Fire Blight

Fire Blight

Have you noticed that pear trees (ornamental and fruit-producing) look pretty bad this season?  If not, take a look when you are around and about and you may notice lots of blackened areas on the trees (the fruits-yes, even ornamental Bradford pears produce little fruits) might be blackened and shriveled and the new growth leaves likewise.  This is probably fire blight, and we have been having a hard time of it this season. There has always been a little of this bacterial disease in my yard- my apple tree gets a bit, but is mostly sturdy and resistant.  This year I first noted it on my fire-blight resistant Moonglow and Magness pear trees.  Last season Magness had it, almost enough the kill the tree completely, but seems OK this season.  This year, however, the Moonglow is more affected.  

Fire flight is caused by a nasty bacteria that can kill a tree, if the bacterial disease spreads to the root zone (and it probably will, especially on a small tree, if you take no action).  The first defense is the plant fire-blight resistant varieties, but as my experience has shown, these are resistant to the bacteria, not immune to it. Next, to keep your tree as healthy as possible, plant it away from other susceptible host plants, like many apple varieties (oops, I messed up there- my pears are too close to my apple tree!).  Use compost as a fertilizer to insure steady, not explosive, growth.  When you first see the signs of fire blight (leaves or stems that turn black) you need to out race the disease by selective pruning.  Cut the branch below the infected area (you will see where the stem turns black, and cut several inches below that).   Spraying an infected tree with an antibiotic spray or, early in the growing season, an organic, copper-based spray will also limit the disease. The copper spray is necessary to suppress the cankers which overwinter all over the tree bark, and which spread the disease in spring.

The photo above shows three cuttings from my pear tree to help identify fire blight. Look carefully at the cutting on the left.  See the sprout of leaves at the top and how that twig is black?  Then how the branch near to it is black too?  That is fire blight.  The cutting in the middle seems healthy, green leaves and brown bark.  The right most cutting has a black stem and one dead, shriveled shoot on the bottom right.  Though the leaves look good, this twig was destined to die, as it is infected with fire blight.  If you see new growth that is all black, leaves and stem, sometimes curled in a shepherd's crook shape, that is fire blight too.

 

Hope you are avoiding the blight and have a happy garden!

Garden Apps?

Look for an entry soon on garden apps for thr ipad, my new toy! And please let me know if you have some favorites I can try! Happy Gardening!

Sad plant, happy plant

Ah, my favorite theme: right plant, wrong place. Perhaps it is my favorite garden theme, because I do it so often: that is, I put a great plant in the wrong spot. Sometimes this is clearly my fault- I am running out of yard for certain plant types, but buy them anyway, and simply hope I can make it work. But other times, this error seems "thrust upon me," that is, the plant worked well where it was first placed, but conditions have changed: the neighbors trees (or mine) are larger and cast more shade, the weeds have invaded, etc. Above are photos of two plantings of the same plant, a lovely bearded iris.  In the first case, the trees overgrew and shaded the plant too much.  It produced few blossoms on spindly plants and tipped over pretty easily (though bearded iris are often guilty of this).  In the second, the plants are in full sun, are as happy as can be and have produced a huge number of blossoms.  So, I guess one corollary to the theme above is to move plants that are not working in their spot to a better place!
Happy gardening!

The Sign of a Good Gardener?

Why are these bags of "trash" the sign of a good gardener?  Well, that involves a story. I first planted four peach trees (two Elberta and two Red Haven) about eight years ago.  The first few years, they grew and grew.  The third year they blossomed for the first time and we got a decent crop of organic fruit.  This lulled us into a false sense of security.  The next year the trees set more fruit, and it was too much for them, Oh, we read about thinning, but could not bring ourselves to pull off many little fruits that could be destined to be delicious PEACHES!  So, we got lots of small peaches with little flesh.  And the branches of the trees actually snapped off under the weight of the fruit.  I swear I heard a few branches groan and snap off in the middle of the night.  We learned that, to produce a decent crop of good fruit, you need to pull off NINE of every TEN peaches when they are marble size, so the tree puts energy into making fewer, larger fruits (some sources say to pull off 19 of every 20 peaches!).  And this is what these bags in the photos above represent-  you see three bags of thinnings here, two more are in the trash and two more in the garden...and we are still thinning.
So, what does this have to do with being a good gardener?  A good gardener steels herself to pull off a ton of peaches (or apples, pears, plums...) to get a good crop.  A good gardener removes an under performing plant.  A good gardener takes out a plant that is the wrong size, shape or form for the place.  Gardening is not all about the planting and harvesting, it is about the good sense to "unplant," to thin, to realize your mistakes and correct them.
Happy thinning!
Happy gardening!

Another plant sale: Ginter Gardens

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Plant Sale:
Thursday, May 3 ,  1  p.m. – 6 p.m.
Friday, May 4, 9  a.m. – 5 p.m.
Saturday, May 5, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
For directions:  http://www.lewisginter.org/plan/hours_admission_directions.php
804-262-9887
I always fine something fun (and some bargains under the green Ginter tent)!
Happy gardening!

High School Plant Sales

Area high schools host plant sales by their horticulture departments in late April and early May.  I have been shopping at the Atlee High School plant sale for a few years.  Their plants (a mix of annuals and perennials, plus some veggies) are uniformly good quality and a good price.  The horticulture teacher, Marc Moran, usually has the students pick one unusual plant to grow and sell (past examples are passionflower vines, ornamental millet, and the new, exotic echinaceas).  Mr. Moran said they are having some neat plants this year including:  'Phantom' Petunia (Black/Purple with a yellow star stripe), Pentas 'Northern Lights Lavender', 'Martha Washington' Geraniums and Gazania 'Big Kiss.' The proceeds of any HS plant sale go to support the hort ed programs.

Atlee High School Spring Plant Sale:
May 9th through the 12th.  W-F 8:30 til
6pm and Sat. 8am-1pm

9414 Atlee Station Road
Mechanicsville, VA 23116
804-559-0321

How Much Earlier?

Like every gardener I know, I have noted how much earlier plants are blooming and leafing out this year. How much earlier? My "Bridal Wreathe Spirea Clock" "went off" in early March , 11 days before its normal bloom time, though my daffodils started months early, in mid-December. Early bloom is different for various plants, depending on what triggers the end of their dormancy. For a take on this, and how much earlier flowers are blooming than during Thoreau's day, read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/opinion/early-bloomers.html?_r=1&emc=eta1