Right now purple loosestrife is blooming in swamps and along streams and roadsides. It is a tall, beautiful weed with small purple-pink flowers growing on square stems. So who can object to such a pretty plant? Biologists know that it is a plant that came from Europe and has few natural predators here to keep it from taking over wetlands. It has an amazingly robust root system and can elbow out native plants, in part, because it produces huge numbers of seeds. Not only that, the plant offers little of food value to our wildlife. It’s pretty, but worthless. A thug.

Purple loosestrife came from Europe in the early 1800’s –probably in soil used as ballast in ships – but it is not a problem there. Why not? It evolved there, and over time some 120 species of insects learned to eat it. Of these, 14 are host specific, meaning that they eat it – but nothing else. A few of these insects were brought to quarantine labs to test the following: Will they eat related species of the target plants, or plants that share a habitat? Will they attack any of our major crops such as corn, wheat and soy? Beetles have been found to help control purple loosestrife.

If you’ve ever tried to dig out purple loosestrife, you know that it has an amazing root system that will challenge even the strongest back. Scraps of roots left in the ground will start new plants. Not only that, each mature plant produces many thousand tiny seeds every year, so even if you did poison or pull one, the soil if full of tiny time-release capsules – seeds -  that will start the process all over again next year, and the year after that, and so forth. But it can be kept under control with the use of introduced beetles.

Since 1994 beetles that eat purple loosestrife have been successfully reducing stands of this exotic. They reduce the numbers of plants to around 10% of pre-introduction levels; as the numbers of plants drop, so do the number of the predator beetles.

Dr. Casagrande and his colleagues at the University of Rhode Island have been working on finding and introducing biological controls for major plant and insect pests. But it is a slow process. They have introduced 3 parasitic wasps to control the dreaded lily leaf beetle, that red pest that devours our Oriental and Asiatic lilies. When I asked him recently how the wasps are doing, he told me that they are well established in sites in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. That some have spread as much as 10 miles since introduction. However, the predator insects are not for sale – so we just have to wait for them to slowly make the way to our gardens.

So what can the home gardener do? First, realize that help is on the way – in the form of biocontrols. Second, recognize that herbicides for plants and insecticides for beetles ultimately don’t work. Yes, you can kill lily leaf beetles or loosestrife with a spray, but you can’t eliminate them. Patience is required as Mother Nature, with a little help from scientists, will eventually restore balance.

I have purple loosestrife near my stream. My control? I cut it down with my pruning shears, thus preventing the plant from producing seeds. When small plants appear in my flower gardens, as they have done, I dig them out before they establish a big root system.

I have given up planting Oriental and Asiatic lilies. Dr. Casagrande told me that there are a few cultivars of lilies that are less attractive to the pest beetles, such as ‘Black Beauty’. But instead of those lilies I now grow a lovely unrelated plant called angel’s trumpet (Datura spp.). The flowers are big white trumpets not unlike the lilies, but they bloom in sequence all summer, sometimes a dozen or more at a time. It’s an annual here that I re-plant every year. One note of caution: the seeds are poisonous if eaten.

As an organic gardener, I have to accept that I am not in total control of the environment and that sometimes I have to endure some losses. Biological controls do work, and have made some exotic pests such as birch leafminers into nothing more than minor annoyances. There are already places where purple loosestrife is no longer a problem.  I urge you to stay the course and be organic.

Henry Homeyer is the author of 4 gardening books, including his most recent: Organic Gardening (not just) in the Northeast, a Hands-On, Month-by-Month Guide. His e-mail is henry.homeyer@comcast.net.

The front walkway at my house is flanked by 2 flower beds, each just over 2 feet wide and about 8 feet long. In the spring I had Forget-Me-Nots (Myosotis sylvatica) and pansies providing color and verve, along with daffodils and crocus.  But all those are long gone – or dormant.

I planted a variety of annuals along the walkway including nicotiana, verbena, salvia, cosmos and a lovely plant called Persian shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus) that I grow for the rich purple and silver foliage. The verbenas were a fancy new variety but they have proved too tasty to some ambitious insect. The nicotiana (also called tobacco plant) is still blooming quite nicely in lime green and a brownish red. The cosmos are in bud, but currently flowerless. Annual poppies have come and gone. My salvias are showing just a few deep blue/purple blossoms.

The problem now is that most garden centers do not have a wide variety of blooming flowers for sale. Geraniums are still for sale in fire engine red, pink and white. And some places have expensive hanging planters, but my budget for $25 planters has run its course. So what can I do?

Daylilies, one of mid-summer’s heroines, are in their glory now. I could dig up a clump from elsewhere on the property and move it to the front walkway. Or I could visit a garden center and buy a potted daylily in bloom and move it into an empty spot left when I pulled weeds and the dozens of annual poppies that show up each year.

