What are Those Black Spots on my Maple Leaves?

The other day, I was out cleaning up leaves in the garden. Not one of my top favorite things to do!
My garden is about 1 1/2 acres and half of it is covered with huge mature trees. In the process of blowing and chopping leaves, I noticed that my maple tree leaves had large black tar like spots. I had seen this before in other gardens, but not in mine. With the trees as tall as they are, it was hard to see the leaves up close.

What is on my leaves looks like someone dropped black tar on the them. Not surprising that this fungal disease is called "Tar Spot". This disease does not harm your tree, but it does make for ugly spotted leaves. Tar Spot disease will over winter on fallen leaves. Make sure that you clean up or mulch your leaves. If you mulch, turn the mulch pile.

The disease starts in the spring during wet weather when the fungus spores are spread by the wind and infect the new leaves as they open. Small yellow-green spots appear that over the summer become larger, thicker and black in color.  By late summer the spots are large enough to be noticed. Maples tree such as silver, sugar, red and Norway are infected by this disease. If you have box elder trees on your property, they can also be infected. Spraying for the disease can be a waste of time and money. Raking up and destroying infected leaves is the best line of defense to prevent the disease next year.



Happy Gardening!

Debbie

Garden Conifers

Pinus flexilis 'Vanderwulf's Pyramid'

Fall has arrived in the garden. Yesterday, we had a big storm that hit our area. Between lots of rain and wind, the garden is full of leaves. Since it is too wet to clean up leaves today, it is a great time to write. Tomorrow I will be cleaning up leaves most of the day.

I enjoy fall in the garden. It is that time of year that you clean up, reevaluate and make plans for next year's garden. Over the past couple of years, I had noticed that I didn't have much color in the garden in the winter. That was when I decided to start adding conifers. Last year I added several weeping varieties and this year I added several more varieties of conifers that will add some color to the winter garden. Here are some of my favorites.

The picture at the top of the post is Vanderwulf's Pyramid Limber Pine. I like the pyramidal growth and the dark twisted growth of the needles. It should be a great accent tree in the garden.

Abies koreana 'Horstmann's Silberlocke'

The second new tree is a variegated Korean Fir. I really like the needles that are fluorescent blue with silver white on the underside. It should be lovely in the garden when mature.

 

I added this tree several years ago. It is a Blue Atlas Cedar. It is a tree that seems to get lots of attention and comments from garden visitors because of it's color and shape.

This conifer was added two years ago and seems to be doing very well in the garden. It is a Cedrus deodara 'Aurea'. It is out of it's Zone and when I planted it, I made sure that it had plenty of protection from the weather.

This little tree is a Weeping Norway Spruce. I like the way that it weeps and it is a nice specimen tree in the garden.

The last two pictures are Weeping Blue Atlas Cedars. I added these to the garden three years ago. I really like how interesting they are in their shape and the beautiful blue color that they add to the garden all year around.

 

It seems that every year, I find myself evaluating my garden. The fall and winter is a great time to do this and that helps me make decisions on what I will add to the garden next year. Next year, I would like to add some gold colored conifers for some extra color. Always planning!

Happy Gardening!

Debbie

Add History to Your Garden

Have you ever wanted something unusual for your garden or something that would really get people's attention? How about adding a historical tree to your garden. Think how you would impress your garden visitors with a Red Bud tree from George Washington's River Farms or an Elvis Presley Southern Magnolia from Graceland. How many people can say that their Sycamore tree has been to the moon. How about having a seedling tree from the "Angel Live Oak" that is believed to be over 1,400 years old growing in your garden. Imagine a Japanese Cherry tree in full bloom in your garden that is an offspring from the cherry trees in Washington D.C. What could be more fun than spending time with your children or grandchildren planting a Johnny Appleseed apple tree in your garden. What a great way to connect our past, present and future by planting a historical tree.

American Forests Historic Tree Program provides tree seedling offspring from trees connected to famous people, places or historical events. The trees are grown from seeds, cuttings or buds from the original historical trees.

For more information on adding a historical tree to your garden, check out the Educational Gardening Links on Garden Thyme with the Creative Gardener for "American Forests Historic Tree Program".


Happy Gardening and make some history in your garden!


The Creative Gardener

Winter Woes

My Weeping Cherry was beautiful in the spring of 2013.

It was a tough winter for my garden and every day that something leafs out and shows signs of life, I consider myself lucky. My Weeping Cherry that was beautiful last year and full of bees, has only a few flowers this year.


Lots of flowers and bees.



The spring of 2014 with few flowers and no bees.

I have walked the gardens and observed lots of winter cold damage. I never bury the canes of my climbing roses and this year I will need to cut them to the ground and start over. My Spireas have some new growth, but they will need to have a major pruning this year to clean out the dead. I have several Blue Atlas Cedars that are brown from the cold. It was a long cold winter and I can tell that I will have lots of gardening jobs ahead of me.


