Don't Commit Crape Murder

It's a horticultural crime.  A serious crime.  One with lasting repercussions on the garden and your landscape. What is crape murder? It is the unnatural and unsightly mass pruning of wonderful crape myrtle trees.  These garden trees are hacked down in the prime of life destroying what could potentially be an amazing tree. 

Why do people desecrate such a noble tree?  I hope it is only ignorance.  People for years have trimmed them in this fashion and turned them into lollipops of color.  If you drive through commercial developments you will find many magnificent myrtles murdered in what can only be an ill conceived notion that it looks nice.  OK maybe that's just my opinion but if you ask me crape myrtles should be allowed to freely express their "inner treeness".  They should be allowed to stretch into the sky in the fashion that mother nature intended and not pruned into a stubby little shrub.

Go natural!  Keep the suckers away and allow the tree to grow into a 3-5 trunk landscape focal point.  Crape myrtles flower on new wood which is why they are frequently pruned so dramatically but you completely lose the winter bark interest that develops over time. As the trunk gets thicker smooth multicolored peeling bark forms.  Topping the crape myrtle will create thick lower trunks and spindly upper trunks which in the winter look very unnatural without the bark interest.

The Clemson University Extension has a couple of great pictures on their site that illustrate crape myrtle pruning.  The first picture on their page shows one trimmed properly into a natural looking form while the second one shows the results of tree topping.  I know which method I prefer, how about you?

Bad Breaks

Broken branch of a crape myrtle

Sometimes in gardening, as in life, we experience bad breaks. We don't intend for these to happen, they just do. Whether caused by too much stress, mistakes, or happenstance the only power we have over these breaks is to clean up and hope for the best. Such is the case with one of my crape myrtles planted along our property line border. The crape myrtles have a beautiful watermelon red color when in bloom but the recent rains have left their branches heavy with moisture.  Add to that a dash of wind and you have a recipe for a bad break. The crape myrtles broke off right at a branching point (or crotch) where two of the major branches were joined.

Here's a closer look at the break point.  The joint is split down the middle which isn't good because it leaves a large gaping opening for pests and disease.  It also prevents the cambium layer of bark from transmitting moisture further up the branch.

Fortunately the aesthetic impact of the broken branch is minimal. I removed the branch with a bow saw and tried to make the cut as clean as possible. It was difficult because of the location. Truthfully that branch probably should have been pruned off in the spring. Often you can prevent bad breaks from happening with proper pruning.  The wound should heal over time.  The bark will slowly grow over the wound and eventually close it up completely.  It's very similar to what my deer damaged trees have done. All of the deer damaged trees that survived through the first year of wounding are doing very well now. (If you have deer in your area protect your young trees now from the deer rubbing that happens in the fall. Here's how I prevent deer from damaging my trees.)

Of course a smart gardener always tries to make lemonade out of lemons or in this case new trees out of cuttings! I snipped off 12 appropriate semi-hardwood cuttings from the fall branch and began the process of rooting them. Hopefully they will root and grow into strong crape myrtles to plant next year.

Yogurt cups make a good container for rooting cuttings.

How has the wet weather effected your garden?

Japanese Dappled Willow Sculpture (Salix integra)

Several weeks ago I told you of a little dappled willow pruning experiment I tried at my in-laws home.  Before I show you the results let me quickly revisit some characteristics of dappled willows and why I like these shrubs.

About Dappled Willows: Japanese dappled willows or (Salix integra 'Nishiki') are shrub willows that will quickly grow between 10-12 feet tall and enjoy moist soil conditions with plenty of sun. They begin each year with green dappled foliage and will eventually will sport new growth that retains a whitish-pink shade on the stem tips a little later in the spring. Dappled willows can be adapted as a hedge row, as a standard, or make neat living sculptures (as you can see in my first attempt below).

Dappled Willow Propagation: Like most willows Salix integra is very easy to propagate from cuttings either in water or just by sticking in a pot of soil. You can even take cuttings and stick them in the location you want them and they will grow into new plants. No special rooting hormones are needed since willows have good levels of auxins to promote root growth. Willows will reproduce via something called catkins. They are dioecious which means that willows have separate male and female plants.

