Susan Richards

Advertisement 1 Share this Story : My early May garden and looking forward to summer My early May garden and looking forward to summer Author of the article: Article content As I mentioned in last week's article, there is no lack of inspiration for writing at this time of year. We are now past the May long weekend, and everyone is itching to plant, set out planters and hang baskets to add colour and life to their homes. I never get right into plant buying and annual planting this early. Living on the water, we are always a few weeks behind those of you in town. Most of my Hosta only have their noses poking up out of the ground. The Forget-Me-Nots are just in bud. My patch of wild roses has leafed out, the large Serviceberry tree in my backyard is blooming but the maple and oak trees have just cracked bud. I am sure by the time you are reading this article; things will have progressed much farther. I have mentioned this already, but it is worth repeating again now, be sure to apply granular fertilizer to all your perennial and shrub beds to keep that active growth ticking along and spring plants blooming. I am so pleased that we have had a good mix of rain, sunny days, and cool evenings. The spring blooming perennials and flowering bulbs are still very happy. If we don't get a hot spell, they should keep flowering for another few weeks. I did make a point of dead-heading all the pansies I planted in containers a few weeks ago. Once each flower drops its pedals, a seed pod forms on the end of the stem. Plants put a lot of energy into seeds production. I want to keep those pansies blooming, so by pinching off the seed pod, energy is redirected to creating more flower buds. Whenever I am dead-heading flowers on annuals or perennials, I always follow the flower stock right down to the base where it joins the main plant stem or crown. That is the point where you should pinch or cut back. A pet peeve of mine is to see bare flower stems sticking up above remaining flowers and foliage. I find it untidy looking. If you are growing annuals, perennials, or biennials that you want to gather seeds from, or you want to reseed into the garden, be sure to stop deadheading later in the season. Let the flowers produce seed and leave the seed pods alone until they ripen. I planted a new poppy variety last year called ‘Drama Queen'. Its flowers are red with strong purple blotches and the petals are toothed. They were gorgeous and very dramatic. I let them go to seed and collected a copious amount in late September. I also left some plants alone to let the seeds fall and ‘volunteer' around the garden. I now have hundreds of poppy seedlings that have sprouted on their own. Unfortunately, most of the volunteers are along the front edge of the garden, washed there by the rain. This is a tall variety of poppy, so my task on the next cloudy day is to dig up the seedlings, thin them out and replant the strongest ones in clusters along the back of the garden. I will also take some of those seedlings and fill in a few bare spots in other sunny gardens where tall flowers are appropriate. I think I will also re-use the cell packs the pansies came in and pot up some seedlings to give to friends and neighbours. On my morning stroll, I identified the colours of my double English primroses. Last week the singles were all bloom, but the doubles were just in bud. It turns out I have one very large clump of ‘Sunshine Suzie' with bright yellow flowers and two clumps of ‘Sue Jervis' that have dusty pink ones. There is a big clump of bright yellow tulips blooming behind the yellow primrose. In the fall I now plan to move the yellow primrose to another garden and put one of the single bright pink primroses in its place. That way there will be some colour contrast in that area of the garden. I have made note in my garden journal, so I don't forget my plan. The last thing that really excited me this morning was to see that buds were popping all the way up the stems of my ‘Twist and Shout' hydrangea. I noticed the same thing on the branches of my neighbour's ‘Nikko Blue' hydrangea. This indicates that all the two-year-old wood on those two plants has made it through the winter and both of us should see lots of blooms this summer. Anyone who has one of the fancy hydrangeas that can have blue flowers if your soil is acidic enough, know the frustration of getting nice healthy foliage on new growth but no flowers. These ones, unlike Annabelle and the paniculata types, mainly produce flowers on two-year-old growth. With our typical harsh winters, that wood dies back, and growth emerges from the crown. We had such a mild winter, that I think a lot of gardeners are going to be very pleased come summer. Just a final reminder that if you have started buying annual flowers and tender vegetables while the selection is at its best, watch out for cold nights and daytime wind chill. Those hanging baskets, planters, etc. have come out of a heated greenhouse. They won't be happy in air temperatures below 10C. You will have to do the in-and-out shuffle or have frost blankets on hand for a while yet. Columnist Susan Richards is retired Garden Centre manager at New North Greenhouses. My early May garden and looking forward to summer Back to video Article content Advertisement 2 Article content Article content Share this article in your social network Share this Story : My early May garden and looking forward to summer Comments Join the Conversation Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information. Latest National Stories News Near Elliot Lake This Week in Flyers

It is hard to believe that May has almost ended. The prediction of a cool wet month certainly materialized.

