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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.
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Showing posts with label Spring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spring. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Prime's Clippings April 2019
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Prime's Clippings April 2018
Enjoying a Great Spring
April began with a beautiful spring morning followed by a cold front that dropped us into the low 40s Monday morning. For folks like me that planted tomatoes and peppers this weekend I hope you remembered to cover them!The heavy rains have got us off to a good start on watering in new plants but that also means the weeds are happy. Remember that most of the weeds you see now will burn out as it warms up, and broadleaf weed killers will control a lot of our problems. But most weed controls do not work overnight as advertisers like to claim. Weed management depends on many factors—temperature, growth stage of plant, etc, and is an on-going process.
Trees are budding and some are making messes dropping their leaves (live oaks), seeds or tassels, spring flowering shrubs are in bloom, and bugs of every denomination are starting to bug everyone. No complaints here though, this is a magical time of year in north Texas.
April is absolutely the busiest month of the year for gardening, so please be patient with us if we can’t always get right to you. We promise to do our best!
Shades of Purple
You can’t help but notice some of the beautiful lavenders and blues that make their appearance in the spring. Here are a few of my favorites.
Texas Mountain Laurel Sophora secundiflora
Native to the hill country, this small tree will grow here if planted with good drainage and a little northern protection. The blooms are sweetly fragrant.
Purple oxalis Oxalis triangularis
This purple shamrock is a wonderful border for shade gardens.
Chinese wisteria
If you have the right space and time for an aggressive vine, the reward is a beautiful show in spring.
Iris
So many varieties, so little time to identify each one that a friend has given you. Better to just enjoy.
Time for Summer Color
Start making plans now for your summer color. The petunias we recently planted will make a for a big show through May. If you are a petunia person you will need to swap them out for hot weather plants like lantana or periwinkles in early June. But if you just have pansies or nothing at all in your beds then you can start planting many summer flowers now.So many choices, but low maintenance plants that are not finicky are a big factor for most of us. Few people have the time or inclination to constantly check and treat for insects or diseases, and we need plants that can outlast a long summer season with extreme temperatures. So with this demanding criteria, here are some proven winners.
Full sun or afternoon sun areas:
For big accents use purple fountain grass, esperanza, sun coleus, or tropical hibiscus.
Scaevola is a great trailing plant in lavender or white, and Blackfoot daisy is a fragrant mounding/trailing plant—both great for rock walls, containers or borders.
Pentas are another heat lover with few problems
Periwinkles love the heat but cannot be planted here until about mid-may due to pythium and rhizoctonia root rot when nights are cool or it is too wet. Dwarf zinnias can have similar issues if planted too early.Sweet potato vines are another great accent as long as you have the space for them or the time to periodically cut them back, and artemesias such as Dusty Miller or Powis Castle provide silvery foliage. Sunpatiens are a sun tolerant variety of impatiens and perform well with adequate water, but are usually quite a bit pricier.
Other choices for sun include Angelonia, Torenia, Salvia—both perennial and annual types, Blue Daze, Moss Rose, and Purslane. 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.
Shade areas:
In the shade, caladiums and begonias are king with impatiens close behind.Impatiens need a little light to look good all summer. In heavy shade they tend to get leggy in July-August.
Caladiums also need consistent water. You can also use foliage plants like shade coleus, Japanese painted fern, alternanthera, or lamium.
And Dragon wing begonias rule!
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Prime's Clippings May 2017
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| Oenothera Speciosa - Evening Primrose ... One of our beautiful local wildflowers! |
Keepin' it Cool
I spent April 22, Earth Day, immersed in some beautiful woods in Oklahoma, catching trout in a gorgeous river, and enjoying a nice campfire with lows In the forties. What a great way to celebrate a day that many folks don’t observe, but one that means a lot to a nature boy like me. The dogwoods and redbuds had finished their bloom, but wildflowers were abundant and the spring rains had everything lush and green. So for something a little different, I included a few photos from the woods of Tishomingo Oklahoma and some unique wildflowers in this newsletter. Enjoy!
May is historically our rainiest month and we have had some decent rains just about every week now, so hopefully we will maintain this pattern and get to enjoy a few more weeks of mild temperatures. The only drawback to cool nights is that weeds grow faster than lawns, but that should all change soon and grass will start to dominate.
