Warren's Garden Club Newsletter Online
JUNE 2002
Warren's Garden Club Newsletter Online
JUNE 2002
June means summer is here, school is out, vacations are in, grass needs mowing, and there is a day in June we call Father's Day.
Mother's are appreciated and loved by everyone. More poems and essays are written about Mom than Dad. At football games when the players are shown close up on TV the players are always yelling Hi mom. You never hear them say anything about "hello dad." Dads are used to playing second string to mom. I am sure my mom got more hugs and kisses, more presents, cards and gifts on Christmas than Dad did. I was blessed with a great mother and father and even though mom got hugs and more gifts than Dad his influence was as important in my growing up as was mom's.
If you still have the opportunity tell Dad you love him. It may be harder to do than with mom but a great big hug with a "I love you" might surprise him but I bet he would really love it.
The best inheritance you can give your children is the memory of a father who loved them enough to spend some time with them.
Have you thought about another Father who loves his children? It is no coincidence that God is depicted as our heavenly Father. His love is greater than any earthly father. Remember God is like our earthly father, He wants his children to tell him they love him. This would be a good time to catch up on both relationships.
Happy father's day to all you Dads.
When you walk around the yard looking at the flowers and other pretty parts of the landscape, take time to look for trouble areas.
If I had roses I would check the leaves for the first signs of mildew which shows up as a white powdery material on the new growth. On the older leaves it will appear as yellow spots with dark rings. This is called black spot. Both of these can be controlled easily with a good fungicide such as FERTILOME SYSTEMIC FUNGICIDE. This is the one we use on our roses.
Several of our customers have called to report what they thought were red spider because they could see a bunch of small red insects on the tips of roses, tomatoes and others. These are aphids. If the insect is easily seen it is too big to be a red spider. Spider mites are very small and difficult to see on the plant. Aphids can be several colors depending on what they are feeding on. The FERTILOME ROSE SPRAY is a good control for aphids, mildew, and black spot. A bug of a different kind is the spider mite or red spider. This insect is so small you cannot see it very easily. The first sign is the foliage turning pale in color an anemic in appearance. If these get really bad webs will appear on the leaves. This is a very hard insect to get rid of. First take a hose and wash down the leaves with a hard spray. Spray with CYGON after the foliage is dry and repeat every 3-5 days for at least 2 to 3 times. CYGON is safe for vegetables as well as flowers. I recommend Cygon because it will also give control on other insects. Be sure to spray the bottom of the leaves, as this is a favorite hiding place. Some of their favorite plants are marigolds, tomatoes, beans and the low growing evergreens.
If you have needle evergreens you should check for red spider and also bagworms.
Bagworms are the little cocoon that looks like a Christmas tree ornament. SEVIN or THURICIDE works quite well if you spray them in June when they are small. Look carefully and on the tips of the branches and when first seen they will be 1/2 inch or less in size. They are real easy to kill at this size and usually one spraying is enough. If you miss the first sprayings you can use CYGON or FERTILOME BAGWORM SPRAY which will control them even when quite large.
If you have Pine Trees, it is time for the pine tip moth to start working. Watch for small holes in the tips of the new growth with brown on the ends. Any completely dead limbs on the Pin Tree with a hole down the center is last years damage. Spray with FERTILOME BAGWORM SPRAY or CYGON now to prevent more dead limbs. You should spray twice about 2 weeks apart starting in late May or early June.
Grass usually grows well this time of the year so if your lawn has any bare spots now is a good time to patch these and add a little FERTILOME LAWN FOOD WITH IRON where needed. If you have bare spots loosen soil lightly by raking heavily, then sow seed and water every day lightly once or twice for about 2 weeks; after that, fertilize and water as you water the rest of your lawn. You may be able to dig a few unwanted sprigs from the edge of your lawn and transplant into the bare spots every 6 inches.
This is the time of the year that the grubs in the ground hatch into June bugs. If you see a lot of holes in the ground about the size of your little finger then you probably have had some grub worms in your lawn or flower beds. The time to control them is in the early fall. Check our newsletter and we will remind you the time to do it. (Jessie Mathis)
June is a good time to check up on your yard. If some things aren't turning out as you wish, you still have time to do some changes.
Check out your beds of flowers, if they aren't doing so well maybe an application of something like HUMORE will invigorate them. It is a good tonic to stimulate plants that seem to be struggling; HUMORE is organic and will not burn tender plants.
There is still time to prune spring blooming shrubs like Forsynthia, Azaleas, Flowering Quince, Mock Orange, etc. If you prune too late in the summer you will be cutting off some of your blooms for next spring.
Prune just enough to shape and leave heavy pruning until next spring immediately after the shrubs bloom. On your later blooming shrubs such as Crepe Myrtles, Pomegranates and Altheas DO NOT prune now or you will lose your bloom. Prune these shrubs before the leaves appear in late February or March.
Most shrubs and tress will benefit from a feeding if you have not fed within the last 60 days. Feed now with FERTILOME TREE AND SHRUB FOOD or something similar.
It is probably best to use a little less than the directions say. It is best not to feed in July and August because in the extreme heat it is hard for plants to use fertilizer.
If you have Tomatoes you might want to use FERTILOME YIELD BOOSTER to prevent the fruit from getting dark on end before it ripens. This problem is called blossom end rot and is caused by a calcium shortage and spraying the vine with liquid calcium that is in the FERTILOME YIELD BOOSTER will usually keep this from happening.
