Monthly Archives: May 2020

Creepers & Crawlers: Ground Covers for Walkways

The durability of some plants is absolutely amazing. A number of them are so robust that they may even be tread on! These are the plants to choose when filling in the space between pavers, walkways, patios and steps. Placing plants in the gaps of your hardscape will soften its appearance and will keep weeds from taking over that space, as well as prevent erosion that will loosen stones. These ground covers will creep and crawl around the stone bringing the garden to your feet and closer for you to enjoy.

There are resilient, low-growing, easy maintenance plants for just about any situation. Many even have showy flowers. But which is right for your yard? Before planting, scope out your site. Take into consideration the amount of sun or shade the plant will receive, the amount of foot traffic the area gets and the size of the space that the plant needs to fill. Still not sure which groundcover will work best? Stop in and speak with a member of our knowledgeable staff. We can help make your selection easier.

Groundcovers for Moderate to Heavy Foot Traffic

Areas that receive moderate to heavy foot traffic – backyard patios, front walkways, terrace steps, etc. – can be the most difficult to fill in. Depending on the light the site receives, some of the most popular groundcover options include…

Full Sun

  • Alpine Cinquefoil (Potentilla) – 12″ spread, yellow flowers, green foliage
  • Carpet Speedwell (Veronica) – 3″ spread, light blue flowers
  • Creeping Sunshine Speedwell (Veronica) – 12″ spread, gold foliage
  • Creeping Thyme Doone Valley (Thymus) – 23″ spread, variegated gold foliage
  • Creeping Thyme Purple Carpet (Thymus) – 18″ spread, mauve flowers
  • Creeping Thyme Elfin (Thymus) – 8″ spread, light pink flowers
  • Creeping Thyme Coccineus (Thymus) – 18″ spread, red flowers
  • Creeping Thyme Pink Chintz (Thymus) – 23″ spread, deep pink flowers
  • Creeping Thyme Ruby Glow (Thymus) – 18″ spread, purple-red flowers
  • Golden Stonecrop (Sedum) – 23″ spread, yellow flowers and foliage
  • Hartington Silver Thyme (Thymus) – 12″ spread, light pink flowers
  • Mediterranean Creeping Thyme (Thymus) – 18″ spread, deep pink flowers
  • Nutmeg Thyme (Thymus) – 18″ spread, scented foliage
  • Orange-scented Thyme (Thymus) – 12″ spread, scented foliage
  • Pink Pussy-toes (Antennaria) – 12″ spread, deep pink flowers
  • Pussy-toes (Antennaria) – 12″ spread, white flowers
  • White Moss Thyme (Thymus) – 18″ spread, white flowers
  • Whitley’s Speedwell (Veronica) – 23″ spread, deep blue flowers
  • Woolly Thyme (Thymus) – 23″ spread, grey-green foliage

Sun to Part Sun

  • Blue Star Creeper (Isotom) – 12″ spread, light blue flowers
  • Black Brass Buttons (Leptinella) – 12″ spread, purple-black foliage
  • Black-Leaved Clover (Trifolium) – 18″ spread, green and purple foliage
  • Celestial Spice Pratia (Pratia) – 8″ spread, deep blue flowers
  • County Park Pratia (Pratia) – 12″ spread, deep blue flowers
  • Creeping Mazus (Mazus) – 18″ spread, mauve flowers
  • Creeping Wire Vine (Muehlenbeckia) – 29″ spread, wiry stems
  • Cushion Bolax (Azorella) – 8″ spread, yellow flowers
  • Green Brass Buttons (Leptinella squalida) – 12″ spread, yellow flowers
  • Irish Moss (Sagina subulata) – 12″ spread, small white flowers
  • White Creeping Mazus (Mazus) – 18″ spread, white flowers
  • Miniature Brass Buttons (Leptinella) – 16″ spread, white flowers
  • Rupturewort (Herniaria) – 12″ spread, tiny leaves
  • Scotch Moss Golden (Sagina) – 12″ spread, golden foliage
  • Turkey Tangle Fogfruit (Phyla) – 23″ spread, gray-green foliage
  • White Creeping Pratia (Pratia) – 12″ spread, white flowers

Shade

  • Corsican Mint (Mentha) – 12″ spread, mauve flowers
  • Miniature Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia) – 18″ spread, yellow flowers
  • Miniature Wintercreeper (Euonymus) – 18″ spread, leathery foliage

Tomatoes and Peppers – A Gardening Tradition

Tomatoes and peppers are two crops you can never have too much of. They freeze well without the difficulty of blanching, and although the texture of tomatoes disintegrates, the flavor remains good. Both tomatoes and peppers offer brilliantly colored fruit that can be particularly attractive in the garden or in containers. Both have the same requirements – a sunny, nutrient-rich site that is well-drained. To prevent disease problems, neither should be planted in a location where tomatoes, peppers or eggplants were grown the previous year. If you’re not growing both tomatoes and peppers, you’re missing out!

