Driving to work this morning revealed the impact of this heavy, wet snowstorm. Young trees, especially oaks, are bending under the weight of a foot or more of the white stuff. Larger, older trees remain upright – thanks to stout trunks – but are lowering their branches as the flakes continue to fall. And some [...]
Archive for October, 2009
How to help storm damaged trees
Posted in Trees and shrubs, tagged Planttalk Colorado, pruning trees, snow damaged trees, snowstorm, storm damage to trees, trees in snow on October 29, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Heavy snow is hazardous to trees
Posted in Trees and shrubs, tagged snow load, snow on trees, trees in snow on October 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »
We’re in the middle of a heavy, wet snowfall and if your tree hasn’t lost its leaves, the extra weight may cause some branch breakage. But don’t rush out and whack off the snow – you could make things worse by wiping the snow off with a broom, grabbing and shaking the tree, or otherwise adding [...]
What to do with fallen leaves
Posted in Lawns, Trees and shrubs, tagged fall leaves, leaves on lawns, mulching leaves, tree leaves on October 27, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Between the early freeze and the recent wind, our trees lost their leaves in a hurry. Once again, we need to clean up the mess. But raking, bagging and sending those leaves to the landfill is not a good idea, so why not use them in your landscape where fallen foliage turns to garden gold? [...]
What’s so scary about spiders?
Posted in Uncategorized on October 23, 2009 | 7 Comments »
A co-worker of mine has an Oklahoma Brown tarantula in his office that has created a little havoc in the building where he works. The tarantula is a male near the end of its eight-year life, a time when the boys leave their burrows to search for a girl. In addition to his wanderlust, this [...]
Winterize your sprinkler system – part two
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged ALCC, Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado, winterize sprinkler systems on October 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado are at it again, giving us wise advice on keeping our sprinkler systems in top shape. After their helpful information on winterizing the backflow preventer published in a previous post, they have super-sized their advice by sending out instructions on the rest of the system: “Each year, many Colorado [...]
Clean energy starts with manure
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged clean energy, Greeley Colorado, JBS Five Rivers, manure on October 20, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Gardeners, here’s a topic we must look squarely in the eye and discuss. I speak of the Associated Press story on investors in Greeley, Colorado, planning to turn manure into clean, refreshing energy. I have no beef with green energy. Finding new ways to fuel our lives is a responsible thing to do, and the amount of [...]
Spider love a thing to scream over
Posted in Bad bugs, icky diseases, and operator error, Uncategorized, tagged fangs, spider love, spider mating, spider webs, spiders on October 16, 2009 | 8 Comments »
October is a difficult time. In this month, one of the best beneficials in the garden is maligned, cast as a villain and used in effigy as a Halloween horror. What a cruel reputation the spider has, when all it really needs is a little understanding. Once you get to know these web-spinning wonders, you’ll [...]
Fall care of roses
Posted in Flowers, Uncategorized, tagged fall rose care, protecting roses, rose care, roses, winter care of roses on October 15, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Just because they’re pampered, smell good, and look great with a tuxedo-clad guy doesn’t mean this princess is a pushover. In fact, when it comes to hanging tough once the weather gets ugly, the rose proves it’s about as delicate as Mac truck. Frost, wind, snow and chilly days aren’t enough to stop this blooming [...]
Sudden leaf drop from hard freeze normal for some trees
Posted in Trees and shrubs, tagged freeze on trees, leaves, leaves and freeze, sudden leaf drop, Trees on October 12, 2009 | 9 Comments »
Fellow blogger Jodi Torpey asked an excellent question about the speed with which her ash tree dropped its leaves this weekend. Reading her post on this in her blog, I couldn’t help but comment to her that my black walnut had done the same thing – dropped all of its leaves in a great, big [...]
Yes it snowed, but please remain calm
Posted in Trees and shrubs, Uncategorized, tagged snow on trees, trees and snow on October 10, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Ok, so the snow took everyone by surprise – not that we don’t get a few flakes in October, but we got DUMPED on last night if you live up north by the Wyoming border. A buddy who lives up there reported 14 inches at his house this morning. Those of us further south didn’t [...]
