jhofley, Author at Michigan Gardener

PLEASE NOTE: In the autumn of 1995, we hatched the idea for a free, local gardening publication. The following spring, we published the first issue of Michigan Gardener magazine. Advertisers, readers, and distribution sites embraced our vision. Thus began an exciting journey of helping our local gardening community grow and prosper.
After 27 years, nearly 200 issues published, and millions of copies printed, we have decided it is time to end the publication of our Print Magazine and E-Newsletter.

Janet’s Journal: The Value of a Garden

May 17, 2018 • 1 Comment

This “rain garden” full of wetland plants was installed to catch run-off water and let it be filtered by soil and roots rather than sluiced directly into the storm drains with its full load of road-collected pollutants.

Standing in my garden where she’d come to see a plant and size it up for inclusion in her own collection, my client spread her arms to encompass the whole yard and said, “Let’s have it all. What would it cost to do all this at my place?”

Given the size and basic composition of a garden—mostly perennials, perennials and annuals, shrubs and perennials, etc.—I can answer with a dollar figure. Yet I hate to, as it puts such a definitive edge on a garden. With a price tag neatly tied to one corner, a garden seems comparable to any other item that can be bought and sold.

Call me a gardening addict, all mixed up by too long an association with landscape architect Thomas Church’s proclamation, “The only limits to a garden are at the edges of your imagination.” For I think putting a dollar figure on a garden is too simplistic, that the other strings attached are more important and make it a far more complex consideration.

For my client, under the impression that a checkbook could transplant my garden to her property, I would say, “It’s not just the money, it could change your life, and your family, fundamentally, in many ways we should talk about.”

What is it worth toward family harmony that there is an outdoor room where people made memories together?

Diversity is a great mental stimulator, and attraction to life in general. The more species diversity there is in a landscape, the more interesting will be the life forms that gather there. A garden has far more diversity than basic lawn and shrubs, so it can support butterflies and their predators as well, like the praying mantis shown here.

How much value can be assigned to the health of the gardener, who is drawn to go outside and putter. It’s been estimated that gardening and jogging burn an equivalent amount of calories, but gardening uses more muscle groups and imparts less forceful impact on the knees!

Shouldn’t the garden get credit when a child steps into an exciting, influential career in life sciences?

Hidden value to the person and the family

What is it worth, after all, that families stay together through shared memories because they have an outdoor room to enjoy and recall as stage and backdrop for important events?

Health is priceless, but poor health’s costs are harshly defined in drugstore and doctor bills. Should we begrudge the money spent on a garden whose upkeep brings us physical well being? It gives us better muscle tone through bending and stretching, strengthens our respiratory and circulatory systems by providing regular opportunities to rake and wheelbarrow, and when we’re ill, helps us recover more quickly. (Studies in hospitals have linked shorter stays and lower use of pain-killers to the view from a patient’s room—those in rooms with a view to greenery left sooner, having taken less medication, than those with windows looking out onto other buildings or hardscapes.) Should we simply use our gardening money for a health club membership instead? Or invest it wisely since eventual health care costs will be exponentially greater?

What about the value of stress relief, mental health and imagination? Just looking at greenery has been proven to slow the heart rate and increase the alpha brain waves associated with relaxation, creative thinking and problem solving. Being in direct physical contact with plants is even more powerful, as any mental health care practitioner will tell you who uses horticulture as therapy for patients.

Let’s add something for that one child who lives in or visits that garden and takes an important mental leap after a gardener explains something like the fact that a seedling plant may not be just like its parent. When that first peek into the field is the child’s stepping stone to a career as a top level genetic researcher, why not credit his or her lifetime salary and awards to our garden’s output?

Connectivity and resources for the community

Influence is worth something, and gardens are notably influential in a neighborhood. Eventually most gardeners see it, how their use of flowers or attention to lawn and shrubs catches on in nearby properties. Even in the most dilapidated neighborhood, it’s the home with the neat yard that garners respect and gradually raises the standards for everyone. The existence of a garden is both incentive and deterrent—studies in urban Los Angeles indicate that graffiti and other building defacement happens less where there are diverse, tended plantings.

