Rhododendron & Azalea News

Plant Tips
Gardener's best friend...soaker hose	It definitely is the time of the year when much water is used to water our gardens and we stop and wonder...at times...is it worth the high cost of water. There must be a simpler way to keep feeding our friends. Ed Hutchison writes extensively for garden lovers through many newspapers. This article appeared in the Northbrook Star recently. Permission was given to share with the world! Soaker hoses are a great way to water annuals, bushes, roses, and the like...because they emit water slowly and directly to the soil...rather than shooting it in the air. This time of year, gardeners in the Chicago area wish for Camelot and its sunny, warm days with rainfall in the evenings...after bedtime. And for a while this late spring, we enjoyed weather much like that. But now it is officially summer and even if rainfall where you live has been excellent, its good work can be erased with a week or so of hot, breezy, dry weather. I say "where you live" for good reason. Among the many things I learned from my mom is that rainfall must start...and stop...somewhere. Often, I drive through a thunderstorm a few miles from my home, hoping that it extended to my place only to arrive home and find things dry. This is yet another example of the microclimates in which we garden. I have an underground sprinkler system...with a rain gauge...and all that other stuff. But it is shut off most of the time. Instead, I watch what is going on and turn it on when moisture is needed to keep grass healthy. This is a long way of saying I believe a gardener's best friends over summer include: a hose, soaker hose or drip irrigation, nozzle, sprinkler, good judgment...and an alert eye. In that spirit, here are some tips to help you keep your plants, lawn, and containers happily hydrated.
water in the morning...	Just as you are not likely to begin an afternoon activity thirsty, neither should you send your plants dry into the heat of the day. Lawns, flower and vegetable gardens, and containers should all be watered in the morning, so they won't wilt...or even think about it...when heat brews up in early afternoon. Watering at night is not wise as plants and turf may not dry quickly enough to avoid problems with disease. Mildew and black spots...both scourges of the garden...thrive in damp, dark locations.
water at plant level...	Ideally, your plants will never wilt for lack of moisture. But do know the signs: plant looses its perky look, flowers and buds droop, leaves are no longer crisp, whole plant looks, well, wilted. I realize this sounds obvious...but it is not to many folks. I cannot believe the number of times I have been at a garden center or someone's home and saw a plant well into wilt stage, mentioned it, and got the response, "Oh, I didn't know that." Plants are living things and to do well with them, it is good to know their signs of distress.
water thoroughly...deeply...	Roots of annual flowers and vegetables likes are 10 to 12 inches deep. It takes more than a few passes of a sprinkler or nozzle to reach soil at that depth. This is why slow-release techniques like soaker hose and drip irrigators are very useful as they deliver quantities of water slowly and directly to the soil...rather than spraying it in the air. For example: the instructions on my soaker hose advice to water to a depth of just 1 inch will require more than three hours of continuously being on. I would think 200 minutes of dripping would get deeper than 1 inch...but that is the recommendation. Point is: water deep. With containers, water so excess moisture is draining out of the bottom.
lawns...	An off-color look to grass and blades that do not spring back when walked on are first signs of wilting in grass. It's ok...if you choose to let your lawn go dormant over summer. There will be less mowing to do...but also more weeds. I have yet to experience a summer that did not require frequent watering to keep a lawn lush and green during that time. In this part of Illinois, we cannot count on enough rainfall to keep our lawns green...so supplemental watering is necessary...if a growing lawn is desired. Otherwise, just relax. When it rains again, the parched turf will become green and lush.

Wisdom from Sir Churchill	Those of us who have survived World War II and shortly thereafter...well remember the wisdom of Sir Winston Churchill. He had a masterful way of expressing himself to encourage the English people in time of peril. One of his famous quotations: Blood, Sweat, Tears...three short, powerful words that gave England courage...just when she needed it most. Later those three words became the title a best-seller account of the World War II crises. Here's one of Churchill's quotations that might mean something to gardeners: "The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes."

