This article will be a good primer for anyone that wants to propagate plants over the winter…in fact winter propagation is one of the best times for woody plants.  Are you a business that wants to double their stock?  A savvy homeowner that wants to maintain their frugal ways?  Or are you just bored and need something to do over the winter?  Then keep on reading.

Hardwood Cuttings are by far the best way to start most deciduous plants; althea (rose of sharon), chaenomeles (quince), crepe myrtle, currant, fig, forsythia, gooseberry, grape, honeysuckle, ligustrum (privet), mulberry, multiflora rose, philadelphus (mock orange), pomegranate, spiraea and wisteria.

The first step of the process is to find a healthy host / stock plant that you can multiply and multiply and multiply and eventually take over the world….muhahahaha!  Ahem, anyways, it is very important to find a healthy host plant free from disease, insects, or any other ailing problems.  We are going to need a healthy gene pool here.

Choose your cuttings after the leaves have fallen and all of the energy has been stored in the plant.  Say away from old wood and frail new wood.  You want something in the middle, good and sturdy.  Harvest 6-12 good stalks taking note of the top and the bottom.  Easy way to keep track is to cut the tops at an angle and the bottoms flat.  Make sure to use sharp clean pruners and not to crush the cuts.  When you have your harvest material tie them together (jute twine will work) making sure the bottoms are all even with each other.

Now there are two options here…depends on your climate.

Our winters are cool like dat (not much snow if any, but a definite season change)

The most important part of this method of propagation is to create calluses development.  To do this, dig a hole 12-to-18 inches deep in sandy or well-drained soil in a sunny location and place the bundles of hardwood cuttings into this pit. Place them top end down, so that the bases of the cuttings are about four inches below the soil surface. This promotes root initiation at the cuttings base and inhibits bud formation at the top. Fill in the pit, leaving a shallow basin over the ends of the cutting to channel water and keep the cuttings moist (important).

Our winters are so cold my pug needs to wear booties (too much snow and too cold to care about anything or anyone)

In area’s with severely cold winters, wrap the cuttings in moist burlap and store them in a cellar or cold frame at 32-to-40F. After winter storage, when you see that there is callus formation, lift the bundles and wash and untie them. (Protect cuttings with moist burlap so that the callus tissue does not dry). Then, set the callused cuttings (top end up) directly in a propagation bed or container so that half or two to three buds of each cutting are above the soil surface. Firm the soil around the cuttings and water to eliminate air pockets and assure good contact between the cuttings and the soil.

In warm winter climates, callus may develop in four to eight weeks. In fact, some species won’t need to be stored to develop callus. Cut leafless stems of rose, abelia, bridal wreath, privet and other plants into 8-to-10-inch lengths and set them directly in the propagation bed or container.

So there ya go, just a taste of what you can try out.  Tell us your propagation stories (legal ones) and how they worked out for you.  Did you find this article useful?  Please comment.

Source – Richard Murphy (me) and some information from Joe Freeman as I couldn’t have written it any better.

When winter rolls around, you may be wondering how to protect the trees and shrubs you’ve worked hard to cultivate throughout the growing season. Follow these tips to help ensure that your landscaping makes it to spring unscathed.

Keep winter in mind when planning your landscaping

The first step to making sure your shrubs and trees survive the winter is to plant ones that are appropriate for your region. Use your zip code to look up which hardiness zone you live in, and then select plants that are tagged for your zone.

Hardiness describes a plant’s ability to withstand the lowest temperature that is likely to occur in a given area. Choosing plants that are hardy for your region is one of the most important things you can do to ensure your landscaping makes it through the winter. By taking winter into account when designing your landscaping, you can reduce the effort required to winterize your shrubs and trees.

When you’re planning a new garden, try to plant in places that are sheltered from the wind. If possible, put your most delicate plants in an elevated section of your garden. This will help prevent them from being exposed to the coldest air, which tends to accumulate in low areas.

How to protect trees and shrubs from cold damage

Preparation is key to protecting trees and shrubs from winter weather. Proper watering during the growing season will help them cope with dry winter soil. When the cold hits, winterizing your shrubs and trees can prevent them from getting dried out by harsh gusts.

