Trees & Shrubs
After loading my cart with flowers and bushes at the garden center, I head straight for the soil aisle to pile on bags of manure, soil conditioner, and all the wonderful things that I believe will make my new plants happy. But is amending the soil around garden plants really a good idea? Read on for the scoop on how to – or not to – improve the soil in your garden.
Summertime is for playing outdoors, and what backyard is complete without a tree swing? Tree swings can provide years of fun, but it’s important to install them in a way that guarantees both your safety and the health of the tree. Here are some tips for safe installation of tree swings.
If you’re looking for a perfectly shaped tree with year-round interest, try planting a Kousa dogwood in your yard! Also called Japanese or Chinese dogwood, these Asian cousins of the familiar native flowering dogwood offer a unique look, and they’re resistant to many of the diseases that frequently plague flowering dogwoods. Read on to find out what you need to know to grow Kousa dogwoods in your yard.
Nikki asks, “What should I do about the black spots covering the leaves of my ‘Carissa” hollies? Will this do long-term damage to my hollies?”
It sounds like your holly plants have been infected with a fungal disease called holly leaf spot. Here’s what you need to do to protect them.
If you’re trimming heavy tree limbs, you have to be extra careful not to damage the bark or to interfere with the tree’s natural healing response. Doing it right is actually no more difficult than doing it wrong, particularly if you think ahead to how much work it would take to remove a dead tree! Here’s how to cut large tree limbs in your yard in three simple steps.
There are two types of weed barriers that you can install in your garden to prevent any unwanted plant growth: plastic and fabric. Plastic barriers are resistant to water while fabric barriers allow water to permeate. Watch this video to find out more.
Wound paints and dressings claim to prevent rot and help trees heal from pruning wounds, but research suggests that in most cases they actually do more harm than good. Read on to find out more about whether you should use wound paint when pruning trees in your yard.
Well, here we are in late winter, and for once in the year, when asked if it’s a good time to prune, the answer is “Yes!” For many shrubs and trees, late winter/early spring is a great time to do large scale pruning and rejuvenating. Taking advantage of a rare warm day, I headed outdoors with my pruning shears in tow. What I found were the startling consequences of not practicing what I preach!
