Within 24 to 72 hours, places on the leaves that are slightly torn or cracked start to have some cells of the leaf tissue dry out and turn brown.  After a few more days, the dead brown areas fall off the leaf, leaving what looks like feeding holes from insects.

This unsightly condition is called leaf tatter.  Leaf tatter can cause a little stress on the tree, but usually not excessive stress, but it certainly can make it look pretty bad.  Often people think their tree is dying, but this is not the case.

My recommendation is to give your tree a mild fertilization with Miracle Grow at a rate of 1 T of the green crystals per gallon of water.  Apply 2 gal. for small trees under 2″ trunk diameter, 5 gals for trees 2″-4″ and 10-15 gallons for larger trees.  A healthy tree will put out some more new growth, and if heavy winds do not affect this new growth before it thickens and matures, the new growth should appear normal.  Good luck with your leaf tattered tree!

Crimson Sunset Maple not only displays excellent reddish/burgundy leaf color, but it has a lovely almost star shaped leaf that adds a very nice texture to its appearance.  A modest mature size of 35′ tall by 25′ wide makes Crimson Sunset Maple an excellent choice where space is limited and a large shade tree might be too overhwelming.

Crimson Sunset Maple is a hybrid of the versatile Norway Maple, and the handsome Truncatum Maple.  This combination results in a tough tree that is pleasing to the eye.  For a nice addition of great color and beautiful form to your landscape, you may want to consider Crimson Sunset Maple.

For best results, plant in soil that drains properly, and where there is plenty of sunlight.  As with most maples, it is a good idea to put a white tree trunk protector on the tree in the fall and winter during its first 4-6 years in your landscape.   (Photo courtesy of J.Frank Schmidt & Son Nursery)

With a rated size of 18″-24″, Magic Carpet Spirea is very useful in smaller spaces in the landscape.  In very good quality soils, Magic Carpet may grow a bit larger, but it is very easy to cut back aggressively in the spring to keep it as manageable size.

Each spring Magic Carpet Spirea starts out as a bright reddish burgundy shrub that lights up its part of the landscape.  Over a period of weeks, the burgundy new leaves change to gold, and soon violet / pink flowers cover the whole plant.  Once the blossoms fade in mid-summer, you can re-create the burgundy to gold color phases by lightly pruning enough to remove the spent blossoms.  New burgundy growth will push out and a light second set  of blossoms often follow.  The third color phase takes place in fall when the leaves that have aged to a gold/chartreuse once again become a vivid burgundy.

Magic Carpet Spirea  will  grow in a wide variety of soil  types and has its best color when planted in a location with 1/2 day to full sun.  An “old standby” shrub – it’s economical and will perform well.  (Photo courtesy of Bailey Nurseries)

Cardinal Red Twig Dogwood grows to  8′-10′ tall and is  a selection made by the plant research program of the University of Minnesota.  Hardy to  frigid zone 3, Cardinal’s green leaves turn to a pleasing purple-red in fall.  When the leaves drop they reveal the twigs which  have turned from summer green to  flaming scarlet.  Cardinal Red Twig dogwood is also very versatile with  a demonstrated ability to  grow in soils from poorly draineed to well drained upland soils.

Plant some Cardinal Red Twig Dogwood now, enjoy it now and wait for the magic to start this fall!

This year at Knecht’s Nurseries, we are featuring a brand new line of extra large cell annuals that are locally grown.  We’ve already seeing really nice extra growth response from these large cell annuals in the baskets potted up on Kid’s Planting Day!

Stop in today to check out these great performing locally grown annuals!

Now we are seeing that many of these plants are putting out a second push of new growth where frost “fried” the first flush.  We are also seeing some plants just barely starting this process, but it looks like for certain varieties the appearance of new growth after frost damage might take longer.  Don’t give up on plants that seem dead, at least until June.  You might be pleasantly surprised.

