Knock Out Roses

Knock Out Roses

Being a gardener who prefers my plant material to be of the tougher nature, 4 years ago I selected a Knock Out Rose to feature in a high profile area on my patio. I’m thrilled at its performance. It has survived quite nicely through every winter including the dreadful winter of 2008/2009! I must confess to paying it little attention. I prune it in early spring, feed it twice a year only with a handful of slow release rose food and mulch it with Sea Soil in spring and again in the fall. If you are thinking of adding roses to your floral inventory, I strongly recommend choosing a Knock Out Rose.

We currently stock 3 varieties:
Double Knock Out – pinkish/red
Rainbow Knock Out – single pink
Sunny Knock Out – yellow buds that open to soft white

The Knock Out Family of Roses are easy to grow and do not require special care. They are the most
disease resistant rose on the market. They have stunning flower power with a generous bloom cycle (about every 5-6 weeks) that will continue until the first hard frost. All of the Knock Out Roses are self cleaning so there is no need to deadhead.

The Knock Out Family of Roses are winter hardy to zone 5. If unpruned, they can easily grow to be more than 3-4’ wide x 3-4’ tall. An early spring (Feb/Mar) cut to 12 inches above the ground is recommended for maximum performance.

This is a photo of my Double Knock Out taken June 12th of this year.

Reminder to Thin Fruit Crops

Reminder to Thin Fruit Crops

Now is the time to thin your apple crops. Apple trees produce often heavy crops. Some of the fruit will abort naturally but we still should help the tree by thinning manually. If all the fruit remains on the tree, the branches will be heavy and more likely to break. Also the fruit will be smaller as it is crowded and therefore has to compete for nutrients. Pictured is my Honeycrisp apple. I plan to thin 30% of the fruit. I recently had relatives from Holland visiting and they said they remove 50% of the fruit. I will see in the fall if my 30% was sufficient to produce nice size, healthy apples. Don’t pull on the fruit when thinning but instead use pruners for a clean snip with no pulling.

Think Outside the Box

Think Outside the Box

When you make up as many planters and containers as I do, you learn to ‘think outside of the box’.
Summer combination planters for decks and patios obviously will have the necessary wow of blooming plants but need green fillers to provide contrast. Bored with always using the same old fillers, I’ve begun substituting tropical houseplants instead of the usual bedding plants. Often priced the same as bedding plants, or sometimes lower, I find that houseplants such as table ferns, spider plants, and arrowhead plants do the job quite nicely. Try tucking a few into your pots between the flowering annuals and enjoy the lovely contrast they provide. At the end of the season you can compost them or dig them up and bring them indoors to enjoy as houseplants. If you want colorful pots in quite shady areas, then the use of houseplants can be even more to your advantage as many will tolerate more shade than traditional bedding plants.

True Story – Last summer whilst in London, I walked past Buckingham Palace. Paying keen attention to the Brits gardens, I was surprised and delighted to see 3 large oval flower beds in front of the Palace.  Each huge bed was planted exactly the same: red zonal geraniums in the center, then a circle of blue salvia, then a border of spider plants! Even the Queens gardeners are going for the untraditional and are ‘thinking outside of the box’!

The Classic Peony

The Classic Peony

A true beauty of the garden is the lovely peony. Treasured by the Chinese for centuries, this old classy
dame shines now as this is when she bursts into bloom! My mother grew peonies in every house we lived in on the prairies as did her mother. Hardy to zone 3, this long-lived perennial has been known to live for 50-60 or more years. Peonies come in all different colors and a few different forms such as bush, tree or fern-leaf. The hardiest is the bush form and once planted, dislikes being moved so choose your planting site well. They need full sun and enjoy a heavy, fertile soil. Like roses, they are heavy feeders. The better the growing conditions, the healthier the plant and the better the flowering performance. Blooms can be floated in bowls on dining tables or stems cut long and arranged in a vase for a stunning show.

Peonies can be purchased in two forms; as a tuber in packages in early spring or already started in pots. When planting the tuber, it will take 3 years before it will bloom, whereas if starting from a one or two gallon pot size, they will bloom the same year. Peonies can be planted at most times of the year, but fall planting is a really good idea as it allows them to root all winter. Very little in the plant world can compare to the size and magnificence of the peony bloom!

The Organic Advantage – A Proud Canadian Product

The Organic Advantage – A Proud Canadian Product

Many of us are now conscious of what we are releasing into the earth when we apply lawn and garden products. This is the only planet we have and its fate is in our hands. On this note, I want to let you know of a line of organic fertilizers available to gardeners that will produce the same results as the synthetic versions previously used for so many years and will benefit the earth rather than harming it. Welcome to Groundskeeper’s Pride line of products that will safely nourish everything from your lawn to your veggies and everything in between. They scientifically blend their products with micronutrients and no fillers added to help you achieve all your growing goals, simply and naturally.

• Organic Advantage 8-4-5 Lawn and Garden Fertilizer 100% organic, all natural, slow release, no filler, all purpose flower and vegetable feed with calcium, iron and magnesium. OMRI listed.

• Organic Lawn Food 10-3-3 100% organic, slow release, non-burning, pet and child safe, covers
4,200 sq ft per 10kg bag, OMRI listed

• Blood & Bone Meal 100% organic, all natural, stimulates root development and green growth,
guaranteed not to burn, use for bulbs, roses, trees, shrubs, cacti, perennials and herbs

• Kelp Meal Soil Conditioner Provides more than 70 minerals and plant growth regulators, vitamins
and hormones, reduces nutrient leaching and improves water retention, improves soil fertility, made
from seaweed harvested from Nova Scotia, stimulates necessary microorganisms that live in your soil.

If you’ve made a commitment to reducing your use of harmful products, then consider this line of
fertilizers. Also, we carry EcoSense products for elimination of weeds in lawns and driveways safely.

It’s Herb Time

It’s Herb Time

Now that June has arrived, it’s warm enough to have all herbs planted. Anyone can grow herbs and have fun doing it! Herbs are very container friendly if you don’t have any ground space. Mix varieties for a pleasing look or plant single varieties of your favorites. Generally, herbs should receive a minimum of 4 hours sun a day. Choose a premixed potting mix for containers and as always stay away from small pots as they dry out too quickly in summer heat. Use a 12 inch minimum diameter pot. Herbs are not heavy feeders so feed with mild, organic fertilizers only. Too much fertilizer can affect the oils in the foliage altering the flavour. Many herbs benefit from being gently harvested regularly so snip away often as the growth allows. Every year, growers are coming out with new variations of old favorites (eg. oregano scented lavender new for 2012) so take time to browse through our huge selection.

Climb on board the Hydrangea train!

Climb on board the hydrangea train!

Hydrangeas come in many beautiful forms, but one of my favourites is the climbing hydrangea. These hardy vines produce fragrant white lace cap flowers in early summer which can be five inches or more in width. The leaves turn golden in autumn, exposing exfoliating bark for winter interest.

Climbing hydrangeas prefer a location with at least partial shade, but unlike most flowering vines, can also handle full shade as well. The only caveat being; the more sun they have, the more blooms they will produce. Once established, these vigorous growers can be grown up arbors, pergolas, fences, or walls.

The word hydrangea literally means “Water Vessel” in Greek, a clue to their thirsty habits. Keep the soil consistently moist and don’t let them dry out or you’ll be sorry.

Climbing hydrangeas solve a problem for gardeners with shady areas to fill. Under plant them with ferns, hostas and other shade lovers to create a cool oasis for those hot summer days. So come in and just say “hy” to your new leafy friend, “Hy-drangea” that is.