Homemade wind shelters are great for protecting trees and shrubs. Start by hammering stakes into the ground around them. Then, wrap burlap around the stakes. Staple the burlap to the stakes to secure it.

Young shrubs and trees are especially vulnerable to wind damage. If you have young trees, use twine to tie burlap around their trunks. To prevent animals from nesting in the material, wrap it with chicken wire.

You can also build a shelter to winterize shrubs planted near the road, which are at higher risk of dehydration because they are exposed to salty de-icing treatments. It’s best to use erosion-control fabric rather than burlap because it has finer mesh and won’t allow as much salt to get through.

To winterize shrubs that are tall and narrow, wrap twine around them. This will prevent ice and snow from accumulating on the branches, which can weigh them down and cause them to break.

How to protect trees and shrubs using mulch

Mulch is helpful for protecting trees and shrubs against temperature fluctuations, which can cause them to freeze and thaw throughout the winter. Lay a few inches of mulch around the base of your shrubs and trees – especially newly planted ones – to help prevent the soil from losing heat and moisture.

Using a chipper to make your own mulch is a great way to clean up your yard and recycle wood debris. Keeping your chipper blades sharp prevents damage to your machine and makes it chop more quickly. Quality wood chipper parts, such as vacuums that help you quickly collect debris for your mulch, can make the job easier for you.

Forcing Bulbs Indoors – The Easiest Way to get Color and Fragrance in Midwinter

Don’t spend the cold winter season mourning the loss of your garden – get your growing fix by forcing bulbs indoors! There is nothing better than a pot of brightly colored flowers in the middle of winter. Forcing bulbs to bloom indoors is the easiest way to get color and fragrance in midwinter.

Easy Forcing Bulbs

Many traditional garden bulbs can be grown indoors in winter, including crocuses, hyacinths, and miniature daffodils, which are all quite easy to force indoors. With the holidays quickly approaching, the stunning amaryllis is a large, lily-like flower that is perhaps the easiest of all flower bulbs to bring to bloom. Tulips and full-sized daffodils can be a bit more challenging, but their beauty is more than worth the challenge.

All of these bulbs require a period of chilling before they bloom. During this chilling period, the bulbs should be placed in the container being used for growing, and kept moist. The chilling period is a length of time, usually about 12-15 weeks, which most bulbs require before they can begin the blooming process. Place the pots containing the bulbs in a cold, but not freezing, location. For many, this will be the refrigerator. If you don’t have room in your fridge, you can place them in an attached garage or an unheated porch.

Amaryllis

The most commonly grown indoor bulb is the Amaryllis, which does not require a chilling period in order to grow. Amaryllis is an iconic holiday flower. The striking display of huge red flowers will impress either as a gift or as a centerpiece on your holiday table. And they don’t only come in red – they are available in white, pink, yellow, red-laced white, and more! Put simply, no other indoor flower compares with amaryllis for beauty and ease of growth. Because amaryllis does not require a chilling period, simply follow the steps below for beautiful blooms.

How to Force Bulbs Indoors

Because the flower is already fully formed inside the bulb after the previous year’s growth, many of these flowers don’t need dirt, just water and light, in order to bloom. Many bulbs can be easily grown settled into a bed of decorative marbles, gravel or stones in a waterproof dish.

Your bulbs will arrive dormant when you order from Breck’s. They can be forced out of dormancy by placing them in a well-lit area at just the right temperature, usually about 65°F. Water the bulb sparingly until it stems and leaves emerge, then gradually increase the amount of water you give it. Six weeks after its arrival, you’ll have blooms. It’s that easy!

When the blooms fade, continue regular watering and feeding to maintain the foliage, which will feed the bulb for next year’s bloom. Then, about 16-18 weeks before you want to see blooms (around Labor Day for Christmas bloom), stop watering and let the foliage die back. Six to eight weeks before you want it to bloom, remove the bulb from the soil, cut off the dead foliage, and strip off any loose scales from the bulb. Repot in a clean container with the upper two-thirds of the bulb above the soil.

