July 5, 2011, Newsletter
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Tough Lawn Weeds, Getting the Job Done Right You can purchase products to battle broadleaf weeds in the lawn just about anywhere. Using them effectively is another matter. Our philosophy is to provide the best customer service and education we can to keep you coming back to make your purchases here at Drummers. We also have a personal relationship with our vendors so that we can learn more about how to use their products. Plus, they stand behind their products, in most cases nearly without question, to us and our customers. Here’s a little story to illustrate those relationships. Recently, a customer let me know she had used Fertilome’s Weed Free Zone to kill violets in her lawn and it hadn’t worked even when we had assured her it was the correct product. Aren’t they pretty little flowers? Sadly, not in the lawn. As I worked with our Fertilome rep, he helped me get exactly the right directions to her (which she will try) and he gave her a full refund on the product she had been unsuccessfully using. However, this product is still effective against violets in turf but it needs to be used correctly. So here’s how. Violets have a root system called a tuber. Tubers store a great deal of energy for the plant to use when it is under stress. For example, potatoes are a type of tuber and iris too have a tuberous root system. This is why it is best to apply herbicide to the violets in fall using two applications 14 days apart. Fall (September and October) is the time to do this because that is when the plant is attempting to store energy in the tuber so it takes in the toxin more readily. Fall is also, by the way, a great time to control Creeping Charlie with the same product. Summer applications can have limited effect on many weeds. This is because plants tend to shut down their systems during the heat of summer to conserve energy. They do this by closing their stoma which are like pores on the leaves. With those closed, the herbicide will have limited affects on the plant. It’s also unwise to spray herbicides when temperatures are over 80 degrees because it can cause injury to your turf and can drift in to other non target plants. The lesson here is to spray in the morning when it’s cool. In addition, violet leaves are somewhat waxy and that can make it hard for a herbicide to stay in contact with a plant long enough to make a difference. In this case, it’s easy to mix a product called, Turbo, a spreader sticker in with the herbicide. Spreader sticker makes it adhere to the leaf increasing effectiveness, plus it economizes chemical use and runoff. It can be used with a wide range of sprays. Finally, violet tubers do not all grow at the same time and they may need repeated treatment over a 3 year period as they continue to sprout. This is an intricate look at how to use one herbicide on one plant and it may seem a bit boring but this is the type of help we can give you to unravel the best use of products which we hope distinguishes us in the marketplace. |
 Look at the size of the Mucho Nacho Jalapeno pepper A wonderful world of patrons Many of you wonder out loud what a fun job we have here at Drummers. Seriously, our work is focused on you, our customer and sometimes it is a lot of fun. We have the privilege of meeting a lot of interesting and fun people and gardening is the common denominator. We have customers who hail from all over the world and we love seeing you, learning from you and helping you navigate in the garden world of Minnesota, the Star of the North (sometimes a hard lesson from those of you who hail from tropical climates). As is often the case with our customers who have grown to love gardening somewhere else and are now gardening in Southern Minnesota, we find ourselves in the role of figuring out what you are looking for but by a different name. It’s really fun when we make a connection with the right plant. One young woman grew up in eastern Europe and was looking for a large, hot, yellow pepper that was grown in her village. We came close but just couldn’t get an exact fit. In the world of plants, this may be a pepper that was grown for ages in her area ans so she is writing home for some seed so she can perpetuate the plant for herself in her new garden. We also have the pleasure of working with a couple who also hail from eastern Europe and recall the wonderful orchards of their childhood that were, sadly, ruined by the causes of social upheaval. Today they are busy creating an urban orchard on their city lot growing cherries, plums and even fig which they harbor indoors in the winter. Another customer hails from France and while her father visited he helped her with her landscape and planted several hydrangeas for her. It was fun to work together to figure out what he needed for his planting project and to see it take shape. As you may know, developing new varieties of hydrangeas now is very popular and many breeders are working with parent plants from…. France! Dan had a fun experience this spring helping a group of Hispanic gentlemen find peppers for their vegetable garden. They selected flavorful peppers like Serrano and were also looking for Jalapeno. Dan suggested they try Mucho Nacho prized for its large size. They loved the idea and took home a plant new to them. We know many of our customers are Rotarians who help foster peace and understanding around the world but we have fun with it too in our little corner of the planet. Keep sharing your stories; we love them. |
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Reminder: Ready Your Best of the Bunch Entry If you participated in our Annual Container Make & Take classes in March, we’re reminding you to participate in the Best of the Bunch Contest. The deadline is Aug. 15. Find the best time to take a glamor shot of your container and enter. You can send your entry via email or in person and we will need your name, address and telephone number for each entry. Good luck! This recent sunshine and heat will really help our annuals.