Tomatoes

Tomatoes come in two different types: determinate and indeterminate. Determinate, or bush varieties, grow 1-3′ tall. When flowers form at the vine tips, the plant stops growing. This means fruit sets all at once – which makes them excellent for canning. Indeterminate types, on the other hand, have sprawling vines that grow 6-20′ long, and keep producing and growing until frost. Indeterminate vines should be pruned to ensure that they do not put too much energy into vine production. Pinch out sideshoots (“suckers”) as they develop to prevent excess growth and encourage more fruit.

Tomato plants should be set deep in the soil with the first leaf just above ground level. Leggy plants can even be planted horizontally as roots will develop from the planted stem.

Blossom-end rot can be a common problem with tomatoes. It is a leathery scar that develops on the bottom of the fruit. This is caused from a deficiency of calcium and/or irregular watering. To ensure a supply of calcium, work gypsum into the soil before planting and maintain regular watering. Feed tomatoes once a month with Garden-tone or use Miracle-Gro weekly. Apply mulch around all vegetable plants to help keep the soil moist and cool.

Another disease, early blight, makes dark, depressed areas on the leaves just as first fruit appears. Late blight appears as black, irregular, water-soaked blotches on leaves and dark-colored spots on fruits. Both diseases usually occur during cool, rainy weather. Destroy plants to keep from infecting other plants and select resistant varieties to minimize future outbreaks.

Spread by aphids, tobacco mosaic virus will appear as yellow, mottled foliage with fruit possibly being stunted. Severely affected plants should be destroyed. Aphids should be controlled to prevent infection.

Peppers

Ranging in selections from crispy sweet to fiery hot and from big and blocky to long and skinny, peppers should be cut from the plant rather than pulled off. Most sweet peppers become even sweeter when they mature as they turn from green to bright red, yellow, orange or even brown or purple. As hot peppers mature and turn red, they get hotter.

Peppers are also susceptible to blossom end rot and tobacco mosaic virus the same as tomatoes. The same measures should be taken to prevent infection.

Although we’ve touched on the most common problems with tomatoes and peppers – if you’re not sure, bring in a sample to let one of our experts correctly diagnose the problem and help you find a solution.

Types of Tomatoes & Peppers

Tomatoes

  • Beefsteak – Large slicer
  • Better Boy (VFN) – Medium
  • Big Beef – Large slicer
  • Big Girl (VF) – Medium
  • Celebrity (VFNTA) – Medium
  • Champion (VFNT) – Large
  • Early Girl (VF)- Medium, early
  • Husky Gold (VF) – Medium yellow
  • Husky Red (VF) – Medium
  • Lemon Boy (VFN) – Yellow
  • Patio – Self-supporting, medium
  • Roma (VF) – Medium
  • Sunray – Yellow
  • Supersonic – Medium to large
  • Supersteak – Large slicer
  • Sweet 100 – Cherry

Notations after the tomato variety designate their resistance to the following diseases:V-Verticillium, F-Fusarium, N-Nematodes, T-Tobacco Mosaic, A-Alternaria

Peppers

  • Biscayne Italian Fryer – Sweet
  • California Wonder – Sweet
  • Cherry Hot – Hot
  • Cubanelle – Sweet
  • Golden Bell – Sweet
  • Habanaro – Hot
  • Hungarian Wax – Hot
  • Italian Gourmet Fryer – Sweet
  • Ivory Bell – Sweet
  • Jalapeno – Hot
  • Jupiter Green – Sweet
  • Lady Bell – Sweet
  • Lilac Bell – Sweet
  • Long Hot Cayenne – Hot
  • Mandarin (Orange Bell) – Sweet
  • Sweet Banana – Sweet

In The Kitchen

There are hundreds of delicious recipes to try with either tomatoes, peppers or both at once, whether they are fresh or canned. Try this favorite tomato recipe, and use your strong crops of both of these fruits to experiment with different flavors and tastes all year long!

Scalloped Fresh Tomatoes

  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 Tbsp butter or margarine
  • 4 medium, ripe tomatoes, sliced
  • 1 cup grated sharp cheese
  • 1 cup fine, soft bread crumbs
  • 1 cup dairy sour cream
  • 2 eggs, well-beaten
  • ½ tsp salt

Cook onions in butter until tender. Place half the tomatoes in a 10 x 6 x 11 ½” baking dish. Top with half each onions, cheese and crumbs; repeat. Mix remaining ingredients. Pour over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Serves 4-5.


Succulent Container Garden

Have you noticed how a container garden can really jazz up a front entryway, back deck or porch? Perhaps you’ve thought twice about including this addition to your plantscaping because you just don’t have time every day to water.

Cheer up! You can plant a container with succulents (plants with fleshy, or thickened, leaves, stems or roots) and you will not have to worry about watering frequently. Succulent container gardens are relatively carefree. They’re so easy that you don’t have to limit yourself to just one. Remember, if one container makes a statement, several will create a conversation!