Leave sprinklers off until rains disappear for a week or more, but keep an eye on any new plants. We have been jumping into 80- 90 degree afternoons already and that can wilt newly planted flowers in just a day or so. But cool weather and frequent rains can bring on fungal problems like brown patch in St. Augustine and leaf spot on hawthorns and photinias. Issues like these have to be addressed periodically, but again, we should be happy and take the rain over drought conditions anytime. And I’ll celebrate all the cool weather I can get before the July blast furnace comes on.
Remember our record setting rain fall in May 2015?
A Magical Mystery Quiz
Anyone that can correctly identify these pictures can have free lawn mowing for a year! Wait, Greg just saw this and said only if I want to pay for it, so I guess that’s out. Besides, I can’t stand to keep secrets, so I’ll just go ahead and clue you in after the break.
Celebrating Wildflowers
Many of our wildflowers bloomed earlier than normal again this year due to the unusually warm winter, but we had a pretty good show regardless. And it continues still! Here are a few I observed while celebrating Earth Day in Oklahoma, some you won’t see on the beaten path.
Meadow Parsnip growing along the shady edges of oak/cedar woodland, about 2 feet tall.
Tradescantia, or Spiderwort growing in low areas where moisture is abundant.
This is available in nurseries occasionally.
Blue eyed grass. This low little clumping grass is common in fields but you have to look for it. It blooms for about a month and is only 3-6 inches tall.
Now this group of pictures came two weeks ago from about 120 miles west of Fort Worth in Carbon Texas. Indian paintbrushes are most commonly seen in red-orange, but can also be white, yellow, pink, and magenta. I found a patch that had every color. Simply beautiful.
Sometimes the most beautiful gardens are those untouched by the hand of man.
May Chores
- Mow Weekly
- Finish planting spring flowers
- Mulch beds
- Treat for fire ants
Our goal is to fulfill the needs of the customer by providing timely, quality services and products.
Thanks for your business!
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Prime's Clippings April 2017
Looking Forward to a Great Spring
I would say that this has not been a normal winter or start to spring time, but since this is north Texas normal weather is hard to define. The two hard freezes we had this winter burnt quite a few plants, and all the 80 and 90 degree days confused plants and insects, as well as some of us humans. I know I’m confused all too often these days.
Several of our spring plants bloomed weeks earlier than normal, including bluebonnets and Bridal wreath. Pansies have held up well this spring in most places, but patches were lost to the 3 days of teens and twenties in early January. Fortunately it’s about time to start changing out to summer color.
We have already had our first storm with damaging winds and hail, and we can expect more over the next two months. At least May is traditionally our wettest month. There is plenty of time to get new plants and sod in and have Mother Nature’s helping hand in getting them established before our hot weather arrives, but I guess that depends on how “normal” our weather is!
April is absolutely the busiest month of the year for gardening, so please be patient with us if we can’t always get right to you. We promise to do our best!
How to Water Newly Planted Shrubs and Trees
A reminder for anyone planting new shrubs and trees.
Although sprinkler systems will supplement rains adequately on lawns and established plants, most new plants need to be thoroughly soaked once a week until they get established, and very few sprinkler systems are capable of soaking an entire root ball.
This means that if you do not receive a good soaking rain every 6-10 days, you need to get the old water hose out and hand water your new plants weekly.
The bigger the plant, the more important this is. Most plants like a well drained soil, so container grown plants are usually planted in an organic mix that drains very well. Plants are usually watered daily at the nursery and sometimes going without water for even a couple days can dry out the root ball to the point of damaging the plant. When your new plants are taken from that container and placed in soil, the same affect can be seen, although not quite as rapidly.When a healthy plant fails within just a few weeks of installation, 90% of the time it is due to that root ball being allowed to dry out. We’ll chalk up 9% to the other culprit, over watering, and 1% to a damaged root ball.
Regarding sod, it must stay moist every day for the first few weeks until the roots establish. Give it a good soaking every few days or a light sprinkling every day.
Please help us keep your new plants looking good by watering correctly!
Almost Time for Summer Color
The time is now to start making plans for your summer color!
The petunias we recently planted will make a for a big show through May. If you are a petunia person you will need to swap them out for hot weather plants like lantana or periwinkles in early June. But if you just have pansies or nothing at all in your beds then you can start planting summer flowers now so they can get rooted before hot weather.
