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Weeping Cherry Growing Tips If you are considering planting weeping cherries in the landscape, it helps to become familiar with weeping cherry growing tips. Weeping cherries grow and bloom best in full sun, but they tolerate light shade. Well-drained soil is essential in the care of weeping cherries, especially to prevent rot. Good air circulation around the canopy of the tree is important and helps prevent diseases. Therefore, when planting weeping cherries, you should consider the ultimate size of the cultivar and plant the tree far enough from structures and other trees so that you won’t have to shorten the attractive branches....

My Cherry Tree No Longer Weeps Weeping cherry trees are mutations with beautiful weeping branches, but an ugly, twisted trunk. Standard cherry trees have strong, straight trunks but their canopy isn’t as attractive as a weeping canopy. To solve this problem, horticulturalists graft a weeping canopy onto a non-weeping trunk, giving the grafted tree the advantages of both types of trees. Some weeping cherries are the result of three trees. A straight trunk is grafted onto sturdy roots, and the weeping canopy is grafted on top of the trunk....

Read on for suggestions for a West Coast planting list to get you ready for spring. West Coast Planting The milder areas of the west coast enjoy a Mediterranean climate. This means that the summers are long, warm, and dry while winters are cooler and wetter. Native plants adapt to this in various ways, while non-natives may need more irrigation than elsewhere. When it comes to veggie gardening or flower planting though, the sky’s the limit for western region gardening....

What are Chantenay Carrots? Chantenay carrots are short, stout carrots with light orange flesh and orange-red colored cores. They mature in 65-75 days to 4- to 5-inch (10-12.5 cm.) long and 2- to 2 ½-inch (5-6.5 cm.) thick roots. Introduced in 1929, Chantenay carrots are commercially grown for canned and processed carrots because of their high yields. The carrots can be eaten fresh, frozen, or canned. Chantenay carrots can be eaten raw or cooked, with their taste usually described as sweet and crisp....

Essential Japanese Garden Tools Gardeners have a huge variety of traditional Japanese garden tools from which to choose, and some, such as those for bonsai and Ikebana, are highly specialized. However, there are several tools that no serious gardener should be without. Here are just a few: Hori Hori knife – Sometimes known as a weeding knife or soil knife, a hori hori knife has a slightly concave, serrated steel blade that makes it useful for digging out weeds, planting perennials, cutting sod, trimming small branches, or cutting through tough roots....

What are Mortgage Lifter Tomatoes? Mortgage Lifter tomatoes are an open pollinated variety which produces a pinkish red, beefsteak-shaped fruit. These meaty tomatoes have few seeds and mature in approximately 80 to 85 days. Mortgage Lifter tomato plants grow 7 to 9 foot (2-3 m.) vines and are indeterminate, meaning they set fruit continuously throughout the growing season. This variety was developed in the 1930’s by a radiator mechanic working from his home-based repair shop in Logan, West Virginia....

Oak Apple Gall Information So what are oak galls? Oak apple galls appear in oak trees, most often black, scarlet, and red oaks. They get their common name from the fact that they are round, like small apples, and hang in the trees. Oak apple gall information tells us that galls are formed when a female oak apple gall wasp lays eggs in the central vein on an oak leaves. When the larvae hatch, chemical and hormone interaction between the wasp eggs and the oak causes the tree to grow the round gall....

What are Viridiflora Tulips? The name “viridiflora” is a combination of the Latin words for green and flower. It refers to the fact that all the tulips in this group have a green streak or stripe in the center of each petal. The other colors vary, but all viridiflora tulips flowers have this unique coloration of green. Dating back to the 1700’s, viridiflora tulips are also notable for the fact that their flowers bloom later in spring and that they can last up to three weeks....

Peach Rhizopus Rot Info Rhizopus rot is a fungal disease that affects stone fruits, usually after they’ve been harvested. It can also appear on overripe fruit that’s still on the tree. Peach rhizopus rot symptoms usually start as small, brown lesions in the flesh, which can rapidly develop into a flossy white fungus on the skin, as quickly as overnight. As the spores grow, the floss turns gray and black. The skin of the fruit will slip off easily when handled....

