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

Fall Garden Care

Hello all!  It's been a busy time here at the Nautilus Garden designs Household.  We welcomed the newest member to the team Zephaniah Lucas Griffith on October 15th.  He and Rachel are doing great.

I want to give you all a couple tips as the weather cools and your tender perennials start to recede.  One of the first things to do is go through your irrigation and reduce the frequency of your watering.  Cooler temps mean less water loss through evaporation.    Less frequent watering encourages your turf roots to grow deeper seeking water.  This will increase drought tolerance for next summer.

Start cutting back some of your perennial flowers as they brown out.  For daylillies,  I always wait until all the green has gone out of the leaves.  This indicates that the plant has translocated all of it's energy and carbohydrates back to the root zone.  Then cut them to the ground.  Waiting like this will give your daylillies more energy to greet you with awesome blooms next year.

Last of all, mulch.  Mulching to a depth of 3 inches in the fall insulates your plants from the cold, protecting them from damage.  Mulch suppresses weed growth naturally, diminishing the need for chemical herbicides. Mulches also prevent sudden changes in soil temperature, which helps prevent tender premature growth during winter warm spells. Using a good hardwood mulch is best.  Dyed mulches will work, but sometimes the dyes can be an irritant to the microbes and earthworms that our garden need, so if you can, go for the natural hardwood mulches instead of dyed.  Buying Bulk is much more cost effective than buying bags, and you don't have the plastic to throw into landfills.  Bag mulch is usually just a couple of cubic feet for 5.00 or so.  Bulk mulch is sold by the cubic yard (27 cubic feet) and is usually around $30.00 a yard. (Delivery and installation add to this of course).  Be sure to keep mulch away from the root flare on your trees.  Piling mulch into "Mulch Volcanoes"  can harm trees by holding moisture against the bark inviting pests and diseases, so be sure to keep about a 1" space between  the trunk of your trees and the mulch.

Mark Griffith is a Virginia Certified Horticulturist, ISA Certified Arborist,  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.

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