Garden State Green

Hello again, garden enthusiasts, how is your summer going?

It is getting a bit dicey out there, with the current lack of rainfall. As I drive the neighborhoods from the Tappan Zee Bridge in Rockland County, NY to Springfield NJ, checking on clients, I am seeing more and more burnt out and sleeping lawns daily. Please observe your local watering guidelines for irrigation systems. More info in my article: Water 101.

Day Lilies

As the Colorful Collectable Day Lilies wane in their bloom life, one of my favorite Perennial plants comes to life, and says “look at me!” In the worst heat of the summer, Moscheudos Hibiscus is such an incredible performer, and creates such a profusion of flowers, they always please the eye. I like to use them where other perennials would normally burn up in the sun, and like to give them plenty of room, (about 3’-4’wide) for spread. 6’ center spacing gives them plenty of room to breathe. The colors that these plants come in are usually in the white to red range, with fantastic hues of wonderful complimentary colors, and I like to use them as color inspiration in my garden designs. Make sure that you place them in the rear of your garden beds, as they tend to get tall.

Moscheudos Hibiscus

Moscheudos Hibiscus

Is the heat of the summer getting to you? This brings me to the tangent of wilt. Now is the time of year that we all experience wilt in some form or another. The more common wilt that we encounter is plain old dry wilt, due to the direct sun, wind, and temperature. I like to place saucers under my many habitants of the Patio, to help them hydrate during the day, after their morning watering. Heat wilt can happen to plants in the sunniest locations, and usually affects the varieties of impatiens; there are many newer hybrids that command a lot of water. Hibiscus in containers can wilt somewhat readily also.

What to look out for? Bagworm. (See photo). Our old adversary Bagworm is showing up again here in Bergen County on Arbor Vitae. Keep an eye on your Junipers, also because these two types of plants are extremely vulnerable. These critters can move quickly, so take action right away to combat them. Your local garden shop advice guru can help you with control. For myself, I like to get to them early, and cut them off.

Enjoy these last weeks of summer everyone! Stay cool and happy gardening.

Written By: Everett Fink

Everett Fink is a Certified Rutgers Master Gardener, Certified Pesticide applicator, and N.J. State licensed Home Improvement Contractor. Everett was designated Top Tier Designer at Sponzilli Landscape, and currently Owns Property Details LLC, in New Jersey.

Hi, friends, and fellow gardeners. I hope you are all having a great growing season. So far, we are in the “New Jersey Monsoon Season”, as one of my clients, Tanya V. puts it. We started off with a bit of a drought, and now we have lots of unstable weather, with the forecasts changing by the hour. It has been very hard to schedule Construction, and planting projects with such strange weather- almost with tropic volatility at times.

One of my recent projects is a raised bed garden planter for my client Jane. I was able to talk her into starting a small vegetable garden 2 years back, and she loved it so much that I had to build her an expanded area to give more growing room for her crops. We used 3” X 12” rough sawn timbers in a 12’ length, and made the box 3-1/2’ wide. A gravel base is covered by filter fabric, and then filled 2/3 full with compost soil. Several bales of a greenhouse grade professional soil mix is then hand blended to establish the final grade. We will follow the guidelines for the square foot gardening protocols as closely as possible.

The next phase of this project will be to critter-proof the planter with various materials such as bird netting, and perhaps shade cloth on some of the side panels. I am designing a pergola-style top to create an architectural element for this fine property.

Recent harvests at another client’s home have yielded some nice results from square foot gardening techniques. Harvesting the Basil just last week really made my mouth water.

I also like to try fig trees in planters that can be brought indoors for the winter, and even have some dwarf Lemon trees in some of my outdoor gardening accounts for fun and interest in the garden. I am trying the (improved) Meyer Hybrid Lemon this season, and curiously, my nurseryman was not able to tell me anything about it. It has fruited once sparingly, and bloomed again.

