Tick Tock, tick tock… The time has come for changes. For us that means the change from an hour long program back to a half hour program. This weekend is our last hour long program for 2015. For the July 4th show you will see us on for 30 minutes. This is just what happens when summer starts. As viewers start taking vacations, and advertisers take a break as well, we have to cut back on the length of the program. Don’t worry we will still have more great gardening information every weekend until the end of November.

If you want to see more of Garden Time, or at least William and Judy, you can join us for our first garden bus tour happening on the 17th of July. We will be visiting 6 different garden centers and growers. Your fee includes coffee and donuts to start the day, all bus transportation, lunch and a wonderful farm to table dinner with a drink. It is quite a deal! Check out the link on our tours page, www.gardentime.tv/tours. Hope to see you all on the bus!

This week we featured...

The Wall Patio

We have featured work done by The Wall (503-735-9255) before. They are known for their use of recycled concrete in landscaping. But we recently found out about a job they did on building a brand new outdoor patio for entertaining. We travelled to Vancouver to visit with Andy and Daphne Didier to learn what The Wall had done in their back yard. For years their backyard had served many purposes, from grassy lawn to vegetable beds. Now they were looking for something with a little less maintenance and more open for relaxing. In the past they had used The Wall to redo their front entry and to rebuild their chimney, but this was a bigger project. They were very happy with the previous work so they called Rick and his crew back! Rick told us that this was right up their alley. The Wall does poured concrete as well as recycled concrete and they can also work with pavers, stone and blocks as well! Not only did they come into this small space and pour a new patio, they were also able to build a custom outdoor fireplace for Andy, which was a major requirement for the job. It turned out fantastic! If you would like to have The Wall build you a special outdoor area, give them a call and they will come out and help you get it started.

Thompson’s Coastal Plants

Growing plants at the coast has its own set of problems. Homeowners have to deal with, not just sun, but also gale force winds, salt, torrential rain and sometimes even snow! You would think that there are not a lot of plants that can handle this wide range of extremes. That, however, is not true! We stopped by Thompson’s Nursery (541-563-3676) in Waldport on the Oregon Coast to talk to Michelle about some of her favorite plants for the coastal zone. It was amazing the number of plants that she had for us to look at! We started with the low profile plants. These will stay low and perform well in those brisk winds. One of the plants here was Silver Bush. This one gets a white flower and is drought tolerant too. The second low profile plant was a Point Reyes Ceanothus. This one can really take a beating from the wind and still give you nice blue flowers in the spring. The medium sized plants were next. These are ones that need a little shelter from the wind. There are a lot of hebes in this group, because they like full sun, are drought tolerant, can handle a good pruning and give you lots of blooms all summer long. Another good plant is a Prostanthera cuneate which stays low, looks cute with white flowers and is salt tolerant. The mid-level plants included Griselinia 'Bantry Bay'. It can grow up to be taller or you can prune it down to maintain the shape. This one has incredible foliage and is salt tolerant. Other good plants in this group are miscanthus, phormiums and pampas grass. These will look and sound great when they wave in the wind, but the pampas grass will get pretty tall and will need a good haircut, and may spread by seed in some areas. Then we moved to the tall plants. The first one we saw was the Vibernum tinus, which handles the salty air better than other vibernums but still needs protection. Michelle recommended planting it on the eastside of your beach house and not in the high winds and salt of the west side. We also saw the black stemmed hydrangea ‘Zorro’. This one has a signature black stem and nice flowers, but it also had very thick stems which hold up well in the winds along the coast. For trees and other tall plants she also recommended the Thunderhead Pine and arbutus for some great structure in the background of your beds.

She recommends to customers that they amend the soil when they plant since there is a lot of sand. The sand will drain well, but for most plants it is too well. Then, once a year, she also recommends top-dressing with a good mulch to add nutrients to the soil and help retain moisture. If you are looking for plants that do well at the coast, check this list of plants Michelle had pulled out for us, or if you are in the Waldport/Newport area, stop by her nursery for more help!

