George's Current Ramblings and Readlings

Water on a Slope

April 23rd, 2019

   When water heads down a slope, especially in heavy rains, it doesn’t always behave nicely.

Laying drainage pipe to carry water down and under a slope.

   Instead of soaking in, it can create channels or sheets that wash out everything in its path.

   Planting in these wash-out zones is futile. Even groundcovers end up at the bottom when a gully-washer erodes the soil underneath.

   Soil tends to be thin on slopes anyway, which discourages deep rooting. So what’s the answer?

   I’m using a variety of strategies on the fairly steep bank behind my new house in Pittsburgh. One or more of them might help you as well if you have a slope at your place.

   The previous owners of my new house apparently ignored the slope-runoff situation, allowing weeds and seeded-in maidenhair grasses (Miscanthus) to soften the flow along with a few channels dumping water into and across the lawn below.

   Much of that lawn was soggy all winter. After any substantial rain, it stays wet for days.

   Some of the water makes its way across the lawn to another slope down to the driveway. That slope is leveled a bit by a brick retaining wall at the bottom. Steps come down the middle of it.

   During heavy rains, water runs down the steps like a multi-tiered waterfall. While that’s a nice touch, it’s not a whole lot better than having a waterfall gushing out the second-floor window from the bathtub overflowing.

   My first goal was to deal with the biggest push of water coming into the yard in the first place from the neighbor’s sloped lawn above. I could see that water over the years had found (or created) a natural swale to cascade down my bank behind a block retaining wall that previous owners had built at the bottom of the bank, where the lawn begins.

   No system was in place to deal with that rush of water. I’m surprised the soil behind the wall never eroded away.

The Power of a Weed Seed

April 16th, 2019

   I was not aware that, left to its own devices for a dozen or so years, winter creeper plants can grow into trees with trunks the size of my ankle.

My inherited winter creeper “trees” have been producing seeds like this for years.

   It’s a plant that matures seeds with a vengeance, banking up future baby winter creepers for years to come.

   In other words, winter creeper can become a very big and very troublesome invader in a short time.

   I mention this because my new “landscape” in Pittsburgh is overrun with creeping winter creeper, climbing winter creeper, and stand-alone winter creeper trees. The best I can figure with the latter is that winter creeper climbed up a supporting plant (probably rose of sharon, another problem weed in my Pittsburgh yard), then killed the host plant after it trained as an upright.

   It’s obvious no one has checked the growth and spread of these plants in a long time.

   I’m now paying the price for years of neglect. Worse yet, even after I get the climbers out of the junipers and maples and dig out the many stand-alone winter creeper trees, I’m going to face an ongoing battle of new winter creeper seedlings.

   To me, stored and lurking weed seeds pose a bigger threat than existing weeds. Get rid of a weed, and if it has had a chance to drop seed over the years, all the removal does is open space for sunlight and moisture to germinate a whole new outbreak.

   Disturb the soil even years later, and that brings dormant weed seeds to the surface, where they sprout after years of waiting for the warmer, brighter opportunity.

   So, I’m gearing up for a battle I’d rather not have to fight at my age (not that fighting weeds is fun or easy at any age).

   The first step is getting rid of the existing winter creeper, especially the big, damaging plants and the ones that have gone to seed.

   Climbing winter creeper can kill trees, not by rooting into the trunks, but by its leaves that grow out to cover the tree’s foliage.

12 Ways to Keep from Hurting Yourself in the Garden

April 9th, 2019

   A lot of people hurt themselves gardening.

It’s easy to hurt yourself out there…

   Much can go wrong out there, from pruning your finger instead of the branch to straining your back from picking up a pot that you knew was way too heavy.

   I hate to be naggy, but I’d also like to see fewer gardeners hurt themselves. So in that spirit, here are 12 gardener-safety precautions to consider:  

   1.) Use the right tools for the right job in the way the instructions say. Yeah, those safety warnings are boring, long, and written with lawyer input, but they’re there for one main reason – to keep you from hurting yourself (and others).

   2.) Sharpen the tools. It’s amazing how much better sharp pruners and sharp shovels work. Less force to get the job done is much easier on your body parts, too.

   3.) Stretch and work up to full speed gradually. A great way to hurt yourself is to go out cold and do a vigorous job right off the bat, like move a heavy pot or dig out a big shrub.

   4.) Know your limits. If you’re getting tired and/or sore, injuries and accidents become more likely. It’s OK if the whole to-do list doesn’t get checked off today. Your lanky lilac limbs will forgive you. Also don’t try to pick up or carry things you know are too heavy for you.

   5.) Wear gloves. They protect you from cuts and keep hands from chapping and cracking in cold weather. Get a tetanus shot at least every 10 years anyway.

