SHOW ARCHIVE

Episode 413 • September 17, 2016

VIDEO ARCHIVE

The sun is setting on Summer. Fall starts on September 22nd and though we are saying good bye to summer on the calendar, we will still have some nice days left before it gets really cold. With the official change of seasons the unofficial change is happening as well. We are starting to see more rain, and the trees and plants are starting to show their fall colors. It is still a great time to get out into the garden. Those new plant purchases can go in the ground now. The extra few weeks of growth while the soil is still warm will do them a lot of good in getting them prepared for the upcoming growing season in 2017. Plus while we are putting new plants in the ground we should also think about moving those plants that weren’t happy this past summer. This week on the show, Jan McNeilan talks about moving a plant in her garden that is stretching for sunlight. Do you have a plant like that?

Also we are now in the final stages of planning for our Hawaii trip. Here is a quick ‘countdown’ of what you can expect… 10 days, 9 nights, 8 gardens, 7 nights on the NCL Pride of America, 6 days in port, 5 days private touring, 4 islands, 3 internationally recognized gardens, 2 nights on Waikiki Beach, and 1 great trip with your Garden Time Gang! The cruise part of the trip will include all your on-board meals. It will be a blast. Go to the Garden Time Tours page on our website! We only have limited spots available right now! Early birds also save on the price too!

This week we featured...

Little Baja New Styles

Little Baja New Styles

Every year styles change, that is true in fashion and also in the garden. We stopped by Little Baja (503-236-8834) to see some of the great new styles of pottery they just received, but first Jared had a few tips for those fall fires in your outdoor pits and chimineas. He recommended that you always start your fire small to get a good base and then add clean and dry wood for the best results. A clean wood is one that isn’t treated or painted, and if it isn’t wet it will burn nice and clean with little or no smoke. Your nose and your neighbors will love you for it. We also talked about how important that is for your clay chiminea. You need to start it with a small pile of kindling and then work up to a larger fire. The clean and dry wood, and those simple steps, will help your outdoor chimney last for years!

We then turned to the new pottery. Smooth clean lines are a hot item. These clean straight lines are ultra-modern and in demand in concrete and terra cotta. Color is also in and the brightly painted talavera pottery is in huge demand. These pieces are hand painted and kiln fired multiple times to make it durable and bright. Plus, because they are durable you can move them inside or out at any time of the year. To check out these great pots, stop by Little Baja on Burnside.

FPG Fall Events

FPG Fall Events

Fall is a busy time at French Prairie Gardens. To hear all about what they have going on we stopped by and talked with Stacy. First we asked her about hanging containers. A lot of people want the get that last big push of color from their pots, baskets or containers. She recommended using a balanced, water soluble, fertilizer. She also recommended that you use an organic insecticide. There are a lot of bugs still out there and they feed on those blooms that you are trying hard to enjoy. Budworm and his friends love the taste of late season flowers. Make sure you follow the label directions to prevent that from happening. Instead of trying to extend your summer blooms, which will be gone when that first frost arrives, you may want to convert your planters to some fall plants. Mum’s, pansies, ornamental kale and late season grasses, all make a nice splash in your outdoor containers. French Prairie Gardens even has a Ladies Night so you can get some help building a new container. Give them a call to find out more. We also talked about an event that is near and dear to their heart, the Fight for Your Life 5K. This race is a benefit to the Em’s Fight foundation to help people battling cancer. It was founded by the Pohlschneider family (Stacy and her family) in remembrance of her sister, Emily, who passed away from cancer. This race takes place on the 25th of this month and is a really fun event. For your entry fee you get to enjoy this ‘set your own pace’ race, a complimentary beer (or other beverage) and all the fall activities on the farm. To learn more about the foundation and Emily check out this video. Plus, if you enter to race at fightforyourlife5k.com, and you enter the code GT (for Garden Time) you will get $5 off your entry fee. This race is also the kick-off event for their fall festival. Come out, make a difference for cancer patients and their families and have a great time doing it.

Jan’s Sept Tips

Jan’s Sept Tips

This month we are addressing a few fall issues in our tips of the month. We met with Jan McNeilan in her garden as she was power washing the pavement; she even greeted us with a ‘I love Garden Time’ etched in the moss on her patio. The cleaning of her patio is one of her fall chores, but we switched to talking about a recent warning we received from OSU and the Oregon Department of Ag. Traps in the west Portland area were recently found with a large number of Japanese Beetles in them (over 250). This is considered a breeding population and if so they can be a problem for home gardeners and commercial agriculture. These little pests can devastate roses, hops, grapes and a host of other plants. They skeletonize the foliage and will even eat the fruit if you still have some on your plants. Jan’s advice was to keep an eye out for the adults. We are getting near the end of their active season. If you have them, the adults have already laid eggs in your turf and soil for next year’s generation of pests. The concern is that people will spray without having a problem, or they might mistake a good beetle with this bad beetle. The recommendation is that you contact the Oregon Department of Agriculture at their hotline number, 1-866-INVADER, or their website, if you think you have a problem. Monitoring the problem now will help everyone target controls in the future.

