Category: Trees

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How Much Light Does A Bonsai Tree Need?

Cotoneaster by OpenEye (on flickr)
Cotoneaster by OpenEye (on flickr)

If you bought a Bonsai  tree you might wonder, as one of my readers did, how much light it needs. The amount of light needed for aBonsai tree depends on the species. When you buy a Bonsai or create one, you should have directions on the amount of light it needs. If your bonsai flourishes better outdoors, pick a spot that provides six or more hours of sunlight. Though Juniper bonsai tree needs filtered or shaded light. You must allow your Juniper bonsai to get low intensity morning sunlight when possible and avoid the direct afternoon sunlight. Indoor bonsai need two to four hours of natural light near a  window, or artificial light.

Because Bonsai trees are artificially created, they need special care and you should ask a specialist to advise you on the care of your particular bonsai.

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The Silk Tree – Albizia Julibrissin

Photo taken by pizzodisevo

When TheGardenLady bought her property in the 1970s, one of the trees on the grounds was the tree Albizia julibrissin commonly called the Silk tree, Mimosa tree or Silky acacia. Who can resist the lovely feathery pink flowers? Butterflies, bees and birds are attracted to the flowers that seem to bloom almost all summer on the 20 to 30 ft tall trees.

The tree is not native to the US; it is from Asia and Africa. It was brought to the US as an ornamental tree in 1745 and is still sold in some plant nurseries. It grows in Zones 6 through Zone 9 with reports of its living in Zone 5 (though the coolness of this zone makes it a struggle to keep alive ).

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Holiday Poinsettias

Read this excellent article by Michelle Gervais on Poinsettias.   According to it, Poinsettias are NOT poisonous to humans and rats. It doesn’t say anything about cats and dogs. It discusses how to choose the best plant, the care of the plant and it gives sites for more information on the plant.

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Conifers

Fall is a good time to attend gardening lectures. Not that there isn’t a lot of work still left to do in the garden: harvesting if you have vegetable gardens, putting your plants to sleep for the winter if you have flowers, bringing in summer bulbs like gladioli,  planting next spring’s bulbs like daffodils, etc.  But since there are many good lectures going on in the Fall, like the Perennial Plant Conference on Friday, October 17th at Swarthmore, when readers have free time, they should make every effort to attend.

To that end of going to lectures to learn more, TheGardenLady attended a lecture entitled “Conifers for Your Garden” given by Steven Kristoph who has taught about conifer trees at Rutgers University for over 25 years. He also owns Steven Kristoph Nursery and has a website. 

Steven opened his lecture by saying how pleased he was that so many people attended his lecture since so many excellent websites can be Goggled up on conifer trees that one can find out just about all there is to know about conifers without leaving home.  Conifer trees are defined as a grouping of trees with needle or scale-like leaves (e.g. pine, spruce, cypress) and bear cones. They are usually, but not always, evergreen. A website that he recommends is The American Conifer Society.  This website lists all the conifers with photos as well as tells the readers where there are lectures or symposium on conifers.

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Dying Topiary

                                                                              

TheGardenLady received this question from Jina:

I have 2 potted spiral trees that I purchased and planted myself 2 summers ago. They have survived extremely cold winters. I have feed and pruned them each spring. I recently noticed some brown limbs and looks like dying. I’m not sure what I have done wrong, and would love some advice on how to care for them back to full recovery. Thanks for your help!

TheGardenLady does not know what type of tree you purchased that is spiraled. Usually the decorative potted spiral trees have been pruned to make it look like a spiral. This kind of pruning is not natural and can cause stress to the tree that was spiraled.
 
TheGardenLady does not know where you purchased your spiral tree. Trees often do not die immediately when you bring them home. Sometimes it can take a few years before the home gardener sees that the tree is dying.  That is why it is preferable to purchase trees in reputable nurseries – nurseries where the employees know the best way of caring for their merchandise. You might pay more for the plant but it is worth it to get a healthy plant. You can also ask questions when purchasing; for example, you can ask what their policy of return is should the tree die. And you can always return to the nursery where you bought the trees to ask more questions about the trees. Some of the chains that have inexpensive plants buy them cheaply and just water them. They have no idea how to really maintain those plants, so a buyer doesn’t realize that he/she is getting inferior merchandise.  Then when the buyer plants the tree, it might look like it is surviving for a few years only to start dying in the third year.  So you might not have done anything wrong. You might have bought  weak, unhealthy trees.  
 