Birds, Rats and Squirrels

When you feed your local birds you may be also inviting other, unwanted guests to the dinner table too! Namely we are talking about rats, squirrels, raccoons and possums. We paid a visit to the Backyard Bird Shop (503-620-7454) and talked to Angie about this problem and how you can avoid it. First of all, birds are messy eaters and that is the main problem. They will spill seeds and shells from their feeders all over the ground. Plus, if squirrels get into your feeders they can add to the mess. Once this food is on the ground you will soon have visitors like rats. Rats are not picky eaters. They will even take the left over shells. One way to avoid all these extra visitors is to place trays or devices to catch that extra spilled seed. Some of the feeders now have trays which will catch the seed and keep it off the ground. If you already have a feeder there are lots of different trays you can buy that will fit on any feeder. Another great product was a pecan feast log. This log had ‘shell-less’ seed held together by gelatin that reduces waste since the birds only take what they need. If you have a suet feeder then you should look for suet cakes that don’t have seeds in them. These will keep the food off the ground as well. If you would like to try to reduce the spillage by changing your seed you have 2 choices. The first choice is a shell-less seed. This will reduce the waste on the ground and thus the unwanted visitors. The second option is to buy some ‘Hot Meats’. This is a hot pepper oil treated seed. The birds don’t have taste buds so they can eat the seed, but the mammals end up with a burning tongue and they stop coming to the area around the feeder. If you already have a lot of seed at your house, they also carry a ‘Flaming Squirrel’ liquid of the same type of pepper oil that you can treat your existing food before you put it out. If you are noticing a lot of rats, mice, possums and raccoons in your yard, then try some of these products and help show those guys that the kitchen is closed!

Cherry Country

Did you know that Salem and the surrounding area used be a huge cherry growing area? That is why Salem is known as the Cherry City and also why the public buses in Salem are called Cherriots. We were reminded of this when we paid a visit to Cherry Country (877-3CHERRY, 324-3779)and visited with Celeste Bonniksen. Her parents bought a cherry orchard in 1991. It started out as a hobby, but soon they realized that they could do so much more. They decided that they would dry the cherries to maintain their flavor and make them store better. They then decided to cover those dried cherries with chocolate. This has now grown to a business of 6 people and a huge following of fans. Now they also make jellies, jams various candies and other treats. Celeste then talked to us about the homeowner and how they can be successful with cherry trees. First find a variety that will grow well in your area. Make sure you can give the tree adequate water and lots of sun. Then you want to a make sure it gets good pollination which means you might need another tree to cross pollinate or a self-pollinating variety. Finally we learned how to pick a cherry. You will find ripe cherries attached to a fruiting spur. This is the woody little nub at the top of the cherry stem. You don’t want to damage that since the tree makes use it again the next season for fruit production. You gently push the cherry stem up and away from the cluster of cherries and it will just snap off without damaging the rest of the fruit spur. Very easy!

Then we moved up to their production facility to see how they process the 10 different varieties that they grow. When the cherries come in they are washed and sorted, then they are pitted by a machine. The cherries are then stored and some are frozen for later use. When they need cherries for production they can pull them out of the freezer all year long. She also showed us how they make their chocolate cherries. I think we gained 20 pounds just watching her do it!

If you would like to try some of these treats you can find them at the Portland Farmers Market and the Corvallis Farmers Market. They also have a retail store at their orchard near Salem and they have everything available on-line too. For more information check out their website!

Daylily Breeding

One of the most overlooked flower in the summer garden is the daylily. To find out why people are not planting it more we stopped by and talked to Kevin Vaughn who hybridizes daylilies, among other plants, to get the reasons why. He first told us that he believes it is a climate issue. The temperature is not the best for a lot of daylily varieties. The cooler nights during the late spring and early summer cause the outside petals to thicken and that makes the bloom tighter and it almost looks like a tulip instead of opening all the way. He showed us a spider type of daylily and it was open wide and beautiful. The one he showed us was one that he is working on to be blue. Blue is a hard color to get in a daylily and it takes years of crossbreeding to do it. Kevin showed us how he does that by pulling off one of the 6 anthers, those are the yellow blobs in the center of the flower, and then touching it to the stigma. Then in a few weeks you will see a seed pod start to form. You take the seeds from that pod and plant them. Then wait…. Kevin breeds hundreds of crosses every season but it will take a couple of years to see how the flowers develop and whether they are a go for our area. After starting with hundreds, he may only end up with one good flower that will go to market and end up in your garden.