An invitation to birds!	The Spring 2007 newsletter for the Mason-Dixon Chapter has an article that must be shared with all bird lovers! See if there isn't something for you...your garden...and your feathered friends who bring joy and song into our lives. According to Steve Kress, a bird conservation expert and vice president of the National Audubon Society, wild birds have a terrific sense for landscaping...and if you let the goal of attracting them inspire your garden design, you will have a wonderful garden...lively, pretty, and full of color, life, and song! Here are a few suggestions...
plant native plants	Steve recommends a mixed bed of trees, shrubs, and perennial flowers. They provide appropriate habitat, seeds and berries, and they harbor insects that birds depend on. Evergreens offer shelter from the wind and from birds of prey. Thorny shrubs are safe spots for nesting, and the berries provide food as well as a bright touch in the winter garden.
leave autumn leaves under shrubs	Avoid raking autumn leaves from under shrubs! Let them compost naturally in place. Insects love such a habitat...and birds love the bugs!
reduce size of lawn	Reduce the size of your lawn...in favor of flowerbeds and mixed borders. Lawns are not bird-friendly environments. With less lawn, you cut down on mowing time and use less gas...and you will have more birds and more time to enjoy your garden.
add a birdbath	Add a birdbath as a focal point. Every garden should have a water feature. If you don't have the space for a pond, a simple, nicely-placed birdbath gives a garden a subtle focal point. Choose a shallow birdbath with gently sloping sides. A garbage-can lid or a terra-cotta plant saucer, with a couple of flat rocks in the bottom...both make good birdbaths. Birds are not sticklers for tidiness. In fact...they like unmoved areas where the grass can go to seed. Birds like to look for insects in leafy mulch in flowerbeds and under shrubs...and they appreciate a brush pile. "A really tidy yard is a bad bird yard," say Steve.

Pruning...the know-hows	Kath Collier from the Portland Chapter always has some practical, worthwhile, everyday tips for gardeners. Let's look at what she recommends: Like other good rhodoholics, I have a tendency to consult with people at work over their plants. The most common questions seem to relate to pruning...and usually involve long ignored plants. A quick search of the Internet brought a wealth of articles on pruning. Particularly liked an article by Douglas F. Welsh, Texas A&M University System, and Everette Janne, Extension Landscape Horticulturist (retired) who had some real "down home" advice. "The old idea that anyone with a chain saw or a pruning saw can be a landscape pruner is far from the truth." Amen! "Do not prune at the convenience of the pruner...but rather when it results in the least damage to the plant." Hallelujah!
keep tools clean	Keeping your tools clean is critical when pruning in general. This will help keep any outbreaks from spreading.
use bleach wipes	Some people recommend alcohol and bleach. I like to use those new bleach wipes that pull out of the container...ready to go. I usually tuck a few in a plastic bag and take them with me when I prune...carefully cleaning my tools between each plant.
get a clean cut	Getting a good, clean cut is also important...which means you may need to sharpen the tools you use on a regular basis. This will also make the pruning process easier and well worth the extra few minutes spent sharpening. Tearing the bark and ragged cuts can create an open door for pests and diseases…both for trees and shrubs.
pruning affects flower size and regeneration	The strength and vigor of the new shoot is often directly proportioned to the amount the stem is pruned back since the roots are not reduced. For example...if the deciduous shrub is pruned to one foot from the ground, the new growth will be vigorous with new flowers the first year...if only the tips of the old growth are removed, most the previous branches are still there and new growth is shorter and less vigorous. Flowers will be more plentiful although smaller. Thus, if a larger number of small flowers and fruits are desired...prune lightly. If fewer but high-quality blooms or fruits are wanted in succeeding years, prune extensively!
increase amount of airflow	Pruning extensively does not equal a "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Most deciduous shrubs can be gradually thinned out by cutting a branch or twig off at its point of origin (from either the parent stem or ground level). This rejuvenating pruning method will create a more open plant and not stimulate excessive new growth. Increasing the amount of airflow around the plant will help ward off mildew and other problems in both rhodos and azaleas.

