Blogs

We will soon be seeing nutsedge start popping up in our flower beds. There are two ways to get rid of it. You can treat it with a post-emergent weed control to kill it after it has germinated or you can take preventative steps to kill it before it appears. We have a new product called Freehand herbicide that is a pre-emergent weed control and will prevent nutsedge and other kinds of annual weeds from germinating.

This year I've brought in a few new and unusual plants to make your landscape a little more interesting. Two of my personal favorites are the Purple Contorted Filbert and Straw Flower Hanging Baskets. I hope you enjoy them, and all the new plants, as much I do!

You may have noticed a few bagworms appearing on your trees earlier than normal this year. We've had a few questions about whether trees should be treated earlier this year to prevent damage. Here is what we think based on the information we have received from the K-State Extension Office and our own observations.

Burrowing insects like Emerald Ash Borers and Japanese Beetles can do severe damage to a variety of trees in our area. Now is the time to take preventative measures against these pests. The best treatment for burrowing insects is the chemical Imidacloprid. This can be applied to trees in several ways including a spray that is absorbed through the leaves, a systemic soil drench that is absorbed through the roots, or an injection into the trunk of the tree. Bayer and Fertilome both make easy to use products containing Imidacloprid.

While you are out in your landscape doing your spring clean up you may be seeing a lot of winter annual weeds start popping up in your landscape. These weeds include henbit, dandelions, and clover (clover is a actually a perennial). Winter annuals actually germinate in the fall and go dormant until early spring when the soil temperatures start to warm up. To save your Saturday mornings for something more important than pulling weeds, you should treat your landscape in two stages.
 

Most varieties of crapemyrtles winter-over well in our area, but during extremely cold winters they can suffer and die back to the crown or completely die. If this severe die back occurs, you can choose to prune the stalks at ground level and start over. Overtime new stalks will bud off of old growth, but you may not like the appearance for several months.

This year I’m building more raised beds in my landscape. Raised beds are often easier to care for and don’t require a lot of bending over to care for your plants. Save your back and build a few raised beds this year in 5 steps!

Step 1: Decide what you are going to grow in your raised bed. Almost any garden plant will thrive in a raised bed. I’m planning on planting at least one of my beds with strawberries.

Now is the time to be thinking about performing your annual pruning. Annual pruning is the process of removing last year’s foliage off many perennials and ornamentals so they can use more of their energy to produce new plant growth. Ornamental grasses like liriope, pampas, maiden, and hamlin and shrubs like knock-out roses, spirea, abelia, and mums benefit greatly from annual pruning.

Spring is the time to clean up broken branches and re-shape trees and shrubs, however it's important to prune branches back correctly. The best way to explain the proper cut is to make sure your final cut does not leave a stub. Your cut should be flush or near flush to another limb or the leading branch. For smaller twigs and branches, prune back to right behind another bud.