Winter Interest

Contorted Filbert

Baby it's Cold Outside! Winter is the perfect time to be planning for spring gardening, but also gathering ideas for your winter garden. As you are driving through your neighborhood, observe landscapes, taking note of plants that stand out. Look for interesting bark, berries and evergreen foliage. Evergreen leaf texture and shape helps define a winter garden, as does the architecture of deciduous shrubs and trees. A well balanced garden design will always take winter interest into consideration.

Edgeworthia papyrifera

Red twig dogwood

Camellias  are a great winter bloomer, Edgeworthia Edgeworthia papyrifera has got to be a favorite.  After it drops it's leaves for winter, these awesome little flower buds are at the ends of the branches.  When they bloom in late winter, the smell is incredible.  Much like a gardenia.

Rachel Griffith is a lead designer with Nautilus Garden Designs in Hampton Roads www.nautilusgardendesigns.com

Caterpillars everywhere!

Fall webworm on a Cherry Tree

You may have seen them while you were driving, you may even have them in your trees.  It's the FALL WEBWORM.  This unsightly little guy is a communal caterpillar.  They live in groups in the webs that they form at the ENDS of tree branches. The fall webworm is known to feed on more that 100 species of forest and shade trees.  In the eastern U.S., pecan, walnut, American elm, hickory, fruit trees, and some maples are preferred hosts; in some areas persimmon and sweetgum are also readily attacked.  I have them every year in my River Birch (Betula nigra).  

The initial reaction is "Oh man!  I gotta do something about this!  It looks horrible!  The reality of the fact is that this is a mainly "aesthetic" pest.  That means that trees are seldom killed by the fall webworm but can they be unpleasant to deal with.  Trees can actually be defoliated by them, but as their name "Fall" weborm implies, they do this just before the trees are going to drop their leaves in the fall. Healthy trees can actually handle this happening and will recover just fine.

The key to identification is this:  Fall webworm build their tent at the END of branches and usually are more ugly then harmful.  Eastern tent caterpillars, which appear in the Spring, form their webs in the crotches of branches close to the trunk of the tree.

So there you have it.  They're ugly, but not harmful.  Don't waste a lot of effort and money trying to eradicate them.  Welcome them to your trees as a new food source for birds.

Mark Griffith is a Virginia Certified Horticulturist and a lead designer with Nautilus Garden Designs in Hampton Roads www.nautilusgardendesigns.com

Color in Design

Greetings from my Gardening Couch! It is Sunday morning and Mark and I went to new church. Part of what of the offering was to ask yourself what can I do to serve. Earlier in the morning I was thinking about the blogging series that has been taking shape. And I thought maybe I should just write, you can just pick plants out and put them in the ground. But, I do not do this when designing, I do not feel it is that casual. I feel it is a personal experience that can inspire, uplift and connect one with the Divine:) Trees and plants offer us oxygen, ( this just being one of the offerings)  we in turn can offer them direct attention and gratitude! Part of my service  is to share my experience with nature, to let others know a beautiful landscape is awesome, and yet direct intent and the desire to be more fully who we truly are and connect to the Divine and our own Divinity through gardening in Possible!!!
Now Color~ I hope you found a few colors that you are highly attracted too and perhaps even took notice of colors you prefer to avoid~ This is great information to have, it will help shape your garden design and give you some insights into your soul.
Eastern philosophy has so much information on color and its potential to affect our consciousness. From Hindu to Chinese to Japanese culture color has significant meaning and purpose. I am going to pull from several philosophies to give you a general view! Very Briefly Chakra's are energy centers  or wheels within the body, there are seven major chakras~ I have been working the Chakra system for several years as means of self awareness with a highly gifted lady,  and they are also a part of Yoga, Hinduism and Eastern Philosophy.
RED~associated with the 1st/Root chakra (Hindu), is grounding, stabilizing, promotes trust and balance and harmony, a warming color, increases ones connection to the earth, stimulates the sensory system, liver stimulant, increases red-blood-cell production
ORANGE~ creativity, play, freedom, abundance,joy, creation, sexuality, connected with the 2nd/Sacral chakra, can assist with healing reproductive organs
YELLOW~Stimulates higher intellectual functioning, clear thinking, balanced personal power, 3rd/Solar Plexus chakra, 3rd charka about your identity and who you truly are,
GREEN~ love, purity, soothes the central nervous system, calming, balances mind, body and spirit, 4th/Heart Chakra, unconditional love,
BLUE~ Cooling effect, increase sensitivity, associated with the throat chakra, speaking one's truth, finding your voice, can help with healing issues with throat, neck, mouth,
INDIGO~ connected with the 6th chakra/third eye chakra, stimulates parathyroid glands, color of devotion, intuition, transcendent vision, purposefulness, seeking after truth.
VIOLET~ Stimulates spleen, helps lift anxiety and depression,7th Chakra/Crown
*some color information came from the book Vibrational Medicine by Richard Gerber, M.D.