I realize that the common orange daylily has prejudiced some gardeners against the breed. They are so common that they are considered trite. We like the new, the different, and once I suppose the orange daylily fit that description. Another problem is that orange daylilies have roots that spread, and a small clump turns into a big clump in just a year or two. And they are hard to dig up. Not only that, even a small scrap of root will generate a new plant.

Not so the fancier daylilies. They are “clumpers” that stay in one place. They are easier to dig and move, and can provide color for a few weeks each summer. There are early bloomers, mid-season bloomers, and some that bloom well into the fall. Colors? Clear yellow, rich yellow, various shades of pink, red and even lavender are available. Tall ones with scapes (flower stems) over five feet are available, as are tiny ones with scapes barely 18 inches.

If you want to dig up or divide a daylily, you will need to dig from at least 4 places – thrust a drain spade or transplant spade into the soil at a 45 degree angle on each side, each time trying to get under the center of the clump and tip the spade back to lift it a little. A big clump will give you a good workout. You can divide the clump by slicing through the root mass with a spade or a machete. Even a long serrated knife will do the job. Cutting is much easier than trying to tease apart the roots with a pair of garden forks, which is recommended by some garden authorities. Yes, you may damage a few bits of root when cutting them, but daylilies are invincible.

Daylily blossoms only last a day (hence the name), but most scapes have 6 or more buds that bloom in sequence. I pick scapes with flowers in bloom and put them in a vase. The buds open in sequence for a week or so. So don’t hesitate to use them in a vase. By the way, golden rod is a wildflower (a.k.a weed) that is starting to bloom and does well in a vase. It is unjustly accused of causing hay fever – the real culprit is ragweed (with inconspicuous green flowers), which blooms at the same time.

Other flowers in bloom for me right now in other places on my property include cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) and its cousin great blue lobelia (Lobelia syphilitica) that is showing nice blue spikes. The first needs a moist, sunny site, while the later does fine in hot, dry places (or any sunny spot, really). Black-eyed Susan is in full glory, too. Bee balm (Monarda spp.) is finishing up, and obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana) is just starting to open. Later the fall-bloomers will be along, so I have plenty to look forward to.

So what did I do? I didn’t move a daylily, I dug some annuals that were growing in moist, rich soil and moved them up to the front walkway where the soil is drier. I used my CobraHead weeder to get under a short zinnia (Profusion series) and a big, juicy marigold. They reminded me that I need to water the plants in afternoon sun along the walkway daily – and I’ll give them (and all my potted plants) some liquid fish fertilizer for a mid-summer boost.

You can reach Henry by  e-mail at henry.homeyer@comcast.net or P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746. His new book is Organic Gardening (not just) in the Northeast, a Hands-On, Month-by-Month Guide.

When Tom bought the place 11 years ago, much of what is now garden was then parking lot. “I didn’t need a huge parking lot, “he said. “I started digging up the asphalt by hand, then brought in an excavator.” Even parts of the property not covered with black top were filled with rubble. “The whole back yard was a big parking lot. When I dug into the ‘soil’ all I found was gravel and chunks of asphalt.”

In order to create a vegetable garden, Tom built wood-sided beds to contain new soil. He now grows tomatoes, beans, squash, greens and much more with great success. “I had a couple of truckloads of soil brought in for my original beds, but I have been adding compost, hay and oak leaves for years. Originally not a thing would grow, not even weeds. We can grow pretty much anything now.

One of the most interesting features of Tom’s garden is his use of stone. He bought some large slabs of granite, and decided that he should use them to make a statement. He hired an excavator and set stones in two groups of three: two vertical stones about 4 feet apart, and a large slab on top of each. They had relatively flat edges, so he was able to make good, steady – and sturdy – structures that look a bit like the Greek letter pi. A modest man, Tom said, “I’m not sure it was completely my idea. I was talking to this guy who was selling stones, and a friend suggested making an arch. So I did. It makes sense here – pi is related to circles (in mathematics), and one is placed at the entrance to a labyrinth (a circle with walking paths).”

Tom’s life partner, Sonia Swierczynski, is a landscaper who lives in Norwich, VT. She has extensive experience with a great variety of plants. Together they have selected and planted a very unusual group of plants. At the front of the house, for example, they planted a hedge of American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana). Sonia explained their choice:  ”We wanted to sit on the porch) but didn’t need to totally block out the view of the street. We wanted some diffusion of the view. We didn’t want to shut everything out.” They planted the hornbeam as small plants about 5-feet apart and now, 6 years later, the screen works well. It is 7-feet tall and has filled in nicely. For privacy elsewhere on the property a neighbor put what Sonia calls a “shiny white plastic fence”. She planted red daylilies on their side of it, one called ‘Salieri’ (after the composer) and it is a fabulous contrast to the fence.

Other woody plants that Tom has installed include two kinds of decorative sumac (Rhus typhina), ‘Tiger Eye’ and ‘Lacinata’. Sumacs have extensive root systems that send up suckers, often creating large thickets that are difficult to control. But Tom does not worry about that. “I really liked the form of the sumac and its Oriental look. I really wanted it. I planted it in a place that I thought I could control it by mowing around it, and so far it’s fine,” he said.