Added helps for tools	Suggestions come from North and South...and East and West...on how to take care of garden tools. Here are some additional thoughts: Make your tools measure up. Turn your hoes, rakes, and shovels into handy rulers. Just paint or notch marks for inches and feet on the wood handles of your tools. You will always have a measuring device when you need one. Give rusty tools a vinegar bath. Before you decide to throw away that rusty trowel or other gardening tool...try soaking it overnight in cider vinegar. Wipe away the residue with a cloth...you may find the tool is as good as new. Use old oil to keep tools looking new. Kill two birds with one stone in preparing tools for winter. Drain the oil from your power tools...then use the oil to rustproof your tools. Just dip a rag in the oil and wipe them down. Add rust protection to your toolbox. Tired of the same sad story of the gardener and the rusty tools? Then check out this absorbing tale. Put a charcoal briquette or a piece of children's sidewalk chalk...the thick, colorful kind...in your toolbox during the winter to absorb moisture. This time...your story will have a happy ending. Scour tools with homemade paste. Rusty gardening tools? Get them back in shape with a little salt and lemon juice! Mix enough salt into a tablespoon of lemon juice to make a paste, apply to rusted areas with a dry cloth...and rub.

Deadheading...by a deadhead!	Right now is the perfect time to deadhead in your garden. If you have ever had questions about the value of deadheading, why it is essential, who should do it...you must read the article Norman Todd, Victoria Chapter, recently wrote. You will smile and agree with Norm! I've said this before but really do need a deadhead to deadhead! Next to house painting, I can't think of a more mindless task. So...as has been asked...do you need to deadhead rhododendrons, the answer is...an 'almost no'...you don't need to...but you should. When I started growing rhododendrons, I was told that because they produced so many seeds they used copious amounts of energy in making seed to ensure their prospects of survival.
rhodos could be classified as weeds	Rhododendrons could be classified as weeds...if the criterion is prodigality in seed production. I have not read of any studies where the amount of energy needed to make seed has been measured. It would be nice to know...and would make a good subject for a master's thesis! My current guess is that because most of the seed capsules on rhododendrons are green...they probably manufacture a fair amount of chlorophyll on their own and, therefore, the energy needed is not as much as may be first assumed. I have noticed, however, that varieties that have large capsules and are brownish in color, if not removed, will result in the capsule bearing branch dying. R. concinnum is one example, R. oreotrephes, is another.
no risk to deadhead	I don't think there is any risk to the plant in deadheading. It may be riskier for the operator! I have had some people tell me that it is injurious...otherwise, why would the conservation of energy principle not have look after it. I do think the conservation of energy principle is then being applied...but on the part of the gardener.
conservation of energy principle	Most observers of rhododendrons in the wild report that they bloom well only every three or four or five years. This is where the conservation is applied. Because rhododendrons are so long lived, they need only have a surviving offspring every decade or so. Couple this with the enormous amount of seed available to ensure one successful germination every few years, and rhododendrons do not need to use huge amount of energy producing flowers every year.
inefficient means of seed distribution	Also, rhododendrons have an absurdly inefficient means of seed distribution. They use none of the devious exploitive ruses other smarter plants do, like covering their seeds with sugar or presenting a big juicy, robin-reward like cousin blueberry does or designing and patenting the Velcro fasteners of burrs. No! Rhododendrons are quite content to let the capsules wither a big...open minimally...and spill their seed on the ground. It is true that a few of the tropical Vireya rhododendrons have developed vestigial wings to get a bit of a lift...but to nowhere near the high tech aerodynamics of the samaras of the maples. But why bother? They have been around for close to 60 million years and as Edith Bunker said," If it works why try to fix it?" They are a successful genus.
deadheading give better bloom next year	Still, the majority of observers claim that deadheading does give better bloom the following year. One of the famous aristocratic English growers was a devout believer in his own conservation of energy principle. He pronounced with...ancestral authority...that deadheading only made the problem more acute in the following year.
main reason to deadhead is aesthetic	At the end of the day, however, the main reason for deadheading is...aesthetic. The brown corpses of the past glorious blooms are messily ugly. And, we do grow rhododendrons because we like to look at them. (Humans go to enormous pains to try to make themselves look good, i.e. bed-worthy. Nevertheless, it seems difficult to justify in Darwinian terms that all that effort pays dividends in survival benefits.) So...give your garden the benefit of a beauty treatment while suffering the sticky fingers from beheading the past luxuriance. You have to invent some mental ploy for keeping the tedium from developing a permanent deadhead. Thanks, Norm, for your marvelous sense of humor to carrying out a much-needed task. And each rhodie does look better after a little personal attention.