Garden Design Beginnings

Hampton Roads is experiencing a small break from intense heat. Rain would be so lovely as landscapes are showing signs of stress. I am at a great space at last in my pregnancy and I am so excited about sharing some ideas that have been dancing around in my head and heart.
When I started my gardening career in 1997, I was a seasonal gardener at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. "Seasonals", as we were called, were farmed out to the permanent gardeners. One day I was put with Holly, she was stand offish and an enthusiastic gardener. She offered me so much, friendship and gardening wisdom. The beginning of garden design starts with a question she asked me, "What do I like?  why?"  Look again, what do you like?    
So ask yourself those questions. Notice what you are attracted to most. Then ask yourself , "Why am I attracted to this yard, landscape, garden, container.....".  I was attracted to a large garden under the canopy of mature trees~a shade garden. Open your eyes and look again. I loved the curve of the beds and the deep green grassy path inviting you into the garden to explore and to wrap its green arms around you. Look from a place deep inside of you. Start gathering ideas and images during these hot months so you can make them into a reality during the fall.
 Rachel Griffith has a degree in landscape design and is a lead designer with Nautilus Garden Designs in Hampton Roads www.nautilusgardendesigns.com

Using stone mulch in your garden

Phew,
It sure was a hot one today. The crew was out at a clients house working hard to remove stone "mulch" that had been installed by the previous homeowner. This can be quite an undertaking, especially when the installer didn't use a suitable landscape fabric to keep the stones from "pumping" into the soil. A sturdy landscape fabric will keep the gravel from working its way down into the soil during the annual freeze-thaw cycles and block most weeds. Black plastic is not recommended because it does not allow air or water to pass through it to the soil.
Let me be clear, stone has a place in the landscape, and can even look great as a change of texture and color, however, I urge caution when considering rock as mulch. The rock will heat up in the sun and reflect heat back at your plants, creating a micro-climate. The extra heat can cause your shrubs stress, both in summer and bright winter days. Boxwoods and Azaleas in particular are sensitive to this. Another reason is that stone has no nutritive value and thus does nothing to enrich the soil. If weeds do get into your stone, it is much more difficult to remove.
I always prefer non-dyed hardwood mulch, as it conserves moisture, keeps down weeds, keeps the soil cool and makes your yard more attractive, among other benefits. Dyed mulches can contain chemicals that can chase away your beneficial microbes. Mulch simplifies mowing and it keeps string trimmers and lawn mowers away from unprotected tree trunks. Mulch can be the visual “glue” that knits a landscape together. A natural mulch such as shredded bark will feed the soil as it breaks down slowly over time.
It’s important to remember that mulch is not permanent. You can’t just freshen the color up every spring. All of the organic mulches decompose wherever they touch the soil. Weed seed will sprout in this layer. The region of decomposed material eventually becomes slimy or hard and it can repel rainfall completely. All mulched areas should be renewed every couple of years by raking out the old material, re-spreading it thinly in place and then covering it with fresh mulch.

Mark Griffith is a Virginia Certified Horticulturist and a lead designer with Nautilus Garden Designs in Hampton Roads www.nautilusgardendesigns.com

Toxic Plants

I know we have all heard the stories, chocolate is poisonous to dogs(true, but it has to be 100% chocolate to really do damage, a candy bar may be 5% chocolate), or poinsettias are poisonous (a 12 year old would have to eat several hundred bracts to get an upset stomach, and let me tell you, several hundred ANYTHING is gonna put a hurtin on ya!)

Well here are some things to be aware of. I know most of our pets could care less about plants, but our neurotic cat Tico has a thing for Dracenas and risks his life(with momma) daily to chew on her plants. Puppies are probably the biggest risk group as they are big-time chewers. So here are some plants to watch for and their effects.
Azalea- do we even have these in Hampton Roads? Well as many as we have, we still have pets. Seriously, these can cause vomiting, diarrhea, drooling, and death.
Oleander- This one is VERY toxic. It will cause severe vomiting, abnormal heart rate, shock, weakness and death. Be careful with your little puppies around this one.
Daffodil bulbs- if they dig these up, they cause severe vomiting, diarrhea, abnormal heart rate, abdominal pain, and respiration issues.
Lily- Highly toxic to cats and can cause severe kidney failure.

Indoors we need to watch for:
Kalanchoe- Vomiting, diarrhea, heart arrhythmias, and neurological signs (maybe Tico ate some!)

Cyclamen-vomiting, diarrhea, drooling, and heart arrhythmias.

If you're not sure about a new plant, the Internet is a great resource to find out more before putting your pets at risk. Garden safe!!