What is a Catasetum Orchid Catasetum is a genus of orchids native to Central and South America. In their native range, many of the species grow in the open canopies of trees where it is sunny, warm, and moist. Some grow at the base of palm trees, while others actually grow on rocks and on the ground. The catasetum orchid type is unique in that it mostly produces separate male and female flowers but can also have hermaphroditic blooms....

What is a Christmas Melon? When selecting the melon varieties you wish to grow next season, consider Santa Claus Christmas melons. Christmas melon plants are native to Spain and require blazing sun and rich soil. The fruit is a muskmelon cultivar with a so-called “netted” skin. The sweet flesh is excellent for breakfast, a snack or even dessert. Much of our supply of Santa Claus Christmas melons is from California and Arizona, but in winter, they are shipped in from South America....

Meconopsis Information What is a Welsh poppy? A Welsh poppy isn’t really a poppy at all, but rather a member of the Meconopsis genus, a group of flowering plants that have poppy-like characteristics. While the other species of this genus range throughout Asia, this is the only one that is native to the British Isles and western Europe. A hardy perennial in USDA zones 3 through 11, it can technically be grown all across the United States....

What is an Elephant Cactus? Known as the “tallest cactus species in the world,” Pachycereus elephant cactus is not only tall but grows with multiple branches. The primary lower stem, sized like an elephant’s leg, can reach more than three feet (1 m.) around the bottom. This is where the common name elephant cactus originated. Also, the botanical name “pachy” means short trunk and “cereus” means columnar. These are great descriptions of this large cactus plant....

What is Bentgrass? Bentgrass spreads by stolons which connect and root at internodes. The dense mat it produces has shallow roots and fine, bluish-green foliage. This makes it an attractive and resilient turfgrass, able to withstand foot traffic and frequent mowing. Bentgrass in lawns in the south is considered an interfering weed, but it is a useful species for cool zone lawns. The grass requires cool nighttime temperatures such as those found in the northern states and doesn’t produce well when evenings are warm....

What is Fusarium Canker? The fusarium fungus causes cankers in walnut trees in the Midwest and parts of the east. It enters the tree when the spores splash onto the tree during a heavy rain. It usually enters on the lower part of the trunk, but it can also infect branches and upper parts of the trunk. The disease causes cracks on the bark and dark, depressed, elongated scars. Trees with fusarium canker disease usually have sprouts around the base....

What is Himalayan Honeysuckle? Himalayan honeysuckle plants develop a truly unique looking flower. It is a carefree blooming plant that is attractive to butterflies, bees and even hummingbirds. The blooms are followed by tiny purple berries that are edible and said to taste like toffee or caramel. Himalayan honeysuckle plants are native to the forest land of the Himalayas and southwestern China. It develops into a multi-stemmed bush with hollow branches....

What is Lawn Painting? Lawn paint has been a landscaper’s secret weapon at athletic fields and golf courses for years, but the current drought is prompting homeowners to consider lawn painting as a way to maintain an emerald green lawn when water is in short supply. Good quality lawn paint is formulated to be biodegradable and safe for the environment. Once the lawn paint dries, the painted turf is safe for children and pets....

What is Strawberry Guava? Strawberry guava (Psidium littoralei) is also known as cattley guava, purple guava, or Chinese guava, although it is native to the Americas. Strawberry guava generally grows to heights between 6 and 14 feet (2-4.5 m.), although they can grow taller. As the name suggests, this tree usually produces red fruit, but yellow fruits are also possible. The fruit on the strawberry guava is similar to that of the common guava: a fragrant, juicy pulp with seeds....

What is Witches’ Broom Disease? Witches’ broom is a symptom of stress found in woody plants, mainly trees, but it also affects shrubs as well. This includes deciduous trees and shrubs as well as conifers and evergreen varieties. The stress results in a deformed mass of twigs and branches, which appear broom-like in appearance. As brooms were once fashioned together from bundles of twigs and since witches were presumed to be responsible for anything unusual, these abnormalities became known as witches’ brooms....

What is Yellow Sweetclover? So what is yellow sweetclover? A forage crop? Or is yellow sweetclover a weed? That all depends on your perspective. The biennial plant is a legume that grows to 6 feet (2 m.) tall and is topped by bright yellow flowers. It has coarse stems and the leaves are toothed. Yellow sweetclover is not a native plant to this country but was imported from Europe and Asia....