Perennial flowers offer great appeal in the spring, ringing the bell of activity of the gardening season. The great news is that perennials do not bloom only in spring – they offer ever-changing garden views in all seasons. If you plan your garden well, it will offer texture, color and movement appeal whenever you look…
Author: John Fech
John Fech is a horticulturist with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and certified arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture. The author of 2 books and over 200 popular and trade journal articles, he focuses his time on teaching effective landscape maintenance techniques, water conservation, diagnosing turf and ornamental problems and encouraging effective bilingual communication in the green industry. He works extensively with the media to extend the message of landscape sustainability, making over 100 television and radio appearances each year.
Spring Flowering Shrubs – Now and Then
One of the true joys of the well-balanced, diversified landscape are the spring flowering and summer flowering shrubs. Now is the time when we can enjoy the spring flowering shrubs such as dogwood, viburnum, lilac, cotoneaster and forsythia. The good part is that there are many cultivars or varieties of these spring blooming species to…
Mulching – Timing and Products
Weeds are a given. They’re a true guaranteed item in a field of gardening and lawn care variables. In lawn care, common sense turf practices and herbicides can be used to create a relatively weed free part of the landscape. In landscape beds, we turn to mulch. The key to mulch effectiveness is to apply…
Plant Groundcovers Under Shade Trees
Is the vegetation under your shade tree thin and lifeless? If so, you may wish to consider planting a groundcover instead of turfgrass. Periwinkle, English ivy, lamium, pachysandra, some cultivars of coral bells, ajuga, plumbago, euonymous, Virginia creeper and Hall’s honeysuckle are good options to consider. The bottom line is Right Plant, Right Place, and…
Where Does Your Garden Grow?
The phase “Right Plant, Right Place” rings true in every outdoor space, certainly for a vegetable garden. Though each plant has some potential for adaptability, vegetables can generally be divided into 2 groups: a. the sun lovers and b. the ones that prefer full day sun but are adaptable to a few hours of shade…
Veggies – Eat What You Want
Customize your gardening experience. Think about what produce you and your family enjoy and want to eat and what you might want to use to can or freeze for later use. In the spirit of “one person, one vote”, consider asking each person in the household to make a plea for vegetables that they like…
April is National Safe Digging Month
April is Safe Digging Month Late April is prime time for starting all sorts of landscaping projects from planting trees, shrubs and lawns to installing brick work and paths. But, before you dig, it’s SUPER important that you make sure there are no buried communication or utility lines in your digging zone. Here are…
Preemergence Herbicides for the Lawn – When, Where and How Much?
The traditional question for spring lawn management – when is the best time to put on a preemergence herbicide? Also called “crabgrass preventer”, timing is important, but is not the only consideration. In addition to timing, there are at least 5 others. Target temperature – Since the weeds that are targeted with these products…
Much Mulch
Are you kidding? Seeing a mound of mulch piled on a tree trunk conjures up images of a volcano with a tree sticking out of it. Why does this happen? Three reasons: If a little is good, more is better. Just like with adult beverages, potato chips, pop and buying clothes, excessive amounts are not…
Viburnums – Tried and True for the Landscape
Need a screen between your backyard and the street? How about you and the nosy neighbor? Or, let’s say you need a good specimen feature in a corner planting…what would be a good choice? If any of these scenarios are a reality for you, consider the group of shrubs, the Viburnums. In general, they are…