If you are looking for a good variety for your garden Kevin recommends that you stay away from the fancy ruffled ones, they don’t always do well in our area. Spider types, small and miniature varieties do well here. Look for late season bloomers as well. They like the warmer late summer nights. Also look for ones that continue blooming, or re-bloom, with lots of flower buds on the stalks. The way to help them re-bloom is to make sure they get lots of water. Kevin called them ‘water pigs’ and they are, so make sure they are well watered!

Kevin’s varieties will be on the market soon and we will let you know where they can be found, but if you are looking for some now, they are available at your local independent nursery or garden center.

Landscape Watering Tools

When the heat is on, so are the sprinklers in your yard. This could cause some pain to your wallet when you get those water bills. We went to an expert to see if there were some easy and inexpensive ways to save water, and money! Kevin McCabe is the Water Conservation Coordinator at City of Lake Oswego and part of the team at the Regional Water Providers Consortium. He knows water! We met behind a house where he was checking out a programming device for a sprinkler system. This device helps you control when your system goes on and shuts off. The problem is when people set it for the hottest time of the year in the middle of summer and then don’t turn it back when it cools off. That means you may be throwing more water on your lawn than you need to for part of the time. We then walked over to a tiny little device that was setting out in the open and wired to the programmer. This was a moisture detector. This registers when it rains and then shuts your system off so you don’t waste water when it starts to sprinkle. Once it dries out your system goes back to normal. But these 2 tips were only the start.

We moved to the front of the house to see where the sprinklers were in the lawn. Kevin had some tools with him that would be a great help to the home gardener. The first was a water timer. This is a simple valve that you attach to your hose bib and then you can just turn the timer to the number of minutes you want for your plants. It will shut off when the time is up. No more forgetting when you turned on the sprinkler. The other tool he had was a moisture detector. This is a tool that you just put in the ground or in a pot and it will tell you when your plants are dry. The final tool was Kevin’s ‘lawn cocktail cup’. They were actually watering gauge cups. You place these in your lawn when you are watering to see how much water you are putting down on your grass. This will help you get to the one inch of water per week goal we are all aiming for.

Finally we talked about replacing your sprinkler heads. The sprinkler industry developed uniform standards a few years ago and now you can replace your old sprinklers with new, water efficient, sprinkler heads. It was as simple as pulling the sprinkler up, unscrewing the old nozzle and screwing on the new one. If you would like to get more tips for saving water and money, both indoors and out, check out the Regional Water Providers Consortium at www.conserveh2o.org. We also have this wonderful handout that you can download now.

4 Rose Problems

Roses are a favorite of the summer garden. The right varieties will continue to bloom all through the summer and into the fall. As with any rose, there are thorns. For us that means diseases and pests. We met up with Dr. Jay Pscheidt, a plant pathologist with OSU Extension in a rose garden in Corvallis. The rose is the number one flowering plant in the United States and we found a few of the 4 problems gardeners face in this one rose garden. We first found Black Spot. This is a problem that you will find in most rose gardens. It loves our cool wet climates and attacks the young tissue on your roses. You have to start early in the season to prevent this problem. Now is too late to try and stop it but you can minimize it by taking the diseased material that falls off the plant and putting it in your garbage, not your compost pile. The spores from the diseased plants will stay in your compost and if you spread it around, could affect your other roses. We also found rust. This pathogen likes a range of dry to wet conditions. In the spring it will form when your plants get wet in the rain and then dry, and back and forth. Then we talked about the mildews, powdery and downy. Powdery mildew likes the warm weather. The fungus really likes these conditions and will thrive with overhead watering and lots of heat. Downy mildew is harder to diagnose. A lot of people think they have black spot when they really have downy mildew. It invades the leaf from the underside (think ‘down’ as ‘under’) and it can look like black spot.

