Archive for July, 2007

bee

Originally uploaded by StampingMad

The bees are in love with this stuff. I saw very few honeybees this year, which is very alarming with all of the bee disappearances I’ve heard of, but the bumblebees are out in full force. For someone who is terrified of bee stings, I’ve sure been spending a lot of time a few inches away from them lately. I think I have a hundred bee photos, but I won’t make you look at all of them.

Anyway, knowing that the honeybees are having problems made me really think about the importance of all the amazing insects we simply take for granted and I’ve been doing a lot of bug related photography lately. What is the difference between a bug and an insect again? I’ll have to look it up.

I’ve covered this topic before, but I think it is worth mentioning again. When a gardener gets ready for a move, it is a lot tougher than having some men come in, pack up the contents of your house and leave. You’ll be leaving plants behind and trying to move favorite shrubs that are pretty established and may not take to the move. Here are a few of the things I do when I think I may be moving:
* Set up a propagation bed about six months ahead of time. You may want to use a misting system if you are going to try to root a lot of shrubs. I root plants like honeysuckle cultivars and Scotch broom in a bed of nice soil with partial shade and daily watering with a soaker hose, but trickier shrubs need rooting hormone and misting. Moving baby plants is so much easier than moving parent shrubs.
* Layer shrubs as a backup. Simply scrape away a bit of the bark on the underside of a low growing limb and press it against the garden soil. Slap a rock on top and leave it alone for about a year. Hopefully, it will be well rooted by the time you are ready to move and you can cut the branch from the parent plant.
* Collect and label seeds from everything.
* Make divisions in early spring or late fall when plants are dormant and place the labeled divisions in a holding bed that can easily be sodded over when you take them all up and move away.
* If you are planning to move a mature shrub or tree, consider having your local plant nursery do the job for you. My brother-in-law “helped” me move a beautiful weeping maple by wrapping a rope around it and yanking it out of the ground with his truck. Believe it or not, it survived and is now looking pretty nice four years later. Having a nursery help with moving means careful digging and lifting. You will also get a wrapped rootball, which makes it much less stressful on the shrub or tree.

Photo Source

petunias on fence

Originally uploaded by StampingMad

How cute are these buckets of petunias on the white picket fence? I saw them at my local ice cream place (Kilby Cream – sooo good) and just had to take a photo.

I had a question about prairie gardening and misplaced it so I don’t remember the exact wording of the question, but the answer is kind of. I haven’t written any articles about prairie gardening, but I have written about wildflower gardens and natural plantings. Prairie gardening is very similar.

The important points are to use plants that are native to your area, to replace pesticide and fertilizer heavy green lawns with organic wildflower gardens and to avoid plants that are prone to disease or need a lot of watering.

Here are some articles on prairie gardening I found that seem quite useful:
Gardening with Native Plants
Making a Prairie Garden

I hope your garden is successful and I’d love to see photos of your beautiful new prairie style lawn next spring!

If your Leland Cyprus or other evergreen is losing needles so that something can make a little cocoon to hang from it, you probably have an infestation of bagworms. These little pests can really cause some serious stress and make your evergreen look unattractive. To treat them, pick the cocoons off by hand and discard them, preferably by burning. I am not a fan of pesticides and non-organic methods, but for those who are, Sevin is supposed to control bagworms.