Advertisement 1 Share this Story : The calendar turns to June The calendar turns to June Author of the article: Article content It is hard to believe that May has almost ended. The prediction of a cool wet month certainly materialized. However there were enough sunny days throughout the month to help our gardens flourish. We only had a few light frosts here and now that the full moon is past, we look ahead to June. Traditionally farmers plant tender crops after the full moon in June. However that moon is near the end of the month. When I was landscaping and that was the case, I always looked up the new moon before we planted annuals into gardens. We often had a last frost on that night when the ski was clear. I just checked and the new moon falls on June 6. I looked ahead on the long-range weather forecast and that whole week is predicted to be rainy and mild, but we shall see. Long-range forecasts usually change by the time we hit those days. The first spring of retirement I had plans for finally being on top of getting cool season crops into my vegetable garden and containers, having spring pruning done on time, all my gardens weeded and perennials that need support staked. Unfortunately, a few mobility issues have derailed that plan, but I am slowly working my list. Once I catch up, I will focus on warms season vegetables and herbs as well as annual containers. Although some of my pots will be filled with veggie and herb seedlings instead of flowers this season. The plans for getting the new raised vegetable beds built have been delayed until at least fall. I was a little disappointed in the slim pickings in my prized asparagus patch. Only about a quarter of the new shoots are fatter than my baby finger, so able to be harvested. The rest are very spindly. Unfortunately, I realized that I had picked too heavily last season and this is the result. Now I will keep adding compost and organic fertilizer to the patch and leave the plants undisturbed to recover. Next season I will again pick modestly and let the plants recover. On a brighter not, the rhubarb roots I planted three years ago have finally settled in and produced robust growth! I will get enough harvest for a small batch of strawberry-rhubarb jam which is my husband's favourite plus some muffins and stewed rhubarb. I will be careful not to pull too many stalks though. I want the plants to continue to flourish and they are still young. I saw a photo of a friend's Royal Star magnolia in full bloom on her Facebook post. With such a mild winter, it has been a stellar spring for magnolias. However, in front of the tree I noticed she had a group of three peony plants with growth up about a foot. Lynn had already set her peony rings around the clumps so that when buds open into heavy flowers, there will be lots of support. She is a wise gardener. If you have any perennials that you know flop once flowers appear, be sure to get supports set up right away. My favourite is the ‘grow through grid' type of support. A round, square, or rectangular metal grid is held above the plants on legs pushed into the ground. Foliage can grow through the grid and flower stems are well supported. You can also use rings or stakes with twine wound around to hold in foliage and support stems. Just be sure to get your supports in as early as possible so foliage will grow up and hide the structures you use. I received an email from Les D with a photo attached of a half-dead Goldflame spirea. The question was could it be saved? Since spirea are such tough shrubs I thought it was worth cutting all the dead out, pruning the good side down by 1/3 its height and waiting a season or two to see if new growth filled in that area. I did say that the first question I had was why this side was dead? The answer was that a large cedar used to crowd in beside it, blocking sunlight. Over time that side had died. The cedar had since been removed. After hearing this, I was hopeful that the spirea would most likely recover now that sunshine will hit that side of the shrub. I look forward to hearing from fellow gardeners and in future articles answering any questions you might have. Columnist Susan Richards is retired Garden Centre manager at New North Greenhouses. The calendar turns to June Back to video Article content Advertisement 2 Article content Article content Share this article in your social network Share this Story : The calendar turns to June Comments Join the Conversation Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information. Loading... Latest National Stories News Near Elliot Lake This Week in Flyers

Article content I am sitting out on the patio under a big umbrella to enjoy this gorgeous June day.