Communication is more lively and there’s more camaraderie in neighborhoods where people are seen in the yard and lean on the fence to exchange news. The gardener who is outdoors regularly is likely to be an essential link in passing the word during emergencies small and large, from lost dogs to missing children. That person is more likely to notice and sound an alarm when things look wrong. Little things like a nod and a greeting, more important ones like acknowledging big changes in one’s life from the birth of children to loss of loved ones—these are the vital links that bind us, activities more likely to involve gardeners than people shuttered with their home entertainment systems.

To save time and money you can change front yard gardens (above) back into sod (below) but what will you lose in mental stimulation, wildlife habitat and eye-relief by reducing the species diversity?

Cleaner environment

Gardeners tend to reach out and spread the green. Every year, garden clubs, Master Gardeners, volunteer foresters and informal teams in southeast Michigan are responsible for hundreds of new trees and acres of colorful displays, planted free or at a very low cost. These plantings open minds at libraries, heighten the image at civic centers, increase enjoyment and learning at zoos, parks and museums, and help ease the pain at hospitals and convalescent centers.

Where diverse plantings are, there are more birds. Proven by federal studies to be highly effective weed-seed eaters and bug catchers, they’re also heart-lifting singers of song who just can’t survive on grass alone.

Cleaner air is one of the benefits we all reap from gardens. The gas-scrubbing powers of green growing things has been proven many times over, but the garden’s effect on air quality goes beyond that. Every square foot of garden is one foot that might be tended without the use of power mowers and string trimmers, machines that are dirtier than cars in terms of emissions—and noisy to boot.

Gardens purify water, too. At a conservative estimate, every 100 square feet of garden in Michigan can absorb and filter 720 gallons of water per year that would have run rapidly off of hardpan sod or paved surfaces. As run-off, that water would have sluiced away into storm drains loaded with pollutants such as oil drips from vehicles and animal feces. As we’ve learned through increasingly common notices of beach closings, what goes into storm drains often flows directly into streams and lakes, and sometimes finds its way back into the drinking water supply. Absorbed into the loose, receptive soil in a garden, that water will not run but fall gently through a cleansing filter of soil particles and roots to have all or most of its pollutants stripped away before it returns to groundwater, wells, streams or lakes.

Every day in one way or another, a garden increases in value.

Article by Janet Macunovich and photos by Steven Nikkila, www.gardenatoz.com.

What is the difference between own-root and grafted roses?

May 7, 2018 • Leave a Comment

What is the difference between own-root and grafted roses? Is one better than the other?

Own-root roses are produced by rooting and growing the cuttings of desired varieties. The types produced by this method often include Antiques, Flower Carpet, Meidiland and many Shrub varieties. Most own-root roses do not need ground level protection in winter once they are established.

Budded (or grafted) roses are produced by inserting a bud of a desired variety onto a vigorous rootstock. The types produced by budding include Hybrid Teas, Grandifloras, Floribundas, Climbing and English varieties, as well as a few from the Antique and Shrub groups. Budded roses should be planted with their swollen bud union 1 to 2 inches below the surface, plus have winter protection each year to help them survive our cold Michigan climate.

Few rose varieties are produced using both methods, so the question of one method being “better” than the other really does not apply. Since the propagation method relates to the type of rose, your choice is really determined by the rose producers and their experience of which one works best for that particular variety.

Janet’s Journal: An Introduction to Green Roofs

April 29, 2018 • Leave a Comment

Left, Liatris, butterfly weed and 148 other drought- and heat-tolerant species cover 20,000 square feet atop Chicago City Hall. Green roofs fight smog by cooling the buildings under them and the city as a whole.

Here’s what I’ve learned about green roofs for you and me.

Going green does cut heat, thus reducing smog and its attendant miseries. Tests in Toronto, Chicago, Seattle and other cities prove this cooling effect. Chicago City Hall went green in 2001 while the county building, a mirror image twin next door, still cooks under asphalt. Air temperature, humidity and the intensity of solar radiation are monitored on both roofs, but I was there and did not have to look at a thermometer to know I was 50 to 55 degrees cooler on City Hall. In Evanston, Illinois, the difference between the leaf-topped Optima Building roof and its neighbors’ has been almost 100 degrees on occasion. In Toronto, a billion square feet of roof absorbs and radiates enough heat to keep the city 7 to 18 degrees hotter than the surrounding countryside. Readings from test buildings there have fueled computer models that show there could be 3 degrees of cooling if just 6 percent of the roofs went green.