Another favorite shrub of Tom and Sonia’s is ‘Limelight’ hydrangea  (Hydrangea paniculata). This is a trademarked variety of the Proven Winners Company. As its name suggests, the panicles (blossoms) are a lime green, though they turn pinkish in the fall. The plants get to be 6-8 feet tall and wide, and are hardy to Zone 3. According to Sonia, “All the hydrangeas are very happy here, and they seem to fit the Victorian nature of the home.”  They grow numerous kinds of lilac, which also are appropriate for the era of the home.

Tom’s lot is perhaps 3 or 4 times larger than a standard city lot, so big perennial flowers work well there. Tree scabiosa (Cephalaria gigantea), for example, grows to be 5-7 feet tall and displays bright yellow 2-inch flowers. It is hardy to Zone 3. They grow a couple of interesting burnets (Saguisorba spp.) including ‘Pink Elephant’ and ‘Pink Brushes’, both big plants that they purchased at Opus Plants in Little Compton, Rhode Island (www.opustopiarium.com). When I looked at the plant list of Opus Plants on-line, I was amazed to see many very hard to find perennials, and plan to visit them soon.

Other big flowers include a fall aster, a variety called ‘Hella Lacey’ and Virginia mallow (Sida hermaphrodita). Virginia mallow grows up to 10 feet tall with big lobed leaves and small white flowers. It is a flower native to Pennsylvania and neighboring states, but is considered endangered.

Tom and Sonia have planted several nice decorative grasses including Siberian Greybeard (Spodiopogon sibericus) and Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra), one of the few grasses I know that will grow in shade.

There really are too many interesting plants in Tom and Sonia’s garden to mention them all. I do know that next June I will visit again to see their peony collection when it’s in bloom – they have a great selection, particularly of white and coral colored ones, which Sonia says “just glow at dusk”.I can’t wait to see them.

Henry Homeyer’s Web site is www.Gardening-guy.com. His new book is Organic Gardening (not just) in the Northeast, a Hands-On, Month-by-Month Guide.

I’m a plant collector and get great joy in growing plants that are outside their climatic zone (or that require special conditions) and seeing them do well. Taking a risk in the garden is different than racing motorcycles or skiing down the north face of Mt. Washington. Yes, I did once spend $75 on a yellow ladyslipper that did not make it through the winter because a dog dug it up, exposing the roots. But that was not personally perilous. I recommend taking some risks in the garden.

My most recent ”risk” was planting a shrub variously called, spicebush, Carolina allspice or sweet bubby. Those names are from my bible of woody plants, Manual of Woody Landscape Plants by Michael Dirr. Sweet bubby – that’s worth planting just for the name! Its Latin name is Calycanthus floridus. Just as plants with botanical names including canadensis indicate northern origins, plants with floridus indicate southern plants. So it may not do well here.

I am a sucker for plants in bloom. I was recently at EC Brown’s nursery in Thetford Hill, VT (www.ecbrownsnursery.com) and saw that new-to-me shrub, spicebush or sweet bubby, in bloom, and had to take one home. The blossoms are a deep dark red, globe-shaped and about 2 inches in diameter. According to Dirr’s book, it is considered hardy to Zone 4, but “-15 or -20 is the breakpoint … flowers occur on short shoots from leaf axils along the entire stem length, i.e. where buds are present; even if shoot tips are winter killed, the potential for good flowering is excellent.” So I am optimistic that it will survive and thrive for me.

After my sister, Ruth Anne Mitchell, died unexpectedly two years ago I planted some plants of dubious hardiness here in her honor. Ruth Anne was a risk taker – she was an intrepid international traveler who thought nothing of hiking a hundred mile through a war zone such as Liberia during the civil war there. While working for an international aid agency she was once captured by teenage rebels carrying automatic weapons and who were high on drugs. They thought she would be scared. Not so. She lectured them, and asked if they would treat their mothers like that. Chagrinned, they brought her to their adult leader who reprimanded them and then let her continue on her way.

Among the plants that I planted in memory of Ruth Anne that did not survive were bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), trailing arbutus (Epigea repens) and that yellow ladyslipper. I also planted 3 blue Himalayan poppies (Meconopsis betonicifolia ), and 2 died that first winter. The third bloomed but died the following winter. Undaunted, I bought 3 more from Cady’s Falls Nursery (www.cadysfallsnursery.com) in Morrisville, VT this year. That one successful poppy, with true sky-blue blossoms, gave me great joy, taught me where to plant it – and gave me the willingness to try again.

Of all the flowers I planted for Ruth Anne, the most successful was the umbrella plant (Darmera peltata). My bible of perennials, Steven Stills’ Manual of Herbaceous Ornamental Plants, lists it as only hardy in Zones 5-7 (minus 20 to zero in the coldest parts of winter). The first year after planting it limped along, but this spring it sent up numerous flower spikes with lovely pink flowers before the leaves appeared. And now those umbrella leaves are a foot across and the clump covers a 4-foot circle.