My Spirea with some new growth and lots of dead limbs.

What do you do when you have winter cold damage to your plants? The best thing you can do is remember that there was not much that you could have done to protect your plants from such extreme temperatures. The cold temperatures were more than many plants could take. Give your trees and shrubs time to grow, then you can see what needs to be done with each plant. Clean up, prune and cut back dead limbs as they leaf out or after flowering. I have given some shrubs and trees fertilizer to help with new growth. I figure that with many shrubs and trees, I will have limited flowers this year but it is more important to get that tree or shrub off to a good start for future growth.



My Leyland Cypress has lots of brown in it caused by the cold.





For those trees or shrubs that were damaged, do not be in a hurry to remove them from your garden. Fertilize them and wait to see if you get some new growth and be prepared to wait for several months for that growth. Then give the plant time to fill in. Prune or remove dead as needed. If your tree or shrub does not show growth after several months then consider it a winter loss. I plan to fertilize, water, wait and hope for the best!

Happy Gardening!
Debbie

Tri Color Beech Tree - What a Beauty!

One day I was going to visit the garden of one of my customers. I was told that the garden was small with lots of roses. When I arrived at her home, there in her front yard was the most spectacular tree that I had ever seen. From the distance it looked like a large pink dogwood in full flower until you got up close to it. I knew that I wanted that tree in my garden! The tree was a Tri Color Beech or Fagus Sylvatica 'Roseo-Marginata'. This tree is used as a specimen tree due to its variegated leaves of pink, green and white which turn to a copper color in the fall. It grows in Zones 4-7 and can grow to a height of 24-40 feet tall. When planting a Tri Color Beech, plant young trees in part shade. This tree can take full sun, but you may burn the leaves depending on your zone. Several things to remember about this tree is that it is a slow grower and has a fibrous root system. Some plants and grass will not grow well under a mature Tri Color Beech. It prefers well-drained soil that is slightly moist and slightly acidic, but it will tolerate a wide range of soil types. To establish a new tree, remember to water it regularly for the first two years. Tri Color Beech trees do produce beechnuts which are mildly toxic. You may have to shop around for this tree because it is not always available at all nurseries. The Tri Color Beech is a beautiful tree and I did find one for my garden. It was small, but worth the price. I know it is a slow grower and I just hope that I live long enough to see it reach it's full mature size!

Happy Gardening!

The Creative Gardener

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The Dragon's Eye

 

Dragon's-eye Japanese red pine

 

Several years ago, I was touring a garden in Ohio and I spotted this very unusual pine tree.  Luckily, the tree had a identification sign posted with it's name on it.  The tree was Pinus densiflora 'Oculus Draconis' or Dragon's-eye Japanese red pine. The tree was very unusual and from the distance it did indeed look like there were 'eyes' on the ends of the branches.  I never forgot that tree. 

 

 

Dragon's Eye is a slow growing tree that can reach over 30 feet and spread between 15 to 30 feet.  It can grow about 6 inches a year and prefers full sun to part shade. It is very adaptable to different soil types as long as it is well drained. What makes the tree so interesting is that it has showy foliage and it has interesting bark. The needles are marked with bars of yellow and green. This variegation remains all year and intensifies late in the year. The bark is often orangish-red when young and peels off in scales.The trunk is often twisted giving the tree an unusual look. It is a very graceful looking tree when mature, but it may look a little ungainly when young.  Dragon's-eye makes a wonderful specimen tree in any garden and it will look great when planted in front of evergreens to show off it's color. It grows in zones 4-9.

 

When I saw this plant, I knew it was one that I wanted to add to my garden in the future. Well I did it, I purchased a small tree and it should arrive sometime in the spring. These trees can be expensive and that is why I purchased a small one.  Hopefully we will mature and grow old together!

 

Happy Gardening!

Debbie

 

 

Has Your Tree Been Slimed?

If you ever watched the movie "Ghost Busters" then you have heard the saying of being "slimed". My poor sycamore tree has been slimed by slim flux. Slim flux or wet wood begins when the tree is damaged by poor pruning, freezing, broken limbs or other damage to the tree. Bacteria enters the open wound. Once the bacteria enters the wound it inhabits the tree. It can be inside the tree for a long time and not be noticed until the bacteria produces enough gas that it causes the sap to flow out the wounded area. Over time the sap continues to run and it turns a gray to white color on both sides of the wet area. It is not very attractive to look at on the tree and the ooze can have a bad odor to it. Once your tree has slim flux, there is nothing you can do to control it. At one time, people would insert drain tubes into the tree, but this is no longer done. Trees that can get slim flux are maples, mulberry, elms, paper birch, red buds, walnuts and sycamore trees. What can you do to prevent slim flux from infecting your tree? The best thing you can do is to protect your tree from anything that can damage the trunk, branches or root system. Always use the correct procedure to prune branches from your trees. You do not want to get "slimed".


Happy Gardening!
The Creative Gardener

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