How do you prevent, or limit, these diseases? Good plant care is one. Prune the plants to allow for airflow through the plant. This will allow the plant to dry quickly and make it difficult for spores and fungus to grow. Clean your pruners when you are working, especially if you are going from one plant to another. Try to minimize your overhead watering. Use a soaker hose instead. This will get the water to the plants and keep the foliage dry, preventing those disease problems. You can also look to replace your disease prone flowers if newer disease resistant varieties.

The final problem we talked about was aphids. These little suckers are drawing the juice from your plant and could cause some damage. You can either leave them alone and let the beneficial bugs in your garden get them or you can spray them off with a hose. Once on the ground they are poor crawlers and the ground dwelling bugs will get them. There are also organic solutions and chemical solutions for aphids, but some of the solutions may be worse than the problem.

Finally Jay wanted to emphasize that you can just do nothing as well. Most of these problems will not kill your plant, and if you love the blooms, it might just be a minor inconvenience. For more tips on roses or other garden information, check out the OSU extension website, http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening.

Hot Weather and Your Plants

Hot weather is here and that means it could get tough for your garden plants. To get some tips on how to help them handle the heat we stopped by Garland Nursery (1-800-296-6601) in Corvallis. Brenda and Erica met us with a few plants and some tools. Erica used the plants to tell us how a plant can be an indicator of not enough water. Plants like a million bells Calabracoa will have the flowers droop and wilt. A tomato will have its leaves curl up tight to protect the plant from losing any more water, and the sweet potato vine will wilt as well. These are all signs of a lack of water and too much heat. If you see this it means that they need a drink. If you see this in your hanging baskets, they need watering RIGHT AWAY! Hanging baskets are really susceptible to a lack of water and if you don’t get them water soon the plants will fry! What do you do when this happens, besides watering? Brenda showed us the tools you can use to save your plants. The first thing she had was shade cloth. You put this over your tender, heat sensitive and light colored foliage plants. This will protect them from getting burned by the sun. She also had a plant caddy. This is a plant stand with wheels on it so you can move your plants into the shade if they are getting too stressed. Finally she showed us a moisture detector. This is a probe that you can place in your soil to see if it is wet or dry.

If you are concerned about the heat and your plants you can use one or all of these tips, and if you need even more information you can stop by Garland’s Nursery or your local independent nursery for advice.

Dancing Oaks Summer Plants

After the great spring we have had you might think that the colors of summer may be a little faded but that is not true. There are lots of plants that love the summer heat. We stopped by Dancing Oaks Nursery (503-838-6058) near Monmouth to check out a few. We started with Leonard, one of the owners, in a dry bed in their display garden. The first plant we saw was a giant!! The Verbascum bombyciferum ‘Polar Summer’ is also known as the velvet plant and this one had bright fuzzy leaves and stalks with bright yellow flowers. It has great structure and Leonard said they leave theirs up all winter just for the structure it provides. Then we talked about the Eremurus or Foxtail Lily or Desert Candle. These are easily recognizable by their striking flower stalks. They like a well-drained soil and in this bed they had added about 4-6 inches of quarter 10 gravel for good drainage. The Eremurus also has a very shallow root structure and like to go completely dormant in the summer. The final plant in this bed was the Eryngium or Sea Holly, ‘Miss Willmott’s Ghost’. This looked like cross between a thistle and a cactus! The foliage and flower are a striking contrast to just about everything else in the garden. It will die and reseed around the garden so don’t expect it to stay in one place.

We then moved indoors for some water lovers. Leonard brought out some of the carnivorous pitcher plants that they grow. These are called Sarracenias and they capture bugs in their leaves but they also have some pretty cool blooms. Dancing Oaks grows the eastern varieties of this plant which are more hardy and easier to grow in your garden. They need to have moisture most of the time and do well in boggy areas.
If you would like to see some of- the colors that summer can hold, check out some of these plants at your local independent garden centers or at Dancing Oaks Nursery.