Month: July 2018
New Hydrangeas Bloom Longer
Some of the newer hydrangea varieties are both longer blooming and smaller in size. It is great to see these newer varieties which are extending our shrub blooming season. A few are available in a standard tree form. The Endless Summer series was one of the first to introduce the re-blooming trait in hydrangeas. There […]
Water Trees and Shrubs Deeply Now
Our extended period of hot dry weather has caused some trees and shrubs to develop premature yellowing or browning and dropping of leaves and needles. Trees and shrubs which do not receive irrigation when adjacent plants are watered need deep watering now. Water should be applied for a long enough time period so it reaches […]
Fertilize Container Plants
Most container plants have had all the fertilizer that was initially in the soil used up or washed out by frequent watering. Plant roots have a more limited growing area in containers. Container soils are more porous to insure good drainage. These two factors make it necessary to water more frequently. As a result, fertilizer […]
Disease Resistant Roses
I love roses but have just about given up growing them because I don’t have time to spray them regularly for diseases. Are there roses available which are disease resistant and bloom all summer? There are a number of recent varieties of shrub roses which are very disease resistant and continue to bloom throughout the […]
Is Your Tree Too Big?
I am often asked to evaluate a situation where home owners want to drastically reduce the size of a large tree. When I ask them why they want to reduce a mature tree’s size, the response is often “It is just too big. We didn’t realize it was going to get this big when we […]
You Can’t Build a Time Machine
I didn’t write my column last week. The days leading up to last Tuesday came and went, and I knew I needed to sit down and write up something, but I just couldn’t think of anything worth writing. At least that was the excuse I used. My wife kept reminding me that I needed to […]
You can’t Shame Your Way to Success
If you’re anything like the many people who step on the scale every morning, after enjoying a night – or full day of – candy, soda, and carbs, you’re probably still really angry that the count is continuously higher than yesterday’s. Regardless, you step down, glare in the mirror, and in your faux-drill-sergeant voice you […]
One-Hundred-Sixty-Three-Dollars Per Second – by Chris & Courtney Margolin
Tick: ONE-HUNDRED-SIXTY-THREE-DOLLARS. Tock: ONE-HUNDRED-SIXTY-THREE-DOLLARS. Tick: ONE-HUNDRED-SIXTY-THREE-DOLLARS That is approximately how much LeBron James will make per second of each NBA game for the next 4 seasons. Let’s multiply that by however many professional athletes in the United States, and then take a look around our classrooms. Take a look around your office. Take a look […]