Sunrise Landscape Designs

Fall is here and we need to start thinking about preparing our gardens for the cold winter weather. Kris, from Cedar Springs, asked if she needs to take any measures to protect her weeping Japanese Maple to help it survive the winter better.

Japanese Maples can be a bit tender to the Mid-Michigan winter weather and the finer leaf weeping Jap. Maples are even more tender than the upright growers. I like to see weeping Jap. Maples planted where the winter wind won’t be too strong on them so no extra protection should be necessary. If this tree is planted in an unprotected area from the wind, I would definitely give it some extra protection.

I’ve seen many ways of accomplishing the same goal but the following method works well. Place wooden stakes in the ground around the perimeter of the tree that are as tall as the tree. Wrap a circle of burlap around the tree and across the top. Staple the burlap to the wooden stakes to secure it. Jap. Maple branches are rather brittle so be careful not to break the branches when wrapping. It does not need to be wrapped tight. The purpose is to keep the wind off the tree.

Warning! This will look like a big ugly blob so if you have to do this in your entry garden, you might want to consider a hardier plant for this location.

LIGHT FROST WARNING! It doesn’t seem possible for the chance of frost to be coming already but in the northern part of Michigan they have already had frost and sleet. Keep an eye on the low temperatures so you can cover any annual plants you want to keep.

If you don’t want to save your vegetable plants, pick any remaining crop that is sensitive to the frost and let it ripen inside. Cover all flowering annuals and all tropicals. I use double layers of old sheets, towels, pails, cardboard, newspaper (if it isn’t windy) or anything you find that will cover the top of the plants without crushing them.

We still have a lot of pleasantly warm days ahead to enjoy our gardens so it might be worth the effort to cover your plants for a little while. Be sure to uncover them in the morning when the temperature warms up a bit.

Can you divide daylillies in the fall? Laurie wrote that her daylillies were ready to be divided and now that the weather is cooling down; what a great time it is to be working out in the garden.

Probably the best time to divide daylilies, and many other perennials, is in the spring when the plants are newly emerging. This way you will do less damage to the leaves when dividing them with a spade. However, you can safely divide daylillies most anytime during the growing season up until about 6 weeks before the first frost (~late Sept.). Perennials overwinter better if they have had adequate time to establish a good root system. Sometimes the freezing and thawing of winter will heave them right out of the ground and the plants may not survive.

So, yes, divide your daylillies! Many divisions can be made from one overgrown daylily plant. Keep them watered until frost arrives.

Q: Do you have any suggestions for planting bulbs so they don’t get eaten or dug up by animals?
Judy L, Rockford, MI

A: It is time to order spring flowering bulbs for planting this fall. These bulbs can be planted right up until the ground is too frozen to dig in. If you have problems with small animals or even deer digging them up, I do have a suggestion but it requires a bit of extra work.

First of all, the deer are usually a problem if they detect that you have added bone meal. Bone meal (or Bulb Booster) is great to add to the soil when planting bulbs as it helps the bulb grow strong. It’s best to dig the hole and put the bone meal in the bottom of the hole and try not to spill it above ground.

Many of the smaller animals burrow underground and eat the bulbs. To prevent this, the bulbs need to be buried in a cage. If planting a bed of bulbs, dig all the soil out of the planting bed area to the proper depth you would normally plant your bulbs. This soil can be shoveled onto a plastic tarp right next to your work area so it is easier to put back in. Now lay down either a tight chicken wire or some type of closely woven wire with small openings. The openings must be large enough for the bulb foliage to grow through. Put some of the soil on top of the wire, push the bulbs into the soil then bury the bulbs with more soil. Use enough wire to be able to fold it over and make a box with it; enclosing the entire bulb area with the wire. Cover the wire with soil and bark.

Since this is quite a project, take advantage of your efforts and put in a lot of varieties of bulbs. Different types of bulbs can be stacked on top of each other and as their flowering times come along, they will just push right past the others.

Those nasty tent worms are now forming in many trees. They feed on the leaves and just look messy. If left alone, little harm is done to the tree. It is late enough in the growing season that even if the tree leaves were totally gone, the tree would likely re-leaf fine next year.

If you find tent worms in your ornamental trees in the landscape and they are low enough to reach, there are ways to get rid of them. The best way is to put on a pair of work gloves and pull the nest off. Make sure to get all the worms off that you can and destroy them. Or, if you want to try a different method, some people put gasoline on them and burn them off. This is fun but be careful!!!

By they way, this is prime time for lawn seeding. If you need to patch up any areas, try to do it in the next couple of weeks.

Fall-blooming bulbs are every bit as easy to plant and grow as spring-blooming bulbs, yet they remain unfamiliar to many gardeners. Garden centers rarely offer them so you will probably have to order them by catalog or online. If you need a source let me know. Plant a few, and you’ll be hooked. Your garden will be the talk of the street when the Colchicums bloom, because your neighbors will want to know what trick you used to get those “giant Crocuses” to bloom out of season. Choose a site in full sun to partial shade with average, well-drained soil.

