SaturdaySeminars

Our seminars begin at9:45 am, but the coffee will

be on by 9:00.

Perennialize Your GardenMany of today’s gardeners have busy life-

styles but still want to have beautiful gardens. The good news is that you can have an im-pressive, colorful landscape without frequent replanting.

Perennials, once planted, will last for many years. Some bloom spring through fall while others flower seasonally. The

most interesting landscapes include some of each for continuous, changing color. Most love sunny areas but there are also perennials that will thrive in the shade. All colors are represented from plum-bago blues to salvia reds and lantana yellows to skullcap pinks. The diversity of flower shapes is almost unlimited.

Most perennials freeze to the ground during our short winters but return reliably year after year. Others, such as Salvia greggii

and skullcap, are evergreen. The foliage of fire-bush and dwarf plumbago provides a colorful fall display, and pigeonberry provides red ber-ries along with flowers.

When planting perennials be sure to prepare the soil well as these will be permanent plantings, and feed regularly to promote copious blooms!

the Garden GazetteMay 2016

the official newsletter of Shades of Green Nursery

It’s our 35th Anniversaryand we are going to celebrate it in a big way!

We will be serving sweet confections (homemade by our wonderful staff) and delicious ice cream

(Hooray! Hooray! BlueBell is back!).Beautiful classical guitar music will be provided

by our friend, George Gaytan.

We hope you will come celebrate with us onMay 8th from 11:00 am until 3:00 pm

7Color FromPerennials

Using perennials is one of the best ways to add long lasting color to your land-scape. We’ll show you lots of choices and how to keep them blooming.

14Propagating Your Favorites

In this popular seminar we’ll be covering soft and hard-wood cuttings and air-layer-ing, as well as starting seeds.

21 Exposing Root Flares

The Dirt Doctor, Howard Garrett, will discuss the importance of exposing root flares for plant health, and Etter Tree Care will be on hand to demonstrate using an airspade to achieve this.

28 No SeminarFestival of Flowers

May

Happy Mother’s Dayto all of our

wonderful mothers!

The drought and heat of the last few summers have amplified the damaging ef-fects of grubworms. To make matters worse, they have been much more prevelant than in the past.

To prevent damage from grubs it is important to be proactive in treating for them. If you want to be sure to stop damage, apply ben-eficial nematodes now and again midsummer.

To keep your turf thick and healthy, apply Land-scape Essentials in early summer and water deeply as needed.

Want To Attract Butterflies?

The Aphid Story

Grubs Are Bad!Butterflies are some of Mother Nature’s

most amazing creatures. Their life cycle from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly is truly a miracle. If you want to attract more butterflies into your garden you will need to do some research and some shopping for plants. To fully appreciate butterflies do a little reading and spend time observing them to understand their fascinating metamorphosis.

Butterfly gardens are not only beautiful, they also offer the opportunity for gardeners of all ages to learn about the marvels of nature. Plants in butterfly gardens serve two distinct purposes. Nectar plants provide food for the butterflies. Coneflowers, old fashioned zinnias, gregg’s mistflower, lantana, queen’s crown, duranta, milkweeds, cosmos, salvias and sages, scabiosa, and lots of wildflowers are examples.

The second plant type is the host plant. These plants provide food (their leaves) for the larval stage of the butterfly, the caterpillar. Host plants attract very specific kinds of butterflies so by planting a particular host plant you can attract a particular type of butterfly. Host plants include herbs such as parsley, dill, rue, and fennel (Eastern black swallowtail), Incense passion vine (Gulf fritillary), native passion vine (zebra longwing), citrus trees (giant swallowtail), and asclepias and other milkweed plants (monarch and queen).

Once you have your butterfly garden planted, observation becomes key to your enjoyment. You can watch butterflies feed, then lay eggs on host plants, observe the caterpillars feeding, maturing, turning into odd and highly varied chrysalises, and then emerging as beautiful butterflies. Observing all stages in the life cycle of butterflies is truly fascinating!

To many people, having insects of any kind in the landscape is an unwanted oc-curence. Luckily most gardeners know that not all insects are bad. In fact only 5% of all insects are damaging to plants. The others are either beneficial or benign. It is highly desirable to have beneficial insects in your garden because they control vast numbers of damaging insects, often without your even being aware of their presence.

Everyone knows and loves ladybugs but less known is the fact that it is their bizarre looking larvae that actually consume the largest number of insects. The ugly larvae of lovely lacewings are also very carnivorous. The comical praying

mantis is another recognizable predator that eats huge numbers of damaging insects. Less visible are the tiny parasitizing wasps, assassin bugs, mealy bug destroyers, and many others.

You might wonder how to increase the population of beneficial insects in your landscape. The number one way is to stop spraying pesticides. Most pesticides kill indescriminately, and benefi-cials are much slower to rebound than damaging pests. When absolutely necessary to control severe insect infestations, use only organic controls.

Secondly, you can purchase and release beneficials. We carry ladybugs, praying mantis egg cases, lacewing eggs, and more.