   6.) Mix up the jobs. Instead of doing the same motion over and over and over again for hours, protect your joints by doing a little digging, then a little raking, then a little pruning, then going back to finish the digging.

Are New Varieties Really Better?

April 2nd, 2019

Yes, variety matters when you’re picking plants.

   Every new growing season brings a boatload of new plant introductions, most of them trumpeting some sort of improvement or new twist, if not one-of-a-kind break-throughs.

   They can’t all be better, can they?

   The short answer is no. Many are more of the same, and some aren’t even as good as what’s already on the market.

   However, when you look at the whole of what we can pick from now vs. 20 or 30 years ago, we’re light years ahead.

   Plant breeders and seed companies have done an amazing job at bringing us new choices that bloom better, bloom longer, fight off disease, and grow in more compact, easier-to-care-for habits.

   I spend a lot of time evaluating and writing about new varieties because I believe that picking superior plants and getting them in the right spot is one of the two keys to gardening success – good soil being the other. (Living well away from deer is a third!)

   One of the comments to my new-plant series this year made me wonder, though, whether gardeners are taking advantage of the good stuff.

   “Differences over what’s currently on the market is minuscule,” reader Owen said about my PennLive post on new annual flowers. “Every company just wants to expand every line they have and put out new cultivars to maximize plant royalties.”

   There’s some truth in that cynicism, mainly when it comes to differences in annuals from one company’s line to another.

Best Plants for Your Yard? Try These 2019 Award-Winners

March 26th, 2019

   Picking the best plants makes a big difference in whether your landscape thrives or withers.

Smokebush ‘Grace’ won a 2019 PHS Gold Medal award. (Credit: Pa. Horticultural Society)

   Genes matter.

   So how do you sort the strong from the weak?

   One way is to lean on the experience of the experienced.

   Each year, organizations of growers, horticulturists, researchers, and other plant experts bestow awards on top plant performers – some new, some just under-used.

   Here’s a look at plants that have won honors for 2019:

Pennsylvania Gold Medal

   A panel of experts assembled by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (best known for running the Philadelphia Flower Show) each year picks trees, shrubs, and perennials worthy of greater use in Pennsylvania landscapes.

   For 2019, six plants made the Gold Medal grade.

Kousa dogwood ‘Wolf Eyes.’

   Kousa dogwood ‘Wolf Eyes.’ A showy, slow-growing, 10-foot tree that’s most striking for its ivory-edged variegated leaves that turn pinkish-red in the fall. It also flowers white in June and gets red berries in September. Grows best in part shade.

   Purple smokebush ‘Grace.’ A multi-stemmed tree with dark purple-burgundy leaves that’s best cut back hard each year to grow as an eight-foot bush. If not pruned, it produces large pink flowers in May and June that look like smoke puffs. Grows best in part sun and moist soil.

   Juniper ‘Robusta Green.’ A narrow, upright Chinese juniper with blue-green needles. Grows 10 to 15 feet tall and five to seven feet wide, ideally in full sun.

   Chrysanthemum ‘Hillside Sheffield Pink.’ A reliably winter-hardy perennial flower that grows three feet tall and wide and has soft pink, daisy-like flowers that bloom for weeks in late summer. Grows best in full sun.

   Little bluestem ‘Standing Ovation.’ A flop-resistant, deer-resistant, drought-resistant native ornamental grass with blue-green stems that turn to red, purple, and orange in fall. Grows three feet tall, ideally in full sun.

   Betony ‘Hummelo.’ A trouble-free, long-blooming, winter-tough perennial that sends up flower spikes of purple-lavender from late spring into early summer. Flowers poke up about 18 inches and produce well in full sun to part shade.

   (Disclosure: I’m a member of the Gold Medal panel.)

Perennial Plant of the Year

   Members of the Perennial Plant Association vote to honor one perennial plant each year that’s superior in terms of performance, low care, pest resistance and multiple-season interest. The 2019 winner is…

Betony ‘Hummelo’ in bloom.

   Betony ‘Hummelo.’ It’s rare for the same plant to win honors from two separate, unrelated groups in the same year, but this one did it. PHS and PPA experts both think it’s a winner deserving better notoriety and more garden use.

   Although ‘Hummelo’ was introduced by German grower Ernst Pagels in the late 1990s, this cousin of lamb’s ear is just now being more widely recognized for its superior performance.

Green Ribbon Native Plants

   This program, run by the staff and Horticulture Committee at Jenkins Arboretum and Gardens in Devon, Pa., focuses on singling out some of our region’s best native plants for home landscapes.

   An ornamental grass, a shrub, and a shade tree won 2019 Green Ribbon awards: