May 2018
The Good....
Well....It would appear that Ma Nature has FINALLY decided to grace us with SPRING!!!!!
FINALLY!!!!!
Trees and shrubs are busting out all over with incredible displays of beauty, the grass is as green as Ireland and the birds are yappin', kissin' up a storm and even it appears tackling each other with joy. That IS what they're doing...right??...hahaha
Soooo...FINALLY, Uncle Kenny is a Happy boy!!!
PLUS
here is something even
GOODER ( new word)
HUGE hanging baskets (as usual)
EXTREMELY discounted so you can dress up your house for the summer and/or give one to Mommy so she knows you are thinking of her.....maybe for Sunday?????
$38.00....that's a Steal!!!
but
then there is
The Bad....
I find myself Mentally shot already this spring and without much of a creative thought left in my head. But, I Know, I need to get this Newsletter out while it is still May. So, I decided to take a wee bit of "writer's liberty" and actually "plagiarize" part of this Newsletter from a previous Newsletter. Is it really Plagiarizing if it is your own work? Hmmmm
So if at any point in reading this you feel a bit of Dejavu,
do not call your mental health professional. You are OK!!
"I" am the one with the problem!
The Badder
(yes, this is another NEW word?)
and this is only BAD because it means work!
I know you have all taken care of all your necessary weeding, pruning, cleaning your landscape beds, putting down pre-emergent for future weeds, applying fertilizers and have finished mulching. So now what do I do you ask?
Well, first thing to do in May then would be to do all of the above that you still really, actually haven't done!
Also, as you have probably noticed, some of your plants look a wee bit dead. Hopefully they are not. Believe it or not we had some incredibly cold days this winter and most of your plants are cold hardy only to a zone 5 or 6. The days we experienced this year put us down into a zone 4 so any extended period of that killed many landscape plants. Besides that we had a couple of days down in the low 20's in late April that gave any new young growth an extra whammy!!
Many plants such a butterfly bushes, roses, Liriope, many varieties of Japanese holly, ornamental grasses and others all may be in danger of a fatal demise. My suggestion would be to just wait a couple more weeks and check close to the ground to see if there actually is any new growth on your deciduous plants. Evergreens that are brown you can probably just pitch or if minor damage try cutting out the BAD!
However, DO NOT PANIC yet if your Crape Myrtle has not shown signs of life. This plant is notorious for looking dead until late spring. Do NOT dig it up yet!
If you scratch the bark on the deciduous plants with your fingernail and it is still green then be patient as it may recover. If you don't have any fingernails left because you have chewed them all off worrying about your dead looking plants then a small knife will give you the same result. If the stems are brown, invite 10 friends over and have a going away party for the plant or plants. Or go solo. A party is a party!
This is also the month to take care of Bagworms. You will need to spray any evergreen trees etc. in late May and then again in early June as this is the ONLY time you can easily kill them when they come out of the bag. Use a Systemic insecticide with the active ingredient of Acephate or Malathion.If you would like to read a previous article about Bagworms and other critters mistakenly called by the same name then click here
Aphids are again menacing many plants including spirea, viburnum, birch trees and burning bushes. Look for leaves that are curling under and red spots on the spirea. If you want to know more about Aphids and how to control them then click here
And finally, Don't forget to put down your post emergent weed control and fertilizer NOW to keep your grass nice and perty. We recommend 15-0-5 with Viper. It is a lot less expensive then brand names and does exactly what you need. And remember we stock everything you need to DIY!!
AND.....
FINALLY
I didn't say it....Clint Eastwood did!!!
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