The conventional asphalt roof on Cook County Building is now in stark contrast to Chicago City Hall, its mirror image twin next door. Temperature, humidity and stormwater runoff figures collected from building pairs like this provide the proof that green roofs can make a big improvement in air quality.

Green roofs have direct payoffs, too. The building beneath stays cooler so air conditioning costs drop. The thick top is good insulation, so heating bills may be less. It insulates against sound, too—airport neighbors, take note.

A planted roof lasts longer since the planted layer buffers wind, sun and fast temperature swings. Flat and minimally-pitched roofs, the best candidates for green systems, may last twice as long as conventional caps. In Germany, where green roofs have been in place over thirty years, 14 percent of new buildings in this style are going green. Building owners no longer plan to reroof every 15 years, but expect upper crusts to remain sound for 30 years.

All these numbers are good, but don’t come cheap. A green roof costs $9 to $18 per square foot—excluding soil mix and plants. All told, topping a building this way is a 30 to 60 percent bigger investment than conventional roofing. Just look at the construction details to see why.

More conventional rooftop gardens, like this one designed by the author, are also valuable in reducing air temperatures, purifying the air and improving the view and attitude of the neighbors. In every green roof, 50 percent or more of the water that falls on planted surfaces is taken up by the plants, reducing the strain on overloaded, contamination-troubled storm drains.

In the north Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood, a retail store named The Garden Room is roofed with an intensive planting system, meaning it has deeper planting areas than those with extensive systems. Its 18-inch depth of soil mix can support trees, shrubs and perennials.

A green roof consists of up to ten layers. First, a protective mat goes down on the roof itself—not to protect the roof but to prevent punctures to the second layer, a waterproof membrane. Over the waterproof membrane is another protective mat, then a root barrier, perhaps some insulation, a drainage layer of gravel or waffle-like panels, and a filter pad to keep fine particles of soil out of the drainage layer. Then there’s the planting medium—usually soilless and 3 to 18 inches deep. Last come plants and a woven mulch blanket to keep the planting medium from blowing away until the plants cover it completely.

There are two kinds of green roof. Extensive systems consist solely of shallow rooted plants like sedum. Ford Motor Company’s huge building in the Rouge Complex has an extensive system. An intensive system has deeper planting spaces able to support many kinds of plants, even small trees.

I’d like to walk on and dabble in my own roof plantings, so the roof must be engineered to hold more weight. I once computed the weight of a roof garden I designed, which meant estimating saturated weights of soil mixes, root balls, perennials, trees, mulch, planter boxes and statuary. An engineer from the architectural firm added my garden’s weight to snow load and other factors, and designed for a “dead load” of 250 pounds per square foot. That’s twice what some roofs are designed to hold and it’s all reflected in construction costs.

The Garden Room’s roof is a sales area, where decorative pots, plants, art and furniture can be displayed among more permanent plantings chosen for drought and heat tolerance. Community groups are also encouraged to make use of sitting areas on the roof for meetings.

Yet I still think this idea is worth pursuing. I’ll be proud to do more toward water purity, by living beneath plants that will use half or more of the water that falls on the roof. Every drop they use is that much less water cascading through downspouts and into storm sewers. Less water running that route means fewer pollutants swept into rivers and lakes.

Maintenance details are still elusive. Roof owners and industry promoters I’ve interviewed admit that care is required – weeding out undesirable plants, for instance. Since weed trees sprout even in our gutters, it’s no surprise to hear they’ll grow on a green roof. What no one seems yet willing to describe are the tactical details. Does killing a weed up there mean spraying it with a herbicide—not my bag!—because pulling it would disturb the soil mix? If I pull weeds do I have to keep carting replacement soil mix up to the roof?

There’s plant replacement, too. Even the most drought-tolerant plants above the most clever water-reserving drainage system may fail and need replacing. I’m still seeking figures, which may just mean waiting a year or so. Chicago’s very helpful, education-oriented project began with 150 species and the project managers intend to publish performance evaluations on all of them.