The key to out-of-zone success is getting the soil and sun requirements right for the plant. Acidity, drainage and exposure to cold winds really do make a difference. Even though the books by Dirr and Stills cost well over $100 for the pair, I think they are worth the investment: they tell you not only cold hardiness, they tell you what kind of soil is needed. I know the world wide web is supposed to have all answers, but I like an authoritative book that I can depend on.

Most nurseries have Dirr’s book on hand, and will let you read it before deciding if you should invest in a woody plant. Dirr’s book is very personal, with his strong feelings expressed, and anecdotes about where he has seen a particular plant growing. I use Stills’ book to tailor the soil for perennials at planting time: he details the fertility needed, so I know if I should add plenty of organic fertilizer, just a little, or none at all.

Take a good look at your own garden. Are you willing to try some new plants? I spent hours this past weekend pulling out the roots of Queen of the Prairie (Filipendula rubra) so that I could plant my new spicebush or ‘sweet bubby’. And if it doesn’t survive? Well, I’ll have a good place to try another interesting plant!

Henry Homeyer lives and gardens in Cornish Flat, NH. You may reach him at henry.homeyer@comcast.net or P.O. box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746.

Cuke Trellis

The first trellis I built for was for cukes. It is an A-frame built using conventional 1- by 4-inch pine lumber. I bought pine boards that had already been sanded and primed, then applied a coat of exterior latex white paint. I used 8 boards, 4 on each half of the A-frame (2 legs and 2 cross pieces on each side). I also bought a pair of inexpensive door hinges and some 1-inch galvanized dry wall screws.

On a flat piece of lawn I began by laying out 2 boards, end to end. I attached the boards with the hinges so that later I could stand up them up to make the legs for an A-frame. I repeated with another 2 boards.  Then I placed the 2 sets of legs 6-feet apart and connected them with cross pieces on what would become the inside of the A-frame. Using a cordless drill, I attached them with 1-inch screws 18 inches from the bottom of the legs of the A-frame and 18 inches from the top.

I set up the A-frame in the garden bed and attached plastic netting I had bought for the job. The netting is 78 inches wide, and has openings 6 inches by 7 inches. To attach the net I used 1-inch screws on the inside of the A-frame; I put the screws in just half way so that the head of the screw could be used to hook the netting on to, pulling it tight. It took a little experimentation to get the spacing right, but worked slick as a bean.

GourdTrellis

The next trellis was a bit more work. I wanted to build a trellis for gourds that would allow the vines to go up 6 feet or so, then range across cross pieces like a grapes on an arbor, hanging down inside the arbor. I bought 10 pieces of 8-foot long bamboo, each almost an inch and a half in diameter. They make good sturdy poles.

Using a post hole digger I dug 6 holes, each about 16 inches deep. The arbor is a rectangle approximately 6 feet by 3 feet, fitting nicely inside the 4 by 8-ft bed. Each end of the bed had 2 poles about 6 inches from the end and side of the bed, and 2 were place equidistant between the end poles. I held the poles vertical as I added soil back into the hole, checking it for plumb with a small level. I tamped down the soil in the holes with a shovel handle, then mounded the soil up around each pole.

With the 6 pieces in the ground, I added cross pieces (a foot down from the top of the upright poles) on each long side. I attached the bamboo with copper wire I had stripped out of 14-gauge building wire (I was an electrician in an earlier life, and had some in the cellar). I wrapped the wire around the vertical and horizontal pieces and tightened them up with a pair of pliers. Lastly I added 4 cross-pieces on the top to support the vines and allow the gourds to hand down from.

I also built a bean tripod. I went into the woods and cut down 6 maple saplings about 2-inches in diameter at the base; I trimmed each to be 8-feet long. I pushed the poles into the soft earth of the garden bed, and, standing on a step ladder, brought them together and tied them near their tops – where all 3 were touching. I used garden twine, but will go back soon and add some copper wire – I fear the string will rot before the end of summer.

Grade stake bean trellis

Another way to make a bean trellis is to use four 6-foot (or 8-foot) grade stakes.  These are 1-inch by 1-inch hardwood stakes. Drill a hole 2 inches from the top of each that is big enough to insert a length of metal coat hanger. Cut a 6-inch straight piece of the coat hanger, insert it though the holes, and bend the ends. Then stand it up and spread the legs – two on each side.

Peas are traditionally trellised using chicken wire and posts. My only suggestion is this: put in a post every 4 to 6 feet. That will keep the wire from sagging and flopping as the vines get heavy. You can’t put up a sturdy trellis that spans 8 feet or more between posts, though I drive by gardens that try to.

So if you’re short of garden space, think about getting your veggies up off the ground. In other words, grow up!

Henry’s new book is Organic Gardening (not just) in the Northeast, a Hands-On, Month-by-Month Guide. His Web site is www.Gardening-guy.com.

