Tag Archives: Sharon MA

GARDEN DESIGN FOR LATE SPRING BLOOMS

THE POWER OF DIAGONAL DESIGN WITH STRONG FOREGROUND, MIDDLEGROUND AND BACKGROUND

Dappled afternoon sun glints off a latticed front entry, backed by a story-high rhododendron that anchors the middleground of this front yard garden design in Sharon, MA. In the foreground a pavered path from the driveway to the front door is lined with two masses of bearded iris that multiply the color effect of the rhododendron’s purple-pink blooms. Pink peonies provide visual pop that make this diagonal perspective so powerful in the design. Pink dianthus in the lower left mirror the peonies’ color impact. In the distance, mature deciduous trees near the property line form the background layer of the composition. Photo copyright 2018 Carol Lundeen. All rights reserved.

 

 

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SHARON GARDEN CLUB PLANT SALE 5/29 – NEW LOCATION

Join me at the Sharon Garden Club’s Annual Plant Sale this Saturday, May 19th from 9-noon, at our new location at the First Congregational Church. Simultaneously there are three yard sales and the library book sale all adjacent to one another. The Club has a seedlings initiative this year, and I’ll be bringing jumbo Primrose Lady marigolds as well as tomatoes grown from organic seeds. Shop early for best selection!

Flyer for the Sharon Garden Club annual plant sale on Saturday, May 19, 2018

Sharon Garden Club Annual Plant Sale Saturday, May 19 at the First Congregational Church on Main Street, 9-noon

 

 

 

 

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WANTED: DEAD NOT ALIVE Invasive Plants Exhibit Wins Educational Excellence Award

Invasive plants exhibit at Sharon Garden Club September Garden Medley

WANTED: DEAD NOT ALIVE received an Educational Excellence award at the Sharon Garden Club’s September Garden Medley on September 9, 2017. The exhibit featured potted exotic invasive plants and illustrated some of the environmental damage they cause. Left to right are Carol Lundeen of Easton and Brenda Minihan and Ellen Schoenfeld-Beeks of Sharon. The trio played roles as invasive plant sheriffs, engaging visitors in conversation and offering invasive plant checklists, images, and ideas for native plant alternatives. Photo by Carol Lundeen.

WANTED: DEAD NOT ALIVE received an Educational Excellence award at the Sharon Garden Club’s September Garden Medley on September 9, 2017. The exhibit featured potted exotic invasive plants and illustrated some of the environmental damage that invasives cause. Carol Lundeen of Easton and Brenda Minihan and Ellen Schoenfeld-Beeks of Sharon played roles as invasive plant sheriffs, engaging visitors in conversation and offering invasive plant checklists, images, and ideas for native plant alternatives.

Exotic invasive plants have no natural predators and diseases that would naturally control their growth. Some invasive plants have escaped from our home gardens and public plantings into natural areas and cause profound environmental and economic damage. Massachusetts has developed a list of problematic plants. Some are even illegal to sell, including Norway maple, Japanese maple, burning bush, all hollow-stemmed honeysuckles, garlic mustard, oriental bittersweet, and Japanese knotweed.

The exhibit also included a “Talking Tree,” a young pin oak tree that posed the question, “When I turn one hundred years old, what do you hope I will say?” Visitors then wrote their answers on a card and tied their card to the tree with yarn. The tree will be planted at the Unitarian Universalist Church in the center of Sharon.

The sheriffs urge folks to learn about the species considered invasive in the area, generate a list of those on your property or in your town, create a plan for eliminating them, and execute your plan. Contact the Sharon Garden Club or Carol Lundeen for further information.

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Sharon Garden Club Flyer for September Garden Medley event

Sharon Garden Club Fall Fair – Save the Date – Sept 9

Hints of fall are in the air, and the Sharon Garden Club is celebrating on September 9th with our September Garden Medley fundraiser. Join us from 11-4 to explore the learning and fun at our two locations :

  • a horticultural guided garden tour (70 Maskwonicut Street, Sharon)
  • a Standard Flower Show (62 Bullard Street, Sharon)
  • an elegant boxed lunch in the garden (70 Maskwonicut Street, Sharon)
  • a garden shoppe (70 Maskwonicut Street, Sharon)
  • live folk music (70 Maskwonicut Street, Sharon)
  • artists at work (70 Maskwonicut Street, Sharon)
  • unique raffle items (70 Maskwonicut Street, Sharon)

TICKETS are $30 in advance, $35 the day of the event. Get tickets from me (617-327-9254 or carol@garden-911.com) or lizsiem@comcast.net.

You’ll probably find me in a stall at the barn at 70 Maskwonicut Street, the stall converted into an art exhibit for pollinator-friendly plants and a jail for nasty butterfly-killing invasive ones. WANTED: native pollinator plants, alive; WANTED: dead invasive plants.

 

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Why Are My Rhododendron Branches Dying?

Rhododendron, borer, Sharon, MA, insect, damage

Cross-section of a rhododendron branch with a hole in it. A Rhododendron borer has tunneled all the way through this branch, and the branch is dead.

Could it be rhododendron borers? I started spring pruning for an organic gardening client in Sharon last week, on one of those yummy sunny 60 degree March days. Near her front door are broadleaf evergreen shrub beds on either side of an elegant entry path. My goals were to prune out any dead, use selective pruning to open up dense areas and stimulate new growth for a more balanced and pleasing form of individual shrubs and their big picture impact, and scout for pests.