That leaves only the roof repair angle. What if the membrane springs a leak? It’s vulnerable at the same places my old roof is—where chimney and roof meet, for instance. Will calling someone to make repairs be like trying to find someone to fix our solar panel? A solar panel fixer’s as rare as a blue poppy, even though solar technology was supported by government incentives in the 1970s. America’s green roof industry is light years behind Germany’s where 43 percent of cities offer incentives to build them.

Article by Janet Macunovich and photos by Steven Nikkila, www.gardenatoz.com.

North American Japanese Gardens Association presents event at Cranbrook

April 13, 2018 • Leave a Comment

Cranbrook Japanese garden. (Photo: Eric Franchy)

The North American Japanese Gardens Association (NAJGA) is holding a regional event at Cranbrook Gardens in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan on May 17-19, 2018. This event—”Creation & Rejuvenation: Six Japanese-Style Gardens in Michigan”—brings together garden professionals and hobbyists to explore the challenges and benefits of Japanese gardens in the Midwest using six case studies. Garden tours include the Cranbrook Japanese Garden, Freer House, McGregor Reflecting Pool and Sculpture Gardens, Kathleen and Milton Muelder Japanese Garden, Shigematsu Memorial Garden, The Richard & Helen DeVos Japanese Garden, and Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. Click here for more information.

Janet’s Journal: Troubled times for the white pine, Michigan’s state tree

April 3, 2018 • 5 Comments

It is important to differentiate between white pine decline, and normal fall color, shown here.

A healthy white pine is full and dark green.

Many people in Michigan have noticed the yellowing and thin appearance of white pines that have stood sentinel and provided shade for decades. Some who didn’t recognize those earlier symptoms will see the first sign of this region-wide white pine problem as a dead tree.

What horticultural professionals have noticed in the Midwest, including southern lower Michigan and some areas further north on the mitten, is best described as white pine decline.

Decline is reduced vigor, below-normal functioning and slower growth in a tree when those symptoms can’t be attributed to a specific disease or insect. Trees in decline may fall prey to insect or disease problems because they are weak, but those are additional complications rather than causes of decline.

A tree may decline for many years. If its situation doesn’t improve, it may exhaust its lifetime starch reserves and begin to exhibit dieback—which looks just like it sounds and often ends in death.

I first noticed white pine decline in the mid 1990s. Many white pines yellowed suddenly, alarmingly and at least one 40-year-old tree on a property I garden died. Based on the positions of the most afflicted trees relative to northwest winds and open ground, and a severe winter that had just passed, I attributed the problems to cold-related root damage. Others came to the same conclusion and experience since then seems to support this.

When placed side by side, braches from stressed and unstressed pines exhibit noticeable differences.

Advanced dieback has occurred on this white pine tree.

Do you remember February, 1996? The white pines do! On the night of February 2-3, temperatures from the Great Plains to New England dropped to lows never seen before or not seen for 40 years. That week, the outbreak of Arctic air set nearly 400 record daily minimums and at least 15 all-time lows in the eastern U.S. Wind chills of -50 and -100 degrees were common.

In southeast Michigan, the mercury plummeted 15 to 20 degrees in just a few hours on a night when there was not even a trace of snow to insulate the soil. Branches and trunks of some plants died, and the frost knifing suddenly and deeply into the unprotected soil killed roots even on hardy, established plants.

This healthy branch shows the normal retention of needles for three years.

By spring, gardeners would be mourning the loss or severe damage of thousands of decades-old Japanese maples, and finding privet hedges, rose of Sharon shrubs and even stalwarts such as old junipers dead or killed to the ground. Plants hurt but not killed would begin the slow process of regenerating roots and limbs only to be socked with drought years, one after another.

Shallow-rooted plants like white pine may have been worst hit. Left with fewer roots than they should have, they were not likely to take up enough water and nutrients to fuel regrowth. They were in trouble even if drought had not begun to compound the loss.

Six years later, my tally sheet of all the white pines I see regularly in my travels and those I tend reads this way: Some of the first-affected died and many are still struggling. Some which did not initially show symptoms developed them during subsequent drought years. Only a few recovered. Very few escaped all damage.

