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Earthworks Landscape Design

Year: 2023

Earthworks Landscape DesignGreen Talk2023
01 Apr 2023
0 Comments By Jim Wynes Gardening , ,

Care & Maintenance of Ornamental Grasses

Fertilizer

Ornamental grasses require relatively low levels of fertility. By keeping the level of nitrogen low, lodging or flopping over can be kept to a minimum. Leaf color and vigor are good guides to nitrogen requirements. Application of one-half to one pound of 10-10-10 fertilizer per 100 sq. ft. of garden area or about one-quarter cup per plant is sufficient. Apply fertilizer just as growth resumes in the spring. An application of a slow release fertilizer such as Osmocote in the spring is enough to take care of the plant’s needs throughout the summer. Fertilizer should be watered in thoroughly.

Water

Plants should be well watered the first season after planting so they can develop a good root system. Established plants do not need regular watering, but may need supplemental watering during drought periods. The amount of water will depend on the grass species, the site, and on the quality, size and growth rate desired.

Weed Control

Cultivate around grass plants to control weeds. Application of mulch will greatly reduce the need for cultivation as well as watering. It also tends to keep grasses in check that have a tendency to be heavy reseeding types.

Winter Protection and Spring Clean up

Grasses do not need to be cut down before winter. In fact, they are attractive when left standing and the foliage helps to insulate the crown of the plant. Cut back the foliage to about 4-6 inches in the spring before growth resumes. When foliage is removed, spring growth will begin earlier. Old foliage left on the plant can delay the crown’s warming and subsequent growth by as much as 3 weeks.

Division

Division depends on the spacing and visual appearance of the plants as well as the overall health. Plants suffering from die-out in the center should be divided to improve appearances. Division is done in the spring before growth resumes or in the late summer or fall after the growing season. Plants that bloom late could be divided in the spring.

18 Mar 2023
0 Comments By Jim Wynes Gardening , ,

Pansies in the Spring

Pansies represent just one of the over 500 different violet species in the Viola genus. Some of the most beautiful of our native plants are violets. Blue violet is the state flower of Illinois. Violets can be found blooming March through May in every county in Illinois. Violets are also important larval hosts for fascinating Fritillary butterflies. Garden pansies and violas come in just about every color and color combination. They may be a single clear color such as blue or yellow. The single color might also have lines radiating from the center. Or the flowers can be multicolored with a “face-like” dark blotch.

Even though they are all in the Viola genus, gardeners generally lump violets into two groups.The first group includes true violets such as Tufted violet, Viola cornuta and Sweet violet, Viola odorata which are perennial. Sweet violet is the common purple violet in our yards and gardens. The second group of pansies and violas gets the most press.

17 Jan 2023
0 Comments By Jim Wynes Tree Care , ,

Appreciation of Bark

The winter landscape may seem a bit bland at first glance. But if you look closely, you’ll find that quite a few plants have interesting bark that is actually easier to appreciate without the distraction of leaves and flowers. Bark often changes over time, so that a species that starts out with thin, smooth bark on twigs and young branches may become thick and flaky or change in color as the plant matures. Beautiful bark comes in many forms, including smooth, shiny, ridged, flaky, blocky or peeling.

Among the better-known candidates for ornamental bark are the birches, the paper bark birch (Betula papyrifera) most obvious. As the tree gets a few years of age, the outer white bark peels off in horizontal sheets to reveal reddish-brown bark beneath. There are several other birch species with attractive bark, including European white birch (Betula pendula) with white, non-peeling bark eventually mottled with black, sweet birch (Betula lenta) with shiny, reddish-brown bark and river birch (Betula nigra) with peeling, scaly bark mottled with cinnamon brown, beige and orange.

Some of the most beautiful bark belongs to the cherry (Prunus) species, many of which are lustrous, shiny and characterized by horizontal grayish-brown markings that are very distinctive. The native black cherry (Prunus serotina) has attractive grayish-black bark, but, due to its prolific production of seedling offspring, can be quite a nuisance species. Nanking cherry (Prunus tomentosa) is a shrubby cherry with reddish-brown, shiny and peeling bark.