Mark Griffith is a Virginia Certified Horticulturist and a lead designer with Nautilus Garden Designs in Hampton Roads www.nautilusgardendesigns.com

Champion Trees of Virginia Beach

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of going on a trip with a group of arboriculture students on a brief trip to see some of Virginia Beach's finest trees. Our first stop was at the Virginia Tech Agriculture Extension on Diamond Springs Rd in Virginia Beach. If you are a gardener, you have to check this place out! It is a wonderful place to get ideas for your own garden with several different plants on display at different levels of maturity, and it's FREE!

Back to the trees. A champion tree is measured by it's Diameter at Breast Height, or 4'6". Then the height is taken and the canopy is measured from side to side in two locations to get an average. The first treee we saw was a Bradford Pear (Pyrus Calleryana). It's right in the parking lot. This large Bradford is the city champion and is a large tree, due to the fact that it is well protected from high winds that can shorten their life. We also saw the champion tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), an incredible tree with a good example of lightning protection on it. There is a champion deodar cedar there, as well as a champion tree lilac(these do not do well here).

We then got in our cars and headed to Sajo Farms to see #89, the 6th largest Black Oak in Virginia. The preservation effort for this tree was remarkable, she has her own block! To see her she is in the back of the neighborhood to the right, can't miss her.

We then went to Fairfield to see the "Fairfield oak" or "Mini" as her owner calls her. Mini is a Live Oak (Quercus Virginiana) estimated at 600 years old. Mini was a "hanging" tree in old Princess Anne County. She is an incredible evergreen oak, and a state champion I believe.

We visited the Virginia Beach champion China Fir which is at the municipal center between and just behind the JDC and the Post Office. This magnificent evergreen has 4 co-dominant leaders. Last measured in 2001, next year it gets re-measured and, based on what we found, at 98' tall, it may beat the one in Norfolk at the Botanical Gardens.

Get out, walk around, and see some of the amazing trees for yourself. Take an evening walk and look up, they are here to enjoy!


"The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in
the eyes of others only a green thing that stands
in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and
deformity... and some scarce see nature at all.
But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature
is imagination itself"................William Blake

Mark Griffith is a Virginia Certified Horticulturist and a lead designer with Nautilus Garden Designs in Hampton Roads www.nautilusgardendesigns.com

Weekend for the Trees

This was a fantastic weekend. I know it's not over, but it started so well. Friday morning, Rachel and I took off for Maymont in Richmond, VA. The have some incredible gardens, an old mansion, a carriage house with a collection of old carriages, and more. Our visit was to see the gardens. The Italian garden at the top of the hill was pretty nice, with fountains and columns. But what I REALLY was looking forward to was the Japanese Garden. It was way at the bottom of the hill, and water spilling from the Italian garden actually fed the waterfall in the garden below. What an awesome place. Cypresses, koi, little bridges over the ponds and streams, I can't imagine what it would cost to create this today. If you haven't seen Maymont, set aside a day for a family trip. It's well worth it.
Yesterday was First Landing state park. Usually we go in the Shore Drive side and hike for an hour or so, but we went to 64th st this time. Usually we bike this path so we don't take time to notice all the cool stuff along the water. There are several Loblolly Pines (Pinus Taeda) that have eroded underneath along the water and the root structures are exposed and the trees have actually formed bark on the roots. It's an amazing thing to see. Several Osprey were delivering dinner to their nests, and the afternoon sun seen through the Spanish Moss was amazing.
These are two treats Virginia has for us, one in our own backyard, that cost close to nothing to share with your family. Get yourself and your KIDS outside and enjoy!!

Mark Griffith is a Virginia Certified Horticulturist and a lead designer with Nautilus Garden Designs in Hampton Roads www.nautilusgardendesigns.com

Clematis and the shade

Someone asked me to check out their Clematis the other day. The neighbor's clematis was thriving across the street, enveloping the mailbox and all it's lavish mason work. The clematis I was looking at was leggy, and struggling. Clematis are unhappy when they dry out, and this probably does more of them in than anything, but there is irrigation on sight, so moisture was not the culprit.
The neighbor had lantana all around the base of the mailbox, and it too looked great. THAT WAS IT! The big difference. You see, clematis vine and flowers love the sun, but the roots need to be cool and shaded. The tag on the plant said "SUN", and didn't really mention the roots preferring shade. So next time you're wanting an awesome clematis climbing something in your garden, remember to plant some thick ground cover and mulch around the roots!

