Happy New Year!
 As we put a tumultuous 2018 in our rear-view mirrors, here’s hoping the New Year will bring a fresh start and renewed optimism for a great year. We appreciate each and every one of our clients and the opportunities you gave us in 2018 and look forward to another great year serving you. The hard freeze we got on the morning of Jan. 1st can be a good thing for reducing bug populations, but overall we have had abnormal rainfall and mild temperatures. Unfortunately this sets us up for a bad winter weed situation with big patches of henbit and winter weeds already growing rampantly along the roadsides (and in our flower beds!) The agenda for January will be finishing leaf clean ups, weeding beds, and starting broadleaf weed applications. Fire ants have been more noticeable too because the saturated soils make them mound at the surface. That will be another spring challenge to look forward to. The bright side? You don’t have to water pansies when we get weekly rains, the wildflower show this spring should be a good one, and area lakes are full. Already lots of things to look forward to in 2019!
Winter Chores
Leaves: Most of our leaves are down and we should finish the last of our leaf clean ups in early January. Some trees like Shumard oak are still holding their leaves but should finish dropping any day now. Live oaks drop in Feb - March, giving us another round of leaf clean-ups in late winter. If we haven’t gotten to yours and at any time this winter you need a clean up please call to let us know.  Remember too that we clean gutters! Let us know if we can help you with that! Weeds: Our first round of Spring pre-emergent weed control will start in January-February. This application and the next one in March also contain a broadleaf weed killer for any dandelions, henbit, or chickweed that have come up over the last few months. Even when they are caught early it still takes two applications to kill them. Please note that grassy winter weeds like wild rye and rescue grass are very difficult to control. They require spot treatments with specialty herbicides which take several weeks to work. Pruning: Most perennials are dormant now and need to be cut back. Ornamental fountain grasses like Maiden and Muhly grasses look nice for awhile after dormancy but will start to shed and get messy. We will start cutting those back in January as well. Roses should be cut back in February. Winter is also the time to make drastic cuts if you are trying to reduce the size of overgrown shrubs. Some specifics on pruning: Many perennials die back almost to the ground and should be cut very low. You can usually tell—rudbeckias, salvia leucantha, etc. Woody perennials like the popular salvia greggi benefit from a hard pruning of a third or more. Hydrangeas are deciduous, not perennials. Those stems may look brown but do not prune them unless you just want to make them smaller. Doing so will remove next year’s flowers. Groundcovers: Our liriope and Asian jasmine groundcovers should be cut back before they start to put out new growth in spring. With our unpredictable winters it is hard to pick the best time. We normally wait until the end of January to avoid exposing them to temperatures in the teens. Transplanting: January and February are good months for transplanting shrubs and dividing most perennials. However, it is not always practical to transplant large shrubs or trees for several reasons: There are often sprinkler pipes or other plants in close proximity, making it difficult to excavate an appropriate root ball. There is always a higher mortality with transplants than with container plants, and the labor for transplanting may equal or exceed the cost to install a new plant. So in most cases, transplanting trees or shrubs is only practical as a do it yourself chore. Tree Trimming: Limb structure is easiest to see when trees are dormant, so winter is a good time to clean up your trees. Remember in Arlington that tree limbs by city code must be kept 14 ft above the street. This is a good idea regardless of where you live, so your limbs are not damaged by delivery trucks and they do not impede emergency vehicles like fire trucks. The rains this fall will add a lot of growth come spring so plan on having to remove some low limbs this year. Planting: Fall and winter are great seasons for planting new shrubs and trees to avoid moisture stress and get the root systems established before summer! Exceptions would be palms or tender zone 8 plants. Planning: And if you are a spring gardener, start lining up your improvement plans now! We routinely book out for several weeks starting in March. And if you are a fellow veggie gardener, winter is when we peruse seed catalogs for inspiration and new varieties to try. In fact, it is time to plant onions now and only a month away from planting cabbage and broccoli seedlings!
Drainage Solutions
The past few months have brought numerous flooding events throughout Texas. Many homes and properties that have less than optimal slope can benefit from drainage modifications.
The first goal is to create a slope that carries water away from structures or problem areas on the surface. It may involve regrading, retaining walls, or swales.
Next is to capture concentrated water from roofs or concrete areas and redirect it, usually using drain pipes.
You may also need catch basins connected to pipes in strategic areas to capture more surface water, and lastly a French drain system of perforated pipe in gravel can be used to dry out low areas that tend to stay wet.
And if your problem area is lower than the surrounding areas, a sump pump system may be incorporated to move the water.
Each situation is unique and may require one or more of these solutions. If you are dealing with drainage problems, give us a call for a free evaluation and estimate.
A Word About Crape Myrtle Pruning
Crape myrtles are traditionally pruned in January-February.
