What's Up summary of this week's news
Janet Macunovich and Steven Nikkila help you grow
Issue #183, June 9, 2012
Scroll this Summary of the What's Up news.
Each title takes you to a fully illustrated article.
This week: We learned by doing, with special emphasis on making
the most of mistakes and mis-timing... We posted 14 new articles
with 96 new images.
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What's coming up this week
This week, our top story:
Digging in at the best and worst transplant times
We might break the rules by moving it now, but move it we will,
and here's how, with a transplanter's primer,
plant-moving tips from experts, and
step-by-step pictures of specific moves: Redbud, peach, peony, arborvitae.
We are never alone in the garden, for the gardening advice that
came to us from a parent, neighbor or other veteran gardener grows
on.
Whether we're choosing plants or assessing those already in the
ground, we can tell how much a plant's growing each year to predict
how big it will be, when. References and hands-on methods.
Big mistakes, Big lessons
This week in this department where big blunders become great
treasures, we bet you'll relate to these three features.
It's often a year or two after the fact that a gardener realizes
she's gone overboard in planting, or been the
victim of overplanting. All is not lost. Overplanting may even
be deliberate, with great outcomes! We envision the future of
one overplanted bed, with specific how-to for fixing the
unintentional crowd or making the planned excess work. Solutions
involve directions for various methods, including pruning to beat
overcrowding (
dwarf lilacs as the example), transplanting and gradual
replacement techniques.
How can a bit of string be such a big deal? Read why, then go
untie any tree that's staked, right now. Staking a tree is almost
always unnecessary and very often downright harmful.
3) Hold those clippers: Let
ungainly new evergreen grow out
Cute new evergreens often have a bad
hair year, with wild shoots growing out in all directions. If your
aim is to have a naturally shaped yew, spruce, juniper or pine,
there's good reason to put up the clippers and accept some the
gawky grow-out years...
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Stumpers
In this issue, we laugh together to salve two problems that have
no solution.
If you missed it in the last issue, no worries. We're still
accepting glove count guesses, for some top of the line gloves for
two lucky winners. New links to the complete run-down on
recommended gloves.
Seems like every clematis in the world except yours is
beautiful, and yours is wilting. The solution involves both a
change of perspective and of the clematis. The new vine's a small
flowered species but we're betting you will love it as much or
more.
Experts afield
Want to entertain children who visit your garden? Take a cue
from two who taught us what they see, and meet some dandy
caterpillars along the way.