George's Current Ramblings and Readlings

Why So Many Cones?

December 14th, 2021

   Have you noticed the huge amount of cones this year on so many of our needled evergreen trees?

Heavy cone sets like this one are common this year on spruce.

   Spruce trees in particular seem to be loaded with them.

   What gives?

   While hefty cone production isn’t a predictor of what kind of winter we’re about to have (as some think), it can be a side effect of weather past.

   Hot and especially dry summers put extra stress on trees, which can influence how many seeds the trees produce the following year.

   More stress generally means more seeds as trees “decide” they ought to ramp up production when germination and survival conditions aren’t favorable.

   Species that prefer cool climates, such as most spruces and firs, are particularly prone to hot-weather and drought stress.

   Since cones are the protective housing for seeds in cone-bearing species (“conifers”), that could partly explain why we’re seeing more cones than usual this year. You’ll remember that we had a very hot and dry spell for a few weeks in the middle of last summer.

   Besides that, though, most conifers produce heavy cone sets in two-year cycles.

   They’ll naturally produce a lot of cones one year and then produce few the next year – almost as if they’re taking a year to rest after doing such a good reproductive job the year before.

   Many fruit and nut trees do the same thing with their production of fruits, acorns, and nuts.

   So don’t be surprised that after this coneful year, you see a sparse showing next year.

Bye-Bye Barberry

December 7th, 2021

   If you wonder why Japanese barberries aren’t in garden centers next spring, it’s because Pennsylvania has banned the sale of this popular little thorny-stemmed shrub as a harmfully invasive plant.

Barberries are being banned from sale in Pennsylvania.

   Japanese barberries have been a landscape staple for decades because they’re heat- and drought-tough, deer don’t like them, they’re compact, they aren’t commonly bothered by bugs and disease, and they come in attractive varieties with brick-red and golden foliage.

   However, these bullet-proof features also make them a dominant competitor in the wild, where their prolific seeding has caused them to elbow out most everything else in pastures, untended fields, and woodlands.

   Strike two is research at the University of Connecticut that found barberries to be a favorite host plant of black-legged ticks, which are prime transmitters of Lyme disease.

   The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture decided that the harm to Pennsylvania ecosystems is great enough that Japanese barberries should be banned from sale in the state. We’re the fifth state to ban barberries, along with Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New York.

   Barberries have been identified as an ecological threat in at least 20 U.S. states.

   Although the ban is immediate, the department said enforcement will be phased in over two years to give growers and sellers a chance to adjust and react. As of the fall of 2023, anyone selling or growing Japanese barberries in Pennsylvania will have to immediately destroy them.

   That destruct order doesn’t extend to plants that gardeners already are growing in their yards. But the Agriculture Department is asking gardeners to voluntarily yank them anyway.

   “Carefully considering the potential impact of what we plant can prevent lasting damage that is difficult, expensive, or impossible to reverse,” said Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding in announcing the barberry ban.

It’s Not Too Soon to Think About Seeds

November 30th, 2021

   You might be in Christmas mode this time of year, but it’s not a bad idea to be thinking about ordering seeds for your 2022 garden already, too.

Your fellow gardeners are ordering seeds earlier than ever. You might need to step up your time frame to avoid sellouts.

   For a second year in a row this year, seed companies faced a double whammy of COVID-related, order-filling handicaps and another extra-heavy spike in seed demand.

   The result was that gardeners who waited until March or even February to order seeds ran into weeks-long shipment delays, sellouts of popular varieties, and in some cases, complete (although temporary) ordering shutdowns.

   Part of the early-season backlogs came because gardeners knew what happened the year before and got their 2021 orders in right off the bat in January.

   Johnny’s Selected Seeds CEO David Mehlhorn said peak seed-buying season is usually mid-February through mid-April, but this year the rush began weeks sooner.

   If you want to stay ahead of even the early-birds and have your best chance of getting the varieties you want, now isn’t too soon to make your move.

   Seed companies have their lists online already (for the most part) and are taking orders much earlier than the days when paper seed catalogs went out soon after Christmas, and gardeners did most of their ordering in late winter.

   Seed companies said there wasn’t (and isn’t) really a “seed shortage.” Rather the problems have been more related to bottlenecks in getting seed from the growers and into gardeners’ hands.

The 10 Most Important Things I’ve Learned about Gardening

November 23rd, 2021

   I’ve been digging and planting and caring for plants for more than 40 years now, and in that time I’ve managed to learn a few things about gardening.

For good or bad, a garden is never done.

   I thought I’d share the 10 most important…

   1.) A garden is never done. Just about the time you think you have a garden exactly the way you want it, along comes a deer, an ice storm, a new bug, or any of a train-load of issues that can derail everything.

   I’ve learned to expect the unexpected, roll with the punches, and look at “re-do’s” as part of the ongoing equation. Besides, if everything were done and perfect, what would we do out there?

   2.) Know that plants are going to die. We all kill plants. That’s also part of the equation and will happen for various reasons no matter how much we know or how many “right” things we do.

   I’ve come to look at dead plants as a great source of learning to do better next year.

   3.) Be patient. Gardening isn’t a good match for those who like instant results.

   Plants take time to grow to their prime, and that’s usually measured in years… and in the case of trees, decades.

   I’ve learned that gardening is more about the process than the results. When you look at it that way, it’s much more enjoyable.

Woody Plants in Winter Pots?

November 16th, 2021

   Most people use their pots for posies – primarily petunias, geraniums, coleus, and other annuals that get planted each May and yanked each October.

Here’s a grouping of dwarf conifers growing in concrete pots.

   Then the pots get tucked away for winter until frost stops knocking at the door the following spring.

   Hardly anyone uses pots to grow woody plants – i.e. evergreens, shrubs, and small trees – even though most of these do fine in pots and sometimes even better than in the ground.

   You just need to address a couple of issues.

   One is pot size. Err on the big side when it comes to that.

   Woody plants are going to grow bigger than flowers and have more extensive root systems, so they’ll need more elbow room than the 14- or 16-inch containers that can support a typical annual or perennial.

   Go with the biggest pot or planter-box sizes you can find (or accommodate), or go the recycling route and convert another container, such as a trash can, a half whiskey barrel, a feeding trough, a plastic tub, even an old bath tub.

   Just be sure you’ve got ample drainage holes in the bottom.

   Also go with sturdy containers that are resistant to cracking and able to take freezing in winter.

   Plastic, foam, concrete, wood, and metal are better materials than ceramic or terra-cotta if you’re letting your pots out all winter.

   Most plants hardy to our area withstand winters outside in pots without protection. All they need is occasional water during dry, thawed-out spells. That’s especially important for potted evergreens, which continue to lose moisture through their foliage over winter.

   Iffier choices are borderline-hardy woody plants, such as nandina, crape myrtle, camellia, Arizona cypress, cherry laurel, and osmanthus.