Advertisement 1 Share this Story : The Glory of a June Garden The Glory of a June Garden Author of the article: Article content I am sitting out on the patio under a big umbrella to enjoy this gorgeous June day. I don't have a lilac in my own garden anymore, but the breeze is carrying the fragrance of my neighbour's flowers over to me. It is a bonus on this nice sunny afternoon. On a trip to town last week, I saw so many beautiful perennials, late tulips, shrubs, and trees in bloom! It is truly a beautiful time of year to enjoy a sunny day in your yard or garden. Some of the stars of the garden right now are perennial Bleedingheart, bearded iris, peony, early varieties of alliums; shrub lilacs, Bridalwreath spirea, rhododendrons and azaleas; trees Mountain Ash and Hawthorn. Foliage is so lush, and blooms are abundant thanks to May rains and June sunshine. In my own garden, the early spring flowers have faded. I have been dead heading the spring bulbs already. Just a reminder that foliage should always be left alone on tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, etc.… Those leaves must absorb energy from the sun to store in the bulbs so flowers will reappear next spring. With the cool nights persisting, the pansies and violas I planted in early May are still very happy. I know that when the heat of summer arrives, they will most likely get leggy, but in the meantime, I will keep removing spent flowers and seed pods, so they stay compact and blooming. I also have them in a spot that doesn't get hot afternoon sun. That is crucial to keeping them happy once hot days arrive. All the flowers on my primroses are now finished but I have three different types of Bleeding heart in full bloom. My mother was always very fond of this perennial, so I think of her every time I see the old-fashioned tall variety flowering. I also have a golden-leaved type called ‘Goldheart' blooming like crazy. It is a tall, robust perennial with chartreuse foliage that is a bright spot in the part-shade garden even when the flowers are finished. I have seedlings of both types that have volunteered elsewhere in the garden and at the edge of the driveway. In the fall I will move those to a permanent home. I will say that my other most favourite Bleeding heart is the shorter fern-leaved type called ‘King of Hearts'. The flowers are smaller but held upright above the foliage. It also blooms for most of the summer. That is a bonus in the perennial world. Another chartreuse bloomer that I really love is Cushion Spurge. It is in full bloom right now with bright yellow flowers and lime green bracts. I sure wish that perennial bloomed for more than a few weeks. It glows in the garden. Are you sensing a theme here? Can you tell that chartreuse/golden flowers and foliage are a favourite of mine? I love the foliage of Golden Spirit Smokebush, Goldmound and Goldflame spirea, Aralia ‘Sunking' and all the golden hosta varieties. Even when not in bloom, the light foliage adds so much to the garden, especially when in shade to part shade. I do find that textured foliage really pops on all those plants too. I make a point of adding Golding Creeping Jenny as a trailer in my annual pots for a pop of contrast. I know that planted in the garden it can be very invasive, but I make a point of keeping it contained in my pots. Being a hardy perennial, it can even be left in the big pots over the winter and it usually comes back again. We have been doing some construction in the back patio area over the past few seasons and I had to remove and pot up some hosta, astilbe and the ‘Goldheart' Bleeding heart. They have all survived quite well. I am still not ready to replant that garden until fall at the earliest, so I plan to take those perennials and use them in my biggest part-shade to shade planters as features along with some annuals. Last summer they spent the whole time in pots beside my shed, but they are so lush and beautiful now that they deserve to take centre stage in a container garden. Never be afraid to tuck perennials in with your annual flowers in pots. They are easily transplanted into the garden in the fall. Columnist Susan Richards is retired Garden Centre manager at New North Greenhouses. The Glory of a June Garden Back to video Advertisement 2 Article content Article content Share this article in your social network Share this Story : The Glory of a June Garden Comments Join the Conversation Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information. Latest National Stories News Near Elliot Lake This Week in Flyers

With the arrival of warmer weather, pests have begun to be a problem for many gardeners. Here at my place, there are two that I am dealing with, that I am sure other people are noticing too.