 Planting Make & Takes is fun
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 Pink mandevilla has textured leaves, attracts hummingbirds and performs well in windy areas. Try a Tropical on Your Patio We still have a great selection of tropicals in the greenhouse and encourage you to try one on your patio or deck this summer. You don’t have to be in Florida or even further south to really enjoy these colorful and tough plants. Many gardeners have good luck wintering them in their homes too. Choose from Bouganvilla, Mandevilla, Diplodenia, Meyer Lemon, Jasmine and Passion Vine. |
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Garden Tasks to do Now + If the foliage on your spring-blooming bulbs is withered and completely brown, it is fully ripened. Waiting until this happens is necessary for good flower development for next year. You can remove ripened foliage on spring-blooming bulbs now and transplant, if necessary. If you transplant be sure to add Bulb Tone to the bottom of the hole and to take the soil around the bulb’s roots. Once you remove the foliage, devis + Thinning Fruit on Apple Trees – This step is most effective when done when apples are about dime sized but it will still benefit your trees if you thin fruit now. Apple trees tend to set more fruit than the limbs can support and this can sap the tree’s valuable energy resources making the fruit size and quality suffer. It is usually necessary to thin the fruit by hand. It is common for most apples to produce four to five apples per cluster. The goal of thinning is to keep one fruit per cluster. The largest fruit in the cluster, called the king fruit (this is the same for berries too), is the one to keep. Apples remaining on the tree should be spaced 6-8-inches apart. Some apple trees tend to bear better every other year. If you thin your fruit this can help prevent that problem and allow you to get nice fruit yields every year. + Deadhead your perennials to get the best show. I know it’s tough to find time to stay ahead of the weeds this summer but if you find the chance do get out and do some deadheading. This practice will not only help the plant save its energy by discouraging seed formation but it will encourage it to bloom again in many cases. Cut back the spent flowers of plants like Salvia, Heuchera, Veronica, Coreopsis, Coneflower, Rose, Daisy, Monarda, Campanula and more. Give it a shot and see what results you get in your garden.
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Sales and Specials View our specials any time on our website. + Annual flowers in 4.5″ (.88 qt./832.79 mL) containers and 4-packs (.45 qt./422.9 mL.) are now Buy 1, Get 1 FREE + Find special pricing on select hanging baskets and select tropicals in the greenhouse While you’re in the greenhouse, check out our wonderful selection of summer annuals + Until July 15 take $2 off any #1 (2.64 qt./2.5L) perennial. These are our larger yellow and purple pot sizes.This sale includes clematis and you will find a few exclusions. + WOW! This is a great deal. Select Red Twigged Dogwood in #5 (14.2 L) container, regularly $44.99 are now $19.99. That’s right! This is a great opportunity to establish a nice hedge, privacy screen or even just a nice landscape plant. This sale runs through July 15.
+ We also have other hedge shrubs on sale until July 15. Our #2 (6.1L) Hedge Cotoneaster and Chinese Lilac are now $9.99. They are also a great deal because the regular price is $29.99. Hedge Cotoneaster is 8-10′ tall at maturity and can be pruned into a formal hedge quite nicely. The plants are narrow, just getting 4-5′ wide, so used alone it will look like a nice column. They have dark green small leaves. They do have a very small pink blossom that is followed by red fruit that the birds will forage very quickly. This plant is hardy in zones 2-6 and requires sun. Chinese Lilac grow into a 10-12′ shrub that’s 5-10′ wide. They are hardy in zones 3 to 7 and do best in full sun. They have a smaller leaf than most lilac and have a lilac-red flower with that familiar fragrance. Now here’s a plant that will help block wind and dust from the road and make a great part of any hedge or mixed planting.
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