Let’s begin…

Exposure
Full sun is a must for all succulents! If your viewing location has less than adequate sun, place your succulent garden in a full sun area for the majority of the day and move to your desired location when you have company or time to enjoy it yourself. Remember to move it back out into the sun when company leaves.

Containers
Because succulents do not have extensive root systems, your chosen containers may be shallow. Too much soil can hold excessive water causing the succulent’s roots to rot. Perhaps a strawberry pot would make the perfect focal point at your front door, although many front doors look great with a single shallow round planter sitting on the stoop. If you have several steps to the door, try a pot on each step. How do you want your front entrance to say “hello?”

Think about varying the heights of your containers. Perhaps your containers will require a pedestal or something else for elevation. This could be an inverted pot, a table, shelf or even pot feet. You may even consider hanging your container. Whatever you choose, it’s important to remember succulents require excellent drainage. Therefore, the containers must have holes.

Soil
All succulents need fast draining soil. We carry pre-mixed soil used specifically for succulent container plantings. You may also use a general all-purpose potting mix and add additional perlite and/or sand.

Plants
When making your plant selection, let your imagination go wild.

Use a thriller, a filler, and a spiller…and you’ll never go wrong

Succulents come in an extensive variety of colors, striking shapes, and varying sizes. As when planting any container, or creating a bouquet, evaluate plant color, texture and shape when making your selections. You may feel overwhelmed when choosing your plants. If you can’t decide, here is a simple “recipe” for planting one 16″ container to be seen from all sides. Maybe it will give you some ideas:

  • 1-thriller (Euphorbia tirucalli ‘Sticks on Fire‘) planted in the middle.
  • 3-fillers (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana) to surround the thriller and provide texture or color contrast
  • 5-spillers (Sempervivum arachnoideum) to drape over the container’s edge.

As an extra bonus, many succulents bloom, adding extra beauty.

Topdress
After planting, gently brush off any soil from the leaves. Add more interest by “topdressing.” This layer of material will give your container garden a finished appearance. Desert type plants look great with a thin layer of light tan-colored gravel. Create sparkle with sea-glass toppings or add a clean contemporary look to Zen-like or Asian inspired plantings with smooth black river stones. Stop by and look for other materials to add bling to your container garden.

Have fun!



Heavenly Hosta

Hostas are amazing plants, truly glorious with heavenly foliage that is stunning as a specimen or in mass plantings. The thin spikes of purple or white, trumpet shaped flowers appear for several weeks in the summer and are an added benefit to this divine perennial. But how much do you know about hostas, and which can you add to your landscape?

Phenomenal Foliage

Hostas are praised by many for their magnificent variety of leaf sizes, colors and textures. These angels will grace your garden with heart-shaped, lance-shaped, oval or nearly round leaves, and leaf sizes vary as well. Smooth, quilted or puckered textures, with either a matte or glossy sheen, add to the glory and hostas’ radiant glow.

The leaf margins can be either smooth or wavy and range in color from light to dark green. Foliage colors also include chartreuse, gray and blue, depending on the cultivar. Variegated hostas with cream, white or yellow margins will radiate in a dark area of your garden.

Where to Plant Hostas

While most hostas are shade worshippers, some types will tolerate sun, depending on the overall climate and moisture levels. Hostas remain attractive from spring until frost and can withstand a wide range of growing conditions.

As choice groundcovers or single specimens in the landscape, hostas are certainly divine. Some hostas are quite unusual and rare and may increase in value each year, especially as the plants thrive and can be divided and transplanted with ease.

Best Hosta Care

Little maintenance is required to care for hostas. Cut off old flower stalks after flowers have faded. Divide plants occasionally to increase their quantity. Keep an eye out for pests, especially slugs and snails that munch on the foliage.

Types of Hostas

With so many selections and varieties, you can find a hosta the will fit into almost any garden situation. The most popular options include…

  • Dwarf & Small Hostas: In addition to being planted in secret little pockets throughout your garden or next to paths, dwarf and small hostas can be used in difficult places. Plant them among tree roots, on a slope or terrace or in rocky places containing little soil.
  • Edger Hostas: These hostas are 12” or less in height and have more horizontal growth. They are able to control weeds as they leave no light, when well established, or room for weeds to grow.
  • Groundcover Hostas: This group of hostas grows to 18” or less in height. They do a great job in areas difficult to weed or maintain. If you are in need of a hosta for use as a groundcover, keep in mind it works great to plant spring-flowering bulbs among them. The hosta comes up after the show of flowers and covers the fading foliage of the bulbs.
  • Background Hostas: Selections from this group grow to 24” or taller at maturity. They can be used to increase privacy where you sit and relax or to provide definition to your property line as a unique hedge.
  • Specimen Hostas: Specimens may be any size. Choose a site close to where the plant will be viewed so that every detail (texture, color pattern, buds, flowers and fragrance) may be enjoyed.

Not sure which hosta is right for you? Come in today and let our landscape and garden experts help you choose the right heavenly hosta to add a bit of the divine to your yard!