Early bloomers

Star Magnolia

Star Magnolia is the early est blooming magnolia in southeast Pennsylvania. This slow growing deciduous shrub to small tree produces a very showy white flower late March to early April. The fuzzy bids open before the foliage appears producing a 3-4 inch white fragrant flower. Because it does bloom so early frost and cold winds tend to blacken blooms and fall off sooner. This plants slow dense growth habit makes it excellent for a small garden. This Multi stemmed tree has a light gray color on main trunks, the younger twigs have a dark brown color. Star Magnolia need very little pruning unless you are looking for a tree form, that only involves lifting the lower branches to expose the multi able trunk. All pruning should be done after plant has bloomed in spring to not inter fear with next years bud Set.



Cornus mas

Another excellent early blooming tree is cornus mas, The common name is Cornelian cherry dogwood. This is also a large deciduous shrub to small ornamental tree. The small clumps of yellow flowers appear late winter early spring before the foliage emerges. Can be trained to become a small ornamental tree by lifting lower branches to expose multi stem grayish brown mature trunks. The deep green almost oval shaped leaves turn slightly purple color in fall. Very clean tree, no real insects or disease problems.


Prunis Okame

This one of the ear lest blooming Cherry's in our area. It has a tight upright growth habit that rounds off as it matures. Has very showy reddish-bronze bark that stands out in any landscape. The small pink flowers emerge before the foliage but do not tend to last real long because of rain and cold weather this time of the year.This plant is sometimes used as a street tree or in parking areas because of its tight upright growth habit, its also good for small gardens and hedge row plantings. It has oval shaped leaves that are dark green in color during the summer and develops a rather good fall color of orange and copper. This is three good choices for small early blooming ornamental trees that would look good in any ones garden.

Weed Control

Herbicides

One of the most time-consuming jobs in our landscapes is trying to keep our lawns and gardens free of weeds. There are a number of chemicals that are available to use to help with this pain-staking chore. Most of us do not like using any more “chemicals” around our properties than we have to, for fear of them being toxic to our kids, our pets, and the environment. Pre-emergent herbicides have been put under stringent tests by environmental organizations and no safety issues have been found with these products. If you would compare these tests with the same tests done on common table salt you would be very surprised. There are some terms we need to discuss when talking about herbicides. They are:

· Pre-emergent
· Post emergent
· Selective
· Nonselective

These are all terms to describe how synthetic herbicides work to control unwanted plants or weeds. A pre-emergent herbicide will affect the tiny first roots of seedlings thus preventing them from growing, while post emergent herbicides are used on weeds that have germinated or hard to kill weeds such as Canadian thistle. Selective herbicides are used to remove some species of plants and not others. A nonselective herbicide will kill any plants it is applied to; a good example of this is Roundup. While all herbicides help to control weeds, knowing what type of weeds you need to eliminate will help you in selecting the right products to use. Contact us at River Valley Landscaping and we can help you design the right program to achieve optimum weed control.

Pre-emergent

For best results when using pre-emergent herbicides timing is everything. These products should be applied several weeks before germination, and watered in after application so this material can move in the top inches of soil to create a weed barrier. Weed seeds will germinate when soil temperatures are consistently over 50°F. Some gardeners prefer to apply pre-emergent before the Forsythia blooms. In southeast Pennsylvania pre-emergent herbicide should be applied around the 15th of March to control spring and summer weeds and reapplied by September 15th to control fall and winter weeds.

These chemicals can be applied any time during the growing season to control ungerminated seeds. Pre-emergent products have a life of between 60 and 90 days depending on the amount of moisture and soil content. Multiple applications can be made, be sure to read the label so you are not over applying beyond the recommended rates. These products can build up in the soil if overused and can burn root system of many plants.

Preen vs. Snapshot

Preen is a pre-emergent that is found in a lot of garden centers and box stores in the area. Trifluralin is the active ingredient in Preen; it is also the active ingredient in Snapshot but at a much higher rate. Snapshot also has another active ingredient Isoxaben, which gives this product extra protection against some difficult weeds and grasses. Snapshot is the preferred choice of many nurseries and landscape companies because of its wide label. Only select dealers sell these professional products in larger quantities. If you analyze the price of the two products, Snapshot is cheaper per 1,000 square feet and has that wider label.

One of the hardest weeds to control is Nutsedge mainly because one single weed is capable of dropping thousands of seeds. Knowing how to identify this weed and its life cycle is very important in its control. There is a pre-emergent herbicide labeled just for this weed called Freehand.

Since March is not a very busy time in the garden, set aside some time to apply some pre-emergent or contact us at River Valley Landscaping to have it professionally applied for you. Pre-emergent herbicides will not control 100 percent of your weeds, but it should reduce the amount of hand pulling and the amount of more toxic post emergent herbicides you should have to use. Giving you more time to sit back and enjoy your garden.

Perennial Plant of the year

The Perennial Plant Association has chosen Baptisia australis or False Indigo as this year perennial plant of the year. This is a very hardy plant that tolerates a wide range of climates. Native to river banks from Vermont south to the Shenandoah Valley.

Its blue to purple upright flowers stand out in the garden, Although it only blooms 3 to 4 weeks in late spring to early summer the brilliant colors makes it totally worth it. False Indigo will grow to 3 to 4 feet and spread just as wide, it will grow in full sun or part shade, it can tolerate dry to medium soils and is very drought tolerant. Large black seed pods set in after flowering giving this plant another interesting element. This plant attracts butterflies and is also great for cut flowers and dried flower arrangements. Because it is a self seeder this perennial is best used in border gardens, meadow gardens, woodland gardens, or cottage gardens as it does naturalize very nicely in native soils. We are all looking for plants that are low maintenance and this one certainly fits that. It really is border line between perennial and shrub and has a tendency to flop open in the center, the only real maintenance needed is cutting back in fall or early spring. So take a look at the beauty and features of this outstanding perennial.