A split low down on a large camellia. Branches that leave the trunk at a sharp angle like this are prone to split.

When you walk through your yard or garden after the snow melts, you are likely to see damage to your shrubs from the snow load, especially on evergreen plants which hold more of the snow.

Branches may have torn completely off of the plant, or may be broken but still attached. Any obviously broken branches that are still attached should be removed from the plant. They should be cut back to undamaged wood on the larger branch to which they are attached, or back to the trunk. If the branch has fallen away completely leaving a stub, then the stub should be removed. Pruning of small branches is not difficult, but there is a “right way” to do it so that the wound heals more rapidly.

There are plenty of easily accessible brochures on the web about pruning, and the Maryland Extension Home and Garden Information Center has some videos. Here are some places to start: (from the University of Maryland; Purdue University and the University of Minnesota).

(Pay attention to the pruning technique near the end of the “large trees” video, especially shot of the branch collar. People tend to want to prune back flush to the trunk of the tree or shrub, but that is incorrect. The video shows the correct way.)

Read the rest of this entry

Gardening Basics: Simply Put
Feeding the Birds

The recent heavy snowfalls have made it difficult for birds to find natural food, so it’s a good time to give them a hand. I admit that I used to feed the birds year round, but over the years I guess I got lazy and stopped. Looking at the forecast a couple of weeks ago, I felt a pang of guilt and bought a Droll Yankee brand bird feeder and some seed and set up a bird feeding area in a sheltered spot. Especially during the height of the storm, we were bird central. My home is on a heavily wooded suburban lot, a couple of miles from Rock Creek Park, so we tend to have a lot of birds close by. The sorts of birds you get at your feeder will depend on your environment.

In spring, during the nesting season, birds feed heavily on insects. But during winter, whatever insects are around are dormant and only certain birds hunt for them. Woodpeckers and nuthatches clamber around on the trunks of trees, looking for insects (or their eggs) hiding under the bark, while wrens hunt through the logs in the woodpile. I find that suet cakes (blocks of fat with berries and seed, hung in a suet feeder) attract a lot of woodpeckers, and occasionally wrens, nuthatches and chickadees.

Read the rest of this entry

We’ve moved this terrific overview of Moth Orchids to our website – just click here.

Simply Put: Local Public Gardens

A couple of the Behnke staff went to Swarthmore College near Philadelphia  recently to attend a perennial conference. We also walked around the Swarthmore Campus (which hosts the Scott Arboretum) and spent an afternoon at Longwood Gardens; both in the rain.  As I label my photos, I am struck by how lucky we are to have so many fine public gardens in our area. The Philadelphia gardens are only a couple of hours drive away, but of course we have many nice gardens right here in D.C. and the ‘burbs.

The gardens are well-maintained, well-labeled, and free—so they are great for family outings and getting ideas. There is nothing like seeing a plant in the ground, or finely crafted mixed container plantings to inspire you on your next trip to Behnke’s.

With digital photography, it’s so much easier now to record what you like. Take a photo of the plant, and a photo of the label. No need to steal labels anymore!  (We find that the plants that are unusual and in bloom almost always suffer from label-thief blight.)  Email us at behnkes@behnkes.net or bring your photo in. We’ll tell you if we can get the plant, and if not, maybe we might be able to tell you where else to look.

Locally, my favorite gardens are the following, with the areas I most like to visit: Go to their websites for more information. A small disclaimer: I am more interested in perennials than other, lesser garden subjects, and that bias may show up in the descriptions below.

The websites will list also activities and lectures for the public, with top-notch speakers. And here’s a secret: the gardens are more interesting to visit in person!  Turn off that computer and get thee to a garden!

• The United States National Arboretum in DC has collections of magnolias, crabapples and other trees and shrubs, and azaleas; all of which are particularly nice to visit when they are in bloom. The herb garden is spectacular, and the Bonsai collection is world class. Asian Valley showcases Asian plants, while the recently renovated Fern Valley showcases native plants.
• The United States Botanic Garden also in DC, at the foot of Capitol Hill has a spectacular historical greenhouse range which was renovated about 8 years ago.  Hidden in a courtyard in the structure is a zone-denial garden (plants that normally wouldn’t take the winters here).  The patio surrounding the greenhouses has terrific container gardens in season, and is a great place to take a break when your feet are succumbing to museum syndrome.

Adjacent to the building is the intimate Bartholdi Park, which features the Bartholdi Fountain when it’s in town (it’s currently offsite for restoration). And opened in 2006, the National Garden, which has a rose garden, water features, and the Regional Garden, featuring native plants.

• The Smithsonian Institution has a number of gardens on the national mall, including a native plant garden at the National Museum of the American Indian, and the intimate, ever-changing and eclectic Ripley Garden which always has interesting perennials to see. Smithsonian Gardens
• Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland is a wonderful place to walk around.  Massive bulb displays in the spring are worth a special trip, and the rose garden has recovered from deer pressure, thanks to a deer-exclusion fence around the property.  This is a particularly good place to see perennials and shrubs for shade. Nice greenhouses with seasonal displays.
• Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, Virginia is the place to go if you are interested in vegetable and herb gardening, as the staff have particular expertise in these areas. They also have little vignettes (“twenty thematic demonstration gardens”) set up to give you ideas for home landscapes; courtyards, townhouses, and so on. They also have nice beds of perennials.

By Larry Hurley: Perennial Plants Buyer

For the urban/suburban gardener, dealing with deer and other warm-blooded garden grazers is generally a case of discouraging their feeding in your garden. You can probably visualize herds of discouraged deer, walking dejectedly down the street, looking for some hosta to terrorize, their little white tails limp. Bad posture and everything. Sooner or later they will feed, it’s just that you are trying to get them to feed elsewhere, maybe on the next street.

One of the weapons in your non-ballistic arsenal is the use of deer-resistant plants. These are plants that have proven to be low on the deer’s feeding preference list. It doesn’t mean they won’t eat them, or try them and spit them out, just that on average, they are more likely to leave them alone when given other choices. For example, for me, Brussels Sprouts are Larry-resistant plants. And I don’t need any emails telling me I’m just not preparing them right, thank-you-very-much.

For deer, the resistant plants tend to fall into several categories—smell strongly (herbs); a lot of hairs on the leaves (often looking silvery); or taste bad/are poisonous. Note on the poisonous ones, that they are likely to be poisonous to people as well.

Most spring flowering bulbs are deer resistant: crocus and tulips are not. But daffodils (narcissus); hyacinths; fritillaria; scilla; muscari; galanthus and ornamental allium are, among others. Just don’t eat them. The alliums are various types of onions so they are strongly flavored; the fritillaria have a skunky odor when handled; daffodils are poisonous, and so on.

Some Other Fiends of the Garden:
If you have problems with squirrels digging up your bulbs, either to eat or just to play with, try placing a wide-mesh chicken wire on the soil surface. The bulbs will grow up through the mesh, and the squirrels can’t dig through it. Once the leaves start to grow through the mesh, you can remove it.

If you have voles (like short-tailed mice) that burrow around and eat some your bulbs during the winter, add sharp gravel or Vole Block (which is sharp gravel) to the soil around the bulbs when you plant them. The idea is that the sharp gravel is hard for the voles to dig through without poking their little noses (squeak!!), and they will go elsewhere where the digging is easier.

So, if the beauty of spring bulbs weren’t enough to get you to plant some this fall, maybe the idea that they can solve some of your “what can I plant that the deer will leave alone?” problems will entice you in to view our selection of fall-planted, spring-flowering bulbs.