Let me get straight to the point. Fall is an excellent time of the year for planting trees and shrubs, as well as continuing to introduce annuals, perennials, and ornamental grasses to our gardens. It’s a fact…
It pains me to see customers spending hundreds of dollars on new plants and simultaneously refusing to spend a few more on a bag or two of compost and a box of starter fertilizer. These two items are not unnecessary “add-ons” that the retailer is just trying to add to the sale, they are critical components of a successful transplanting process - or as I like to refer to them as “plant insurance”. Unless you have phenomenal soil, you should always add compost and starter fertilizers when you are planting new plants. Here is why…
Speaking as a self-proclaimed “plantaholic” who likes just about all things with foliage, fronds, or needles, one plant I started to salivate over in the 1990’s was Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia sp.). For us in northern latitudes, these mythical plants were uncommon and were perceived as…