First, since my gardens have been (ahem) a little under-maintained, I had to accept that they would not be perfect when company came. I knew I could make them look good, but that there would be flaws: weeds, empty spots, flowers that need staking, shrubs that need pruning. You get it. Fortunately other gardeners are forgiving since often their gardens are in a similar state of imperfection.

I think that hiring a college student, preferably an athlete, is good – especially if you’re not a kid anymore. Even a student who has never gardened before can push a wheelbarrow full of compost or mulch, or empty your wheelbarrow for you. That saves a lot of energy so that you, the gardener, can do the stuff that requires experience. Teach your helper to identify one or two designated weeds, and let her just go after them. Carlin, my helper, filled several wheelbarrows with nothing but jewel weed, which was everywhere.

Buy some annual flowers. As you pull out the golden rod and other big weeds that somehow escaped notice last summer, there will be empty spots that need filling. You can buy 4- or 6-packs of flowers to fill in the spaces without a big expenditure.  Annuals are often in bloom when you buy them, and will bloom all summer if you cut off the spent flowers – and some don’t even require that. I bought marigolds, snapdragons, zinnias, asters, gazanias, gomphrena, and stock. Read the tags as to height and spacing, and have at it. Most do well in average soil, so you probably don’t even have to do much soil improvement.

Think about buying one really dramatic annual. I spent $40 on a plant commonly known as “elephant ears”. It came in a14-inch pot, stood 32-inches tall and had a 48-inch spread. Elephant ear (Colocasia spp.) is a tropical plant that grows large green or purplish leaves and thrives in moist soils. They are grown in Cameroon (where I was a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1970’s) as a food item – the roots are like yams. High in carbohydrate, low in flavor.  And it’s so dramatic that visitors will ignore a few other flaws in my garden as they gush over this big, juicy plant. I didn’t remove this big plant from the pot, just buried it up to the lip of the pot in the ground.  Then this fall I can easily bring it inside without re-potting it.

Don’t be afraid to move things around. My granddaughter, Casey Yunger, planted a 6-pack of dianthus last summer in her little garden bed here at my house. I thought it was an annual, but low and behold, it came back and produced 6 large blooming plants (each a foot across). I popped them out of the ground, and used them to fill in spaces. With the exception of big, deep rooted perennials like peonies and perennial poppies, most flowers don’t mind moving. I even moved a rose I’d had for over 15 years so that it would get more sun – and fill in an empty spot. Just move things a week before company comes, so plants will have adequate time to settle in.

Tie up floppers. Nothing looks worse than a nice perennial with gorgeous flowers that are lying in the dirt. I have tried every type of material for tying up plants, and prefer green plastic tape (not sticky) that comes on a roll; it’s about a quarter of inch wide. Unlike string, I can break it off the roll with my fingers. I generally use 3 bamboo stakes to type up a good sized plant, running the plastic tape between the bamboos about two-thirds the way up the plant from its base.

Big urns of flowers can really dress up a garden, too. You can buy a hanging basket of flowers, and then transfer the contents into an appropriately-sized pot for a quick and dramatic spot of brightness.

I hate to admit it, but I found that a weed whacker (string trimmer) can be a terrific tool for garden clean-up. I’ve had one for a couple of years but never used it at all last summer – I hate loud machines. But a weed whacker really can make places near stone walls and buildings look much better – and quickly. I’m still a novice with a string trimmer, so I generally stay away from trees and flowers – they can damage plants in the blink of an eye (I have to admit to ruining places in my lawn while getting used to it).

And lastly, cut the lawn. A neat lawn –especially if you have edged the lawn around flower beds – gives an overall impression of order. So invite a group to visit your garden: it will force you to get it looking really great, and then you will enjoy it more all summer.

Henry’s new book is Organic Gardening (not just) in the Northeast, a Hands-On, Month-by-Month Guide. His Web site is www.Gardening-Guy.com.

Planting anything is best done on a cool, cloudy day – or even in a light sprinkle. If we’ve had a few days of rain, it’s better to wait for the soil to dry out a little before planting. Rototilling wet soil is definitely a no-no, and walking on wet soil can compact it, ruining soil structure.

Adding compost, or aged cow manure, will help any soil. If you have sandy soil, it will act as a sponge to hold moisture from percolating right through. If you have a clay soil, it will improve drainage and make the soil lighter and fluffier – and more receptive to roots. Avoid fresh cow or horse manure as it will introduce grass and weed seeds to your soil – those animals don’t digest all the seeds.

I planted my tomatoes on a warm dry day in early June, and we almost immediately got hit by a spell of days in the 90’s. I had grown these babies from seed, and hardened them off outside, but a big, leafy tomato can lose a lot of water in the hot sun when it’s 94. So I created some shade for my tomatoes by draping row cover over the tomato cages. It helped.