Repeat steps as provided above to draw the plant out of dormancy; about six weeks later, your amaryllis will reward you with stunning blooms!

For show stopping color indoors in the winter season, nothing beats flower bulbs. Click here to see Breck’s Holiday Amaryllis, Paper White Daffodil Kits,and a huge selection of other flower bulbs!

Breck’s
Breck’s is a mail order gardening company and importer of Dutch flower bulbs. Based in Guilford, Indiana, and Hillegom, Netherlands, Breck’s was founded in 1818. Breck’s is now the largest U.S. importer of Dutch bulbs.

www.Brecks.com/Amaryllis

Beneficial insects kill the damage-causing pests in your garden and provide pollinating power for more flowers and higher yields.  Here’s how to attract them.

Beneficial insects are invaluable in the home garden.  They kill the bad bugs by eating them or parasitizing them, and increase flower production and crop yields by providing the valuable service of pollination.  Luckily, attracting beneficial insects is easy.  Provide a habitat they’ll like, avoid using chemical pesticides and attract and keep them around with all-natural, easy-to-use products.

Good Bugs Abound

Take a close look in your garden, and you may find that you already have a few species of beneficial insects calling your garden home.  These may include lady beetles, green lacewings, hover flies, parasitic wasps and predatory mites.  The predators, such as lady beetles, lacewing larvae and mites, prey on aphids, caterpillars, mealybugs, leafhoppers, whiteflies and insect eggs.  The parasites, such as wasps, defend your garden against tomato hornworm, cabbageworm and tent caterpillars by laying their eggs on or into them.

Providing a proper habitat for beneficial insects is the first step in attracting and retaining them.  Many predators and parasites feed on pollen and nectar, so growing a variety of flowers that bloom at different times will help sustain them throughout the season.  Try planting cosmos, buckwheat, hairy vetch, calendula, marigolds and dill, which are known to attract beneficial insects.

Beneficial insects also need a source of water and protection from heat, rain and predators.  Watering your garden with overhead sprinklers will create puddles and wet leaves for them to drink from.  Growing leafy plants offers protection from the sun, pounding rain and birds and predatory insects.

Avoiding chemical pesticides is also key to providing a healthy habitat for beneficials.  The same chemicals that kill the damage-causing insects in your garden will also kill the good guys, so you’ll want to steer clear of them.

What’s on the Menu?

The menu for beneficial insects changes constantly as the pest population in your garden dwindles and grows again.  To attract and keep beneficial insects in your garden, we recommend these all-natural, easy-to-use products.

When beneficial insects are done feasting on the pests in your garden, they’re likely to leave in search of a new source of food, allowing the pest population to return.  Use Benefeed from Gardens Alive!® to keep beneficial insects in your garden beds so they continue to feed on pests as they hatch, keeping pest numbers from spiraling out of control.

Benefeed is a powder concentrate that provides a complete nutritional diet for beneficial insects when their normal food source has dwindled.  Simply mix Benefeed with water and spray it in your garden beds to encourage beneficial insects to stay.  It’s especially helpful if you plan on releasing beneficial insects in your garden, such as Garden’s Alive!’s Sta-Home™ Lady Beetles—spray Benefeed before releasing them.

Attract pollinating honey and wild bees to your garden beds and fruit trees with Bee-Feed, exclusively available from Gardens Alive!®.  It attracts and keeps bees in your garden areas by providing the essential food elements for bees: lactose, fats, protein and sucrose.  Bee-Feed has been shown to increase bee population in the treated area by 50 to 100 percent.  Mix Bee-Feed with water and spray gardens and fruit trees to start attracting bees within 4 to 6 hours from the time of application.

Benallure™ attracts beneficial insects to lawns and gardens with a special controlled-release lure.  Hang one in every 30 feet of garden space or landscaped area.  For large trees, place one lure per tree; for drawf or smaller trees, hang Benallure in every other tree.

BEE-Allure™ attracts honeybees to your vegetable garden and fruit trees with a pad enclosed in a controlled-release dispenser.  Hang one lure per fruit tree or for each 200 square feet of garden space at bloom time to attract honeybees for two weeks in any kind of weather.