Mark Griffith is a Virginia Certified Horticulturist and a lead designer with Nautilus Garden Designs in Hampton Roads www.nautilusgardendesigns.com

My Plant Is Too Big

I hear it all the time, from all kinds of folks. "My tree is to big, I need to cut it back.", or worse, "When should I top my tree, I don't want it to get any bigger." My answer is "NO!"
No, your tree didn't get too big, it grew just the way it's supposed to. Someone apparently didn't plan correctly. Most of the time, the first consideration in the design of a neighborhood, is the QUANTITY of trees in the project. The next is often cost, so a tree, regardless of site suitability, or growth habit, often ends up in the wrong place. This poor guy now encroaches on our homes, streets, business signs, so we torture them. We cut the top out so the tree struggles the rest of it's existence, or we cut them back as if they were boxwoods in a formal English garden.
Seeing a topped tree, you can sense something isn't right. The nice natural form is distorted, unnatural. It weakens the tree by creating water sprouts, weak limbs the tree sends out rapidly to try to recover from the shock of a hard "pruning". Also, trees send out pheromones when stressed that attract insect pests that see a food source to weak to defend itself. This all leads to premature death.
Please be a good steward of the trees on your property, or better yet, in your CARE. They are living breathing friends that provide so many benefits to your and your area, they deserve respect. Always contact an ISA Certified Arborist for advice on your trees' health. You can be assured you are speaking with a knowledgeable professional.
Trees enhance our lives, let's return the favor!

Mark Griffith is a Virginia Certified Horticulturist and a lead designer with Nautilus Garden Designs in Hampton Roads www.nautilusgardendesigns.com

Golden rain and Japanese Beetles

Summer is upon us, the way I can tell, other than the crazy heat, was the sight of blooming Koelreuteria paniculata, or Golden Rain Tree. This pretty little tree has become a favorite of mine quickly. This well behaved tree only gets about 30 feet tall, doesn't have major pest issues, and rewards us with awesome yellow flowers in June and July, followed by cool looking seed pods that resemble the little paper lanterns in old Japan.
Another way to tell is I saw my first Japanese beetles today. These shiny little pests can destroy a garden, or your prettiest viburnum, in a hurry! The mistake most people will make with controlling these guys is getting pheremone traps and putting them next to the garden. This only ATTRACTS them to the garden. Please put these bags AS FAR AWAY from your plants as you can, without sending all the critters to your neighbor's garden!
I thought it was a little early to see the beetles, but the ground warmed up quickly this year. Have fun in the yard! Talk to you soon!!

Mark Griffith is a Virginia Certified Horticulturist and a lead designer with Nautilus Garden Designs in Hampton Roads www.nautilusgardendesigns.com

Yellow Nutsedge, perennial pest

Nutsedges are common weeds in South Hampton Roads. Thriving in waterlogged soil, they are a good indicator of poor drainage, over irrigation, or leaky irrigation. Yellow nutsedge is found throughout southeastern Virginia.

Identification
Nutsedges resemble grasses, and are often referred to as “nutgrass”. They are not grasses, however but true sedges. Grasses have opposite leaves in sets of twos, whereas sedges have thicker and stiffer leaves, and are arranged in sets of three at the base. Their stems are solid and when looked at in cross sections, they are triangular. Yellow nutsedge has light brown flowers and seed.
Yellow nutsedge produces tubers which are produced on rhizomes that can grow as deep as 8-14 inches below the soil surface. These tubers bud and sprout to form new plants, eventually forming patches that can be as large as ten feet or more in diameter. These tubers are round, smooth and brown or black, and about a half inch at maturity. Only one tuber is formed at the end of each rhizome.

Life Cycle
Yellow nutsedge is a perennial. Its leaves and stems die back in the fall as temperatures decrease, with the tubers and rhizomes becoming dormant until spring, when soil temperatures remain above 43ºF. Research has indicated that most new plants are from the tubers, of which the majority can be found in the top 6 inches of soil. Seeds apparently do not contribute much to the spread of this weed.

Damage
Yellow nutsedge grows faster, has a more upright growth habit, and is lighter in color than most turfgrasses, creating the problem of non-uniform turf. Yellow nutsedge will emerge through bark or mulch in gardens or beds throughout the growing season.
Management

Limiting production of tubers is key to control of Yellow nutsedge. Tubers are necessary for survival. Remove small plants before they have five or six leaves, as new tubers have not formed at this stage. This should be done every two to three weeks. This will force the existing tubers to focus energy on new plant production as opposed to tuber production. If the weed is found in turf in small patches, it is generally best to dig out the patch to a depth of at least 8 inches, and seed or sod the patch.
Shading can be an effective way of reducing their growth. Nutsedges prefer full sun, so in landscape areas a tall dense groundcover can impede its growth.

Chemical Control

Postemergent chemical control can be handled with the use of IMAGE (Ammonium salt of imazaquin). It is best applied to young plants while the plant is still building energy reserves in the tubers. This is the time that the chemical will best be translocated to the tubers for a complete control. If the plant has past its growth stage of the 5th leaf stage, translocation will be slowed or non-existent, killing only the above ground portion. Often more than one application is necessary.

Mark Griffith is a Virginia Certified Horticulturist and a lead designer with Nautilus Garden Designs in Hampton Roads www.nautilusgardendesigns.com