Evergreens

Gardening Resolutions #5

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This resolution is sort of an offshoot of Monday’s resolution to stop falling in love with shrubs. This is not the plant I wanted. I wanted a Norfolk Island Pine. In retrospect, it’s better that I didn’t find one in a size that I wanted to buy (I won’t even go into the reasons for that!)

But I did this same thing last year. I bought a little evergreen–which, by the way, is not intended to live indoors, even in my chilly house. I nursed it all the way through the winter. And then we got into March and the thing promptly succumbed to something. I think it was shortly after I had re-potted it because it was woefully pot-bound but I never re-pot in the dead of winter.

In any event, I have done the same thing–I have bought a completely inappropriate plant for the house. The tag says it will grow to 8-15 feet! So that indicates it’s definitely it’s an outdoor plant–but not in my climate. However, I suspect that just like last year it will succumb to something–perhaps the mites that seem to be affecting some other things in my collection this year–well before I can re-pot it and get it outdoors for the summer.

Perhaps next year, I will just content myself with my bulbs!

Holiday Greenery

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It’s that time of year–I start “decking the halls” (or walls, in this case) with all sorts of live greens. And no, I don’t make them myself.

I may go cut some fresh holly from my backyard, but for the most part, my holly grows in too much shade to make abundant berries–and I would much prefer to leave the berries outside for the birds to enjoy anyway.

So I splurge on these purchased things–and for the most part, I leave them up until well into Lent!

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I used to get kissing balls but the last few years I’ve gotten these baskets. They seem to last a little better, and depending on what they’re grown in, I may get a bonus container at the end. The last couple of years when I had gotten “kissing balls” they seemed to disintegrate in January or February–well before I was ready to recycle them. These last better.

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And I brought this home and set it in its usual spot and realized it was next to 2 pots of succulents which were frozen in place–so I had to re-think that placement in a hurry! As it turns out, I like this placement better–until our next snow, at least, when the Spoiler will blast it with the snowblower! I’ll have to hope my succulents thaw so that I can move them!

I Need to Take My Own Advice

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Remember on Friday I talked about watching plants for signs of insect infestation? Apparently I wasn’t taking my own advice.

Of course these little evergreens are never happy indoors and I know that. But I was shocked to see this plant go from healthy to basically dead over the course of a week.

Only the bright green parts are still alive –& there are very few of those.  Everything else is dead and crumbles under my fingers when I touch it.

What can cause such rapid deterioration? Only one thing: spider mites.

Now here is more evidence that Stephen King isn’t a gardener.  Spider mites are tiny little spiders–almost invisible to the eye. Just like regular spiders , some make webs and some don’t . The ones that make webs are easier to find, but usually by the time you find your plants covered in the webs, it’s too late. They’re too far gone to save.

They breed quite quickly as well,  reproducing themselves every 3 days. So a small infestation can get out of control quickly.

And they are so light that they can easily travel between or among plants on any current of air–or your watering can spout,  for example .

Once you know that you have these in your house, you want to remove infested plants (this one is dead anyway) and watch everything else anywhere nearby very closely .

Do as I say, not as I do to avoid a lot of heartbreak.

Need A Winter Container Indoors?

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As you plan for winter arrangements, scavenge in your yard for some foliage.

I don’t live in the Pacific Northwest so I don’t have a lot of those wonderful cedars with cones that you see in the professional arrangements.

And here in the northeast, our magnolias are not evergreen, so that lets out using their lovely glossy leaves.

And I usually want to leave my berried plants–holly, juniper and crab apple–with their berries–as winter treats for my wild life.

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This is what I have left: scavenged branches from the bottom of my Christmas tree (Fraser fir from good old Somers, CT), some variegated euonymus and some hellebore leaves.

Enjoy!

By the way, that adorable nativity just to the left of the top container is from El Salvador. It’s one of my favorites (I collect nativities, among other things) because of the rainbow arch, the palm trees and the sweet little lambs.

I doubt you’ll ever see most of my collection on here (not gardening or weather related) but most come from countries like Peru, Vietnam, Mexico and the more “rustic” they are , the better I like them!

Garden Trends–Gold Foliage

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Gold foliage is the “trendy” foliage color of the year (despite the fact that the Pantone color of the year is “Greenery” I guess).

We go through these various color fads in the garden. I have had some customers in my retail gardening days say that they didn’t like “gold” colored foliage in the garden because it made the plants look dead–particularly on evergreens. I have had other customers say the same thing about chartreuse. But here again, I think color is a very personal thing–and as those internet “memes” with the dresses have shown us, we certainly don’t all perceive color the same way! Oh well.

If you think about hostas, for example, a variety of colors, including blues and golds, can give the garden interest and movement, even if you are using all the same plant. The same thing would be true of a plant like coral bells (heuchera) or even an annual like coleus.

Evergreen, or conifer gardens also benefit not only from a wide variety of textures but of colors. An evergreen garden of just greens would be rather uninspiring. But when you add a variety of blues, golds and whites, the garden takes on a liveliness that cannot be obtained from just design alone.

So this year when you are planning your garden–whatever type of garden you plan–look for the gold! You won’t be sorry that you did.

Are Your Evergreens Doing This?

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If your evergreens look as sad as as the one in this photo,  you might be understandably concerned. I have a few things to say about this.

First,  are you gardening in a drought area? If so, try not to stress. Because while this amount of yellowing is NOT normal on an evergreen,  if you have been gardening in a drought area, this could be normal for you this year.

All evergreens shed needles, roughly 1/3 of their needles each year.  That’s perfectly normal.  But trees under stress, such as drought stress, are likely to shed additional needles.

So what should you do?  Keep the tree watered. Deep irrigation is better than a few little soaks with a garden hose.

Don’t fertilize. Don’t add to the tree’s stress by fertilizing . That holds true for any plant, or even a drought stressed lawn.

And finally understand natural cycles and what is “normal ” and what isn’t.  That should help you feel better if your evergreens–either broadleaf or needled–suddenly have yellow needles or leaves.