For more information on Benefeed, Sta-Home Lady Beetles, Bee-Feed, Benallure and BEE-Allure, visit http://www.gardensalive.com/GoodBugs or contact us at publicity@gardensalive.com.

# # #

Gardens Alive! Press Contact:

Dane Coleman, 937-667-2491 Ext. 3509, Dcoleman@GardensAlive.com

Gardens Alive, Inc., 5100 Schenley Place, Lawrenceburg, Indiana 47025

How to grow hedge roses for form and function.  Tip: Start with the
right rose.

Hedge roses are grown for their beauty and function.  Planted closely
together and pruned to maintain a tight habit, hedge roses provide
visual or physical barriers and help organize your garden spaces.  They
can be used to hide a fence, screen unsightly views like utilities or a
compost pile, provide privacy and control foot traffic.

Hedge roses also provide an attractive, colorful backdrop for other
plants and can create a focal point around a patio, fountain or other
garden feature.  When selecting and planting your hedge roses, consider
a disease-free and low maintenance variety and how and where you’ll
plant them.

Careful Choices and Pairings

It doesn’t take much imagination to buy 50 hedge-type plants and plant
them in a straight line along your property line.  Landscaping with
roses takes a little more thought because you’re dealing with vibrant,
long-lasting color.  When choosing your hedge roses, consider their
colors carefully and how they will work with the other plants in your
garden.

Plant hedge roses behind a perennial border or in front of a taller
evergreen hedge to create a truly remarkable focal point.  You may also
consider pairing ornamental grasses or other highly textural plants with
your rose hedge to provide a nice contrast in textures and add interest
to the base of the hedge.

The rose hedge variety you choose should be disease-resistant and
low-maintenance.  For the most maintenance-free, trouble-free roses ever
developed, we recommend Freedom(tm) Hedge Roses
<http://www.springhillnursery.com/FreedomHedge>  from Spring Hill(r)
Nurseries.  They have been specifically hybridized to resist diseases
and insects and produce a profusion of exquisite flowers.  Paired with
lush green foliage, its brilliant 3 1/2-inch double blooms are long
lasting and incredibly fragrant.  Blooms appear by the hundreds all
summer long and keep coming even in fall.  Freedom Hedge Roses are
available in pink and red.

Each Freedom Hedge Rose <http://www.springhillnursery.com/FreedomHedge>
grows 4 to 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide.  Plant them 3 feet apart for the
greatest hedge density.

Hedge Rose Planting and Care

Like all roses, hedge roses need full sun (at least 6 hours of direct
sunlight) and well-drained soil.  Space Freedom Hedge Roses
<http://www.springhillnursery.com/FreedomHedge>  3 feet apart for
maximum density, or slightly further apart for a softer texture and
feel.  Water deeply and consider installing drip irrigation along the
length of your hedge for easy future watering.

With a pair of long-bladed hedge shears, lightly shear the roses to
remove spent flowers and maintain the hedge’s shape.  In winter, you can
shear your hedge back by as much as half (or less if you want to keep
the hedge tall).  Every thee or four years, it’s easy to clean up your
hedges by removing old, woody, less-vigorous canes and any dead wood.

For more on Red Freedom Hedge Roses or Pink Freedom Hedge Roses, visit
www.SpringHillNursery.com/FreedomHedge
<http://www.springhillnursery.com/FreedomHedge>  or contact us at
publicity@gardensalive.com.

Spring Hill Nurseries History

Founded in 1849, Spring Hill Nurseries is one of the oldest and largest
gardening companies in the United States. Spring Hill distributes
catalogs nationwide and maintains a substantial presence online.

________________________________________________________________________
_____

Spring Hill Nurseries Press Contact:

Dane Coleman, 937-667-2491 ext. 3094, publicity@gardensalive.com

Spring Hill Nurseries, 110 West Elm St., Tipp City, OH 45371-1699

Dane Coleman

Gardening Publicist

publicity@gardensalive.com

Not all Chrysanthemums are hardy!  Plant the right mum variety in spring for glorious blooms year after year.