Advertisement 1 Share this Story : Garden Pests and How to Deal With Them Garden Pests and How to Deal With Them Author of the article: Article content With the arrival of warmer weather, pests have begun to be a problem for many gardeners. Here at my place, there are two that I am dealing with, that I am sure other people are noticing too. The first is the garden snail. Traditionally slugs have been more of a problem for me than snails, but the reverse is true so far this season. I am battling three different kinds of snails in one of my front gardens, but have caught a break, because the giant allium I planted last fall seems to be their favourite target. I call this a bit of a break because the allium leaves are huge, so the snails and slugs are very easy to see. The first morning I notice a badly chewed lower leaf, I found at least 10 snails on it. I went to the kitchen and grabbed a clean plastic container, added a squirt of dish soap, a few inches of water and a ¼ cup of rubbing alcohol. I returned to the garden and started snail hunting. They were easy to find and pick off on both the upper and lower sides of the broad leaves. After about 15 minutes I had collected over 50 snails. Most resembled the common pond snail, with an elongated shell that tapers to a point, some were the banded garden snail with distinct swirling lines, and a few had a flattened swirled shell. Since that day, I have made a point of going out each morning to check the alliums leaves. I have disposed of over 100 snails and even found one two-inch banana slug. The second morning I put the ones I found in a container with a leaf and very small air holes. That batch went to my daughter-in-law for her fish tank. Slugs and snails are the most active a few hours after dusk. If you don't mind braving the mosquitoes, you can head to the garden with a flashlight to start your collecting task. I am a morning person so chose that time of day to suit me. If you would rather not hand pick, there are a few other things you can try. Shallow pans of beer can be set out at dusk near susceptible plants to lure and drown the pests. You can also place boards, shingles or fruit peels/rinds in cool, dark and damp areas of the garden. Cover them with tin foil. Slugs and snails will be drawn to those spots during the day to hide from the sun. Be sure to clear your traps daily. Spreading diatomaceous earth under susceptible plants can also help pest control. It has a food attractant component that attracts the pests. Once eaten, they are desiccated by the silica. Diatomaceous earth does not harm birds, animals or children. Slugs and snails are a natural part of the garden ecosystem. If they are not damaging valuable plants or vegetables, they can be left alone to help with the cycle of decomposition. The second pest I found was the Hydrangea leaf-tiers. In spring, a small brown and white moth emerges at night from the soil and lays its eggs on the terminal leaves of the Annabelle Hydrangea. The eggs hatch and the larvae create a silken web to sew two leaves together forming a wrinkled balloon at the end of the branch. If you gently pull the leaves apart, you will find a small green worm with a black head. You can squish the tiny larvae or drop it in your soap solution. You can also cut off the ‘balloon' and discard of it in the garbage. I had a major infestation a few years ago and dealt with it promptly. Since then, I find a few more each June but by eliminating the larvae I have had much less each subsequent season. Right now, the larvae of the Viburnum beetle are defoliating Snowball Viburnum and other species. This pest is hard to control because eggs are laid in shallow grooves in stems and then hidden with excrement and chewed bark. Eggs hatch and the larvae voraciously eat all the tender leaf tissue leaving only stems and veins. The skeletonized leaves then die, and a second set of leaves grows. The larvae drop to the soil to pupate; the beetle emerges in July, eats foliage again and then lays eggs in the twigs. If you can catch the larvae when it first emerges, spraying with insecticidal soap is effective, but you must be very diligent as they hatch and feed so quickly. I could never find them fast enough to spray so ended up removing Viburnum from my garden and replacing them with Ninebark. This pest is an invasive species of leaf beetle that was first discovered in Canada in 1947. Since then it has spread across many parts of North America. Columnist Susan Richards is retired Garden Centre manager at New North Greenhouses Garden Pests and How to Deal With Them Back to video Advertisement 2 Article content Article content Share this article in your social network Share this Story : Garden Pests and How to Deal With Them Comments Join the Conversation Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information. Loading... Latest National Stories News Near Elliot Lake This Week in Flyers

I have been asked quite a few questions about shade gardening and the best plants to use there. I have numerous gardens around my house and only one that is a true shade garden.