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Create a Moss Garden

                                                                     

TheGardenLady received this question from Greg.

I want to make a decorative bed on the side of my house. This area gets about 2-3 hours of morning sun. There is a lot of moss there and even grass is hard to grow in this area. I am going to put down a foot of fresh topsoil and mulch it. I am  thinking of putting in ferns, hosta, burning bush but I need a nice center piece.  What will grow there? Maybe a butterfly bush? Any suggestions?

From your email, it sounds like your house blocks the sun, your ground is compacted and moist plus your soil is acidic. This is the ideal environment for mosses. So why fight it? Work with what nature gives you. Create a moss garden. Forget bringing in topsoil and mulch and making hard work for yourself. It is always easiest to go with what you have. This is the idea for Japanese gardens, especially in Kyoto. Look at photos of Japanese gardens and you will see that the more moss the better. Two of the loveliest gardens on the East coast are moss gardens – David Benner’s Moss Garden  in NJ and La Foret in Penna. (This garden may be up for sale since the owner and his wife are elderly) Moss gardens are unique and very calmingly beautiful. Someone visiting David Benner’s Moss Garden felt that she had had an epiphany from the experience.

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Lady Apples

                                                                        

TheGardenLady received this question from John:

I live in the Texas hill country, and have started some lady apples from seed. I am not sure how well they will grow, but how can I give them the best chance, and what are their growing habits.

                                                                         

The Pink Lady apple is from Western Australia and likes weather in the US that is South of the Mason Dixon Line- zones 6 through 9. It grows 9-11 feet in all types of soil. It doesn’t need another tree to pollinate – it is a self pollinator. It needs full sun and takes 3 to 5 years to bear fruit.

If you read TheGardenLady’s column on raising apples from seeds, you will understand that you probably won’t get good apples from the little trees that are growing for you.

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Apple Trees

                                                                                    

TheGardenLady received this question from Lisa –

 It seems hard to find a staymen apple tree at the local nurseries anymore (DC area) and planting the apple seeds has never worked no matter how many times/ways we’ve tried.  Do you have to plant the whole apple for the seeds to sprout?  Any other ideas on how to get a staymen apple tree to sprout/grow for our yard?  Thanks for any suggestions!

You can start an apple tree from a seed. But to get an excellent fruit tree, nurserymen usually graft the tree to good root stock. Grafting takes a certain expertise that the Garden Lady cannot teach. So you are probably best off buying a tree from one of the numerous fruit tree specialists that are listed on the computer. Local nurseries might night carry all kinds of fruit trees because they have the plants they think will sell to most of the people who are shopping there. And fruit trees are not that popular to plant in small gardens. Deer love the fruit.  Also, fruit trees often have diseases that are too involved to treat for the average home gardener.

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What’s In a Name?

The GardenLady received the following question from a Mr. Lima: 

I have a friend named Glaucia. I heard a few days ago about a flower with this same name.  Can you help me find something about this flower, perhaps an internet web site, even a link… Please!! I´ll be very happy if I can show my friend the flower with her name!!

Because Valentine’s Day is coming, TheGardenLady would like to help find a romantic link between a flower and a name.

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Planting potted trees

I recevied the following question from Linsey:

I got a beautiful potted tree for Christmas. I’d like to plant it outside.
When do you recommend that I do this? Is there a proper procedure to
enhance the chances of survival?

The Garden Lady likes the idea of a potted tree for the holidays and hopes that your potted tree will survive for planting outdoors. But if the tree was not properly cared for, you may lose the tree when you plant it outdoors (see this). You might not notice that the tree is dead right away but a year later you might first notice that it has died. And the death of the tree might not be your fault- but that it was not properly kept before it was brought to you. I do hope your tree survives.

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