January 14, 2010, Tipp City, Ohio:  Mums are a tempting impulse buy in the fall, when they’re in full bloom at farmer’s markets, grocery stores, garden centers and just about everywhere in between.  Sure, you’ll get weeks of blooms from these colorful potted plants, but plant them in the garden in fall and they probably won’t come back again next year.  The key to years of bold, late-season garden color is selecting the right mum variety and giving it time to get established in your garden.

Not All Mums are Hardy

The first step is selecting the right hardy mum for your garden.  There are no guarantees that the everyday mums sold in fall are hardy or will survive their first winter, even if they are marked as hardy.  Most mums are only hardy to zone 5, but Spring Hill® Nurseries offers a truly perennial mum that is hardy to zone 3.

Hardy Mammoth Mums were bred by the University of Minnesota to withstand extreme winter temperatures as cold as –30 degrees Fahrenheit.  Hardy in zones 3 to 9, these mums do equally well in warmer climates and can be grown virtually anywhere in the U.S.

Years of careful breeding also give Hardy Mammoth Mums their massive size and perfect cushion shape.  They grow to an astounding 3 1/2 feet tall and 5 feet across, creating a true focal point in the garden.  Covered with hundreds of beautiful, bright blooms, these beauties make a big impact as hedges, mass plantings or individuals.  You won’t find mums that come close to this size at farmer’s markets or garden centers.

The bright color choices of Hardy Mammoth Mums do more than lend glorious late-season color to your garden—they create a show-stopping scene no matter where or how you plant them.  They’re available from Spring Hill Nurseries in red, yellow, lavender, bronze and coral.

Plant Mums in Spring, Not Fall

The second step to growing hardy mums is planting them in the spring.  The mums sold mid-bloom in fall are putting a lot of energy into blooming, not growing roots.  So when you plant these mums in early or mid-fall, they don’t have enough time to become established in your garden.  This might not be a problem in warmer climates, but in areas with sub-zero winters, the freezing and thawing of the soil will heave the plant right out of the ground and kill its roots.

Plant a hardy variety like Spring Hill’s Hardy Mammoth Mums in spring so they have plenty of time for root growth.  Plant them in full sun or part shade in the spring and sit back for easy-to-grow, spectacular fall beauty.  They don’t require any pinching, pruning or deadheading.  At the end of fall, simply cut their stems down to 4 inches above the ground and look forward to seeing your hardy mums put on another spectacular show next year.

Visit www.SpringHillNursery.com for more information on Red Daisy Hardy Mammoth Mum, Yellow Quill Hardy Mammoth Mum, Lavender Daisy Hardy Mammoth Mum, Bronze Daisy Hardy Mammoth Mum and Coral Daisy Hardy Mammoth Mum.  Or contact us at publicity@gardensalive.com.

Spring Hill Nurseries History

Founded in 1849, Spring Hill Nurseries is one of the oldest and largest gardening companies in the United States. Spring Hill distributes catalogs nationwide and maintains a substantial presence online.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Spring Hill Nurseries Press Contact:

Dane Coleman, 937-667-2491 ext. 3094, publicity@gardensalive.com

Spring Hill Nurseries, 110 West Elm St., Tipp City, OH 45371-1699

Dane Coleman

Gardening Publicist

publicity@gardensalive.com

With early spring not that far way, it’s time to start thinking about pruning. I’m Lou Manfrednini, Ace’s “Helpful Hardware Man” and correct pruning techniques will help your plants stay beautiful and strong.

Pruning works by cutting away the excess growth that will weaken your plants and keep them from growing and filling out in the way you’d like them to. Think of it like Pilates for your plants – you need to keep the core strong! Once the core of your plant is really strong, more buds will be able to shoot out and you will be able to cultivate a stronger, more resilient plant.

However, you never want to over prune, which can shock the plant and inhibit growth. Take your hand and stick out two fingers. Looking at your fingers, you never want to prune past your knuckle. You want to make sure you leave enough still there.

As with most projects, the tools can make the job much easier. The best pruning tool I’ve come across is the Fiskars line of pruning tools. They are ergonomically correct, which is easy on the hands and very durable.

Also, it’s best to do the bulk of your pruning in early spring or late fall after the leaves have started to fall.