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

Post Snow To Do List

Hello and Happy New Year to you all!  Hope everyone survived the holidays and our third largest snowfall on record.  Now that normal weather has returned, it's time to get outside, walk around our yards and look what the snow left behind.  It's also time to catch up on your winter clean-up, including the leaves piled in the corners of your fence and around your heat pump.  (You didn't think I saw that did you?) 
Anyway, let's walk and see.  First to notice is any perennials that haven't been cut back are probably looking bleak.  Daylillies are easy because the leaves will just pull up that easy and go right in the leaf bag. Winter is a great time to prune; insect and disease pressure is minimized, and the plant architecture is visible. Hydrangeas should be trimmed back now, as well as your knockout roses.  The roses will put on a much better show for you next year if you cut them back over the winter.  With the roses, make each cut just above an outward facing bud so the new branches that form will grow out from, rather than into, the center of the shrub.

Winter is the perfect time to cut back ornamental grasses. It can be fairly easy to cut back grasses with a pair of pruners, loppers or shears, but you can also secure the top growth with a bungee cord or piece of twine and cut grasses back with electric or gas powered hedge trimmers. This method can be particularly useful on cutting back large sized grasses. Just be sure it's not very windy, or you'll have a mess on your hands!

As you're looking around, you may see damage caused by the weight of the recent snow.  I have seen Pine trees, some pittosporum, wax myrtles and even a Little Gem Magnolia that have suffered from the snow.  Evergreens have more damage because there is more surface area for the snow to pile on.  You need to do some corrective pruning to keep your plants healthy and vigorous.  For tree damage, you should consult an I.S.A. Certified Arborist for proper practices to help mitigate damage from broken limbs. 

Have a great New year and get out there and get to know your garden.  You will enjoy it much more when you know what is going on out there!

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

Irrigation tips

Hello all!  I wanted to take a moment to discuss your irrigation with you.  We have been on several jobs lately where plants seemed a little less then spectacular, and the soil felt wet.  Having an irrigation system is awesome, but while too little water is a bad thing, so is too much.  Roots need air to survive, that is why they are only in the top 18" or so of your soil.  Overwatering reduces air pore space in the soil, creating anaerobic conditions that favor root rots, fungi, and can drown out your beneficial organisms.  Only when germinating grass seed should the irrigation run every day, and even then, only long enough to get the seed damp.  Once the seed starts to show some growth, it's time to adjust.  In the heat of the summer it is good to water several days a week, depending on your soil structure.  This should be done in the early morning hours, rather than at night.  This will help reduce the time droplets sit on leaves, thereby reducing fungus.  Deep soaking watering.   That means water less frequent for longer time intervals.   This encourages deep root growth because the plants will "seek out" moisture, increasing their drought hardiness.  As temperatures coll, as they are now.  You can drop it back to one or two days a week and for less time, as less water in being removed by evaporation.  Before the freeze, you need someone to come and "winterize" your system.  This involves blowing compressed air back through to eliminate any water trapped in the system that may damage it when it freezes.  If you need assistance setting your  irrigation timer, or clock, please contact a landscape professional.  Your landscaper should be able to handle things like setting the time, and replacing parts.  Happy Watering!!


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

Do You Have This in YOUR Lawn??

  Yellow Nutsedge.  There, I said it.  I know I shared with you a month or two ago about this topic, but I think it is worth going over again.  With the droughty couple of weeks we had (killing your cool season fescues), followed by rain, nutsedge is taking hold in many lawns right now.  If you have an irrigation system, and you have a low spot in your yard, that is probably the first place you will see it.     Nutsedge is a great indicator of poor drainage, over watering or leaky irrigation, as it thrives in waterlogged soil.
     To identify this pest, the first thing you will notice is it is more yellow than your fescues or Bermuda grasses.  It comes up with leaves of three, and has a triangular cross-section.  It grows faster than turf grasses so it will be a taller area of your lawn, often growing twice as tall within a week.
     If you can, hand pull small plants before they have 6 leaves.  By the time they have 6 leaves, they are already spreading underground.  If you have a bad infestation, nutsedge will kill out your turf, allowing weeds, and common Bermuda to take over your lawn.  Chemical control is successful using SedgeHammer herbicide.  This will knock out nutsedge without injury to turfgrass, established ornamentals, shrubs, and/or trees.  SedgeHammer provides post-emergence control of both purple and yellow nutsedge.  SedgeHammer also controls many broadleaf weeds and suppresses kyllinga.  It should be applied by licensed chemical applicators.  Check with your landscaper to see that they have a applicators license from the VA Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, then ask them about treating your nutsedge.

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

Be water-wise and Beat the heat

Hello friends! I apologize for the delay in our next installment. Lots going on this summer as we get busier, and Rachel is closer to bringing our son into the world on November 8th.

In order to help your plants beat the heat, I wanted to share some wise irrigation advice. Now this doesn't mean you need an irrigation "system" installed. You can manually irrigate your gardens. My step dad would run manifolds and multiple hoses around the yard and even had a sprinkler mounted to a telephone pole to get it to spray farther. ( I don't recommend this.)

Being water-wise should start at the design phase of your garden. Proper placement of drought resistant plants, when given the opportunity to get established, are the best way to save water. Another thing you can do to preserve water is proper mulching techniques. 2-4 inches of shredded hardwood mulch properly installed will hold water, shade the soil to keep it cooler, and suppress weed growth. Thick ground cover plants can also shade the soil lowering root zone temperatures reducing water loss. Rock is NOT recommended as a mulch as is reflects heat onto the plants, does not retain water, and is harder to keep weeds out of.

Water in the early morning hours while your plants are taking up water to make it through the day. watering later in the day has little benefit as the plants have closed their stoma to preserve water, therefore greatly reducing transpiration.
Water less frequently for longer periods of time, i.e. 3 days a week for 1 hour, as opposed to everyday for 15 minutes. The longer period gets the water deeper which encourages root growth, and therefore drought resistance.
Rain Barrels used to catch storm water attached to a soaker hose is the most efficient as you have a free water source (rain) and the low pressure soaker hose releases the water into your garden at a slow rate, encouraging that root growth.

Good Luck, and keep your garden GREEN!!

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

Green Roofs and the Navy

I was recently at a local restaurant having lunch, alone, so I had to read something while I ate. The only thing available was The Flagship, a local Naval publication. I never served in the military but have a deep respect for those who do. I flipped the pages to find something I could at least understand, since most of this newspaper has to do with base news and command information. On the front page of section "B" of the Flagship, called "Front & Center" was an article about Naval Station Norfolk's Green roof project.

A green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane.
Modern green roofs, which are made of a system of manufactured layers deliberately placed over roofs to support growing medium and vegetation, are a relatively new phenomenon. However, green roofs or sod roofs in Northern Scandinavia have been around for hundreds of years. Modern green roofs were developed in Germany in the 1960s, and have since spread to many countries. Today, it is estimated that about 10% of all German roofs have been “greened”.
Modern green roofs use succulents, or relatives of cacti as their main vegetation. Many sedums are used as they are drought and heat tolerant.
Benefits include longer roof lifespans, reduced storm water run-off, and energy savings as the building is better insulated. The Regional Legal service office at Naval Station Norfolk is scheduled to be completed this December.
It is awesome to see the government is focusing on things like this on our military installations. The day is coming that these will be commonplace, at least I hope so.....

Mark Griffith is a Virginia Certified Horticulturist and 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

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