Speaking of pests, we also talked about the Fall webworm. This is that webbing in your trees that looks like it is full of caterpillars. They are eating the leaves of your deciduous trees and are nothing to worry about at this point in the season. They won’t kill the trees and the trees would soon lose their leaves anyway.
Finally, we talked about plants that are ‘stretching’. These are plants in the garden that are not getting the right amount of light and are stretching for sunlight. Jan talked about moving the plant into a sunnier location or even trimming the plant back so it didn’t look so lopsided. Really, this is a great time of year to move the plants in your garden that are stretching or even those that didn’t perform well this past season. Remember when we told you to look for those stressed and misplaced plants earlier this summer? Well, now is a great time to move them and give them another chance at success. If you would like more information on the Japanese Beetle and other fall tips for your garden, you can check out the OSU Extension website, http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening.

Stur-D Fence Post Bracket

Stur-D Fence Post Bracket

They tell us that this coming winter may be a bad one! That means it is time to get out and fix that fence! Most broken fences are because of damaged or rotted posts. This damage and rot is usually at the base of the post where it makes contact with the top of the soil. That means that the rest of the post is perfectly fine and doesn’t need replacing. To help fix this problem we met with Chuck the owner and co-creator of the Stur D Fence Post Bracket (503-941-5228). This is a steel support bracket that will fix your fence post without digging up the old cement. It is really easy to do. You start by digging a hole next to the broken post (6 inches away from the post) and just outside of the old cement ball. Dig down about 18 or 19 inches deep. Attach the Stur D bracket to the post. You pre-drill the holes and then use large lag screws to secure the bracket to the post. Fill the hole at the bottom 1/3 full of water and add a sack of concrete and mix it in the hole. Then level and secure the post for 24 hours until the concrete sets up and you’re done. It was just that easy!

If you are looking for this quick and easy fix that will add years to the life of your fence, you can check out their website or your local Parr Lumber location!

Fall and Winter Interest Plants

Fall and Winter Interest Plants

A lot of people think that the fall and winter garden is boring and lacks color, and it may be a little bit true, but that doesn’t need to be the case. We stopped by French Prairie Perennials (503-679-2871) in Aurora to talk to Rick about some great plants that you can use in your garden for year round interest. He started with a grass, Purple Tufted Fescue, called Superba. This bluish colored evergreen grass was great with a Sawara Cypress named Harvard Gold. The two colors played well off each other and would look great into the winter months. Another bright conifer was a Korean Fir called Ice Breaker. The bright clusters of tight silver needles were stunning, plus it is a slow grower so it won’t overwhelm your garden within a couple of years. Rick had two types of these, one was grafted on a ‘standard’, which is like a trunk, and the other type was just a low growing shrub. Another short plant that is very bright is the Dwarf Hinoki Cypress ‘Golden Fern’. It is really true to the golden name with extremely bright foliage that stays bright all year long. If you are looking for a taller plant in your garden you may want a Lawson Cypress named ‘Wissel’s Saguaro’. This one is a cool structure plant with a tall habit and branches that look like the arms of a saguaro cactus. Not a bright plant, but still one to consider for winter interest. Another plant that has an interesting structure is the Japanese Umbrella Pine. Rick had one called ‘Green Bullet’. Not only is the foliage very unusual, but you also don’t get the dead needles on the inside of the plant. Plus, it doesn’t need any pruning. The final plant we looked at was an Arborvitae named ‘Franky Boy’. This one had long thin branches that looked like a long grass when it waved in the wind. It is an evergreen plant that maintains its bright lime green color all year long.

We also asked Rick about his Visualscaping business. In that business, he will help you landscape your garden by bring the plants to you! You work with him on a plan and then he brings a bunch of different plants to your garden so you can see if they will work for you. It is a lot cheaper than if you went to a big landscape designer and spent a lot of money on a plan. With Visualscaping you spend the money on the plants, not the plan. For more information on these plants, Visualscaping and to check out their cool gift shop, stop by their location in Aurora.
 

 
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