I like to also grow some cutting flowers in my vegetable gardens, such as Liatris, Asiatic Lilies, Dahlias, and other long-lasting blooms. I have had cut Dahlias bloom for over 2 weeks in vases in my home. When I harvest vegetables, I automatically think of what flowers would go well with dinner on the table.

Gladiolas are wonderful too, and I have found that the red color seems to last the longer of the colors. Do not put them in too much water after cutting, as they can drink themselves to death, shortening their cut lifespan. 2” of water in a vase is sufficient

Water –wise:

Friends, let’s remember to turn off water spigots when we are not using them. The compounded problem of wasting water is worsened by the water that seeps down into the basement, or under your home. The fact that we are not presently in drought may only be temporary. Let’s conserve as much water as we can while we can. I still recommend using water retention vessels on downspouts when possible.

Also, let’s use leaker hoses to conserve water in our garden and shrub beds. When I install a summer planting, I always lay a leaker hose down after final grading the shrub bed, then mulch on top of the leaker hose. Doing this conceals the unattractive appearance of the hose, and optimizes the watering process. Please refer to my past article on this site-“Water 101”, (May 2014),for more water tips and ideas.

Written By: Everett Fink

Everett Fink is a Certified Rutgers Master Gardener, Certified Pesticide applicator, and N.J. State licensed Home Improvement Contractor. Everett was designated Top Tier Designer at Sponzilli Landscape, and currently Owns Property Details LLC, in New Jersey.

Hello again, Garden Friends, now that we have all finished our chocolate bunnies, I have some thoughts and observations to share.

It has been very dry here in New Jersey, so do not forget to water judiciously, in an effort to conserve water as much as possible. Please try to monitor rainfall, so you can increase your water management awareness. Water by hand your shrub and garden beds, and water in the morning, so no one goes to bed with wet feet. For more info, see my article: “Water 101”

Cut your lawn at a height of 3-1/2” or greater, to maintain leaf moisture, and create a lower soil temperature. Water only in early morning.

Mulch shrub and garden beds for water retention, and weed suppression- try using Root mulch, or a highly organic mulch. Remember to keep the mulch away from the stems of plants and trees, and check previously mulched areas to avoid over-mulching. Also try mulching your container gardens with cedar mulch for moisture retention, which will provide less frequent waterings.

As we prepare for our upcoming holiday weekends, be aware of temperature, in addition to rainfall amounts, to help you with planning your activities. I am noticing that more and more people are becoming observant, perhaps to the convenience of smartphone apps. I am currently using Rain Log Lite smartphone app for monitoring the local rainfall.

I am hoping that these items resonate with you not only during this early part of the gardening season, but throughout the growing year in New Jersey. Thanks for your attention.

Written By: Everett Fink

Everett Fink is a Certified Rutgers Master Gardener, Certified Pesticide applicator, and N.J. State licensed Home Improvement Contractor. Everett was designated Top Tier Designer at Sponzilli Landscape, and currently Owns Property Details LLC, in New Jersey.

Hello Friends,
I am about to express myself in terms of the rising costs of gardening in New Jersey. In doing so, perhaps some of my readers will understand why pricing is what it has become.  Since hopefully this article reaches beyond the limits of New Jersey borders, I am sure that readers in the NY metropolitan area, and beyond will be advised as to some of the viewpoints of this article.

A recent call from an interiorscape account’s insurance department informed me that my company’s per-incident coverage had to be twice the current coverage amount. Boom. Guess who is going to get a rate increase?

I do not like raising rates any more than I like to be raised, but more and more regulations, laws, and requirements in the name of “Risk” and who knows what else, have seemingly only enabled our lawsuit mentality society.

When people ask me why my rates are what they are (according to my business advisor, standard labor rates), I ask them how much they pay a 22 year old mechanic at Mercedes Benz. $95.00 per hour is a base rate for a local mechanic, and luxury car dealers command some pretty hefty fees. Tree Care Industry laborers get $125.00 per hour. Insurance premiums dictate that industry’s rates.  Parts and labor for my trucks are quite steep in my opinion, and it is often that Landscape Contractors hold onto their trucks for more than 200,000 miles.