This white pine, next to the spruce on the right, is yellow and thin—signs of decline.

In its bulletin, “Decline of White Pine in Indiana,” Purdue University Cooperative Extension reported, “white pine decline… has been a problem for many landscapes in Indiana. …Declining trees usually look a pale green, or even yellowish, compared to healthy trees. Needles are often shorter than normal; sometimes the tips of needles turn brown. Needles from a previous season often drop prematurely, giving the tree a tufted appearance.

“With loss of needles, the tree has a reduced ability to produce the energy it needs to survive…

“With severe or compounding stress factors, the tree may gradually decline and eventually die. Decline may be gradual or rapid, depending on the number and severity of stress factors.”

University of Missouri Extension made similar reports like this one from August, 1999: “We have received many white pine samples into the Extension Plant Diagnostic Clinic this year… from mature white pines, about 20 to 30 years old that are in a state of decline. …Other Midwestern clinics have also seen (this) and have been unable to explain most cases of decline…”

“We therefore believe… that the problems we are seeing with white pine may be related to environmental factors and site conditions… such as heat, stress, drought, flooding and sudden extremes in temperature and moisture.”

Note that experts don’t lay full blame on the cold but on a combination of causes. Ironically, reliable cold and snowier winters may have worked in some trees’ favor.

Missouri, Indiana, Ohio and the southeasternmost part of Michigan, which have all seen many white pine problems since the 1996 freeze and subsequent droughts, are south of white pine’s native range. Since a species’ native range is delineated at least in part by climate, we know that something about the weather in our area is probably not optimal for white pine. A record-breaking warm-up that came after the 1996 cold snap may be one of the climatological events these trees can’t handle. Two weeks after the freeze, all across the area affected by decline, temperatures jumped into the 70s, 80s and 90s. For the most part, white pines growing where there was the usual reliable snow-cover or where the warmest air didn’t reach, fared better.

What happened to the white pines was outside current experience, on a scale so broad that few had the perspective to be able to recognize it. Now that we look back and know how long a tree has been declining which we just noticed this year, we can wish we knew more earlier, but it won’t get us anywhere.

So if you have a troubled white pine, have it inspected by an arborist. Rule out disease and insect problems. Give it the help it needs to fight any secondary problems. Do what you can to alleviate underlying stresses.

Establish a regular watering routine and fertilize the tree in early spring to see if it responds. Aerate the soil if it’s compacted. Be pleased if the tree reacts positively, but be realistic about its chances and your needs. Many of these trees are years past their point of no return. Even those which respond positively to treatment may take many years to recover.

Article by Janet Macunovich and photos by Steven Nikkila, www.gardenatoz.com.

Flowering Shrubs: Colorful Characters

April 3, 2018 • 2 Comments

by Keith Alexander

“April showers bring May flowers”—we’ve all praised the coming of spring with this cheerful rhyme. After the cold, dreary days of winter, it’s here… Spring! This is a great time to plant shrubs so they can begin to establish themselves before the long, hot days ahead. It is best to plant flowering shrubs before they leaf out in the spring. That said, with the proper care and watering, they can be planted at any time. I have put together a list of some of my favorite shrubs. By no means exhaustive, this list is a great starting point for some colorful ideas.

‘William Penn’ Barberry
This dwarf, dense, semi-evergreen plant (Berberis x gladwynensis ‘William Penn’) will grow 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide over 5 or 6 years. In May, tiny, bright yellow flowers will cover the waxy bronze-green foliage that looks much like holly. In the fall, these 1- to 2-inch narrow leaves turn a beautiful bronze color and remain on until spring. In a mild winter, this zone 5/6 plant will bounce right back to bright green. If the winter was a tough one, sometimes the branches that were above the snow may die back to the snowline or the center of the plant. Though this barberry is sometimes hard to find in garden centers, it’s worth looking for. Remember to plant it in a sunny location out of the west winter wind. This plant will do well in almost any well-drained location.