Some of us have had more rain than others this summer, but here in Rockford, we have had very little. With such high temperatures, even the trees are struggling and show burnt or yellowing leaves. I always go over watering advice to my new landscape clients and we are going to review it now because watering is not easy and it is so very important.

The best way to water trees is to lay a hose end near the tree trunk and let the water trickle into the ground for 15 -30 minutes. With sand, a sprinkler might work better to water all of the roots. This method works well for large shrubs too. You want to get the water to the bottom of the root ball. The idea is to encourage the tree to develop a deep root system so it can eventually take care of itself. In the hot weather, water new trees 2x/week. Trees 1-5 years old; 1x/month. As the temperatures cool down, cut down the watering schedule too.

Questions have come to me as to how to prevent next summer’s Japanese Beetle attack. Kirsten in Cedar Springs, asked specifically about her grape vines. I visited a vineyard in Pennsylvania last summer and they planted rose bushes at the ends of the rows of grape vines. The rose plants were to attract the Japanese beetles to this preferred food and they also sprayed the plants with an insecticide. My Ortho book recommends treating infested grape vines or other food crops with Malathion 50 Plus Insect Spray or Home Orchard Spray.

Japanese beetles have three different stages to their life cycle: eggs, grub, and the adult beetle. If you want to take preventative measures for next summer, attack the stage of the Japanese beetle when it is a grub. In the fall, apply Milky Spore Disease (or another similar product) to your lawn to control the following year’s grubs. The following year, begin spraying ornamental plants with Malathion or Diazinon as the adults emerge, about the same time as Queen Anne’s lace is blooming. Controls may have to be repeated, because new beetles continue to emerge from the soil for about 6 weeks during the summer. Before spraying, make sure that your plant is listed on the product label.

We’re being attacked! Japanese Beetles are metallic green and bronze winged beetles; ½ ” long. They are very destructive and chew on plant leaves until they look like Swiss cheese. These beetles feed on hundreds of different plant species. You may see the Japanese beetle from June-Sept., but the next 3-4 weeks will probably be the worst of the damage seen. They only feed during the daytime and they love the hot, sunny weather.

Treatment: You can spray your lawn in the fall to control the juvenile grub stage but for right now, get on the defense and put out traps. At most garden centers, Lowe’s, Home Depot, etc, you can purchase Japanese Beetle Traps for ~$7/pc. The trap is a bag with Jap. Beetle pheromes (sex attractants) in it. Hang the trap outside and the insects fly toward the smell and get trapped in the bag. It’s a great invention! The downfall is that you will probably attract the neighbor’s beetles too but at least they aren’t eating the roses anymore. Replace the bag when it’s full or you can empty the full bag into a bucket of soapy water to make sure all the insects are dead. Re-hang the trap.

There is a lot of satisfaction in watching these destructive insects be fooled by these traps. Last year, I hung 3 different traps outside and had to empty them 3 times!

If I get one point across today it’s to WATER!!! Any new or one year old plants you have in the ground are likely in need of a good soaking. And, since it’s time to start pruning, I am sending you a repeat tip from last year.

Pines are showing new growth on them. We call that “candle growth” because it looks like yellow candles standing straight up at the tips of the branches. This signals us that it if we want to prune our pines, this is the time to do it. The reason to prune pines is to encourage a fuller, denser, growth. If all you want is height and don’t mind if the tree grows with a more open habit, leave it alone.

To prune the tree, you cut off part of the candle. The amount you remove will influence how much growth you will allow the tree to have this year. If you do not remove any of the candle, you could get as much as 12-24″ of growth, whereas if you remove the entire candle, you won’t notice any growth on the branches and the trunk will just fatten up a bit. (The growth has to go somewhere!) I usually recommend you cut off half of the candle growth to prevent a spindly looking pine. Always leave one leader candle at the tree top that is taller than the rest. This leader I usually prune lightly also as it will determine where the next ring of branches will form at the tree top.

It is amazing how the weeds can keep growing with the ground being so hot and dry. If you try to pull them they will just break off at the ground leaving the roots behind to grow an even stronger weed! With a break in the weather, now is the time to attack those weeds. Weed killer (herbicide) will work best when the temperature is between 60-80 degrees. If it’s too cold or too hot, the herbicide will not be as effective. Also, hold off on watering the weedy areas for a day or two for the chemical to have time to work.

I will put weeds into 2 categories: grassy type and broad leaf weeds. Grassy type weeds are any weed that resembles a blade of grass. The broadleaf weeds are all the rest; like dandelions, clover, chickweed, etc. To kill the grassy weeds, Round-up works the best. For broadleaf weeds, I like to use Weed B Gone by Ortho. If you have both types of weeds, it is easiest to put both products in a concentrated form into a sprayer and mix with water. This way you are attacking all types of weeds at the same time. Be careful to not let the spray drift onto plants you want to keep.

It’s time to think seriously about garden chores. I’m going to give you a list and you can prioritize which ones apply to you.