The keys to success are:   Good quality plant materials, proper site preparation that eliminates soil compaction in the areas where new roots will be growing, aggressive root pruning of any matted roots that have developed inside the container, avoiding planting too deep, and consistent watering that is just enough, but not too much.  (most plant death we see is from over-watering)

At Knecht’s Nurseries we have developed our own new one page planting guide that gives the simple, easy to follow steps that you can follow to achieve summer planting success.  Our experienced sales staff can help you select the right plants for your special site conditions.   It’s available under our instructions page – just click and print!

Last April in my Blog Post, I discussed tree pruning — rather than re-writing another post – I am bringing it back this year.  It is so relevant and after a long winter, everyone is anxious to get outside and get something done and pruning your trees might be on your list.  The following is my blog post from April 15th of last year.

During late winter and early spring yards and gardens can often look their worst.  The grass is brown and sometimes damaged by winter stress, pets, de-icing products leaking off sidewalks, driveways and streets, snow plows, squirrels, and even foot traffic.  The tops of perennials that may have provided some winter interest are now tired and faded.  Interesting shrubs, vines and ornamental trees such as Winterberry, Bittersweet, High bush Cranberry, Mtn. Ash and certain flowering crabs that displayed beautiful red fruits all winter long now have finally faded.  Certain evergreen trees and shrubs show ugly browning foliage due to winter burn.

It’s time to cleanup and prepare your landscape for the explosion of spring growth.  Spot seeding or over-seeding of the lawn, removing the spent tops of perennials, picking up twigs and branches and getting ready to plant potatoes and onions are things most of us put on our to-do lists in early to mid-April.  Pre-season pruning of shrubs is another task that we usually think of before new growth starts.

There is one landscape chore that otherwise diligent property owners seem to consistently forget, avoid or kid themselves they can ignore.  People mow their grass, pull weeds, plant flowers, prune shrubs, build patios, retaining walls, firepits and ponds and completely miss one important part of landscape maintenance.

It’s tree pruning.  Plain old tree pruning.  Once every year or two, prune your trees.   On fairly new trees that have been in the landscape ten years or less, it’s fairly easy tree pruning that so often gets left undone.  Until it’s too late!

I see the unfortunate results of delay in tree pruning everywhere I go.  It is common – very common – to see properties that the owners keep in immaculate condition except for good and timely tree pruning.  The sad thing is that when tree pruning is delayed too long, it may not be possible to get tree structure that is as good as trees that get pruned regularly from an early age.

 If you are unsure about tree pruning consult an experience nursery professional or arborist or read books and pamphlets and research pruning on the internet and then go at it. 

By pruning yourself every one to two years during the first ten years you have the trees, and later when the tree is large enough to be beyond your safe reach, hiring the professional arborists or tree service to prune every three to five years, you will likely have a tree of great stature, beauty and durability.

 On ornamental trees such as Flowering Crabs, Lilacs, Magnolia, Plum, Cherry and Mountain Ash that have mature heights of 25 feet or less, people sometimes decide to leave low branches on the tree between three and six feet above the ground.  If the ornamental tree is a real dwarf with a mature size of ten feet or less, these low branches can be an integral part of the purpose of having a dwarf tree:  small size and various kinds of unusual structure such as clumps, topiary, sphere on a stick, and low, horizontal or undulating lines.  Prune these trees with a sense of creative freedom and adventure. 

It is also just fine to prune ornamental trees that mature at 15-30 feet, so that it they have a higher canopy with the first branches at 7-12 feet.  While you don’t see these somewhat higher tree canopies as often on ornamental trees, there is nothing wrong with this approach. It allows people to walk freely underneath and sunlight to penetrate enough to keep grass growing nicely.

For shade trees, it is advisable to prune for higher canopies unless you have a specific reason to leave lots of low branches on your tree.  You may want to have a great climbing tree for your children or grandchildren, or feel you absolutely need the low level branches for screening.  If this is your decision, begin planning for some type of deep shade landscaping below the tree, since the canopy of a shade tree with branches 3-6 feet off the ground will allow only a very limited group of plants to survive in the heavy shade.

In most cases, when shade trees get to be 18″ to 48″ in diameter or more, the first branches ought to be at ten feet to twenty feet or more above ground level.  This allows for some sunlight penetration to ground level and keeps branches from touching vehicles and roof lines.  Over the years, prune out the steeply angled branches and branches rubbing on each other.  Keep branches that are more horizontal or angled up to 45 degrees to 55 degrees.  The lower angled branches are stronger. 

In summary – prune early and often during the first ten years of the life of your tree.  After that, hire professionals every 3-5 years to safely continue the pruning process.  In this way, you will have  beautiful, strong, long lived trees.

Stop in and talk with our knowledgeable staff about picking the right varieties for your particular situation and have a look at the amazing selection that we still have available for your fall planting!  As we speak, many of the varieties are showing their lovely fall colors and this will be changing daily.  It looks like there’ll be another few days of cool moist weather, but we are looking forward to a good run of weather toward the end of the month and into November.

