George's Current Ramblings and Readlings

Don’t Freak Out Over the Cicadas

June 3rd, 2025

   Sometime in the next few weeks, millions of locust-like bugs called cicadas will emerge from 17 years of slumber underground.

This is what a 17-year cicada adult looks like.

   They’ll screech and fly around some 24 counties in central Pennsylvania for about six weeks, no doubt causing plenty of gardeners to fear that their plants are doomed.

   Although the cicada’s Biblical-proportion numbers and grating sounds seem foreboding, this buggish version of Halley’s Comet isn’t harmful to people and doesn’t even pose much of a threat to plants.

   These bugs make up so-called Brood XIV (14) – a band of three different species of cicadas (Magicicada) that emerge once every 17 years.

   They’re forecast to appear around mid to late May in Adams, Cumberland, Franklin, Perry, Schuylkill, Snyder, York, and 17 other Pennsylvania counties as well as parts of 12 other states.

   Periodical cicadas – which are native to eastern North America and found nowhere else in the world – tend to stick to wooded areas and areas with ample trees and shrubs that have been undisturbed for the last 17 years.

   Here’s what’s about to unfold.

“Little Keukenhof”

May 20th, 2025

   The crown jewel of the Dutch bulb industry is the world-famous Keukenhof garden, a 79-acre, bulb-studded color show that wows 1.4 million flower-gawkers each spring.

This might look like Keukenhof, but it’s really Poldertuin.

   The place is only open for seven weeks from late March until mid-May, but if you’ve ever seen it, you know why it’s so popular. Keukenhof is certainly one of the world’s most glorious flower displays.

   What’s not nearly so well known is another Dutch bulb garden that I think is as gorgeous as Keukenhof, except smaller in scale. I saw it for the first time a few weeks ago.

   It’s called Poldertuin (“polder-town”), and it’s located about an hour north of Amsterdam in the small North Holland town of Anna Paulownia. (Keukenhof is about a 30-minute drive southwest of Amsterdam.)

   Although Poldertuin is only about five acres, it’s loaded with the same kinds of packed tulip and spring-bulb beds as Keukenhof in a mostly wooded setting. It’s similar enough to Keukenhof that the Dutch call it “little Keukenhof.”

   One advantage of Poldertuin, though, is that it’s not nearly as well known as Keukenhof and so is far less crowded. Keukenhof averages 26,000 visitors a day, making it the Netherlands’ top attraction in per-day visitation.

   Even better, Poldertuin is free. You’ll pay 20 euros (almost $23) to get into Keukenhof (if it’s not sold out), but you can just walk through Poldertuin’s bulb gardens daily from sunrise to sunset at no charge.

When to Pull the Flower Trigger

May 6th, 2025

   Now that we’re into May and usually past the point of killing frost, the big question on gardeners’ minds is exactly when is it “safe” to plant the summer flowers and vegetables?

Keep a cover handy in case a surprise frost comes along after planting the summer annuals.

   Those are the plants that will croak on frosty nights… things like zinnias, marigolds, and begonias in the flower garden and tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers in the vegetable garden.

   You don’t want to plant those too soon and have your work and investment wiped out by a rogue cold night.

   On the other hand, most gardeners don’t want to give up time when their plants could be in the ground and on their way to peak beauty or a tasty harvest.

   Weather forecasts can help us decide at least a few days out, which is typically enough once we get to this point.

   What I do is wait until late April and then start looking at the 10-day forecast. If there’s nothing close to freezing overnight, I’ll go ahead and get an “early” start. If we’re looking at anything under 40 degrees, I’ll wait.

   That system usually works, but two things can still get you.

   One is that the weather forecast will be wrong.

   The other is that an unusually late frost will come along beyond the 10-day forecast.

   Knowing a few key climate-record stats also can help.

Get Those Trees in a Good Spot

April 22nd, 2025

   Trees are the most expensive plants in the landscape budget.

Trees add much to a landscape… if you get the right one in the right spot. This is a pink American dogwood in full bloom.

   They not only cost the most at purchase time, but pruning and other care can chew up some dollars over the years. And if you have to have one cut down? Well, let’s not think about that bill.

   Picking a tree is a decision you really don’t want to get wrong. It’s not like a $4 potted flower that’s only going to last one season.

   The next few weeks are some of the year’s best for adding new trees, which is something we really need for a variety of reasons (shade in our hotter summers, storing carbon, shelter for birds, food for pollinators, beauty for us, etc.)

   Unlike picking furniture, you can’t put whatever trees you like wherever you think they’ll look good. Put a tree in an ill-suited spot, and it’ll struggle, refuse to bloom, get diseased and/or croak.

   Homework is the answer. So take the time to ponder your choice, and consider the key factors before heading to the nursery.

   Illinois’ Morton Arboretum offers these five good pointers on getting the right tree in the right place:

   1.) Know your specific sites, especially the kind of light and heat each area gets.

   Heat reflected from nearby brick or stone buildings or even a sidewalk or driveway, for example, can make a site hotter than you think.

   A site that gets morning sun and afternoon shade is significantly different than a site that gets morning shade and afternoon sun.

   Species that aren’t sun- and heat-tolerant will do better in the first scenario, while the second scenario should be treated like a full-sun location.

Under-Rated, Under-Used Underdogs of the Plant World

April 8th, 2025

   Some plants are way over-used – even though they’re trouble-plagued – simply because they’re familiar.

The fall foliage of blackgum ‘Wildfire.’

   Others are way under-used – even though they’re virtually bullet-proof – simply because they’re not well known.

   The arrival of a new gardening season is a good time to do something about that imbalance… to opt for some of the underdogs that need a better PR agent. Consider these under-used plants in each of 12 different planting categories on your spring-planting radar:

   * Big tree: Blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica). I especially like the ‘Wildfire’ variety of this Pennsylvania-native shade tree. The new leaves are red, and the whole tree turns a showy maroon-red color that rivals maples for fall interest. Will grow about 40 by 25 feet. Best in full sun.

   * Small tree: American fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus). The shaggy, white, confetti-like spring flowers make this one an unfamiliar head-turner, even though it’s a Pennsylvania native. Figure on about 18 feet tall and wide. Sun or part shade.

   * Evergreen tree: Weeping Alaska-cedar (Xanthocyparis nootkatensis). Emerald-green soft needles drip from the sagging branches to make an elegant specimen. Narrow grower at about 20 feet tall and 10 feet across. Sun or light shade.

   * Flowering shrub for sun: dwarf panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata). These summer-blooming hydrangeas aren’t as well known as classic June-blooming mophead hydrangeas. The panicle types have cone-shaped pink flowers that last for weeks from July into fall. And they do fine in sun or part shade.

   Check out varieties such as Fire Light Tidbit, Bobo, Little Quick Fire, and WorryFree Love-a-Lot. These grow three to five feet tall and wide.