There are so many choices, but low maintenance plants that are not finicky are a big factor for most of us. Few people have the time or inclination to constantly check and treat for insects or diseases, and we need plants that can outlast a long summer season with extreme temperatures. So with this demanding criteria, here are some proven winners and appropriate applications for them.
Full sun or afternoon sun areas:
Lantana is hands-down the toughest choice for high heat, and the absolute best choice for dryer beds. Some folks think lantana can get a little unruly, but there are new compact dwarf varieties that really perform and grow only to about 12 inches. Pentas are another heat lover with few problems, and for big accents use purple fountain grass, esperanza, and sun coleus. Scaevola is a great trailing plant in lavender or white, and Blackfoot daisy is a fragrant mounding/trailing plant—both great for rock walls, containers or borders.
Periwinkles love the heat but cannot be planted here until about mid-may due to pythium and rhizoctonia root rot when nights are cool or it is too wet. Dwarf zinnias can have similar issues if planted too early. Sweet potato vines are another great accent as long as you have the space for them or the time to periodically cut them back, and artemesias such as Dusty Miller or Powis Castle provide silvery foliage. Sunpatiens are a sun tolerant variety of impatiens and perform well with adequate water, but are usually quite a bit pricier.
Other choices for sun include Angelonia, Torenia, Salvia, Blue Daze, Moss Rose, and Purslane. 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.
Shade areas:
In the shade, caladiums and begonias are king with impatiens close behind. Impatiens need a little light to look good all summer. In heavy shade they tend to get leggy in July-August. Caladiums also need consistent water and once they start withering they take a long time to recover. You can also use foliage plants like shade coleus, Japanese painted fern, alternanthera, or lamium. We have had great luck with Dragon Wing Begonias in shade despite uneven watering. Like sunpatiens, these are normally a little more costly than some of the more common bedding plants, but grow really large and fill a lot of space..
Reminders
Please call or e-mail us to start getting your invoices and statements via e-mail. We will never share your contact information or blast you with solicitations. It is simply the most environmentally friendly and efficient way to do business.
Scheduling
During the spring season, we have many homeowners with different preferences for their mowing schedule. If you are not on a 12 month pro-rated contract, please let us know when you want to start weekly services. Also please give at least 24 hours notice to change a regular service.
April Chores
- Aerate lawn
- Mow weekly
- Plant spring flowers & shrubs
- Mulch beds
- Treat fire ants
- Check/set irrigation system
- Start trimming hedges
- Weed control in beds
- Fertilize lawns and shrubs
Our goal is to fulfill the needs of the customer by providing timely, quality services and products.
Thanks for your business!
Monday, March 20, 2017
Prime's Clippings March 2017
Record Warm Temperatures, Hard Freezes
Another interesting winter brought us damaging freezes coupled with record high temperatures and overall dry conditions along with a flooding rain event in January. We finally have some more normal spring-like weather in the long term forecast, but the likelihood of a March freeze still holds true for another 20 days. Let’s try to be a little patient on tomatoes and begonias!
The recent rain was sorely needed, but weeds are now exploding onto the scene. Pre-emergent applications from the fall were pretty effective this year. We are applying broadleaf control for plants like dandelion and henbit now and spot spraying for certain grassy weeds like wild rye. Remember though that most of these plants have begun flowering already and it takes at least 2 weeks and 2 applications to knock these weeds down.
Our crews are busy wrapping up the spring cut-back of roses, perennials, and grasses, and it is already time to fire up the mowers and get your lawn cut down a few notches.
So here is our annual reminder:
If you are not on a year-round contract, please let us know when you are ready for mowing. If you did not place your service on hold over winter, we will start mowing the first two weeks of March.
We don’t want you to wonder where we are, but we also don’t want to start before you’re ready.
We will be evaluating freeze damage on a case by case basis throughout March and April. Some shrubs will recover, some will not. We recommend mowing down Asian jasmine and liriope groundcovers now, especially if they were burned. Call us if you have freeze damaged shrubs to evaluate.
This is also the time for fire ant control that is guaranteed all season, and dormant oil and systemic pesticide applications for the crape myrtle scale that is devastating crapes.
Ready or not, spring is on the way!
'Tis The Season For Fireants
Fire ants may be the most annoying pest of all. They do millions of dollars in damage each year to electrical equipment and agriculture, and swarm out when disturbed to inflict painful bites on children, pets, and any unsuspecting gardener. Fire ants can migrate miles when swarming and tunnel up to 20 feet deep! Permanent eradication is not possible.