The trees pictured here are from one of our growing ranges that Deb took last week.  It’s the Autumn Blaze Maple.  What fabulous fall color!   We have Autumn Blaze Maple in many sizes – to accomodate all prices points.  Stop in and take advantage of our incredible fall sale prices!  All of our plant materials are from 30% to 50% off!

A member of the Holly family (Ilex) – there are several varieties that are Zone 4 hardy and will compliment any landscape.  We have a grouping of six at home, underneath one of our flowering crab trees.  The Red Sprite Winterberry (pictured here) will grow to be 4′-6′ in height with a width of approximately 3′.  The leaves do turn a yellow in the fall – but the berries are the show that this plant puts on.  The important fact that one must remember when planting Winterberry, is that you need at least two shrubs – a male and a female.  The male pollinator for the Red Sprite would be Jim Dandy.  This plant gets to be the same height, but just a little bit wider.  It produces no fruit so when planting – if you planted three – 2 Red Sprite, and 1 Jim Dandy – put the Jim Dandy in the middle or the back of the border depending on how you design your shrub bed.

These plants are very easy to care for.  They prefer moist, acidic soil – and can be planted in sun to part shade.   Pruning should happen in the spring before the growth starts so when the flowers and berries do set – you won’t be pruning them off.   Remember – you can’t plant things in the winter time – but with some careful planning you can enjoy your landscape 12 months a year!

Bittersweet is a vine and is best grown along a fence, lattice work or larger trellis.  It grows quickly and will fill in a space that you want to have a little privacy or to hide what’s under a deck, etc.   The twigs of berries are sought after for fall decorating and arrangements.

A new variety of Bittersweet to hit the market is the Autumn Revolution Bittersweet™.    A brand new selection of the native American Bittersweet, but unlike the species, only one plant is needed to produce the fruit!  The majority of the flowers on the plant are “perfect” flowers – meaning that they are both male and female.  The fruit is large – about twice as large as the native plant’s fruit.  Keeping it’s bright colors – it is perfect for arrangements for the fall!  Another added bonus – very hardy – hardy to Zone 3!

We have a great selection of both plants – the native Bittersweet and the Autumn Revolution.  Stop in and start your own planting of Bittersweet!

If you are able to get your project area prepared, and the plants installed in September, many of them will be able to send out some new roots, beginning the establishment process, and helping them get a good start for next spring.  Good preparation of the soil in the planting area, aggressive root pruning prior to planting, and consistent watering are keys to good results.  Be sure to mulch all your fall plantings!

We also see October plantings doing well the following year.  Most plants are dormant or becoming dormant at this time.  These plants have stored large reserves of energy in their root systems and when fall planted, all this energy is available for new growth when soil temperatures warm up in the spring.  Your new landscape plants will already be in place, and ready to take advantage of every single day of the 2010 growing season to grow into a beautiful new landscape.

Another nice thing about Fall is the terrific bargains available.  In early Fall, the selection can still be  good, so make your plans, get your plants and get started planting!

Not sure if you want to plant?  You can hire our crews to do the work for you!  Let the Fall Sale savings help you with the installation fees.

Check out our Specials page for extra savings for customers using our website!

We do deliver plant material, soil mix, rock and mulch – but you can save on the delivery fee by bringing in your own vehicle/trailer to take your new plants home.  You will be surprised on how we can load your plants in smaller vehicles to get them home safely.  If you have questions on what would work – please give us a call and we’ll give you some advice!

If you’ve wanted to know which perennials to cut down before winter or how to protect your new trees from winter damage this seminar is for you.  You’ll learn alot and we encourage you to bring along questions you’ve had – this will be a great time to ask them.  Coffee, cider and cookies will be served.

The cost of the seminar is $10 and for the first 24 people who register there’ll be a free garden mum.  Check out our  “Events” page for all of the details.

The shrub form of hydrangeas range in sizes from 3′ tall all the way up to 10′ tall depending on the variety.  There are blue, pink and white hydrangeas.  Some blossom white, and then turn pink,  or start out with a lime-green and  turn pink in the later part of the season.  The Annabelle Hydrangea has round white flowers, whereas the Limelight Hydrangea (pictured here) has conical shaped flowers.  You are almost certain to be able to find a hydrangea that will fit your space.

The hydrangea trees are small, ornamental trees.  They are a great way to anchor a perennial bed, highlight the area by your front door, tuck one in a courtyard garden, or wherever your imagination can come up with! 

Hydrangeas prefer half day shade, but can handle full sun if kept watered properly.  Most varieties prefer a more acidic s0il.  By digging an extra wide hole and adding peat when planting, should do the trick.   An added bonus with the hydrangea flowers is that you can cut and dry them and use them in arrangements all year long!  Last fall I dried several hydrangea flowers and the ones that the cats didn’t knock over and take care of, are still looking great!