|
|
Hello
everyone! Isn't it just beautiful outside?! The good news for this
month reveals itself in the annual spring renewal now on center stage.
It touches something deep inside with its restorative power and we in
the audience applaud and cheer the wondrous show.
Redbuds,
cherries and pears, the magnolias, rhododendron, azalea and the
tulips and I dare not leave out the green, green grass, have all been
vying for your attention. This seems to be the year of the crabapple,
lilac and dogwood. Have you noticed how extra stunning they are?
Super cold and snowy winters must bring out the best in them. It's
showtime in your neighborhood and spring is going all out to put on a
display that can literally thrill your soul. It does mine! I hope yours
too
The picture is an ornamental cherry tree in my backyard.
|
|
Garden Tips
Be wary of frost warnings.
Here
in Michigan we are still susceptible and Jack will reek havoc on your
tender annuals and tropical vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers. Cover
your vulnerable plants with cloth sheets or spun row cover. Don't use
plastic. I am no expert on thermodynamics, but I know from experience
that plastic somehow transfers the cold from the frost to the very
plants you are trying to protect and ends up damaging or outright
killing them.
Remove spent bulb flower tops
Pluck
off the tops of tulips, daffodils and other spring bulbs after they are
done flowering. This is the time the plant tries to make seed. If you
literally nip that process in the bud, the plant will be able to apply
that energy to its root (bulb) thereby increasing the prospect of
another bloom next spring. This is also the time to feed your bulbs. I like to use products specifically formulated for bulbs.
Don't plant your tomatoes in the same spot every year
Rotate
your crops and change locations each year. Mulch around them to keep
down weeds and maintain soil moisture. Tomatoes are heavy feeders so
fertilize regularly.
Gardening Graces Plant Care Web page
Everyone
always asks me about watering. Great question as it is crucial to the
life and survival of all those plants we put in. Click the link to take
you to our plant care page.
|
|
Physiological, Psychological & Sociological Benefits of Landscaping (con't)
 Let's
continue the discussion on the benefits of the landscape. I have the
pleasure of working in a very fragrant environment. Lilacs and
viburnums have been sharing their perfumes for several weeks now.
Certain scents and fragrances can evoke memories and emotions even
before we are consciously aware of them. I think this is one reason so
many of my clients long to have an old fashioned lilac in their yard.
The smell of lilac seems to trigger a memory of childhood or gramma's
house and that subtle longing is somehow satisfied.
Furthermore,
gardening has been used as a means of physical and psychological
rehabilitation for returning war veterans for decades. And current
research indicates that surgical patients recovering in rooms with
landscape views have shorter hospital stays and require fewer pain
killing drugs. Other studies have shown that simply viewing a landscape
can be positicely correlated to increased health and well-being through
lowering blood pressure and herat rate.
It also turns out that
people make more walking trips in their neighborhoods in the presence
of landscaping and flowers. In less green neighborhoods, people judge
distances to be greater than they are and so walk less if at all.
Sociological benefits are a greater sense of commmunity, lower levels
of fear, less incidence of violence and aggressive behavior, better
neighborhood relationships and better coping with life's challenges.
Turns
out our landscape may even help us through times such as these. And
that is good news! More on this in the next newsletter.
|
|
|
|
I hope
you enjoyed the latest version of the Gardening Graces Newsletter and
that it provided both knowledge and insight into your garden.
It
has been wonderful seeing and hearing from so many of you here in
Michigan this season already. The pleasure has been mine for sure. Please continue to call me with any horticulture and design questions. Landscapes and gardens enhance the quality of our lives and I am always here to help not only maintain but enhance that worth.
|
|
|
