Archive for December, 2010

Recycle Live Christmas Trees

The holidays are over. This year take your live Christmas tree to a designated location to be recycled. Many cities and towns collect trees which are chipped into mulch. The mulch is spread around municipal park trees and street trees.  It is utilized for erosion management along stream banks and on steep slopes. Mulch is also distributed to gardeners in the spring. Communities pile […]

Ice Storm- Keep Hands Off

An ice storm is both a beautiful and horrific scene in a garden. The potential for major tree/shrub breakage is staggering. If you feel powerless, this is good thing.  During the storm, do nothing / “hands off”. Most actions will likely cause more damage than what nature may have intended. After the storm assess the landscape areas which seem most vulnerable, or that […]

Try Microbiota Instead of Ground Junipers

  Summer Foliage of Microbiota Microbiota (Microbiota decussata) goes by numerous names including Russian arborvitae and Siberian cypress. This tough customer hails from Siberia, and quite cold hardy to -40 F. In the northern U.S. its lacy evergreen foliage turns brown in the dead of winter. Here in the Southern Appalachian region, microbiota prospers in cooler parts of zone 6 […]

Care of Your Poinsettia in the Home

‘Pink Shimmer’ poinsettia You’ve purchased a beautiful poinsettia and want to give it a proper home for the holidays. Room light, temperature and soil moisture  are the key environmental concerns. Place your poinsettia either in a bright sunlit room or one receiving an indirect lighting source.  Keep the plant away from heating vents and drafty windows. In general, poinsettias grow trouble free […]

Purchasing The Perfect Poinsettia

One of three posts on poinsettia care:  Poinsettias delight the eye at this holiday season with their bright red (and many other color choices) leaf-like bracts. The true flowers are the small multiple buds at the base of the bracts. To select a top quality plant, closely inspect the development of the small flowers. Buds should tightly closed or barely […]

Lacebark pine- an investment in the future

Many rare and unusual garden plants are introduced into a garden as a thoughtful gift. Lacebark pine (Pinus bungeana) is an arboreal aristocrat which a few gardeners are privileged to own. Lacebark is a lovely 3- needle pine with exquisite exfoliating bark which becomes more attractive each succeeding year. The lacebark feature begins after 8-10 years, but it’s […]

Hydrangea Invincibelle Spirit ®

Hydrangea Invincibelle® Spirit ranks as one of the finest new plant introductions in 2010.  This hydrangea comes from a good bloodline. Invincibelle® Spirit is a pink flowering clone originating from Annabelle. The cultivar ‘Annabelle’ (Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’) has been a star in Southern Appalachian gardens (USDA hardiness zones 6 and 7) for the past quarter century.   Invincibelle® […]

December Garden Classic – Prague Viburnum

Garden Classics:  a monthly retrospective featuring a singular plant species either under-planted or relatively unknown to gardeners living in the Southern Appalachian Region. Prague viburnum (Viburnum x pragense) is a lovely evergreen shrub, which combines all the best traits of its parents (V. rhytidophyllum and V. utile). It is  winter hardy throughout the Southern Appalachian region […]