Advertisement 1 Share this Story : Gardeners can meet the challenge of shade gardening Gardeners can meet the challenge of shade gardening Author of the article: Article content I have been asked quite a few questions about shade gardening and the best plants to use there. I have numerous gardens around my house and only one that is a true shade garden. It is located adjacent to the northwest corner of the house and is blocked from early morning sun by the building. It does receive a bit of light in the afternoon but that is filtered through the leaves of a mature oak tree. The plants closest to my neighbour's fence are also blocked from sun by that solid, six-foot-high structure. All the other gardens around our property get some sun at different times of day, so depending on when the sun hits that area, they are either part-shade or sunny gardens. Whenever anyone asks me about shade gardens, I first ask them a few questions to determine how shady the area really is. A full sun area must receive six hours or more of direct sunlight with the majority being in the afternoon, when the sun is most intense. My front vegetable garden and the new bed in front of the kitchen window fall into that category. Both those areas are very hot and the soil needs the most amount of water when Mother Nature doesn't provide regular rainfall. An area that is part shade or partial shade should receive four to six hours for sun per day with most of it being in the morning. Plants that prefer part shade will wilt and be unhappy if they are in a spot that receives sun between noon and 4 p.m. when light is the most intense. The exception might be if that area has sun that it is filtered through a canopy of leaves. Most of my gardens fall into this category. However, I do have one side garden that is now full sun. We had a storm and one of the limbs from a mature pine broke off and hit the corner of our roof. It didn't do much damage, but we made the decision to hire an arborist to come in and remove any other limbs that were hanging over the house. Now that spot now gets hot afternoon sun. I have had to change the type of annuals I plant in pots that sit in that garden. Full shade is an area that gets four hours or less of sun with no direct sunlight during the heat of the day. It is found on the north side of buildings that are totally blocked from most sun at all. When choosing plants for shady gardens be sure to monitor the area for a full season to see how light gets into that spot. Also keep in mind that as trees mature, and leaf canopies get fuller, light levels will drop. Sunlight will increase when pruning, thinning canopies or cutting down entire trees. The Internet has a host of information on suitable plants for shade gardens. You can find full descriptions of conditions that each plant will thrive in. Also pay attention to information about soil type that the plants prefer. Do you have dry sandy soil in shade or damp, clay-based soil? Dry shade is a condition that fewer plants will tolerate. If there are a lot of mature trees in the area to compete with plants for moisture, a normally moist area may be dry after all, as those dense tree roots suck up moisture from rainfall. Most plant labels will categorize light preference by shade, part shade, or full sun. Sometimes a plant will be happy in two different situations. For example, most hosta like full shade to partial shade, but foliage may burn in full, hot afternoon sun. Annual impatiens flowers are the same but can also be grown in full sun if the soil is moist enough. They just won't be happy in dry, hot areas. Some labels will stipulate that a plant likes part shade to full sun. In that case, that plant could perform poorly in a spot with less than four hours of sun a day. I know this may sound confusing, but information is your friend. Really get to know your gardens, or even live with them for a full season if the house is new to you, before investing a lot of money in plants. Don't be afraid to stretch the boundaries of plant choice if you really like a particular one. Just be sure its soil conditions are met if you want to try it in a bit less light, or make sure to water enough if you are putting it in more sun than recommended. The go-to plants I recommend for full shade are hemlock, yew, boxwood, ferns, hosta, Solomon 's seal and Roger's flower. I have all those perennials thriving in my shadiest gardens. I know boxwood does well because it is in my neighbour's shady garden. From experience, hemlock and yew are fine too, I just don't have those in my garden because deer eat them in winter. Columnist Susan Richards is retired Garden Centre manager at New North Greenhouses. Gardeners can meet the challenge of shade gardening Back to video Advertisement 2 Article content Article content Share this article in your social network Share this Story : Gardeners can meet the challenge of shade gardening Comments Join the Conversation Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information. Loading... Latest National Stories News Near Elliot Lake This Week in Flyers

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