What is the starry white tree that you see blooming everywhere these days? Most likely it’s the Kousa dogwood, native to Japan, China and Korea. This is the analog to our native dogwood, the Cornus florida. However, as dogwood anthractnose began to infect native stands, many people decided to plant the resistant Kousa dogwood instead. This tree is 20′-30′ tall…
Our Plant Health Care Department team, Reese and Roy, are busy this month with spot spraying. Using only organic products, we aim to catch the pest at the proper time for best control. We often use a Neem oil product for this purpose. It’s time for various sawflies to emerge. Larvae feed voraciously on leaves. The azalea sawfly…
One cardinal rule is this: after it’s done blooming, pruning can happen. So we start in late June by pruning the early spring flowering plants such as quince, fothergilla, lilac and forsythia. Later we’ll turn to rhododendrons, azaleas, weigelas, and the like. Evergreens such as yew, holly and boxwood are pruned in the summer once…
With the coming of May comes the bloom of a choice native plant: Trailing Arbutus, or Epigea repens. This 4″-6″ high groundcover was once harvested for its evergreen leaves and fragrant, waxy pink or white flowers and sold on city streets. A group of concerned citizens formed the New England Wild Flower Society in 1900 to protect…
What with January turning cold and nearly snowless, many so-called evergreens did not live up to their name! Here’s how to handle your Japanese holly, rhododendron and leucothoe. Sometimes it is best to adopt the “wait and see” attitude instead of pruning out all the burned pieces immediately. Often these plants will push new buds…
It’s time to prune summer blooming plants! The roses, hydrangeas and clematis seem to top the list. I’d like to share a few tips: Roses: Prune only in dry weather as many diseases are spread through rose foliage Prune above an outward facing bud for best new growth Thin out weak, contorted, crossing or dead…
Eastern Tent Caterpillar is often destructive to apples, crabapples and cotoneaster – all members of the Rose family. Reese, our Plant Health Care Manager, is on the lookout for telltale signs of this pest in the landscape and is prepared to spot spray with Bt, Bacillis thuringiensis, a selective insecticide approved for organic programs. You may see tent-like…
Three of our client properties will be featured on three upcoming garden tours: Cooler Concord Sustainable Landscape Fair, May 18 From 1-4 pm, the Cooler Concord group will feature several gardens in town that use sustainable and organic practices. Inspiration abounds! Pick up a map at the landscape fair happening at Concord-Carlisle High School from 10…
Priscilla’s To-Do List for May Edit: Divide or transplant overgrown perennials, especially running types like bee balm and rudbeckia that tend to merge with neighboring plants Pinch back tall sprawlers such as Anise hyssop and Aster to control height Put stakes and string or hoops in place early for peonies Prune roses, clematis and hydrangeas Prune…
It’s easy to cut a few branches from your flowering trees and shrubs at this time of year and to bring them indoors for forcing. They’ve already had the requisite six weeks of freezing temperatures and are raring to go. Here are some of my favorites: Forsythia…