Row cover is a spun synthetic fabric that is used to keep insects off plants while allowing water vapor and sunshine to pass through. It also can keep a plant a few degrees warmer early or late in the season if draped right over it. Row cover comes in various weights, and I had some of the heaviest type. It did a good job of shading my plants when placed the cages (and kept in place with clothes pins). I also kept the soil well watered during the heat wave.

A few words about watering: I don’t like overhead sprinklers. Yes, they are easy to turn on and let the machine do the work. But they get the leaves of your plants wet, and that can encourage fungal diseases. Most fungi send out hyphae (root-like appendages) that pierce the leaf, allowing the fungus to infect the plant. Many need a moist leaf surface to do that. Watering in the evening with an overhead sprinkler moistens the leaves and makes them more susceptible.

I like watering with a watering wand. This is a nice 30-inch long metal handle with a watering rose on one end and a shut-off on the other. The brand I like best is Dramm. It sends out a nice gentle spray, even with the water pressure up fairly high. I find the less expensive watering devices send sharp sprays, which can damage the plants or wash away the soil. I like the watering wand because I can deliver water to the root zone while letting the tops stay dry.

Newly planted trees and shrubs need to be watered weekly, or even more often if the soil is sandy and temperatures are high. The most common cause of first-year death of trees is dehydration. But don’t just give your new tree a quick squirt. Time how long it takes for your hose to deliver 5 gallons of water into a bucket, and then make sure to spray long enough to deliver 5 gallons – in a nice wide circle around the tree. Watering the rootball is not enough – dry soil nearby will wick the water away, leaving the rootball dry in no time.

Many gardeners put down bark mulch in established perennial beds. This keeps down the weeds and holds in moisture. But if you add more mulch each year to pretty-up the beds, you can develop a layer of bark that is almost impermeable to rain. I find an inch to an inch-and-a-half of mulch is adequate. And I try to leave a little donut hole around the plant so that quick showers can deliver some water to the roots.

Recently I examined some maples that were dying in a parking lot – the top half of one was completely leafless, the others also showed some leaf loss. These trees were suffering from bark rot due to “mulch volcanoes”. Each had at least 6 inches of bark mulch right up against the trunk. I predict that all will be dead from bark rot within 2-3 years. And all will struggle getting any moisture. So be judicious in applying your mulch.

If we have another week of rainy weather, your vegetables like tomatoes may show yellowing leaves – a sign of stress. This occurs because normally plants pull up nitrogen and other minerals from the soil with water that is used to replace water lost to transpiration on sunny days – but not in rainy spells.  The solution: spray liquid fish fertilizer onto the leaves. The leaves will absorb the nitrogen and green up.

So don’t worry, be happy. No matter what the weather, your garden will (eventually) be just fine.

Henry’s new book is called Organic Gardening (not just) in the Northeast, a Hands-On, Month-by-Month Guide. Contact him at henry.homeyer@comcast.net or P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746.

So what did I see? For starters, coral bells (Heuchera spp.).Coral bells are commonly sold in garden centers in the standard green-leafed form as well as lime green, orange, purple and variegated-leaf varieties. The plants generally have very thin flower stalks that stand up well above the leaves and terminate in small but handsome bell-shaped blossoms. I grow a number of varieties including a purple-leafed one that I think is called ‘Persian Carpet’ (those pesky tags are routinely stolen by the garden gnomes). I grow ‘Persian Carpet’ in light shade in soil that is rich in compost – in full sun the color of the leaves tends to bleach out. I grow the standard green-leafed variety in full sun with rich, moist soil. It has orange-pink blossoms that look lovely in a vase.

Coral bells were growing in both sun and shade along the Rogue River, including some growing right out of the rock in walls that face the afternoon sun. Generally there was a little seepage at this time of year, and moss was present that also held a little water. Still, these plants (which I identified as Heuchera micrantha) are growing in a much tougher environment than those in my garden. Winters, however, are much milder out there – just a few days below freezing.

I was not surprised to see sedum growing on the rocks out there. Sedums of all sorts are used as rock garden plants here, including my favorite, Sedum rupestre “Angelina”. Angelina has chartreuse foliage, but no flowers; it’s an excellent groundcover. The sedum (sometimes called stonecrop) I saw out there was Sedum spathufolium which had grey to green leaves, and bright yellow flowers on 3-5 inch stems. As with sedums here, this one is very drought tolerant, sometimes growing right on rocks with no apparent soil.

Iris innominota

Iris tenax

I was surprised to see iris growing in deep shade along the Rogue River and blossoming profusely. Many sun-lovers, (and I consider iris to be a sun-loving plant) will grow and survive in shade, but bloom minimally. Not so with the iris I saw there. I identified 2 species of shade-loving iris: Iris innominata and Iris tenax. I did a Google search and found GrowsonYou, a website in the United Kingdom (http://www.growsonyou.com) that sells both species of iris. They do not offer our zone hardiness ratings, however, so they may not be viable here. This winter, when I have more time to do a more thorough Web search, I may be able to buy seeds and start my own plants, which is better than getting plants from overseas.