Then there is Holiday Decorating. It is a tough one. Lots of time is spent shopping for materials, and designing many times has to be done on the fly, according to what your floral supply houses have on hand. After shopping, many hours of labor are spent assembling, creating and installing a finished design product. This is not “monkey work”. Skilled design professionals pour their creative talents and techniques into their displays. It is a form of art.

In conclusion, do your research when choosing a landscaping company. Compare rates, and see which are being reasonable, over-charging, or under-charging. Ask yourself and your company of choice why those prices are what they are.

Take care and happy gardening.

Written By: Everett Fink

Everett Fink is a Certified Rutgers Master Gardener, Certified Pesticide applicator, and N.J. State licensed Home Improvement Contractor. Everett was designated Top Tier Designer at Sponzilli Landscape, and currently Owns Property Details LLC, in New Jersey.

Hi, friends, and fellow Gardening enthusiasts. Is everyone enjoying this snowy winter? I have had many interesting discussions as to how friends, acquaintances, and colleagues are handling it. How am I handling it? Right now it is snowing outside, and I am enjoying Ludwig Van (Beethoven) via Apple TV. Last storm I listened to Tchaikovsky’s “Winter Dreaming”, (3 times). My cat, Bernie Williams, just likes to stare out the window via Blu-ray heated cat bed.

Well, now due to the current temperatures in the Metropolitan Area, we have another winter that is causing quite a bit of problems in homes and the Indoor Plant Industry. We are now dealing with the added problems resulting in winter burn, cold damage, or whatever you may wish to call it. Those of us with extensive houseplant collections, and or those of us that care for tropical plant material in offices, hotels, condos, restaurants, building lobbies, homes, etc., have our work cut out for us until the weather gets warmer.

On Friday, I was about to water plants in a building Lobby in downtown Newark, and had a very ugly surprise. Someone left a lobby door open, and burned a 2 story Ficus Lyrata (Fiddle Leaf Fig). I have nurtured this tree for at least 5 years. The under-planting of Pothos was also burned; these plants were affected by last year’s cold temperature at the 2013-2014Holiday season, but pulled through with some sustained winter damage. The Pothos never returned to 100% health, but hung on and re-grew in a somewhat slow fashion. The burnt coloration of this plant, you may notice, is different than some other plant burn photos that appear later in this article.

On Wednesday, in one of our customers’ condominium Lobby, I noticed the effects of winter burn on plants in several different areas. Some plants by the front door were affected, and some were burned by leaves touching exterior windows, and some were affected by being in drafty places. Other plant material was damaged by areas of rooms that were below the comfort temperatures of tropical plants. Pothos, for one, are not happy below 60 degrees indoors for sustained periods of time. I have seen them fail below 49 degrees. Remember that tropical plants can go dormant also, such as our lawns and trees do, although this plant material does not however seem to have the resilience of many winter-hardy plants. The photo left shows typical leaf damage to Dracaena “Janet Craig”. The frozen cells turn black, and cannot re-grow, or “grow out” of cell death.

To the right, is damage to Dracaena Warneckii “Lemon Lime”. I hope that mentioning the locations (paragraph above), as realized by the damage, will cause you to think of what kinds of indoor plant problems can arise from below normal inside temperatures. Checking near drafty windows, doors, and air vents may protect your houseplants from impending harm until our temperatures stabilize into warmer weather. I just spent some time last week, as I do every winter, further cold- proofing my basement with fiberglass insulation, and foam board.  Until the warm weather is finally here, we need to be on our toes in regards to indoor temperatures for pets and plants for their comfort, health, and safety.

As for how are we all coping with this winter? I notice that we all like to complain!
Thanks for reading- I hope that you have enjoyed this article.

Written By: Everett Fink

Everett Fink is a Certified Rutgers Master Gardener, Certified Pesticide applicator, and N.J. State licensed Home Improvement Contractor. Everett was designated Top Tier Designer at Sponzilli Landscape, and currently Owns Property Details LLC, in New Jersey.