Each fall everyone admires the bright colors of the Chrysanthemums. June is the month that we start ours for next fall. Plant the small potted plants and get hundreds of blooms per plant next fall. (Christina Mathus)
If you have mums already planted, these should be cut back this month and fed a good food like FERTILOME GARDENERS SPECIAL or FERTILOME ROSE FOOD. Sometimes our customers wonder why we recommend Rose Food for a Mum or Clematis. The idea is that Rose Food is just about right for most blooming plants, so it is good to use for more than roses. Do not pinch or prune mums after early July.
Roses have been outstanding this year. With the mild winter and cool spring roses bloomed like they are supposed to do. With the warm weather and rains you need to be ready to control blackspot and mildew. If you haven't been using a good spray such as FERTILOME ROSE SPRAY you should start immediately to control both disease and insects. Once a week is usually necessary to get good control.
About July you can stop the weekly sprays and start again in September. Put on a feeding of FERTILOME ROSE FOOD this month and then wait until September to put on the last feeding.
After feeding, mulch well with COTTONSEED HULLS or CYPRESS MULCH if you haven't already.
You can still plant potted roses even now with excellent results. Be sure to follow directions on our rose planting card available when you buy your rose plants.
In the summer, color is always welcome to offset the rather monotonous days of summer.
We usually think of summer bloom in bedding plants but we can get a lot of color from our shrubs and trees.
CREPE MYRTLE provides tremendous colors in the new varieties. They grow from 2 feet to 20 feet and are much more disease resistant and have longer bloom periods than the older varieties.
DYNAMITE is a very prolific cherry red with bronzy red new growth it will grow to about 10-15 feet.
RASPBERRY SUNDAE is unusually pinkish purple, very disease resistance and grows 10-15 feet.
PRAIRIE LACE has an unusual pink bloom with white edges on a small growing plant that will only get about 10 feet tall.
DWARF CREPE MYRTLE grows from three feet to 8 feet depending on variety.
VICTOR is the most popular with deep red blooms all summer on a 3-4 foot tall plant. It is very pretty.
We have the dwarf varieties in pink, purple, white, as well as red.
The miniature crepe myrtle are sometimes called weeping because of their growth habit. These have limbs that hang down when they bloom. They only get 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide. We have these in red, purple and pink.
ALTHEA, ROSE OF SHARON, HIBISCUS by any name is a great colorful shrub in the summer.
The new varieties of ALTHEA are easy to grow and will bloom all summer. The colors are very bright.
HELENE is probably my favorite with large 3-4 inch single white blooms that have a large burgundy centers.
MINERVA has large single lavender pink blooms all summer on an easy to grow plant.
If you like white, then DIANE is for you with large pure white blooms that stand out against the dark green leaves. Check these out when you come out to the nursery.
How about POMEGRANATE? These little known shrubs will give you hundreds of bright orange blooms that no other flower can match. The Dwarf variety will grow about 3-4 feet and produce hundreds of 2-inch blooms with dark green foliage. The Regular size grows to 6-7 feet and has a 3-inch bloom all summer. Both of these are really worth a place in your garden.
We expect to have several items on sale starting June 1st. We will have roses, bedding plants,, some veggies, some miscellaneous items plus some shrubs and trees. (Arvella Gable)
LOOK FOR YOUR NAME IN THE NEWSLETTER
If you have read this far you probably have seen some names in parenthesis. If one of these was yours you have won a $25 gift certificate. We have put four of our customer's names in the newsletter. If you find your name come in and show it to us and receive a twenty-five dollar gift certificate.
THIS HAS BEEN THE SPRING OF ABUNDANT BLOOM
Many trees and shrubs have bloomed more than I can ever remember. Some of the common trees that are not normally thought of as being beautiful in bloom have been fantastic this spring.
One of these has been the Catalpa that grows native over much of our state. As I write this the trees are completely covered with large clusters of white blossoms. We sell these in several sizes.
Everyone knows Caladiums, Impatiens, and Begonias are great for shade.
One of the new Begonias is called DRAGON WING BEGONIA. It is a great new addition to the plants for shade. It has large deep green leaves that grow so thick you can't see the stem. The deep rosy red blooms just keep coming and make this an outstanding plant. We have these in baskets and 4 inch pots. Check these out, I think you will like them.
You can still put up some large pots to add color to the patio or porch areas. I will tell you a little trick that we use to make pot full of blooms in a hurry. Take a nice basket that is blooming and transfer it to a big pot. This will make a good show in a hurry.
If you don't have a spot to hang a basket use a SHEPHERD'S CROOK. This is an unique accessory for the yard that lets you put a basket wherever you wish. (Earlene Henken)
WE WILL BE AT THE FESTIVAL IN THE PARK AGAIN, COME ON OUT
For several years the Oklahoma City Council of Garden Clubs and the O.S.U. Extension Center have sponsored the FESTIVAL IN THE PARK on the grounds of Will Rogers Park. On Saturday, June 8 from 10 A.M. until 4 P.M. there will be lots of garden exhibits showing their specialties. KTOK will broadcast their garden program on this location and of course we will have a booth set up. Come out, enjoy the fresh air, say hi to us and see a lot of different plants.
