George's Current Ramblings and Readlings

The Best Little Bulbs that Hardly Anybody Grows

May 4th, 2021

   Most people know tulips and daffodils. So it’s no wonder those two spring bulbs show up in a lot of yards, even though tulips are leading snack targets of deer, rabbits, and rodents and tend to go downhill after a stirring debut performance or two.

Siberian squill is my favorite of the least-used bulbs.

   A fair number of people also know and grow crocuses and hyacinths.

   But beyond those four, I think a typical yardener would be hard-pressed to name any other spring-blooming bulbs.

   From the earliest little white snowdrops that can bloom even under a February melting snow to the softball-sized purple orbs of giant alliums that lead us into summer, lots of other bulbs do well in our climate.

   Yet few people grow them, most likely because 1.) they don’t know about them, or 2.) they figure something must be difficult about them or else they would be more common.

   From what I’ve seen over the years, most of these lesser-known bulbs are reliable growers that come back year after year, often get better with age, and seldom get eaten by animals.

   They also bloom at different times as the season unfolds, making it possible to have something in color non-stop from the end of winter right through June, when the summer annual and perennial flowers take over.

   To help paint a real-life picture of what to expect, I put 10 different so-called “specialty bulbs” to the test in my new yard.

10 “Climate-Smart” Trees that Can Take Our Future Heat

April 27th, 2021

   Our climate isn’t like it was just a generation ago, and our plants are showing it – especially trees.

White oak is a species tolerant of our future heat.

   Many of Pennsylvania’s recent tree demises – from diseases on spruce and firs to branch diebacks on Japanese maples to “mysterious” deaths of sugar maples – are directly or indirectly related to climate changes.

   The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Climate Change Resource Center says we’re on a road toward wetter, warmer, and less snowy winters; earlier springs; hotter, drier summers; more extreme fluctuations between heavy downpours and “flash droughts;” more erratic temperature swings; longer, drier autumns, and new bugs, diseases, and weeds that didn’t use to withstand our colder winters.

   All of that is taking a toll on trees – particularly those that don’t adapt well to change and that don’t do well in hotter weather.

   Gardeners, urban foresters, and public gardens such as Longwood Gardens and the Chicago Botanic Garden have been documenting that some species are struggling more than others.

   Of 50 trees the Chicago Botanic Garden studied, for example, 10 were identified as ones that won’t fare well 30 years from now – American and Greenspire lindens, shagbark hickory, Black Hills spruce, American hop hornbeam, katsura, Norway spruce, Sargent cherry, amur maackia, and Serbian spruce.

   The U.S. Forest Service also identified beech, sugar maple, gray birch, eastern white pine, and black cherry as others “vulnerable” in the climate that’s unfolding.

   Knowing which species are best equipped to adapt to the future climate is good to know because trees are such long-term investments.

   As Penn State Extension urban forester Vincent Cotrone wrote in a post on tree selection, “We need to take into account whether (a tree) can handle conditions in 20 to 30 years. If we decide to plant 50 new street trees of a given species, and they begin to decline and die off in 10 years, we have just wasted time and lost 10 years of establishment.”

   If you’re planning a new tree or three, it makes sense to take into account the likely future conditions as well as “conventional” selection factors such as light, soil moisture, available space, and whether the species is a prime target for those deer that are lurking nearby.

   Based on studies by the Chicago Botanic Garden and the U.S. Forest Service’s Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science, below are 10 of my all-around-best tree choices that also are equipped to handle future heat. Let’s start big and work small…

Gifts to the Future

April 20th, 2021

   A fellow commented on a profile I wrote about the majestic white oak that “maybe you’ll be able to enjoy a tree like the one in the photo when you’re 125 or so.”

I may never see my young purple beech look like this, but I’m happy with it now anyway.

   I hope I’m still planting daisies rather than pushing them up then, but assuming not, that over-used adage doesn’t discourage me from planting trees.

   One of my life aims is to leave my little corner of the Earth in better shape than when I found it.

   A sidebar to that is planting as many trees as possible to counter-balance the many more that get cut down every year.

Read George’s post on what trees he’s planted in his new yard so far

   Sure, it’s going to take decades for a baby oak to reach its mature glory. And sure, I’m unlikely to see that.

   But planting a tree is not just about me and about now. Trees are as much for the future (maybe more so) than the present.

   I’m thankful for the people who had the forethought to plant trees years ago that are now the mature specimens we all can admire, sit under, and enjoy in flower or fall foliage.

   When I plant a tree, I see it as returning the favor to this earlier generation so that my children and grandchildren’s generations can enjoy the benefits of my investment.

