Garden Tips Newsletter
April 27, 2009
Blooming Azaleas
Now is the time to purchase blooming azaleas if you are looking for a particular color. Sometimes it is just too difficult to determine the true color of the blooms from a plant tag picture, particularly if you are trying to match with an azalea color you already have. It might not be a bad idea to take a blooming branch from the one in your yard with you when you go azalea shopping. Keep in mind the ultimate size of the plants, there is a wide range in size among azaleas.
Tags
Remove tags around the trunk or limbs of trees and shrubs when you plant. If allowed to remain, they will tighten as the plant grows, cut into the bark and damage or could eventually kill the limb or tree.
Sprayers
Before putting pesticide in your sprayer for the first time this season, fill it up with water and pressurize it. Leaks and clogs are safer to deal with when it’s only water running up your arm. Replacement parts such as hoses, o-rings, and nozzles are available where sprayers are sold.
Fruit trees
Mulch fruit trees to prevent weeds and grass from growing up around the trunks and competing for water and fertilizer. Mulch also eliminates the need for weed eating around the base and potentially damaging the bark tissue. Any damage to the bark will provide an entrance place for insects and disease—particularly borers. Pine straw is excellent for mulching. Just be sure not to pile it up against the trunks.
Lelia Scott Kelly, Ph.D., writes Garden Tips weekly and is a Horticulture Specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. Her office is in the North Mississippi Research & Extension Center, Verona.