The horticulturally correct method is to treat a standard tree-form crape like any other tree. Prune entire branches to allow more sunlight into the canopy and reduce overcrowding, remove low branches that are in the way, remove water sprouts and suckers, and strip the seed pods if their appearance bothers you or cut tips of limbs no larger than a pencil.
However, many properties and some homeowners want their crapes kept within a certain size range and this limit requires “topping” or more drastic cutting of the crowns. Since we have to administer both techniques, be sure to let us know if you have a preference.
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So lets start at the top. Many of our spring blooming trees are whites, like wild plums and ornamental pears, and we have several white crape myrtles to choose from.
There are also dwarf bush-type white crapes like Acoma that can be mixed in with evergreen shrubs, and Black Diamond is a crape cultivar with dark foliage that contrasts nicely with the white flower.
If you have the space an oakleaf hydrangea has a gorgeous bloom followed by burgundy fall foliage.
Salvias, moonflowers, coneflowers, shasta daisies, and Virginia sweetspire are good perennial choices.
If you think lantana can get a little unruly, try the “Lucky” series that only grow to about 12 inches and stay compact.
Purple fountain grass, esperanza, sun coleus, and tropical hibiscus can be used for big accents, and Powis Castle artemisia is a fast growing soft silver foliage plant similar to the old Dusty miller.
mounding/trailing plant—both great for rock walls, containers or borders. 
Bronze begonias tolerate sun or shade so are great for those places that go in and out of the sun, but they struggle with uneven moisture, and with twice a week water restrictions it can be hard to keep them looking good in July-August. 
In heavy shade they tend to get leggy. Caladiums need consistent water. You can also use foliage plants like shade coleus, Japanese painted fern, alternanthera, or lamium. 
Ash trees are widely planted throughout our area, and Texas ash, Fraxinus texensis, is also native to our area. Arizona ash were widely planted in the past and are not the best choice, but Texas ash is well suited to the climate and soils here and have had minimal pest and disease issues.
Due to the high mortality rate and rapid spread, it may be prudent for properties with ash trees to monitor their trees and consider a preventative program. Borers are very difficult to treat once a tree is infested and it is unlikely that the pest can be eliminated. Monitoring is difficult at best. The mature beetles are tiny, less than a half-inch long and metallic green in color. Adults may be present during summer.
October started with another hot and dry week but then went crazy. More records, but instead of heat we set new record lows for October coupled with record non-stop rains. It rained for seven days in a row, with even more scattered throughout the month! Not exactly the pleasant fall weather we were looking for. Our normal first freeze date is usually around Thanksgiving, and hopefully we can see some nice weather between now and then.
Brown patch will be occurring now after all the rain in quite a few St Augustine lawns. Watch for brown circular areas in your lawn. If wet conditions persist this fungus can spread and cause damage to your turf.
You may also see signs of Take All root rot in St Augustine. In the fall you will see sporadic yellow patches throughout, and dead patches form from spring into summer. There is no full cure for this devastating disease, but a fungicide treatment and applications of peat moss and sulfur to increase acidity are the recommended controls.
Another smart thing to do this time of year is test your rain/freeze sensor. Verify after one of these rains that your red light is on and the controller is inactive. As soon as the temperature drops below 40 the light should also come on to keep the clock from running and creating an ice hazard for cars or pedestrians. This is especially important for commercial properties due to the high liability they may incur, and rain/freeze sensors are required by law for all sprinkler systems.
We have a great assortment of year-round residents that appreciate the extra forage in winter— cardinals, chickadees, wrens, dove, titmice, downy woodpeckers, jays, and red bellied sapsuckers to name a few. But a bird feeder has the potential to attract numerous other species that may only be passing through. Watch for juncos, cedar waxwings, yellow rump warblers, red breasted nuthatches, goldfinches, orange crowned warblers, and more.
It is almost time to start changing out our annual color beds to winter color. We start around mid October as temperatures moderate and should have all our properties planted by mid November.
The armyworm is the larvae of a small brown moth that lays eggs at the base of a suitable host plant. When they reach maturity, the worms burrow into the soil to pupate into moths that fly out, mate, and start the cycle again. There are several species of armyworms common to our area but the fall armyworm is the one most likely to damage our turf. They can have several generations at about 28 day intervals, and cool weather may extend the life cycle for several months. High rainfall events in August and September may increase populations. Remember those big rains in early August? For the last month or so they have been feeding voraciously on Bermuda lawns, stripping the leaves and turning them to brown stubble. They may hide in the thatch during the day and snack all night. And they may move on to other plants after finishing off your lawn.
The heavy downpours of the last two months have created numerous drainage problems for property owners. If you have incurred drainage problems there may be one or more solutions to consider.