Yardener.com

Daffodils, arborvitae, rhododendron, viburnum: if you grow any of these, here are 5 facts most people never hear.

1. Daffodils turning white over the years isn't disease. It's just reverting to the pale, pre-hybrid color their wild ancestors had.

2. Those same daffodils protect themselves too. They're one of the few spring bulbs rodents won't dig up, because the bulb is toxic to them.

3. A viburnum with lace-like leaf damage might not be the pest you assume. Japanese beetles cause damage identical to viburnum beetle, so confirm before you treat.

4. Arborvitae is nicknamed "the tree of life" because it can live 200 to 300 years, which is also why it earned the nickname "the Cemetery Plant."

5. And most rhododendrons in the northeastern US share a lineage that traces back to 1876, when hybrids bred from native American species were first shown to the public in Philadelphia.

What's the most surprising thing you've learned about a plant you thought you already knew?

4 days ago | [YT] | 1

Yardener.com

Watering your lawn a little every day feels responsible, but it actually trains roots to stay shallow, and shallow roots are the first to die in a dry spell. Water deep and less often instead. More garden myth-busting like this at gardening.yardener.com.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 0

Yardener.com

You paid extra for the biggest tree. It is not growing.

You picked the tallest one on the lot because it looked like more tree for the money, and now it has been two years and it barely looks different. That is not bad luck. Bigger container stock has usually spent extra time rootbound, and those tangled roots take a long time to straighten out once they are in the ground.

The trade next time is simple. A smaller, younger tree with room to grow in its roots will typically outpace an oversized one, because its root system is not already fighting itself.

Right now is a good window to try again. Fall, mid to late fall specifically, is the best time to plant a tree, while roots can still grow for a couple months before the ground freezes, so the new tree settles in before it has to push out spring growth.

At the nursery, judge the stock instead of the size tag. Compact growth, healthy leaf color, and a trunk free of circling roots matter more than height. Skip anything crammed into an undersized container relative to its height, that is usually the rootbound one.

What is actually planted in your yard right now that you wish you had bought smaller?

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 1

Yardener.com

Sedum Autumn Joy doesn't want a summer of feeding — rich soil is exactly why it's growing tall and floppy instead of forming its signature dense flower heads. Stop fertilizing now and let the soil run lean for the rest of the season.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 0

Yardener.com

If you're looking up how to prune shrubs like hydrangeas this fall, stop before you cut the stems — bigleaf and oakleaf varieties already set next summer's flower buds at the tips, so a "tidy" fall trim can wipe out next year's blooms.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 0

Yardener.com

Late August is prime time to overseed your lawn — kill weeds now, wait two weeks, then scatter grass seed into the bare spots before the ground cools. More lawn care tips at gardening.yardener.com.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 0

Yardener.com

Those chewed holes in your ripening tomatoes probably weren't made by earwigs — slugs usually bite first overnight, and earwigs just move in afterward to help clean up. More garden myth-busting like this at gardening.yardener.com.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 0

Yardener.com

Most of us water the vegetable garden religiously in August and forget the shrubs entirely.

But ornamental plants need close to double their spring watering rate right now — about 2 inches a week instead of 1, or their growth keeps stalling and restarting, which wears a plant down more than a single dry spell ever would.

1 month ago | [YT] | 0

Yardener.com

If your pepper plants have stalled out and stopped setting fruit this month, it's usually not a disease or something you did wrong. Pepper plants stop setting fruit once daytime temps climb above 80°F and nighttime temps stay above 70°F — which is exactly what a lot of the country is dealing with right now. The good news: they pick back up on their own once temperatures ease off a bit. Keep the soil consistently moist in the meantime and skip any urge to "fix" it with more
fertilizer.

Has your pepper plant stalled out this month too?

1 month ago | [YT] | 1

Yardener.com

You planted one neat little Shining Sumac by the fence. Now there are saplings coming up ten feet away and you have no idea why.

Here's what's actually happening. Shining Sumac (Rhus copallina) doesn't spread by seed dropping nearby — it spreads through underground runners. Left alone, those runners will send up dozens of new small sumac trees around the original one, sometimes well outside where you'd expect.

It's not a disease and it's not a mistake you made. It's just what this sumac tree does — rude, but not your fault. Most of the roughly 54 sumac species in North America are considered junk or weed trees for exactly this reason. Shining Sumac is one of only three species that earned an actual spot in home landscaping, and the tradeoff is that spreading habit.

The fix is manageable: grow it in a container if you want a true single specimen tree, or commit to regular pruning to keep the runners in check. If you actually wanted a dense, bird-friendly privacy screen, though, that same spreading habit works in your favor — plenty of people plant sumac shrubs on purpose for exactly that reason.

Did your sumac tree spread further than you expected, or did you plant it knowing it would?

1 month ago | [YT] | 0