‘Dark Knight’ Bluebeard
This summer-flowering shrub (Caryopteris x clandonensis ’Dark Knight’) enjoys a sunny location in almost any type of soil. Rich green foliage gives way to beautiful purple/blue flowers that begin in June and continue for almost a month. A compact bluebeard, it only grows to 2 or 3 feet tall. It is best to cut this deciduous shrub to the ground each spring for maximum beauty, form and flower. It is resistant to most pests and disease.

Variegated Rock Cotoneaster
This slow, diminutive garden plant (Cotoneaster horizontalis `Variegatus’) is a graceful addition to any landscape, particularly a small space or rock garden. Its tiny, 1/4-inch white and green leaves turn burgundy before dropping each fall. A delicate coating of tiny pink blooms turn into shiny red fruits in late summer. Grows in a partial shade to sun location. This colorful character grows to 24 inches in 5 to 6 years.

‘Miss Kim’ Dwarf Korean Lilac
This compact-growing lilac (Syringa patula ‘Miss Kim’) gets only 3 or 4 feet tall. A reliable lavender bloomer each May, this fragrant lilac needs a well-drained sunny location for best performance. Sometimes found as a dwarf tree or top-grafted form, this lilac makes an excellent accent feature. It has beautiful medium-sized leaves that turn to a burgundy tint in the fall.

‘Sensation’ Lilac
One of the most outstanding lilacs available, this French hybrid form (Syringa vulgaris ‘Sensation’) boasts showy purple/red florets edged in white each spring. An upright grower, following the tradition of most other French lilacs, it can grow up to 10 or 12 feet tall. This fragrant lilac should be used in a sunny location where it has room to grow.

‘Abbotswood’ Potentilla
The group of plants that include potentilla is a large one, and this can make choosing the right potentilla a difficult task. ‘Abbotswood’ (Potentilla fruticosa ’Abbotswood’) is one of the best white-flowering forms of potentilla. It grows 2 to 3 feet high, with delicate blue-green leaves. A generous covering of white blooms decorate this dense shrub each spring. If the plant is pruned after it blooms in spring, a second crop of blooms will be your reward. This hardy shrub looks for a sunny location in any type of soil or exposure.

‘Gold Star’ Potentilla
Of the yellow potentillas, this one (Potentilla fruticosa ’Gold Star’) has a lower habit and larger, showy yellow blooms than most. Its growth should stay under 24 inches. Yellow flowers 2 inches wide will cover the plant throughout the summer if the spent blooms are pruned off. Once again, a sunny location is best for this and all other potentillas.

‘Red Ace’ Potentilla
Growing in a dense mound to 30 inches, this summer bloomer (Potentilla fruticosa ’Red Ace’) is coated with unique flame red, 1-inch flowers that are pale yellow on the undersides of the petals. This re-bloomer will change flower color from flame red to yellow based the intensity of the heat and moisture conditions surrounding this zone 3 hardy grower.

‘Royal Purple’ Smoke Bush
This large shrub (Cotinus coggygria ’Royal Purple’) grows to 15 feet tall. Its intense purple leaves are nearly 4 inches across. A delicate frosting of yellow blooms covers this plant during early summer, giving way to pink/purple seed heads. These long-lasting airy clusters cover the tree for weeks, giving the impression of a cloud of smoke. Plant this fast grower in a sunny location that allows for room to spread. Best planted in well-drained soil out of direct winter winds.

‘Alpina’ Japanese Spirea
A very dense mounding shrub (Spiraea japonica ‘Alpina’), this zone 4 summer bloomer makes a great accent plant in today’s modern, low maintenance landscape. Delicate pink clusters of bloom will cover this plant all summer long. Although there are many different spireas to choose from, this one rates high as one of the best dwarf, green-leafed forms. Almost any sunny location will be great for this 18-inch tall plant.

Limemound Dwarf Spirea
This brightly-colored, mounding plant (Spirea x bumalda Limemound) makes a dramatic accent plant for any landscape. A good choice for massing, this 24-inch tall plant has delicate pink blooms on and off all summer long. The most dramatic color comes from its orange and lemon-yellow leaves in spring that turn to lime-green throughout the summer. It finishes out the season with beautiful auburn-red foliage in the fall. Hardy to zone 3, this sun-loving plant will tolerate almost any type of location.