We offer two fire ant programs. One is the Texas Two Step program recommended by Texas A&M. We broadcast a bait product throughout your property and use a contact insecticide on visible mounds. This will need to be done 3-4 times a year. Baits offer the lowest environmental impact and least cost, but are slower acting and we cannot guarantee control.
We also offer a season-long product that we apply over the entire property. It will eliminate existing colonies and create a barrier to prevent new swarms from moving in. When done in March—April we guarantee control for 8 months!
Prices start at just $20 each for the Texas Two Step treatments when done with your regular lawn applications and $155 one time for the guaranteed annual service.
= OUCH!
Pond Clean-Outs Are Starting
String algae is the bane of pond owners. As much as we love our beautiful water features, we equally despise string algae.
Since aquatic plants have not come out of dormancy and cool water temperatures reduce the bacteria colonies in your filters and gravel, conditions are optimal for the growth of string algae.
Algae is a natural, healthy organism in any natural water feature, but it can bloom suddenly in a matter of days and become unsightly.
We start our annual clean outs this month, changing the water, washing down the gravel and removing the sludge, cleaning the filters, trimming and thinning out water plants, and changing the water to get your pond started on the right foot for spring.
Give Spencer a call to book your spot for your spring clean out!
Thank You For Your Business
Spring is upon us in full force.
We want to thank all our clients who started on their spring projects with us a month or two ago when we had a little more free time, and we appreciate the patience of all of you who are now calling in for landscape projects and having to wait a few days for your estimates.
We will do our best to get to whatever you need as quickly as we can. We look forward to working with you this coming season.
And remember, email is a great way to communicate with us: contactus@primelandscapeservices.com
March Chores:
· Mow 1-2 notches lower
· Mulch beds
· Make last major pruning changes to overgrown shrubs
· Prune low limbs on trees
· Prune dormant perennials and fountain grasses
· Plant and transplant trees and shrubs
· Apply pre-emergent and broadleaf herbicides
· Change water and clean water gardens and koi ponds
Monday, February 29, 2016
Prime's Clippings March 2016
A Record Warm Winter Creates Spring Challenges
The recent rain was sorely needed, but weeds are now exploding onto the scene. Pre-emergent applications from the fall were only partially effective after being diluted with nearly 20 inches of rain in October – November. We are applying broadleaf control for plants like dandelion and henbit now and spot spraying for certain grassy weeds like wild rye. Remember though that most of these plants have begun flowering already and it takes at least 2 weeks and 2 applications to knock these weeds down. Our crews are busy cutting back roses, perennials, and grasses, and I hate to tell you but it is already time to fire up the mowers.
So here is our annual reminder: RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS! If you are not on a year-round contract, please call to let us know when you are ready for mowing or your spring clean up. We don’t want you to wonder where we are, but we also have some clients that like to wait until late in March to start.
And not to be the bearer of bad news, but with less than half of our normal freeze days this winter we can probably expect lots of insect issues and an early crop of mosquitoes and fire ant activity. We will try to keep you informed as we observe these problems, but let us know if you need our help. We offer mosquito fogging, fire ant control that is guaranteed all season, and treatments for other pests we will see this year, such as bagworms, tent caterpillars, and chinch bugs.
Ready or not, we are into an early spring so hang on for the ride!
No Fire Ants For The Season - Guaranteed!
Fire ants can migrate miles when swarming and tunnel up to 20 feet deep, so permanent eradication is not possible. However, we can treat your entire property with a long residual product that will eliminate existing colonies and create a barrier to prevent new swarms from moving in. When done in March, we guarantee control for 8 months!
Prices start at just $155 for a full year. Call for your free quote today and get 10% off your first year!
Pond Season Starting Up
We start our annual clean outs this month, changing the water, washing down the gravel, removing the sludge, cleaning the filters, trimming and thinning out water plants, and changing the water to get your pond started on the right foot for spring.
Give Spencer a call to book your spot for your spring clean out!
Thank You For Your Business
Spring is upon us in full force. We want to thank all our clients who started on their spring projects with us a month or two ago when we had a little more free time, and we appreciate the patience of all of you who are now calling in for landscape projects and having to wait for your estimate. We will do our best to get to whatever you need as quickly as we can.We look forward to working with you in the coming season. And remember- email is a great way to communicate with us!
contactus@primelandscapeservices.com
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