Sunrise Landscape Designs

If you intend to prune any shrubs that have already flowered this year, it needs to be done by the fourth of July. This will allow them time to develop flower buds for next year.

Remove spent flowers from perennials (like Iris) to tidy the landscape.

Some perennials will re-bloom if cut back. My Bachelors Button (Centurea), a blue flowering plant, is just finishing now and if I cut it in half, it will look great in another month or so.

Tall fall mum varieties benefit from a light cutting this time of the season. It makes the plant stouter so it will stand strong in the fall and not fall over with the blooms.

Evergreen trees and shrubs can be pruned right now. The trees should have only one leader branch at the top.

Any branches on Hydrangea, or any shrubs, that never leafed out should be clipped off for a cleaner look. They will not grow any more leaves on those stems this year.

My friend Jill asked me to write about pruning Rhododendrons. One of the more difficult plants to prune (at least in my opinion) is the Rhododendron. This plant tends to get lanky and open if left unpruned. The best method I’ve found is a bit tedious but gives a great look.

Find the end of a branch where there are flower remnants and look at it very closely. You can either snap the stem off just below the spent flower and this will tidy the plants appearance. Or, to encourage bushiness, you can also snap off a few of the leaf buds newly forming just below the old flower. This takes a careful eye but if you do this to as many of the past
blooms as you can find, you will be rewarded with a beautiful Rhodie next year. This plant should be pruned by now so if you still want to do it this year, I recommend you do it right away.

Now that we have had a wonderful spring rain, it’s time to pull weeds. The roots need to come out too or the weed will just come back stronger next week.

Frost warnings are almost past for our area; May 31 is the safe date for no late frost. I have slowly started putting my annual flowers and tomato plants in already to get a jump on the growing season. I only plant the ones I know I can cover quickly if a killing frost is predicted. To cover them, I have used old sheets, newspaper (weighted down with stones), or buckets turned upside down over the plants. You can be creative as long as it keeps the plants under cover. Watch the weather report for temperatures to dip at night. Most annual plants cannot survive below 32 degrees but some of the tropicals do not even like it below 50 degrees.

Large containers can look great on the porch or out in the landscape. However, if you fill them with soil or a soil-less mix, the pots can get very heavy and difficult to move. If annuals or perennials are going into the pots, a deep amount of soil may not be necessary for how deep the roots will reach over the growing season.

To reduce the weight, try placing an old inverted pot or pail in the bottom of the container before adding fresh soil. Another idea is to use all-natural 100% hardwood charcoal.

Every day we see new things happening in the garden. If you have any perennials that need to be staked or have supports put in place, this is the time to get them on. If you wait until the support is needed, the plant may be too large and stiff to cooperate with the direction you want it to go. Peony plants usually requre a “Peony Hoop.” This is not a tomato cage! They are a large (~30″ diameter), 2 ring support stand with prongs that stick into the ground. I found some sturdy, green coated hoops at Fruitbasket last year that look good around the plants.

Great questions this week from Dawn B.!!!

Q: I bought several packages of bulbs last fall but never got them in the ground. Yesterday, I looked and some of them were beginning to sprout in the package so I stuck them in a big pot. Will they grow/bloom this year?

Is is necessary to pull out all bulbs after they bloom every year and replant them in the fall or can they be left alone till they need to be divided?

A: Spring flowering bulbs require a cold period of approximately 13 weeks for the bulb to be triggered that it’s time to grow and bloom again. If you stored your bulbs in the garage, it was likely cold enough for the bulbs to overwinter there. You can either pot them up or plant them in the ground now and see how they do. If you get weak growth, I would just toss them out and start over with fresh bulbs.

Public offices & gardens might remove their bulbs every year but they usually throw them away and buy new every year. This is costly. Do not remove your bulbs after they finish flowering. Leave them alone until the leaves turn yellow; then just cut off the leaves at the soil level. The reason those leaves are left on for so long (~4 weeks) is because they are still photosynthesizing the energy from the sun and strengthening the bulb for next years flowers. Sally C. from Rockford told me that her mother used to roll up the flat bulb leaves and bury them in the soil. She had beautiful bulbs every year! Pam L. from Grand Rapids suggested braiding the old leaves to tidy up the garden. I have not tried these methods but it might be fun to see if they work.

Your bulbs do not need to be divided every year but fall is definitely the season to get it done. Divide Tulips every 3-4 years. The way to tell if it’s time to divide is if the foliage grows up with hardly any flowers. Or, if you are getting large clusters of foliage and flowers and you want to spread them further apart. The great thing about bulbs is they keep multiplying if kept healthy. You can scratch in Bone Meal or Bulb Booster every year to encourage strong growth.

