What's Coming Up 188: Starved impatiens, quick color fix, prune birdsnest, webbed shrubs

that our What's Up departments are in the Menu to the left, with the newest articles in each department listed at the top when you open the department's menu.

3 new items in the department, Main features this season:

Impatiens may be OK but starved

Not every failed impatiens has downy mildew. How to tell the difference so you don't give up on plants that only need more water and fertilizer.

Impatiens as hazardous material

What do you do when you have to get rid of diseased impatiens? It's a complicated process and working through it opens our eyes to the unstoppable nature of such tiny invaders as fungi.

Quick fix for lost color

When things happen that deprive us of the color we've worked for all year, we can put in the fix, often using materials right at hand.

New in the department, This week in our gardens:

Annual show, iris divided, peony cut, beetles, veg

What we ourselves have been up to in our own and others' gardens.

Free workshops for you: Learn by doing

Several lessons recently learned and taught at our free workshops. About shearing shrubs, fear of pruning, finding your way around the website, and worm eaten Baptisia

In-depth Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down:

Such a shame when the dream of a lush arborvitae hedge dies with the plants. Take comfort in the fact that the pros lose plants, too, but learn from their response and find out why the plants failed.

Webbing on shrubs

Webs on shrubs are most visible and numerous at summer's end. What they are, and why to avoid treating them like a problem.

Three detailed pruning how-to's in the Tip cuttings department:

Shrink or shape a birdsnest spruce

Great plants for the foundation. How to prune them just once every two years and have them beautiful every day between.

Shag cut for a juniper

You've seen it can be done, that feathery leading edge can be preserved even as you keep the plant small. Thanks to a reader's request, here's the detailed, illustrated how-to, cut by cut.

Shape a dwarf white pine

Sometimes we don't stop a plant's growth, just want to keep it well shaped. This approach works on any dwarf- or weeping pine.

New in our Mentors department:

Harder clips for a longer summer

Proof that cutting pays off, with how to have your petunias now and later, too.

New in Aiming for Answers: Hit or Miss:

Prune a mugo

We fill in for an earlier "miss", by showing the detail for cutting back a mugo pine, a little or a lot.

New in Big Mistake, Big Lesson:

Arborvitae too tall

We explain and show the whole story of cutting back over-large arborvitaes. The lessons learned are, 'Sure you can cut them back' but don't let these evergreens get ahead of you!

New in our Stumper department:

Afraid to cut a Japanese maple

So we pay more for them than other trees -- does that mean we should never touch them, or that they might die if we cut their branches? Heck no! Watch here and cut away -- that upright Japanese maple or the weeper, they're both prime targets in late summer.

New in Expert Afield:

Behind the scenes at two Michigan Growers to the world

What an eye-opener to see where new types of perennials and shrubs are coming from, and how a gardener's ingenuity translates to global-supply levels!

A few editorial words,

as sent with our cover email this issue:

We've been pruning steadily for three weeks. Our hands are worn out, but we'll keep cutting because late summer is prime time for the clips that keep plants small.

If you grow impatiens, take a look at our two impatiens features so you can avoid the extra work we stumbled into in dealing with diseased impatiens disposal.

We apologize for putting so much in a single Summary. Even though time for the Summary mail-out eluded us, we kept posting new articles. Even without the Summary, you can always find our newest work at www.GardenAtoZ.com in the "What's Up" menu (Main features, Green thumbs, etc.) where each department's newest items are listed at the top of the sub menu.

We appreciate the feedback you sent in our recent poll. The more we know about how you use this website and the gardening information we make available here, the more we can do and the more we want to do. We are planning -- and making -- changes based on your suggestions and comments.We'll report soonabout all that we've done and will do.

Come see us for a class or join us to prune.

You can come prune and garden with us. We post new dates and places all the time in our calendar.

We gladly give our time to bring you news
but we rely on your help to keep this
network humming. Please Sponsor us
and help pay the bills for website hosting,
programming support, computer upgrades,
camera repairs and more.

If something we've written or shown you
has saved you time and money, please
consider Sponsoring that article or one like it.

All it takes is an email to us.
We'll register your Sponsorship and then
send you a bill for the amount you pledged.

If you expected to find a different issue number and
different stories here, it must mean you came here
via the Master Link on one of our previous weekly emails.
This page always has links to the very latest news on our site.
Recent issues: #179, #180, #181, #182, #183, #184, #185. #186, #187

Or use our Search function to find topics published earlier
Or go to the Ensemble Weekly Editions page
and click on the desired issue number.

Sorry for any delay!