Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 2, 1995 TAG: 9503020028
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-7 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JOE HUNNINGS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Tropical Rose, a 1992 All America Selections winner, is a canna that blooms from seed in 100 to 130 days. Plants flower at 1 to 2 feet and mature over the summer to bushy, 2-foot-tall plants. It can be used as a bedding plant or in containers.
A good rule of thumb to plant rhododendrons is this: The smaller the leaf (i.e., R. carolinianum, R. laetivirens), the more tolerant it is of winter sunlight. Large-leaved rhododendrons, such as R. catawbiense or R. maximum, have more winter injury when planted in bright locations.
When transplanting young shade trees, it may help to orient the tree in its new location the same way it was in its old home. This prevents previously shaded bark from suddenly being exposed to afternoon sun and causing injury. When this is not possible or desirable - or if the original orientation is unknown - wrap the trunk in tree tape or coat the sunny sides with white, exterior, latex paint for one growing season.
A brown plastic material that looks and feels like natural burlap, but does not break down in the soil, is being used to wrap root balls. Synthetic materials enclosing the roots of trees and shrubs must be removed to ensure success of the transplants. Nurserymen have been alerted to avoid using brown plastic burlap, but landscaping plants with soil balls wrapped in brown plastic still show up on the market. To be on the safe side: If you purchase balled and burlapped plants, remove the material covering the soil. If the tree is very heavy, peel the burlap down to the bottom of the hole if you cannot remove it completely.
Employ properly trained tree trimmers. Pruning is not especially hard, but it does require an understanding of the growth habit of the plants and the form needed to secure the desired landscape effect.
Some towns and cities are repeatedly bothered by inexperienced people selling trees or shrubs dug from pastures or forests. Such plants usually have poor survival rates because of small, shallow, root systems that may have been damaged when dug or stored improperly. The best trees and shrubs are those grown in a nursery where a deep, full, root system develops. When these are carefully dug and the roots kept moist, the plants should recover quickly after transplanting.
Young trees can be inexpensively protected from rodents, string trimmers and mowers with short, plastic, tube-shaped, tree guards. Each protector should be 9 to 10 inches tall and long enough to wrap around the entire trunk base. At least one company sells trimmer guards for trees, but gardeners can cut other plastic tree protectors to size for this purpose.
Once new growth begins on trees and shrubs, cut back inter-killed twigs to living, green wood.
Prune evergreen shrubs before growth starts.
Prune boxwood by thinning the outer foliage of the plant and cutting back the branches to retain desired height.
Trees and shrubs with weak growth may need fertilizer to stimulate more attractive development. Contact your local Cooperative Extension office for current fertilizer recommendations.
Research has shown that young trees allowed to move with the wind develop greater trunk strength than trees rigidly staked.
Prune spring-flowering shrubs after they flower.
Plant roses and bare-root shrubs while they are still dormant, about four weeks before the average date of the last frost.
Crabapples, valued for their beautiful spring blossoms and attractive fruit, are members of the rose family. Along with their relatives, many crabapples are susceptible to diseases, such as scab, cedar-apple rust, powdery mildew and fire blight. All of these diseases shorten the life span of the trees and diminish their ornamental qualities. Plant disease-resistant cultivars of crabapple, such as "Ames White," "Autumn Glory," "Baskatong," "Beauty," "Coral Cascade," "Evelyn," "Harvest Gold," "Molten Lava," "Red Snow," "Robinson," "Tina" or "Wies."
Don't leave stubs when pruning; stubs usually die and are entry points for decay fungus. Cut just outside the branch collar, the slightly thickened area at the base of the branch. Pruning should never be done in damp or wet weather when the fungal spores and bacteria that infect plants through fresh wounds spread easily.
For good drainage in tight clay, plant trees on the "high side" by building up the area around the root ball or by laying drain tile from the bottom of the hole to a ditch or to a special drainage area. Provide a drainage area by digging another hole lower than the planting hole and filling it with gravel. Use pipe or tile to carry excess water to this hole from the tree roots. Another solution is to select a tree that doesn't mind "wet feet."
Joe Hunnings is the Virginia Cooperative Extension agent for agriculture in the Montgomery County Extension office in Christiansburg. If you have questions, call him at 382-5790.
by CNB