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Welcome through Fred’s Garden Gate! It’s finally happened...spring! If you’re anything like me, you almost surely have begun early-season cleanup, raked out the lawn and made plans for upgrading the landscape surrounding your home. And what better way to enhance not only the appearance but the property’s marketability as well?
New shrubs are high on almost anyone’s list of enhancements, and observing a few long-established “rules” will ensure that those expensive shrubs will prosper and heighten the look, value and “feel” of the property.
Let’s look at a few of the most important things—rules, if you will—to
improve your chances of success.
* First and most important, when considering the purchase of new
shrubs or trees, carefully check their suitability for your USDA hardiness zone. I’m not railing against what have become known as “big-box-stores,” but I feel safe in saying that most lean in the risky direction of stocking at least some shrubs and trees that, at best, are only marginally hardy in the broad area surrounding a particular store. Just look carefully at the tag, then query a knowledgeable salesperson and ask about one-year, no-questions-asked guarantees before you purchase. Then...
* Further carefully select types and varieties for suitability in your location. Consider annual rate of growth, potential height and breadth, care and pruning needed for optimal performance and appearance, and whether your new tree or shrub grows best in full, all day, never-ending sun, or full or part shade. Now...
* Once home with your new purchase, thoroughly prepare the soil where it’ll be planted. Simply digging a quick hole barely large enough for the root ball won’t cut it. The soil in the pot or ball that your new shrub was planted in is most often notoriously—and desperately—poor...the least expensive possible for the grower. Give it the best possible permanent home by improving the site with organic matter (compost), lime if necessary, plant food as appropriate, and ensure that any excess water will drain away quickly. Next...
* Dig a hole twice or more as large and a few inches deeper than the container. Remove any burlap or wrapping, even if the instructions try to tell you otherwise. You want those roots to be in direct contact with good, rich soil without having to wait six months or a year for a constricting bag to rot away. If it ever does.
* Add enough enriched soil and a little fertilizer in the bottom of the hole so the
now-out-of-the-burlap-or-container plant rests slightly deeper than it was in the pot or ball. Now back-fill with good soil, firming (but not pounding or compacting) it as you go, and leaving a temporary shallow basin to prevent water from escaping.
* Deeply soak to be certain that water reaches all corners of the plant’s new environment. When all has soaked in, use the remaining soil to fill the basin, bring the soil level up to surrounding ground. It’s important to keep the soil well watered throughout at least the first full growing season.
* Stake and tie tall plantings as necessary to support them while they develop new anchoring root systems.
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A few-inch layer of mulch will conserve moisture, discourage weed growth,
moderate soil temperature and dress up your new landscape element. Cautions:
keep the mulch a few inches away from the actual stem...and resist
the temptation to heap mulch in what looks like—and is actually known
as—a mulch volcano. It wouldn't hurt to read about the dangers of mulch
volcanoes.
Pruning of spring-flowering shrubs and trees is properly done immediately after the flowers have faded. Late summer, fall or dormant pruning will remove (destroy) the flowers that the plant has spent all of the previous season developing. Prune summer or fall flowering shrubs or trees while they’re dormant or in very early spring. Your
Cooperative Extension Service will be happy to provide you detailed instructions for pruning and basic care
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