My Favorite Features: The ease of propagation and the dappled appearance of the leaves make dappled willows a favorite shrub of mine. Because it is so easy to propagate you can use it to make a hedge row for a property border fairly quickly, which is how I've chosen to plant them.

The Willow Sculpture: A Willow Window

I began pruning the willow mainly to improve the walkways around it but as I pruned I noticed the oval shaped opening appearing toward the center of the plant.

From the main angle the window now highlights some of the garden art already in the garden.

The base of the willow will need to be pruned periodically to keep the window open. These suckers could be allowed to grow to 2-3 feet then cut back without compromising the window look.

Here is the same plant from another view. The foliage that has grown above the willow window will provide shade for the bench below.

Have you every tried any creative pruning like bonsai or topiaries?

A Radical Tree Pruning

The other day I mentioned something I've been putting off: a tree removal. It didn't take long but it was tough work especially the hauling away part. I don't own a chainsaw and just used an old bow saw that has been worth its weight in gold over the years.

The tree was a cedar. I don't know exactly what type but it could easily have grown to 40 feet or more in height over time. Well above a good height for a tree planted so close to the house. It's proximity to the house was the primary reason for removing the tree but it was also severely infested with bagworms.

I won't plant exactly in it's place due to its root system. I'll move a few more feet away from the house and plant a white dogwood that my wife has been wanting for a long time. We planted one once but the deer rubbed the bark off and destroyed the tree. The dogwood won't be prone to bagworms and is a much smaller tree than the cedar would have been.

Completing this chore brings up another project to add to the list: a latticework screen for the heating/AC unit! Boy are those things eyesores! (the Heater/Ac unit not the latticwork!)

A gardener's work never ends - I think I like it that way!

Creatively Pruning a Dappled Willow

This past weekend we went to visit my wife's family. On the property they have a couple Japanese Dappled Willows ('Hiroki Nishiki') that I've taken cuttings from in the past. They are several years old and have really become large shrubs stretching over ten feet tall. Needless to say a shrub this large needs a special place and if doesn't have that special place it needs pruned.


The willow needed pruned so I set about attempting to coppice the shrub. Coppicing is where you cut the shrub to within a couple inches of the ground and allow it to regrow. Usually trees that are coppiced are cut back annually but this willow never had the treatment.

I started the process of coppicing but as I cut back branches I began to see a shape emerge.

Two main branches that I tied together last year had formed a nice curve and began to reveal an interesting and somewhat symmetrical branching structure. I've seen pictures of chairs, living arbors, fences, and many more things made from willows that have been trained and creatively pruned into living sculptures which gave me an idea: since this willow was beginning to reveal something interesting, why not encourage it? I cleaned out the extra branches and trunks using a set of heavy duty lopers and gradually a willow window was carved from the unruly shrub. The window seems to highlight the grandma and grandpa statue in the garden behind it. I left the branches above the willow alone so that they could fill out with foliage and provide a small shade canopy. Anything that grows inside the window will be pruned while the above areas will be allowed to grow freely.

I moved a couple other things around the willow including a heavy stone bench and the birdbath. As long as the willow stays pruned to the two main trunks both birds and bottoms will have a place to rest!

A Bit on Willow Propagation:

I also saved some of the cuttings for rooting. I dug a hole about 6-8 inches in the soil mud and covered the bottom of the bundle. Willows don't take too long to root so I'll check them in a few weeks then pot them up or plant them where I want them. Rooting willows in bundles is a good way to root a whole bunch of them at once without spending a lot of time doing it. They tend to root well anywhere you stick them. 

I would love to try a willow structure or willow fence at some point but that will need to wait until I have a little more time!

For an update look here: Japanese Dappled Willow Sculpture in June

Ten Cans of Gardening

Every now and then it's fun to go back and look up the statistics from The Home Garden to see what people are looking for and eventually wind up here. Sometimes the search terms are funny but hopefully the results lead the searcher to great info. So here are ten search terms that showed up that all began with the word: Can. And my responses!