   That’s not to say we get nothing out of trees in the meantime.

How to Do Your Own Lawn Care

April 13th, 2021

   The lawn-care pros who care for so many of our yards have no magic secrets on how to grow a nice lawn.

You could employ these “mowers” and “fertilizers” as part of your own DIY lawn-care program.

   They just know what conditions and measures lawns need to thrive – and when and how to deliver them.

   Any of us can do the same thing… if we learn a few basics and are willing to invest the time and effort.

   DIY lawn care can save you hundreds of dollars a year. You’ll also get to decide how far you want to go, whether it’s a weed-free, thick, green carpet or just something better than dirt and weeds.

   Here’s a pair of lawn-care game plans. One is if you’re the proud, would-be keeper of the perfect sward and one is if you’re satisfied with an OK lawn:

Crabgrass preventing

   The first job of spring is determining your tolerance for crabgrass – that creeping, grass-like weed that elbows its way into the real grass with even the tiniest of openings.

   This weed dies each fall but can sprout like crazy each spring from dropped and blown-in seeds.

Crabgrass looks like this.

   Green-carpet way: Stop it before it gets started by using a lawn spreader to apply an annual granular crabgrass preventer, ideally when forsythia bushes are in peak bloom (usually late March to early April).

   However, crabgrass can germinate beyond the eight-week window in which preventers typically work, so apply a second treatment in late May or early June if you have zero crabgrass tolerance.

   Products with the ingredient dithiopyr kill crabgrass seedlings in addition to preventing sprouting, allowing it to be applied just once, four weeks later than other products.

   OK way: Skip crabgrass preventers, and live with tolerable crabgrass outbreaks. Pull objectionable clumps in summer.

   Think about crabgrass preventers only in springs after really bad infestations.

Fertilizing

   Grass grew long before the Scotts Co. came along, so how much (or whether) you fertilize depends on how thick and green you want the lawn to be.

   Green-carpet way: Test your soil every two to three years to get a report on nutrition and acidity levels. That’ll let you tailor products and amounts to your lawn’s needs. Otherwise, you’re just guessing.

   Penn State University DIY soil-test kits are available for $9 or $10 at county Extension offices, many garden centers, and online at the Penn State soil test lab.

   The standard application plan is four times a year: 1.) late March to early April; 2.) late May to early June; 3.) late August to early September, and 4.) between early and mid-November, before the ground freezes.

   Lean toward long-acting organic fertilizers or chemical fertilizers that are high in slow-release nitrogen (the label indicates that); avoid products with phosphorus (unless your test specifically says you need it), and never fertilize when a lawn is browning from dry weather.

   OK way: Do a soil test at least once to determine if you have any real out-of-whack situations worth addressing.

   Skip fertilizing unless the lawn is thinning or performing too poorly for your liking.

   Otherwise, start with a once-a-year fertilizer (use an organic product or a chemical one that’s high in slow-release nitrogen in late summer) and add a second application if that one alone isn’t suitable (late spring and late summer if you fertilize twice a year).

   If twice a year still isn’t good enough, add a third one in November before the ground freezes.

Read more on fertilizing lawns at Penn State Extension 

A Marriage Made in Flower Heaven

April 6th, 2021

   The horrors of World War II were still fresh as Japanese botanist Dr. Toichi Itoh focused on an apparent pipe dream that had long eluded plant breeders.

‘Bartzella’ Itoh peony in bloom.

   Itoh was determined to cross herbaceous peonies with tree peonies to come up with a hybrid that offered the best traits – and none of the shortcomings – of both.

   He made at least 20,000 crosses over the years. None of them worked, a result of the two plants’ genetic barriers as well as the snag that herbaceous peonies bloom a few weeks sooner than tree peonies.

   Then in 1948, one of Itoh’s crosses miraculously produced seeds that germinated into something special – the very first of what today is known as an “Itoh peony.”

   You’ll find several varieties of this “intersectional” marriage of herbaceous and tree peonies in catalogs and garden centers these days. They even showed up last spring at Lowe’s.

   At the lowest I’ve seen them, Itoh peonies go for $50 per plant.

   They’re definitely not cheap… but they are spectacular enough performers that this frugal gardener plans to invest in one this spring.

   I’m looking at adding ‘Bartzella’ to a prime, front-step location near my front door.

   ‘Bartzella’ has soft yellow petals with a sort of peachy-red throat.

   Like all Itoh types, the flowers are huge – close to eight inches across – and in top form for about three weeks in late spring.