Archive for the ‘Lawn and Garden’ Category
Fall Fashion Plants at Thayer Nursery
Saturday, September 18th, 2010
Starting September 24th and going through October 1st, ‘Boston Fashion Week has served as a fertile proving ground for fashion talents and now is the ideal time of year for locals to explore new ideas and express themselves.’
This season, the Thayer Nursery Fall 2010 collections include:
Conservative Glamour: ‘return to quality and classic style- that have real staying power. streamlined simplicity in a muted color palette.’
Echinacea ‘summer skies’, Pennisetum ‘karly rose’ &
Heuchera ‘marmalade’
Eccentric Ladylike: ‘not afraid of color — lots of bold ones paired together in seemingly off combos that as a whole work wonderfully. quirky combinations with mixed prints. mixing of patterns …and pulling together disparate motifs. A perennial muse who, even in the most minimal of moments, pops up somewhere unexpectedly.
Rudbekia ‘indian summer’, Aster ‘henry 1’ & Dryopteris ‘autumn’
Bohemian Rhapsody: ‘like a posh Stevie Nicks minus the frayed edges. flowy, flowery frocks. an artier take on boho with tons of froth, frills, layers and anything that will flutter in a light breeze.’
Buddleia ‘pink delight’, Hibiscus ‘brandy punch’, Lavender ‘munstead’ & the fairy Rose
Urban Warrior: ‘prefers minimal to more, and who definitely loves a little luxe.’
Pennisetum ‘maudry’, Heuchera ‘Beaujolais’ & Echinacea ‘fatal attraction’
stop by and check out our Newest Arrivals and
make your garden one of this falls Best Dressed.
Three Stars of the Colorful Fall Garden
Thursday, September 9th, 2010
Every season has its stars in the garden, and fall flowering perennials are some of the brightest performers in the cast. Often stately and tall, fall bloomers tend to show off the tones of the season, deep purples, burgundy, red and gold. Here are some sensational stars for your garden in the fall.
Chrysanthemums
The ringleaders of the fall colors, these “mums”, come in many shades of purple, pink, red, yellow and white and grace every doorstep, doorway, and garden in NE right about now.
Sedum
Sedum looks good all year, requires minimal attention and attracts few problems. Then it throws us this wonderful encore in the fall with a brilliant display of color.
Asters
Asters start popping open in late August and continue doing so until frost. You can see them in shades of pink, purple, blue and white and these airy daisy-like blossoms are truly charming.
Our fall collection has arrived, so if you want to see these beauties, and other fall show offs, stop by the nursery and say hello.
53,600,000 results for organic gardening
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
Just now, when we googled “organic gardening”, there were 53, 600,000 results!
We think there is an easier way: Dr. Earth. Go straight to Dr. Earth. Do not pass go, do not take any detours.
This company, founded 17 years ago by plant biology expert, Milo Shammas, is the best source, we feel, for knowledge, products, and inspiration. You will discover the root of organic integrity and along the way, the best garden of your life.
The Dr. Earth products are the very first to combine beneficial living soil organisms, (microbes), with organic fertilizers, to create a bio-technical breakthrough that is revolutionizing the gardening and landscape industries.
At Thayer Nursery Landscaping and Garden Center, we’re proud to offer the Dr. Earth line of products.
Most Un-Wanted: Cedar–Apple Rust
Sunday, August 8th, 2010
Wanted For: defoliating apple leaves & for just being gross!!
Description: bright yellow-orange-red spots on apple leaves and orange galls with ‘horns’
Hangout: juniper (eastern red cedar) & apple trees including crabapples
Kryptonite: Lime –Sulfur Spray, Home Orchard Spray
The fungus that causes this disease moves back-and-forth between Eastern red cedars (actually junipers) and both fruiting & ornamental apple trees. In order to complete its life cycle this fungus must spend part of its life on both. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the disease by eliminating the cedars within the given area of the apple tree. However, the spores can be wind borne up to 2-3 miles, so eradication of the disease is often impossible or impractical. Nonetheless, if cedars are not too numerous on your property, the removal of junipers around the immediate apple tree can certainly reduce the spores reaching the apple foliage & fruit.
The spores drift through the air mostly at night and early morning. If it lands on the apple’s leaves & fruit and remains wet for 4-6 hours, the spores infect the leaves of the apple tree. After several weeks, yellow spots develop on the infected apple leaves and fruit. By mid-summer the spots appear slightly raised and light-colored & are visible on the underside of the leaf. Spores are released and the wind carries them to nearby junipers. Infected juniper needles and twigs show no symptoms of infection initially. Inspect them closely the next spring for small, green swellings (immature galls). The galls reach full size by the end of the next growing season but do not mature and develop the orange gelatinous tendrils until the following spring (about 20 months after infection.) This bizarre-looking structure is actually the fruiting stage of the fungus. The “horns” release the spores that infect the apple trees.
Many sulfur fungicides are effective against rust. Begin spraying in spring and repeat throughout the summer as needed. Spraying the juniper is not recommended because cedar-apple rust rarely causes significant damage to this host. Prune dormant galls from juniper during the fall, winter and early spring before the orange tendrils begin to erupt from galls.
planting for the future.
-By Maggie Oldfield Thayer Nursery
Most Un-Wanted: Lily Leaf Beetle
Sunday, August 1st, 2010
Wanted For: an invasive species that dines on & destroys ornamental lilies, also exhibits an interesting habit of personal hygiene – covering themselves with their own excrement
Description: beetle has bright scarlet body & black legs, head, & antennae and the Larvae resemble slugs with swollen orange, brown, yellowish or even greenish bodies and black heads
Hangout: asiatic lilies
Kryptonite: Neem, Spinosad, Pyrethrins
The adult beetles stay alive throughout the winter and emerge early in the spring, when they begin looking for food and a mate. The adult females lay their eggs on the underside of lily leaves and the females produce between 250 and 450 eggs. The eggs appear in April or May and hatch within eight days.
The young larvae feed on the underside and the upper surface of lily leaves and sometimes on lily buds. This feeding period, which lasts 16 to 24 days, is the most destructive. From there, the beetles drop to the soil and pupate, emerging as adults about 16 to 22 days later & feed throughout the rest of the growing season.
And their personal hygiene leaves something to be desired: they secrete and carry their excrement on their backs. While they feed, the lily leaf beetles cover their bodies with their own excrement, giving them a grotesque appearance. It is some sort of defensive mechanism – it makes them look like a bird dropping, warding off predators and parasites.
If you only have a few plants in your garden, hand-picking adults and eggs can be effective (we prefer not to handle larvae, although there is no danger in doing so). Neem is most effective – it will repel beetles and kill young larvae, but must be applied every 5 to 7 days after the eggs hatch. Spinosad will kill the larvae.
planting for the future.
-By Maggie Oldfield Thayer Nursery