Lastly, learn to love aphids because they are the preferred food for many beneficials. Include plants in your landscape (tropical milkweed and gaura) that are sure to attract aphids sometime during the growing season. If you have an overabundance of aphids on plants, you can spray most of them off with a strong stream of water and let beneficals take care of the rest.

Plant color...annuals, perennials, and tropicals add

tremendous color to your landscape.Treat your landscape with beneficial nematodes to control grubworms and fleas.Continue to provide for birds...clean water and seeds for songbirds and fresh nectar for hummingbirds (1 part sugar to 4 parts water, boiled).Release trichogramma wasps for control of webworms.Plant caladium bulbs and plants.Continue to feed all blooming plants with Magical Mix (equal parts of Color Essentials and Landscape Essentials).Release ladybugs and other beneficials to control garden pests.Apply compost to the lawn to reduce water use, suppress weeds, and thicken turf.Feed indoor plants monthly. Make an application of whole ground cornmeal or Plant Wash on your roses to prevent or treat fungus problems.Plant warm weather vegetables...cucumbers, summer squash, beans, eggplant, okra, and peppers.Apply Semaspore Bait for grasshopper control as soon as any young grasshoppers are noticed.Make applications of liquid seaweed every two weeks to prevent spider mites on vegetables and flowers.Apply Sluggo Plus if slugs, snails, and pillbugs are a problem.Take a moment to be thankful for all that mothers do to improve our world.

Gardening CalendarMonthly Herb:Comfrey

Bugs are everywhere and some bite! Be prepared for the occasional wasp or bee sting, fireant bite, or scorpion zap by having comfrey grow-ing in the ground or in a pot.

Comfrey is an amazing herb to have around. It is a striking plant with large, dramatic leaves and spikes of

pale pink flowers produced in the spring. It is easily grown in sunny areas.

Whenever you have an in-sect encounter or suffer from other skin irritations either smash a leaf to release oils or make a tea by steeping leaves in water. Then apply either to affected areas.

Make Your Life EasierWe’d like to introduce you to a few tools that can make your gardening

life a little easier, and who doesn’t want a little help now and then.Garden kneeler/bench...This is a sturdy, lightweight folding bench and

when turned upside down it becomes a padded platform on which you can kneel to perform gardening tasks. The ‘legs’ then become handles to assist you in getting up from a kneeling position. Great!

Oscillating hoe...Imagine a long-handled tool with a stirrup shaped blade on the end. The stirrup is sharp on both edges so you can cut weeds off at

ground level as you push and pull the tool. Very efficient.Quick connectors...Made of durable brass, these connectors allow you

to attach hose to faucet, hose to sprinkler, or hose to hose with one quick motion. No need to struggle when connecting your watering implements.

Pruning stick...If you have small stems that you need to cut near ground level (cedar trees, woody weeds, or small hackberry trees) this tool is for you. It is a long ‘stick’ with a pruner on the end that is engaged by using a sliding action. No more bending! It can also be used to cut tree branches.

May In The Veggie Garden

There can be little doubt that some of the most hated insects are mosquitos. At best they are nuisance insects, at worst they can be carriers of dangerous diseases for us and for our pets. There really is no way of totally eliminating them, but you can take steps to keep them at bay.

Most importantly empty any and all standing water! Mosquitos need water in which to breed but they only require a very small amount. Re-fresh pet water bowls and birdbaths frequently. Put Mosquito Dunks or Bits in any water that cannot be emptied regularly.

Mosquitos congregate in thick, moist foliages such as groundcovers so spraying with repellents such as Cedarcide or Garlic Spray discourages them. Around outdoor areas where you love to spend time, apply Dr. T’s to repel mosquitos for an extended period of time. To create ambience and repel mosquitos at the same time, light And-iroba candles, incense cones and sticks.

For a DEET-free personal product (DEET is a neurotoxin!), use Cactus Juice lotion. It feels wonderful, has an SPF sunscreen of 20, and is safe to use on children.

The Bane of Summer...Mosquitos

By now most warm season crops should be in the ground, and harvesting beans, squash, and possibly tomatoes, should be an almost daily occurence. It is just now time to plant okra, and you can go ahead and make a second planting of beans to have continuous production.

Good maintenance on other crops is very important. Continue to feed all plants regularly and spray those plants susceptible to spider mites semi-weekly with Liquid Seaweed/Molasses. Rake soil up around potato plants so that tubers

developing near the surface will not be exposed to the sun which causes ‘greening’ making them inedible. Be vigilant about insect pests such as squash bugs, hornworms (tomatoes and peppers), stink bugs, potato bugs, and others. Early detection is the key to control, and there are safe and effective products for most problems.

Finally, pull up any cool weather plants that are past their prime before they become infested with Harlequin bugs, spider mites, or other damaging insects that may move to your producing crops.

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May, 2016

Mon. - Sat. 9:00 to 5:00Sun. 10:00 to 4:00

334 West Sunset RoadSan Antonio, Texas 78209

210-824-3772www.shadesofgreensa.com

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