What is a lepidote?	Rhododendron enthusiasts are often asked what they mean when they refer to an unfamiliar rhody as a "lepidote", and the confusion is compounded when one sees quite a bit of space is devoted to them in a flower show.
nurseryman's answer...	A nurseryman may tell you casually that it refers to the small-leaved evergreen rhododendron. This can be used as a generality...but not as a hard and fast rule...as there is a fair amount of overlap between them and the "large-leaved" elepidotes.
lepidote's real traits...	Real traits that make it a useful distinction is...lepidote rhododendrons have scales on the underside of the leaf...which protect the plant's stomata (leaf pores) through oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor pass. The scales evolved originally to regulate moisture, to help keep in the cells in dry times, and help shed it in times of surfeit. This allowed plants evolving in the tropics to live in the quick-drying forest duff on the very thin soils of the tropics...or even epiphytically on rocks or tree trunks. Turn a leaf of the lepidote over and look for the tiny scales; some are big enough to see with the naked eye, but a hand lens will reveal a world of otherwise hidden detail.
elepidotes...are without scales	Elepidotes, on the other hand, are without scales to cover their stomata.
a versatile plant...	But winter brings many of the same demands as the tropics on a plant...encasing it in wet snow or desiccating it with cold dry winds, and the scales evolved to become adept at dealing with harsh winters as well. As a result, lepidote rhododendrons have adopted and spread to nearly all environments...from tropical jungles and Siberian woodlands to mountain meadows and alpine tundra. B ecause of this wide tolerance of soils, temperatures and exposures, they are especially useful to gardeners here in the Northeast. Other adaptations, such as fast regrowth after predation from grazing animals, and early bloom to deal with short growing seasons in cold climates, give us a plant that is easily pruned to shape and early to give the gardener a boost after a long winter. Most lepidotes have axially buds...extra flower buds under the terminal flower bud or along the branch...and in bloom often smother the foliage until all you can see are the flowers.
range of sizes...	Lepidote species range from tiny creeping alpines suitable for the rock garden...to tall forest and meadow plants for woodland wildflower gardens and formal borders.
the traffic-stopper...a lepidote!	Best of all, the hybrids developed by plant breeders bring hybrid vigor to the party, giving us a huge range of plants, among them some of th easiest and the hardiest rhododendrons to grow here in New England. The most common of these is probably the lepidote, 'PJM', which was hybridized by the Mezitts, and is now grown and admired all around the gardening world. The large-leaved fancy varieties of rhododendrons may get all the big press...but for vigor, hardiness, adaptability, easy of culture, and sheer traffic-stopping, eye-popping show of flowers in the spring...my money is on the lepidote! -- C. J. Patterson, Massachusetts Chapter Newsletter, September 2006

Heaths and heathers...the difference	How do you tell the difference between heaths and the heathers? Keep the girls apart! Heaths, with their needle-like foliage and a bloom time which extends from early winter through to summer...long with the genus Erica. Heathers with their scale-like foliage and a bloom time more restricted to the summer months, belong to the genus Calluna.

Alliums in your garden	These are such rewarding plants...and they look nice among rhodos...and the deer won't eat them. Apart from A. schonoprasum (chives) most of them are planted in the fall. They enjoy sun...but hate wet feet in winter. Don't plant the large-flowered varieties too close together as they need room for those giant flower heads. Small-flowered ones can be closer together can be left to form a clump. Found that A. moly (small, bright-yellow flowers) really ran rampant in the rhodo bed...but the larger ones seem to multiply more slowly. You can also start them from seed...your own, if you wish...for those big seed heads are loaded with little black seeds in the fall. The leaves look rather floppy and take time to die down in the fall...but planted among hostas, rhodos, other shrubs, or with ornamental grasses...they are not too noticeable.
alliums...happy, happy family...	Allium is a large and happy family...there are about 700 assorted aunts and cousins, all of whom related by blood or marriage to...the humble onion. Most are pretty hardy and there are varieties to suit almost every growing condition and the caprice of every gardener. There are flowers that vary in size from cabbage (A. schubertii) to ping-pong ball (A. caeruleum)...from waist-high (A. giganetum) to little ankle-biting (A. forrestii). Colors range from bright yellow to many shades of mauve and purple...to pure blue, and white. - North Island Newsletter, May 2007.

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