Our 2013 comprehensive planting guide will give you the "how to" on planting annuals to perennial trees and shrubs. Just Click on the image below or follow the link to our PDF, printer-friendly version. Happy planting!
PlantingGuide2013 (printer-friendly PDF version)
Good morning everyone! Yesterday I shared with you some of the beautiful autumn mums we've received this week at the Garden Center. Mums are, without a doubt, one of our most popular fall bloomers. They look equally great in containers on your front porch as in borders in your mixed beds, and come in a rainbow of autumn colors. The garden mum just cannot be beaten for beautiful fall color. And now that you've picked up a few mums for your yard, I have a few tips and tricks for keeping your new plants looking in tip-top shape.
Fall planted mums need a little attention to help them make it in the landscape through the winter. Get these fall-blooming perennials in the ground as soon as possible. If using mums as container plants, it’s unlikely they will make it through winter, so enjoy their seasonal color as you would annuals.
Plant mums in full sun, in well-drained soil that is moderately moist. If the soil is too wet or too dry, the mums will suffer. Keeping the soil moist will ensure good root development on the plants as they go into winter, even after the tops have gone dormant. They tolerate part shade, but if it is too shady, the mums will get leggy and have smaller flowers. If your area receives at least half a day of sun, your plants should do fine.
Plant the mums in your flower bed at the same depth that they were growing in their pots and mulch them to help stabilize soil moisture and temperature. Be sure to cut and loosen the outer root system of the plant to maximize root growth before planting. Do not plant chrysanthemum flowers near street lights or night lights: the artificial lighting may wreak havoc with the mums' cycle.
Do not fertilize your plants until you see new growth next spring. Use a general purpose fertilizer such as 5-10-5 at the rate of 1 lb. per 100 square feet. Fertilize once per month through July.
Removing the spent flowers, called deadheading, will keep your plant looking neat and tidy and will help promote more blooms. Once your plant has gone dormant, do not cut back the dead growth. The dried flowers and stems serve as insulation to protect the plant during winter. When you see new growth in spring, cut the dead stems as close to the ground as possible.
Be sure to give your mums plenty of space in the garden. They can grow and multiply rather quickly. An added benefit, in my opinion. By every third spring, divide your mums to rejuvenate them.
With these care tips, you'll be enjoying glorious fall color from your garden mums for years to come. Enjoy!
Hello everyone and happy Thursday to you! I'm sure most of you have noticed the slight dip in temperatures we've been enjoying these past few days. Looks like we've rounded the corner from 90+ degree hot summer days and can look forward to beautiful cooler weather instead. What a welcome relief! Could it be that fall is in the air?
Fall is the perfect time to be in the garden. It's sunny and warm, yet cool enough to work. And best of all, there's no bugs! Even though we're still a few weeks away from the true fall season, there's plenty we can be doing in the yard right now to get our gardens in top shape for next year. Now is a great time to start tackling lawn care and re-seeding projects. As soon as the night-time lows drop into the 60's, like they already have, it's time to get started. But before we talk about seed, we may need to tackle some nasty weed issues.
I don't know about you, but the weeds have really taken over my lawn this past month. Things were in pretty good shape, and suddenly the weeds have just exploded. That's because they just thrive in our hot and humid summers. I've got crab grass and chickweed as well as Bermuda grass, infiltrating my fescue sod. So if your lawn is anything like mine, you'll want to tackle those weeds before turning your thoughts towards reseeding.
If your grass is less than 50% weeds, we recommend treating the area with Weed Out with Q by Fertilome. This ready-to-spray treatment kills crabgrass, dandelion, clover, plus 200 other listed weeds. It kills even tough weeds-roots and all.
Fertilome Weed Out with Q spray contains three proven weed killers that target lawn weeds and crabgrass. This product enters the lawn weeds through their leaves and moves throughout the plant to provide control. Recommended for cool season turf-grass such as Kentucky bluegrass, rye-grass, tall fescue, and mixtures of cool season grasses containing fine fescues. Also for warm season turf-grasses such as bermuda, zoysia, and buffalo grass. Application to bermuda grass may cause temporary yellowing or discoloration, but full recovery can be expected.
Note that this product should be used only when daytime temperatures drop below 90 degrees (85 for bermuda grass). And since we're in the 80's now, go ahead and give your lawns an application or two of this. Once treated, let your lawn sit about 2 weeks before re-seeding. Be careful not to over-apply which may cause burning to the grass.
If your lawn area is more than 50% weeds, you'll need to go ahead and apply Round-Up to the entire area. And if you're like me and have bermuda grass coming up in your fescue lawn, you'll need to use Round-up on that, as well.
Now that we've talked about weeds, it's time to think re-seeding. Fall is the best time for re-seeding, and actually should be the only time you re-seed. Planting fescue seed in the fall allows the seed to fully root in and get established before the heat and stress of the summer hit again. Once night time temps dip into the 60's, like now, you can get started. And you can safely seed until mid November.
For fescue lawns, we recommend Shady Nook lawn seed mixture from Wyatt-Quarles. Shady Nook is locally blended so it is perfect for our Piedmont growing conditions. And it is tested here at NC State to provide a better blend with fewer weed seeds. It is also perfectly suited for full sun into part shade, giving you a better mixture of drought tolerance and wet growing conditions.