I grow California poppies here from seed, and saw plenty of them in grassy, sunny meadows there. The California poppy is a very bright yellow annual poppy. I don’t find them re-seeding for me, or not very often. Like annual poppies, they start easily from seed.

larkspur

Another annual flower that I saw there and grow here is larkspur. It is the annual form of delphinium, a perennial that many gardeners grow. Larkspur is readily available in 6-packs from garden centers, or you can start your own. I have learned not to try starting larkspur indoors in early spring, as it needs cold soil to germinate. If you want to grow it from seed, it is best to start it outdoors in the early spring. The blue of the larkspur in Oregon was truly wonderful: a bright, bold, medium to dark blue. I was surprised to see it growing in both sun and shady locations.

Wild columbine is common along the Rogue. Columbine comes in several colors, though there it is just the red columbine (Aquilegia formosa). Here I have a deep purple that is almost black, and hybrids in blues, pinks and light colors. Columbines in the wild here I see mostly growing on rocky outcroppings. It is a short-lived perennial that is easily started from seed – and often sows seeds itself. I find my columbine sends “volunteers” where I didn’t plant them.

The last of my flowers that I saw there was a lesser known perennial known as umbrella plant (Darmera peltata). It was growing right on the banks of the river, and in the river where the water was high. I planted an umbrella plant in 2009 in memory of my late sister, Ruth Anne, right next to my stream. In 2010 it limped along, but this spring it bloomed beautifully: pink flowers on tall stems that appeared before foliage in early May. And this year the foliage is big and luxuriant.

So if you travel, look to see where plants grow in their native habitats. It may help you understand that we sometimes pamper our plants too much, and they can do fine on their own.

Henry Homeyer can be reached at P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746 or at henry.homeyer@comcast.net. His new book is Organic Gardening (not just) in the Northeast: A Hands-On, Month-by-Month Guide.

It seems to me that maples are given scant attention when it comes to their flowers, but this year the maples in my part of the world are producing prodigious numbers of blossoms. Most trees have an occasional “mast” year when they produce a bumper crop of fruit, nuts or seeds. This appears to be a mast year for maples. Their flowers appear first each year, before the leaves, and are dainty greenish yellow. The flowers hang or dangle on thin green 1-3 inch long strings in a merry, decorative fashion. They don’t resemble flowers we pick or admire, for the most part. Still, given the numbers of them this year, they make a dramatic statement, creating a yellow/lime green cast to the entire tree, glorious from a distance.

The birches also have interesting blossoms, which are called catkins. Catkins are hanging appendages 2-4 inches long, a bit like tiny fuzzy sausages hanging in groups of 2-3 that produce (or receive) pollen. There are separate male and female catkins. Catkins also appear on some willows, and poplars. Like any wind-pollinated flower, catkins produce lots of pollen and may cause allergic reactions in some people. Male poplar trees produce pollen which is very irritating to many people, and is a main cause of hay fever at this time of year – though the females are not allergy producers.

If you suffer from hay fever, a good resource is Tom Ogren’s book, Allergy-Free Gardening: The Revolutionary Guide to Healthy Landscaping. Ogren lists not only trees and shrubs, but many common flowers and rates them on a scale of 1 to 10 in term of how potent the pollen is.

The shadbush, shadblow or serviceberry (Amelanchier spp) have been blooming along the roadside in recent weeks. These are white-flowered understory trees or shrubs that bloom towards the end of the forsythia display, but before lilacs. The blossoms resemble apple blossoms, but the trees (or shrubs) have smooth gray bark and a lankier overall appearance than apples. They vary in size, but rarely get taller than 30 or 40 feet in the wild. As a domesticated shrub they can be kept in the 6-10 foots size.

If you want a good bush for feeding birds in summer, shadbush is a good choice. They produce blue berries that are much beloved by birds, and are generally stripped off the bushes before I get a chance to taste them. But they are tasty for us, too. And I love the smooth gray bark and the multi-stemmed growth of the bushes. The most floriferous of the varieties, for me, is Amelanchier arborea ‘Cole’s Select’. I found it at E.C. Brown’s Nursery in Thetford, VT. (www.ecbrownnursery.com) and I have gotten other varieties there, too.

This is a good time to prune your forsythia. As early spring bloomers, they set their blossoms for next spring this summer, so prune by early summer to get the best display next spring. That is a good plan for any spring-blooming tree or shrub. If you have forsythia that only bloom on the lower branches, you have an old fashioned variety, one that is easily susceptible to winter burn. The blooming branches are those that were protected by snow. The best solution? Cut them down, dig them up, and get a better variety. ‘New Hampshire Gold’, ‘Vermont Sun’ and ‘Northern Sun’ are good, hardy varieties that should do well for you. Or ask at your family-run garden center for a good one for our climate.