‘Sunburst’ St. John’s Wort
This upright hardy shrub (Hypericum frondosum ’Sunburst’) makes a great border, accent, or hedge plant. Its dense habit, and dense blue-green 1/2-inch leaves make an excellent background for the profuse yellow blooms that cover the plant throughout the summer. A zone 4 rating makes this one a hardy choice for almost any sunny location.

Koreanspice Viburnum
A medium grower to 6 feet, this viburnum (Viburnum carlesii) is one of the most fragrant available. Leathery green, 3-inch leaves are soon followed by 4- to 5-inch snowballs of pink/white fragrant blooms each spring. Following the blooms, small red fruits hold on until they turn black in the fall. These black berries are highly desired by the most discriminating of our feathered friends. This classic plant will do well in partial shade or full sun, and is hardy in almost any location.

Click to download a chart describing all the attributes of the flowering shrubs featured in this article. — Click on the image to download a chart describing all the attributes of the flowering shrubs featured in this article.

‘Pink Dawn’ Viburnum
Large, dark green foliage covers this upright grower (Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Pink Dawn’) to 8 or 10 feet. Very unique rose-colored blooms may open as early as February if the weather is mild. Its blooms are fragrant and hardy. Small, dark blue fruits will form in late spring. These small unobtrusive fruits make great attractions for the birds.

‘Shasta’ Viburnum
‘Shasta’ (Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum ‘Shasta’) is an improvement on the traditional Japanese snowball viburnum. It has a compact habit that grows only to 6 or 8 feet. Showy white blooms coat the horizontal arching limbs, creating a dramatic effect in May. Its large, 5-inch leathery green leaves turn to a reddish purple color in the fall. The red fruits turn to black before the birds begin to feed. ‘Shasta’ makes a great border or screening plant in almost any type of location from medium shade to full sun.

Website Extra: Bob Labadie’s Garden

April 2, 2018 • Leave a Comment

Editor’s Note: The following are bonus photos from a profile of Bob Labadie’s garden featured in the April 2018 issue of Michigan Gardener. To read the full story, pick up a copy of Michigan Gardener in stores or read it in our digital edition, which can be accessed for free on our website home page.

Bob Labadie had this windmill made to place near the barn. It takes viewers back to another era when windmills had the job of pumping water for his historic 1886 home.

The “Cracker Barrel” porch is a perfect place to relax and enjoy the garden.

Bob’s vintage, orange Bricklin car is parked near the barn where a horse and carriage once resided.

Ask MG: Why is my Purple smoke tree not smoking?

March 10, 2018 • 7 Comments

I have a purple smoke tree that is about 9 years old. It is a large, healthy tree, but it has never “smoked.” Every spring it is full of blossoms, then when other smoke trees are beginning to smoke, the blossoms on this tree shrivel and die. I have tried watering it more, I have tried watering it less. Any ideas? J.W., Ann Arbor

Although smoke tree or smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria) requires well-drained soil and full sun, it is quite adaptable to different soil conditions. A large shrub or small multi-stemmed tree that can grow to 15 feet tall, it can work as a background plant for the mixed border or as a single specimen plant. Its claim to fame is the cloud of pinkish gray “smoke” that covers the plant in the summer. The effect is the result not of flowers, but of tiny pinkish hairs on the small fruits that occur in large clusters. There are some popular cultivars with purple leaves and darker flower clusters, such as ‘Royal Purple,’ ‘Velvet Cloak,’ and ‘Nordine Red.’

While smoke bush is relatively easy to grow, it can use some help in the early stages of development. For a new plant, avoid planting in waterlogged or poorly draining soil. For an existing plant, dig a dozen holes with a crowbar at the drip line that are a foot deep. Fill these holes with 5-10-10 fertilizer. This should be a one-time application. Early spring is best but it can be any time. It isn’t necessary to repeat this unless the smoke bush is not thriving in later years. Woody plants are going to be happier if you don’t overdo it. Annuals, tropicals and turf are heavy feeders, but over-fertilizing perennials and woody plants can force them to produce more stems and leaves than they want to, which can lead to unnecessary stress. Once established in the landscape, shrubs and trees adjust to the nutrients in the soil and often don’t want too much extra pampering. Avoid fertilizing (directly or indirectly) with high nitrogen (lawn) fertilizer; nitrogen promotes stem and leaf growth at the expense of flower production.

