Green and Grow Show #3

July 1, 2006 The Patriotic Plant Show

Guest Host: Elizabeth Dean of Wilkerson Mill
My guest ,Elizabeth Dean, is something of a rarity in Atlanta, GA. - she is one of only
a few born and bred here! She and husband Gene Griffith own Wilkerson Mill Gardens
in South Fulton County in Georgia. And I have to say it is one of the prettiest nurseries around. Wilkerson MIll Gardens is sited a long a beautiful creek with an old mill on it dating back to the Civil War era. Elizabeth and Gene offer one of the largest collections of hydrangeas anywhere. But, they also have some really unique and hard to find ornamental trees, shrubs and vines. Elizabeth and Gene do mail order through
www.hydrangea.com.   Elizabeth is an incredibly gifted speaker and an absolute delight
to know. The nursery is open only during special open houses so please check out
their web-site for more information.

Our Product of the Week: OXO Gel- e Grips Transplanting Trowel.
This trowel was first introduced to me by Hayes Jackson who was turned on to by
Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery on a plant rescue. I was using a cheap trowel
because I have a tendency to lose mine. I was struggling with a root when Hayes
offered me his trowel. It was large with serrated edges and  it had easy to read measurement markings with a wonderfully comfortable handle that was so cushy. I used it to cut through the roots and dig the plant I was after, all with one tool! I really don’t use any trowel now but this one.

10 Things we should be doing in the garden this month:
1. Slow down. For crying out loud the plants have slowed down it’s a good thing for
us to do as well. It’s way to hot really for anything and most plants have stopped
growing much. So take your queue from them.

2. Fertilize so that when they do start up in cooler weather they will have something
to grow on.

3. WEED WEED WEED

4. Replace mulch. By now the mulch you put down in the fall or early spring has
broken down a little. And with the drier weather it’s always a good idea to add a
little extra.

5. Check garden centers for specials on marked down plants. Now through the fall
the garden centers are going to want to move the old stock, so you should get some
really good deals now.

6. Let your lawns grow up a little more now. Most fescue lawns have gone dormant
by now anyway, but the warmer season grasses are enjoying the warmer temps.
But with the drought it’s better for Zoysia or Centipede grasses to get a little longer.
The tops will shade they’re crowns and they won’t scortch and need water as much.
I wouldn’t fertilize my lawn too much now either because the more you feed the more
it grows. The more it grows the more you have to water.

7. Keep bird feeders, including humming bird feeders, full. And bird baths clean.
Most birds are on their second round of young and will appreciate the extra nutrition.
Remember, hummingbird feeders should be cleaned, with only hot water is best,
every three days.

8.DEADHEAD DEADHEAD DEADHEAD

9. Prune annuals and perennials by shearing them. Them fertilize and you will get a
nice second round of blooms.

10. Keep and eye out for pests. Instead of chemicals I find a hard spray of the hose
everyday does the trick.

Heavy Petal - Our plant pick: Tommy Nobis of Buck Jones Nursery in Woodstock
Tommy’s pick this week is Hypericum. A wonderful sunny happy plant. It’s a semi
shrubby, with wonderful lemon yellow single blooms.  Hypericum _Star Dust’ has new
growth in spring that has interesting dusty variegation, giving it a _lit’ from within look. _Star Dust’ has large, showy, yellow, single blooms. Sorry, it won’t be available until Spring 2007.

Our Creature Feature: The Common Garden Slug (Helix aspersa)
Slugs are simply snails with a housing problem. Slugs have no outer shell like a snail.
They vary in size depending upon the species. Slugs secrete a characteristic slime
or mucus trail that they leave behind as they move around. You can often see the
dried evidence of these trails on your prized hosta leaves.  All slugs lay eggs. They
can lay up to 100 eggs at a time, but usually only 20 to 30. They lay them in the spring
and by fall the slugs are fully grown. Slugs like decaying or wilted plant material.
Keep your garden free of these and it will help to control them. There are the commercial
traps but these can be incredibly harmful to your pets and other animals. You can always
try the beer method. Remember slugs are attracted to decaying plant material and the yeast in beer smells like it making very attractive to them. Simply poor some beer into a small bowl and bury it flush in the ground. The slugs will crawl over to them and fall in and drown. Another control is to put a board down on the ground and go out every morning and lift it up. You will be amazed at how many you find there. Then just throw them away.
If that doesn’t work, remember that beer you brought home? Pop open a cold one,
sit back, and enjoy what is left of your hosta’s. Before you know it colder weather will be here killing most of them, my how slime fly's!

Special Guest: Rick Crowder of Hawks Ridge Farm Nursery
www.hawksridgefarmnursery.com
Rick Crowder is an award winning nurseryman and gifted speaker. He travels yearly to
Japan where he has established wonderful friendships with the nurserymen over there.
Enabling Rick to be introduced to some truly unique plants. I actually had the privilege
of traveling with Rick, Ted Stephens of Nurseries Caroliniana, Don Shadow of Shadow
Nursery and Ozzie Johnson of ItSaul Plants in November 2004.  Hawks Ridge Farm
Nursery has introduced many plants we take for granted in our gardens thanks in large
part to Rick’s travels. He told us of some new introductions for this coming year.
Abelia _Mardi Gra’ and a new hosta _Thunderbolt’ . He then told us of a new dwarf
green loropetalum that hasn’t been introduced or named yet with white blooms.  Hawks Ridge Farm Nursery is wholesale to the trade only but a nursery and nurseryman worth knowing about.

Patriotic Plants:
In honor of the 4th of July Holiday, Elizabeth Dean and I discussed some red, white and
blue plants and plants with a patriotic theme. Like the hosta _Patriot’ and _Loyalist’