Apples and crabapples set their buds for next year by early June. You should be done with pruning them by now, though a little pruning now is all right. Fruit buds are brittle at this time of year, and you can easily snap them off when pulling prunings from the tree, so be careful when removing branches. Pruning them when dormant is best, which is why March is the usual month. It’s also fine to do some pruning in the heat of August.

Lilacs are some of the toughest and most wonderful of the blooming shrubs. Old farmers scattered wood ashes around the base of their lilacs in March to keep the soil sweet (not too acidic). You can do that now – or anytime, really – to help with next year’s bloom. A quart yogurt container of limestone or wood ashes is fine for a small lilac or a couple of cans for bigger ones.  It really does make a difference. And lilacs in full sun bloom much better than those planted in shade. Buy lilacs in bloom so you can see their color and sniff their fragrance before making a purchase.

This is a great time to plant trees in shrubs, but only if you are willing to water them all summer. If you’ll likely forget, plant in the fall.

Henry Homeyer’s Web site is www.Gardening-Guy.com. Reach him by email at henry.homeyer@comcast.net

Me? I’m not much of a machine guy, so to learn about the various motorized options, I visited Upper Valley Equipment Rental on Bridge Street in West Lebanon, N.H. and talked to Brian Henry, the manager. We looked over his arsenal of machines: a power broom, a lawn de-thatcher, a core-aerator and a 40 inch sweeper with a bristle brush, and I went home with a power broom to try out.

power broom

The power broom is actually an attachment that goes on a string trimmer (also known as a weed whacker). It consists of a rotating cylinder with rubber paddles that lift and push debris forward. The one I rented weighed 25 pounds, but because the motor and blades are at opposite ends of a 6-foot handle, the machine requires a certain level of strength and endurance (your 80-year old mother should not attempt to use it).

The power broom works: you can push a lot of debris with it. My lawn is quite soft and I found that if I didn’t keep moving the machine forward, it was possible to damage the grass and dig a depression. I see it as best used to clean up a paved driveway or the shoulder of the driveway with sand and gravel left from the winter. I still prefer a rake to a power rake, even though an old fashioned rake takes more time.

core aerator

The core-aerator is a machine designed to make your lawn less compacted – and thus to grow better. It extracts plugs of turf from compacted lawns, allowing you to get compost and fertilizer into the soil. As I explain in my new book Organic Gardening (not Just) in the Northeast, you can test your lawn for compaction by trying to plunge an ordinary 6-inch screwdriver into the lawn up to the hilt. If you cannot easily do this, your lawn is compacted and you may wish to rent an aerator. It pokes holes 2-3 inches deep and half an inch across. The plugs extracted fall out on the lawn (and would eventually break down) but most people would want to rake them up. Spreading compost after aerating is a way to get organic matter into the lawn, increase biological activity to soften and loosen the soil.

Sweepster

I also looked at a walk-behind “Sweepster”. The one I saw had a 40-inch stiff-bristled brush on a rotating drum. It reminded me of a street sweeper, but it pushes the debris forward and does not pick it up. Since I have no pick-up truck I wasn’t able to bring one home, and (as a confirmed Luddite) I am not sure I need one anyway. Again, it would be great on driveways, and might also serve to clean thatch, or accumulated dead grass, out of the lawn.

Speaking of which, I got a demonstration of a dethatching machine at the rental center. It’s a walk-behind machine with lots of short metal blades designed to loosen and lift dead grass. If you have biologically active soil, the organisms in the soil (including earthworms) should breakdown your grass clippings, precluding the need for a dethatcher. But if you apply lots of chemicals to the lawn, you may wish to rent one, as chemicals tend to minimize biological activity. The machine would be good for scuffing up the soil in order to apply seed to an existing lawn, too.

Small engine repair shops are busy tuning up lawn mowers and sharpening the blades. If you are mechanically inclined, you can sharpen the blade yourself by removing it and using a bench grinder or coarse file to mimic the angle of the blade set by the manufacturer. If it has been warped or bent by hitting rocks, stumps or dog bones, you should replace the blade.

If you set your blade at 3 inches or more, you can minimize crab grass growth – effectively shading it out. If you want to minimize weeds in the lawn you can spread corn gluten. It is a corn product that should be spread now, during the period between the blooming of forsythia and lilacs. But it is not a miracle (some weeds will get established anyway), and for best results should be used 3 years in a row. Microbes in the soil break down the gluten, releasing peptides that inhibit root growth – of weeds, but also of any grass seed you might use, so don’t use it if overseeding the lawn now. Corn gluten contains nitrogen and acts as a fertilizer, slowly releasing nitrogen as your microbes break it down.

The best spring activities for improving your lawn, besides cleaning it up, are spreading some compost over it and adding some good grass seed. Half an inch of compost spread with a shovel and rake will energize your lawn, and adding grass seed will fill in the thin spots. So pick your weapon of choice – either motorized or manual – and get to work. Summer will be along soon.

For other suggestions and info about spring activities, go to Henry’s blog:
https:// henryhomeyer.wordpress.com. His web site is www.Gardening-guy.com