We all eagerly await the first spring blooms to appear but do you have them in your garden? If you would like to have beautiful spring flowers bulbs next year, now is the time to plan. Look at your landscape right now and decide which areas you would appreciate some early color. Now write down the location and what color and height of bulbs you want there. In late summer, order your bulbs and plant them in the fall.

If you have bulbs already and they need to be divided, it can be very difficult to find them when it’s time to get the work done. Get some wooden popsicle sticks from a craft store and poke them half way into the ground at each bulb location and you will have no problem digging them up in the fall.

The daffodil and tulip blooms look pretty sad lying underneath a fresh layer of wet snow. These plants are used to cold weather and even though the blooms may die off with this snow, the bulbs should come back just fine next year. If they haven’t budded or bloomed yet, they will just wait until the temps. warm up and then they will start growing again.

If you had Hostas, Daylilies, or other perennials coming up already, they are going to look ratty from the burn of the extended cold temperatures. Any foliage that is above ground right now will probably turn brown and crispy and that will need to be cut off to tidy up the plant. You can either do it now or wait and cut off what turns brown over the next couple of weeks. If you have to cut off a lot of foliage, it will cause skimpy looking plants for the entire growing season. However, next year, they will come back fuller than ever.

Q: I would like to create a flower bed that starts at my fence and slopes gradually down to the ground. The only problem is that my fence is chain link. I’m worried that erosion will be a big problem along the fence line. Have you had any experiences addressing this problem? Maybe a liner would work?
Nicole

A: You may have a little problem with erosion around your fence if you have sandy soil or if it’s on a steep slope. If that is the case, you should put in plants with vigorous root systems and also bark the area to help from rain washouts. I don’t see a need for a liner. I only use weed mat if a stone mulch is being used. I like the idea of layering your plants down from the fence but I would try to cover the fence with vines or place very tall plants in the back to hide the fence. When you put colorful plants in an area, it draws the eye and you probably don’t want to draw your eye to look at a chain link fence. Ground covers like Myrtle or Sedum would help to hold the soil in place too. The more roots, the better the soil will hold in place. Even steep embankments will hold if covered with a plant root system.

It’s time to get the water features cleaned up and running for the new growing season. I know I send this out every year but just in case you need a reminder, here is the routine I use.

If you have a fountain, bubbling boulder or bubbling stump, clean the leaves out as best you can, scrub the fountain if needed, refill with water, and install the pump underneath. If the water looks dirty, pump the water off into the lawn, rinse, and refill. Add a little chemical to the water to prevent algae build up.
The Annual Pond Clean-Out

The annual clean-out is the only “major” pond maintenance chore required by our water garden. Considering the many hours of enjoyment our pond and waterfall provide throughout the year, this time of easy paced work is well worth the effort.

The clean-out should be performed before the water temperature gets above 55 deg. F – the temperature at which the beneficial bacteria begin to colonize. You don’t want to disrupt the natural balance.

Using a sump pump or the pond pump surrounded by protective screen (to restrict the fish), pump out much of the water -use as long a pipe as possible and direct the water to lawns, shrubs or other areas that would benefit from a nutrient-rich bath.

Before the pond level has lowered to twelve inches or so, fill two or three “holding tanks” (I use large plastic tubs) with the existing pond water and carefully net your fish into them. The fish are weak after a long winter, so the less stress they endure, the better – they may try to jump out of the holding tanks, so cover loosely with a lid on angle or other object. Limit the time in the holding tank to just a few hours and put a small bubbler in with them if the fish are large.

After removing most of the water, spray down the rocks with a pressure washer or garden hose and spray nozzle. Start washing from the top down, and run the pump to remove the dirty water. Also remove any leaves or debris in the pond. Washing the rock should take only a half hour or so.

Now is a great time to re-pot your aquatic plants. Place the water lilies deep in the pond as most of them prefer 1-2′ of water over their roots. Be sure to put a lot of aquatic plants in your pond and stream bed to help keep the water clean.

Remove the filter media and lava rock from the skimmer and biofalls, and hose it thoroughly…again about a half hour’s work. Clean out the skimmer box and any remaining debris at the bottom of the pond.

Now hook up your pump, reinstall the filter media and start filling your pond. If you have city tap water, you will need to add dechlorinator according to directions…fish will not survive in chlorinated water.

Finally, float your holding tanks and fish in the new pond water for 30 minutes to acclimate them to the temperature change. Then free your fish into the pond.

That’s it – not a bad job at all. This is a very minor price to pay for what we consider to be the best improvement we’ve ever made to our outdoor environment.