A dead branch on a rhododendron caught my eye. I’m always very curious about why plants and their parts fail to thrive, so I investigated a bit. I cut off a portion of the dead branch and in its cross section found a dead giveaway of a clue.

It looked like an electric drill had made a 3/16 to 1/4 inch diameter hole in the interior of the stem, parallel to the length of the stem, and I knew right away it was quite likely the work of a rhododendron borer. I kept cutting the branch closer and closer to the ground, and found that the borer hole went all the way down to where the stem met the root flare at soil level. It may be that a second year borer spent some time in the roots, then bored its way toward the tip of this branch, contributing to its demise. I’ll continue to watch carefully for signs of activity and damage, and remember that borers are just one of several flavors of rhododendron pests.

Dead branch on rhododendron, showing a borer hole in its cross-section.

This dead rhododendron branch shows a tunnel entrance created by a rhododendron borer in Sharon, MA.

How do you treat something like borers? Try the following methods, or contact me when you see damage and you need help gathering evidence and deciding how or whether to save your valued shrubs and trees.

Treatment for Rhododendron borers:

  • Look around for dead branches and cut a cross section of one. Look for other signs such as a borer’s exit hole through the branch, frass (insect poop that resembles sawdust), and the condition of the leaves and stems. Photography these signs for your records.
  • Be sure to properly identify the pest that is doing the damage. FYI there’s a separate and distinct Rhododendron stem borer
  • Cut out and destroy all affected tissue – or save a sample to send to a lab.
  • Whether there’s an effective pesticide for the two types of Rhododendron borers seems to depend on what extension service or licensed pesticide professional you ask, and in any case monitoring and prevention are the best next steps. This is an organic client who prefers organic treatments for the health of her family and the environment. An injection of nematodes into the stems may be appropriate if she has the stem borer. I’m looking into it.

Tips to help reduce borers:

  • Keep mulch at least 2-3 inches away from the base of of all plants where the stems meet the earth, including rhododendrons. Your mulch should never be more that 3 inches deep.
  • Keep shrubs well watered during dry periods. One inch of water per week is generally sufficient for established, healthy plants. More water than this is usually needed for plant establishment.
  • Avoid wounding shrubs, as wounds can make it easier for insects and pathogens to enter. If your plants have any branches that directly cross one other, they probably rub against each other when it’s windy, causing abrasion damage and creating entry points for pests and pathogens. Also, do not wound shrubs with lawn mowers and string trimmers.
  • If you don’t have an edged bed around a tree or shrub, make one large enough so that not only will your string trimmer no longer nick the trunk, but the mower won’t run over the root zone. A general guide is to edge out a bed that goes all the way to the drip line, defined as the area all the way from the trunk to the outermost circumference of the tree’s canopy . After cutting out and removing any lawn or weeds, etc. from your edged area, apply 2-3 inches of mulch to the bare soil.

Not all damage to rhododendrons is from borers. There are plenty more causes as well. So be careful, don’t jump to conclusions, get a positive ID, and get help if you’re not sure.

CONTACT ME IF YOU NEED A HAND

IF YOU’D LIKE ME TO HAVE A LOOK AT DAMAGED OR DISEASED PLANTS WITH YOU, I’LL PUT ON MY HORTICULTURIST HAT, HAVE A LOOK AND SUGGEST WHAT YOUR BEST NEXT STEPS MAY BE. CLICK HERE TO CONTACT ME

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Miss Twiggy Aces RI Certified Horticulturist Exam

Rhus typhina winter twig with bud in leaf scar

Winter bud inset in a leaf scar of Rhus typhina, staghorn sumac in Sharon, MA. It looks like the face of a lion, which is how I remembered it for my RI Certified Horticulturist exam. [Photo Copyright 2017 Carol Lundeen].

Miss Twiggy.  That’s what my wife has been calling me  lately.  Our dining room table has practically been crawling with the winter twigs of trees, shrubs, and vines: messy, shedding, needle-dropping deciduous and evergreen winter twigs.  I’ve been studying them for six weeks for my RI Certified Horticulturist exam.  Why?  I’m a nature girl, and I love looking at things up close.

Did you have any idea that a winter twig could be so adorable as the one shown above?  Me neither.  Until Dr. Susan Gordon taught me how to notice and appreciate the diversity of these things.  I want to get so I can tell the winter twig of a glossy false buckthorn from a black cherry as easily as a dalmation from a beagle.  I aced both the written and ID portions of my exam Monday night.  I’m certifiably certified, so happy there’s so much more to learn, so thankful to everyone who’s helped me, and I can’t wait for the new gardening season!

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Reclaim the perimeter of your yard

Carol removes a stump after clearing the perimeter of a client's

Carol removes a stump after clearing a tangle of exotic invasive plants on the sloped perimeter of a client’s lawn in Sharon, MA.

Trees and shrubs, vines and weeds getting the best of the perimeter of your yard?  Reclaim it!  That’s what I did for a client in Sharon, MA, They were getting ready to sell their house, and I wanted to leverage their back yard with an expansive view to a trio of established but hidden ash trees on the edge of the property.  So I cut down a few small trees and hacked out their roots, removed lots of exotic invasive plants like multi flora rose, Asian bittersweet and garlic mustard…though the knot weed is still a work in progress.

Carol with a tree stump she removed for curb appeal in Sharon, MA.

Carol didn’t let this stump stump her. Her reciprocating saw and pry bar and patience did the trick. She did this to open the view to the large trees in the background.  It’s hard to see, but behind the iris is a native Viburnum shrub that had been hidden by overgrowth.

 

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