1. Can I divide a heavenly bamboo? Yes you can! I'm trying not to sound like Bob the Builder here but heavenly bamboo spreads very easily by rhizomes just under the surface of the soil. By digging up the area around the sprout in question you can find the root system and snip it off to make more plants. It's an easy way to propagate Nandina domestica. This probably won't work as well for the new cultivars of Nandina since they seem to be much more tame the the old fashioned Heavenly Bamboo.  
2. Can I divide my variegated liriope? Again, yes you can! Liriope dived very easily like daylilies. Just dig up the clump, wash off the roots so you can clearly see the root system, then gently pull them apart. More often than not I skip the clean off the roots part.
3. Can I paint a raised vegetable garden bed? Maybe. If the paint is low VOC and you stick to the outside areas. Many paints contain toxic chemicals that could leach into the soil. It's better to be safe than sorry and find a food safe preservative to coat the wood or got with a naturally rot resistant wood like cedar or redwood. Butcher block preservatives should work fine. 
4. 

   Can you grow 'Homestead Purple' verbena from a clipping and will it take root? Most definitely! I propagate 'Homestead Purple' verbena every year because you never know how well it will come back after a cold winter. It's a good idea to make copies of your plants in various garden microclimates to insure you don't have to repurchase the plant. Verbena will root easily with internodal or nodal stem cuttings. Rooting hormone isn't necessary but will speed up the process!
5. Can I plant a Bradford pear tree in Illinois? Yes, but why would you want to? Pick an alternative like the Service berry if it works in your zone or find a better behaved pear try like the Cleveland. Avoid the Bradford!
6. Can I plant my dappled willow in March? Yes! Err... maybe it depends where you are. Here in Tennessee is a yes but in other places you may not be able to dig in the frozen ground. In most cases your dappled willow will be fine if planted in March.
7. Can I prune my crepe myrtle in spring? Yes! Prune your crape myrtle now so that you don't cut off the new blooms when they form. Crape myrtles haven't emerged from dormancy yet (at least here) and typically do so later than other trees. They bloom on new wood so if you prune now you'll be sure to have blooms this summer. Just don't perform crape murder!
8. Can I put arborvitaes in a pot? Yes but you'll need to move them one day. Pick a large enough pot that the arborvitae will have plenty of room for roots. Also be sure to keep it well watered as pots dry out fast. And do remember to put holes in the pot!
9. Can I start shallot seeds inside? Yes I started shallots from seed and need to start the hardening off process outdoors this week.
10. Can Japanese willows root in water? Definitely! It's easy and fun to watch the roots grow. You can skip this step by rooting them directly in soil and keeping them watered. They are beautiful plants and it's easy to make more willows!

I hope you enjoyed these ten cans. Now I just need to find and open a can of worms - for the vegetable garden beds of course!

Cutting Back Miscanthus in the Spring

Among many garden chores that come in spring perhaps the biggest is the trimming of the ornamental grasses. Trimming back perennials can be time consuming but the ornamental grasses can be a bear. It's not the tiny little hair-like strands of the Nassella tenuissima (Ponytail grass), or the tall and narrow 'Karl Foerster' Feather Reed Grasses. The panicums aren't a problem either, both 'Northwind' and 'Shenandoah' switchgrasses are relatively tame. The muhly grass is very cooperative. It's the miscanthus. I know someone is probably thinking "Dave shouldn't plant that, it's invasive" and you would be right, it is and I shouldn't, and I won't - at least not anymore. I'm switching to the panicums as a replacement for miscanthus but I still have to tend the miscanthus I have even if I never add another one to the landscape.

Pruning an Ornamental Grass

Trimming back an ornamental grass is fairly straight forward. For miscanthus I  trim down to 6 inches or so high and take small handfuls of grass at a time then prune them with my hand clippers. For other grasses I make sure to stay 4-6 inches above the crown of the plant. I kind of use the top of the green growth as a guideline. As far as tools go I use the low-tech hand clipper option, but I don't recommend it! It wears out your arm very fast and the clipper blades even faster. A good pair of electric trimmers will make "short" work of your grasses but a pair of sharp pruners will do a good job too. I also recommend using good thick gloves or you risk a painful death by a thousand paper cuts. It's not really paper, and you won't really die, but paper cuts are one of the most annoying injuries you can receive and these grasses have very sharp edges.

Have you pruned back your grasses yet?