We offer Shady Nook in 25 lb. bags, as well as 5 lb. bags for smaller areas.
If you have areas of full shade, we recommend mixing Creeping Red Fescue in with your Shady Nook blend. Creeping Red Fescue is shade tolerant, and it's dark green color and finely textured blades will mix in perfectly with the rest of your lawn.
I hope these helpful hints will get you on your way to beautiful looking grass in no time. Remember, our helpful experts are on hand 7 days a week to answer all your lawn care and gardening questions. Stop by and pay us a visit! We're always happy to see you down at Garden Supply!
Hello everyone, and happy Sunday! All of us at Garden Supply would like to wish you dedicated, hard-working, fabulous dad's out there a wonderful Father's Day.
The greatest gift I ever had Came from God; I call him Dad! ~Author Unknown
We appreciate each and every one of you!
Also a big thank-you to everyone who attended our Annual Auction yesterday. We had a wonderful turn-out, lots of lovely garden items up for auction, and food and fun for everyone. A good time was had by all, and we couldn't have done it without you.
Today I would like to share with you a few care tips for your June lawn and gardens. For those with fescue grass, June is the month to treat and prevent brown patch which appears as a browning area in the lawn typically in the summer months when conditions are favorable. Brown patch is caused by a fungus, and if your lawn is showing signs, you will need to treat with a fungicide. We recommend that you apply Hi-Yield Lawn Fungicide to prevent brown patch. Two applications may be necessary if rain has been heavy.
While brown patch does cause patches of dead grass, other things can cause the same symptoms. If the area is poorly drained and water stands on a spot for more than 24 hours, the grass roots will rot, causing a dead patch. Also, in areas where the sod has rooted poorly, brown patches will develop as dry weather sets in. So what are the true symptoms of the disease? True brown patch spots are small to begin with but in warm weather they can enlarge rapidly. Seen from above, the patch will look like a doughnut - a ring of tan grass having a patch of green grass in the center. Individual grass blades will be brown down to the crown - where the blade emerges from the ground - but the crown will be green. Early in the morning during hot, damp weather you might see a white fungal web at the edge of the dead grass patch.
Never water in the evening. The best time to water is in early morning. Fescue is much more susceptible when it has lush, green growth plus warm nighttime temperatures. The second step is to water at the right time. Since brown patch needs 14-16 hours of wet leaf surface to reproduce itself, water only after the dew has dried in the morning. An alternative is to water after nightfall. Since the grass is wet with dew anyway, watering in the dark does not unnecessarily extend the wet period.
So what if you have brown areas in your sod or planting beds due to poor rooting mixed with our hot summer temperatures? We have help for that, too. Garden Supply owner,Keith Ramsey, recommends treating with Drought Defense by Soil Logic to reduce water consumption and enhance growth.
Drought Defense reduces the amount of water needed to irrigate lawns, groundcovers, trees, and other plants. This soil moisture management product helps prevent plant-available water from evaporating or draining past the root zone. It is super-concentrated, long-lasting, helps lower watering bills and is safe for use on fruit and vegetable plants. Drought Defense is environmentally friendly and is safe for use around children and pets.
This easy-to-use concentrate is ready to go. Simply connect the sprayer to your hose and spray evenly over measured area. Be sure to irrigate all treated areas after application to wash the product into the soil. After two applications of the product, normal watering time and quantity can be reduced up to 50%!
For those of you with warm-season grasses like Bermuda, Centipede and Zoysia, June is the time for over-seeding your bare spots and laying down an application of fertilizer.
We have everything you need down at the Garden Center, and our experts are standing by with answers to all your lawn care questions. Stop by and pay us a visit and get your June lawns and garden looking in tip-top shape in no time.
Thanks so much for stopping by! I'll be back soon with more snippets from the garden.
Hello everyone! Take just one small stroll through the Garden Supply grounds and you will fully believe that spring has truly arrived. Everywhere you look you'll see flowering annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees. If it's blooming, we're sure to have it. You need to come on over and take a little peek. We will have you itching to get outside in your gardens and get dirty in no time flat! One perennial already blooming is the Lenten Rose, a mainstay of many shady gardens.
This wonderful plant bears some of the longest-lasting flowers of the year. If you already have some of these in your garden, now is the time to trim off last year's foliage that may be hiding under the new leaves that emerged this winter. Removing any leaves that look shabby will make the new foliage and blooms look even better.
Pansies, another bright favorite in the landscape, are still going strong. We just got in a new shipment this week.
If you have pansies that have overwintered with you, they would benefit from a dose of fertilizer right about now. These spring-like temperatures will encourage new growth from their winter slump. Pinching off any spent flowers will help, too. This will give your old pansies a fresh new start. They should look good until mid-May.
Look at some of our other blooming beauties.
Wouldn't this stunning Camilla be a showpiece in your home landscape? Come check out all the gorgeous varieties we have for you.
And if you're looking for a real Southern Beauty, take a gander at these amazing forsythia in bloom. I would guess these plants are at least 8 feet tall already, and bursting with bright yellow color.
Just gorgeous! But then, everything is gorgeous these days at the garden center. Hope you'll stop by and visit soon!
