will do, and hold a jar of soapy water under the beetles and give the lily a little shake. Instead of flying away, the red lily leaf beetles will drop like stones into the water and drown. Also, look for orange eggs layed under the leaves, and excrement smeared caterpillars (a defence from hungry birds) on the leaves. Cut the leaves they are on with scissors so the leaf, and the insect, which is the beetle in an earlier life stage, falls into the water. You can also grow Black Beauty Oriental lily, the only variety I know that this beetle finds distasteful.
Carol_Stocker: I have a question for you gardeners: are any of you recently taking up vegetable gardening to save money, reduce your carbon footprint or for any other reason? If so, please send me an email. I will be back on line at 1 p.m. next Thursday, May 15. Happy gardeniong!
Macha__Guest_: Thank you.
Carol_Stocker: I did not get to everyone's question today but I will try to answer them when I go back on line next Thursday at 1 p.m.