Not only is Triumph Elm a great choice for it’s disease resistance, but it is also a beautiful, fast growing, hardy, and versatile shade tree.  While triumph Elm is not a true American Elm, it certainly has an appearance very similar to American Elm, with noticeably larger leaves than Asian elms and a graceful, upward spreading vase shape that becomes a large tree casting plenty of cooling shade.

Triumph can grow in almost any soil, but will grow most quickly in soils with good moisture retention qualities, and plenty of sunshine.  At maturity Triumph Elm will reach 60′ – 70′ tall by 40+ feet wide.  Hardy in zones 4-7.

Another variety that has shown itself to be quite resistant to Dutch Elm Disease, and it offers a modest sized alternative to most of the other new Elm varieties that grow to a larger size.  Discovery Elm grows quickly, forming a dense, rounded, compact shape, and has limited seed production, which reduces litter.  The appearance is tidy and shapely, so much so that when I met a tree spade operator in one of our fields recently, he remarked how nice they were, and wanted to know which variety it was!

Like other elms, Discovery can be grown in a very wide variety of soil types and is super winter hardy with a rating into the very cold zone 3!

Renaissance Oasis Paper Birch is a result of a 40 year breeding program at Evergreen Nurseries in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin that set a goal to develop paper birches with increased resistance to bronze birch borer.  Oasis took it’s name from its demonstrated ability in test plots to survive in drought, excessively drained soils, but Oasis  Paper Birch really grows its very best in soils with good, but not excessive moisture levels.  Avoid water logged soils.  Happily, Oasis can tolerate soils with moderate alkalinity that can cause the more widely planted River Birches to gradually turn yellow and die.  If you have alkaline soils, you may want to give Oasis Paper Birch a try.

Renaissance Oasis Paper Birch is most often seen in the landscape as a clump form, but you may want to consider using 5 or 7 single stem trees in a staggered layout that imitates the thickets of birch commonly found in the wild.

In the right place in the landscape, a small thicket of single stem Oasis Paper Birch can provide a striking frame or backdrop for other landscape elements.  Oasis grows to a mature size of 60′ tall by 30′ wide, and like it’s close cousin Reflection Paper Birch, is able to produce a fairly straight tree, even in pretty windy locations.

Renaissance Reflection Paper Birch offers homeowners, landscape designers, and landscapers a white barked birch variety with very nice characteristics.  Part of the Renaissance series of birch hybrids, Reflection Paper Birch is most recognizable for its’ very straight stems and nice white bark that develops as stems increase to 2″ to 3″ in diameter.   Reflection will go to 50′ tall and also 20′-30′ wide.

With a compact and mounded shape, Bloomerang Lilac fits well as a foundation plant, small hedge or an accent to larger shrubs/small trees/perennials.  A vigorous spring bloom is followed by a “rest” period in the heart of summer, and more blossoming in late summer and through fall right to the first heavy frost.

Bloomerang Lilac prefers 1/2 day to full day sun, properly drained soils, and can even prosper in alkaline soils.  As with all other lilacs, avoid water logged soils and heavy shade.  With its wonderful re-blooming characteristics, Bloomerang Dwarf Lilac will please for years to come.  Mature size is rated at 4′-5′ tall by 5′-6′ wide compared to 10′-15′ tall and wide for standard lilacs.

Photo courtesy of Bailey Nurseries.

During recent cold waves, all our staff members have had to really work hard to bring trees and shrubs with tender new growth into every nook and cranny of our greenhouses, or group, tip and cover plants once again.  The happy result of all this activity is that we have lots of beautiful trees, shrubs and perennials in great condition.  The downside is that we are on our third round of uncovering, organizing, recovering, uncovering, etc.  We are grateful for the extraordinary efforts of our employees.  They are the ones who make it possible for us to provide you with excellent landscape plants and knowledgeable customer service.   We also want to thank our customers who bear with us when we are still organizing – re-organizing, etc.