Gardening
with Clive Sullivan
of Cameron Landscapes and Ballylesson Garden Centre.
SEASONAL tips - watch out far damage on tress about now -
Cherry trees can get blossom wilt. where the flowers and
leaves drop turn brown and fall off accompanied by browning
of the stem
This should be treated by pruning off the affected spurs
then spraying about now with a systemic fungicide containing
carbendazim. This will help next year's flowers to last
longer.
Also about now when we staff shimming again: sometimes
the unkindest cut of all as far as the tree is concerned is
that close shave at the bottom of the trunk
Leave a gap around the base either cut the grass away
from a couple of feet around the trunk or grow some low
ground cover shrubs that don t need shimming.
You could plant Sedum matting (looks outstanding under
Acers) or maybe Hebe pinguifolia pagei. very tough evergrey
foliage with White flowers
If you have bamboos recently planted. try adding horse
manure to give them a boost. and don't forget to water them
well in the first year.
Their dense roof system needs a fair bit of water. but
they are fairly robust plants once established and if they
lose some foliage. will quickly make up for this
Now is also a good time to lightly prune Cytisus or
common broom, as the flowering comes to an end.
Give it a good haircut and not only will the flowers be
better next year but the shrub will stay bushy and compact.
For the same reason you could do the same with Camellias and
Lithospermum 'Heavenly Blue. easily the countrys favourite
Alpine plant.
Watering is now absolutely critical for bedding and
hanging basket development. Too much and you get botryfis
(grey fluffy mould on leaves) and too little and your
flowers will just die. Despite the recent deluges you d be.
surprised how much rain doesn't penetrate the foliage to the
soil.
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