If your tree is planted in the lawn, remove the grass in at least a 6-foot diameter area around your tree. Mulch the area (do not pile mulch up against the trunk) and water infrequently: a good soaking once per week is much better than multiple small waterings. Smoke bush is drought-resistant and overwatering can result in few or no blooms, and makes it more susceptible to disease. Woody plants need watering less frequently than tender annuals, lawn, or herbaceous plants. Most established trees and shrubs can go weeks without supplemental watering except in very hot or windy weather.

Ask MG: Growing apples in Michigan

March 7, 2018 • Leave a Comment

What are the causes of apples dropping from trees prematurely while still very small? Is malathion a safe, readily available treatment for apple trees after the petals fall? Can you recommend a book for growing apples in Michigan? D.E.

Premature fruit drop can be natural, environmental, or pest-related and it takes some careful observation to determine which category yours falls into. An early apple drop before the fruit has matured may be the result of an overproduction of fruit by the tree. The plant simply cannot support the continued nourishment for such a vast number. Profuse flowering and extensive pollination can cause this overproduction beyond what the tree can sustain. Subsequently, it “sheds” a few pounds of excess fruit to conserve energy in a natural thinning process. Some fruit tree growers will even manually thin a tree to increase the quality and size of the final product, beating the tree to the punch.

Premature fruit drop can be environmentally stimulated by unfavorable conditions like frost, excessive heat or cold, or drastic changes in humidity. Living in Michigan, any of those conditions are quite possible in the flower to fruit cycle. Since symptoms can also be soil-related, it is important to check your regularity of watering and that the proper nutrition is offered the tree at the root zone. A soil test geared toward fruit tree production would zero in on those nutrients and their correct proportions. You can obtain a soil test kit from your county’s MSU Extension.

Another environmental occurrence is herbicide drift. Never apply herbicides in windy or dead calm conditions. Dead calm is often associated with a phenomenon known as temperature inversion. Contrary to popular belief, spraying under such conditions can actually increase drift distance. The culprit spray may be several yards away, making it difficult to pinpoint the source.

Pest-related fruit drop occurs much later in the season, when the fruit is very near maturity. So insect pests are probably not the reason for your premature drop.

As for the application of malathion, a readily available insecticide for homeowner use, proceed with caution. Make certain you correctly identify the pest, that the insect pest exists on your apple trees and that it is doing damage before arbitrarily applying any insecticide. Malathion is particularly effective against leafrollers and codling moths, which can damage apples, and must be applied at specific intervals. All label instructions and cautions should be followed to the letter if applying it yourself. A better choice would be to contact a certified arborist for an accurate diagnosis and treatment. Oftentimes beneficial insects can be eliminated from nature’s cycle in the homeowner’s fury to protect their plants.

For Michigan apple growing information, contact the your county’s MSU Extension and obtain how-to bulletins on tree fruit. For a nominal cost, you will get targeted, science-based information on Michigan climate, the best apple varieties, and proper techniques to successfully grow apples in Michigan.

Weird subterranean plant not seen in 150 years re-emerges from the underworld

March 5, 2018 • Leave a Comment

This is the first photograph ever taken of the bizarre and mysterious species.

In 1866, an Italian botanist named Odoardo Beccari was scouring through the jungles of Malaysia when he unearthed something truly alien-like: a plant, to be sure, but a plant with no leaves, no chlorophyll, and which did not perform photosynthesis and appeared to live underground. It looked more like a fungus or, perhaps more astutely, an insect or arachnid.

Beccari documented the discovery, filing away his illustrations and notes on the new species. And then, nothing. This weird, subterranean plant was never seen or heard from again.

That is, until just last year. Biologists from the Crop Research Institution in the Czech Republic happened to be exploring the exact same region of rainforest that Beccari had trudged through 151 years prior, when they spotted a bizarre flower poking through the leaf litter. They didn’t know it right away, but they had just rediscovered Beccari’s otherworldly plant. The picture above represents the first time the species has ever been photographed.

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