Park Seed Garden Journal

Beautiful Fall Foliage In Your Very Own Garden

One of the most exciting things about fall is the changing leaves. As the weather gets cooler those oranges, reds, purples, and yellows start to show brilliantly. It you are lucky enough to have a few deciduous trees in your yard, you become the envy of the neighborhood around this time of the year.

There are certain trees known for really showing out in Autumn. Maples, especially Japanese maples show a huge range of colors in the fall from bright yellows to very deep reds. Ginkgo always look very nice, their distinct foliage glows a very bright lemon yellow in the cooler seasons. You can create the perfect fall look in your own yard by planting trees known for their autumn colors.

Thuja Green Giant: Plant Trees This Fall

If you have any garden projects in mind that require trees, you may want to go ahead and order them to ensure you get them in time.

When the weather starts to cool your baby trees will have the best opportunity for a great start in your garden. The drying summer heat has passed, and the cool fall will allow your new trees to get their roots established and have a nice restful winter and spring before the next heat wave.

Whether you are planning on planting a privacy fence with those wonderful Thuja Green Giants, or you want to plant your own orchard of fruit trees, the time for planting is quickly approaching. Here in the south, we probably have another month or two, but for those of you in the cooler zones, it will start to be very cold very soon.

Why Isn't My Fruit Tree Making Fruit?!

Fruit trees can be a fun addition to your home, whether you are adding them to your garden or growing them in containers. Having a gorgeous citrus tree, full of fruit on your patio or a cute blueberry bush in your garden, full of delicious colorful berries is exciting, but many people forget to consider the investment. Trees take years to produce their strong batch of fruit.

We often get calls or emails from customers who are worried because they have had their fruit trees for about a year and have not gotten any fruit. They want to know how to get their tree to fruit. There is no magic trick, or secret horticultural method for getting a tree to fruit early - they just need to grow up.

Most fruit trees will not fruit until they mature, which usually takes about three years. Many of the trees we sell have grafted rootstock that decreases this time somewhat. But the key is to wait, take proper care of your tree and wait. Of course, if you tree is in a undesirable climate or in poor soil, it will be reluctant to fruit, but as long as the conditions are right, the best advice is just to wait.

The Striking Foliage of Japanese Maples

When choosing a Japanese Maple the thing that most people look at first is the foliage. The range of colors and shapes of the leaves are one of the most impressive aspects of Japanese Maples.

The foliage of Japanese Maples varies a great deal from one cultivar to the next, and it can be difficult to find what you want. Retailers often discuss the leaf color and shape in their descriptions, because they strongly affect the overall look of the tree. Variegation is the presence of multiple colors on one leaf. Because of the immense range of hues offered by Acers, variegation can sometimes be quite dramatic. They range from the bright green to the deep red varieties that have names like "Bloodgood" and "Crimson Queen," and the fall foliage of acers hits every color on the visible spectrum except blue. Often the cut of the leaf will be mentioned–this is just the depth of the separation of the lobes of a single leaf. The deeper the cut, the more delicate the leaf. Extreme examples of this trait would be the dissectum or lace-leaf varieties, such as "Seiryu" and "Emerald Lace."

Describing Japanese Maple Foliage

The foliage of Japanese Maples varies a great deal from one cultivar to the next, and it can be difficult to find what you want. Retailers often discuss the leaf color and shape in their descriptions, because they strongly affect the overall look of the tree.

Variegation is the presence of multiple colors on one leaf. Because of the immense range of hues offered by Acers, variegation can sometimes be quite dramatic. They range from the bright green to the deep red varieties that have names like Bloodgood and Crimson Queen, and the fall foliage of acers hits every color on the visible spectrum except blue.

Often the cut of the leaf will be mentioned - this is just the depth of the separation of the lobes of a single leaf. The deeper the cut, the more delicate the leaf. Extreme examples of this trait would be the dissectum or lace-leaf varieties, such as Seiryu and Emerald Lace.

Thuja Green Giants

The Green Giant is a very fast-growing hybrid that resulted from a cross of the Western Red Cedar and Thuja standishii. It can grow 3 to 5 feet in just one summer and eventually reach heights of 30 to 50 feet tall in just over a decade. The evergreen foliage is dark green during the summer, but it will bronzen a little during the winter. Green Giant is pest and disease resistant, and deer are not fond of it either. Beyond pruning to maintain a desired size there is hardly any maintainence for established trees. Simply, prune as needed in early spring and midsummer to maintain the desired height.

To plant for hedges, set plants 6 to 8 feet apart, and for specimen plants, space 10 to 15 feet apart. Green Giants are adaptable to most average soils, both acid and alkaline, that are reasonably well-drained. They will tolerate moderately moist soil conditions but not continually wet or boggy conditions or salt spray. The most vigorous growth will occur in full sun, however your thuja will tolerate light shade.

If you'd like a to try them for yourself look here: Thuja Green Giant

Thomas Andrews
Park Seed Company

Cherry Blossoms and Global Warming

When I started researching for today's post, I was intending to remind everyone of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC, scheduled for the beginning of next month. The annual two-week event, a tradition since the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from the Mayor of Tokyo to the United States, currently brings more than 700,000 people into the capital every year. But, as I scanned the first few news articles about the festival, it became apparent that there is an unpleasant trend stirring in the news media.

We all noticed the unseasonable temperatures of this past winter, even the unfortunate northeast with its late winter blizzards would have to admit that, for most of the winter, the air just did not feel as it should. I was in a unique position to have email correspondence with gardeners from Florida to Canada, New York to San Fransisco. I've seen pictures of blooms and vegetables that emerged in December and January in some of the most unexpected places. The individual gardeners thought nothing of it, but it was in the news, and I couldn't keep it from entering my head. It is warmer than it should be-- is it “global warming?” I don't know.

Those in charge of the Cherry Blossom Festival were a little afraid that the trees would not bloom when they should, or at all. Now it seems that everything is as it should be, and the blooms will be smiling big for their visitors in April. But it is still unsettling that global warming seems to be penetrating the tamest of news stories. It is no longer controversy-- the existence of a problem is no longer debated, just accepted.

Over half of todays science headlines were responses to the environment, either touting proposed fixes or naming new problems. In this story on how the changing climate affects daily life, scientists warn of all sorts of maladies that await mankind if we don't change our wasteful habits. If you were not already aware of the costs of producing renewable alternatives to gasoline, there is also this story, which explains in detail the problems that we face in transitioning to bio-fuels.

It is rumored that the USDA will soon update its hardiness zone map, shifting everything just a little farther north. Maybe some of us will have slightly lengthened and pleasant growing seasons, but maybe others will experience drought or flood. The National Cherry Blossom Festival is right on schedule, and there has been no huge outcry from the nations gardeners. Maybe it's just media hype, and, then again, maybe we're in denial.

Here at Park Seed, we expect the Greenwood, SC Festival of Flowers to go off without a hitch. It's always hot here in June-- who will notice if the mercury is just a notch taller? The National Cherry Blossom Festival may have seemed as if it were in jeopardy, but it'll take a little more than warm weather to keep South Carolina from having a good time. Actually, somewhat of an aside, South Carolina mayors recently met to determine what SC citizens might do locally to assist in the fight against global warming. I hope something productive comes from it.

For further reading about more positive things:
http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org
http://www.scfestivalofflowers.org

If you have any thoughts about global warming or festivals please do not hesitate to comment.

Cheers,
Thomas