Garden envy. We all have it, looking at yards that seem more glorious than ours.

If you spend your days tilling, toiling, weeding and watering, while those other gardeners have time for hobbies, entertaining and let's face it, a life it's no wonder you entertain wild thoughts of covering your yard in stone.

Don't give up. You're not an unworthy gardener. You just haven't yet caught on to the secret of having a beautiful, low-maintenance Colorado garden: Xeriscape.

LAKEWOOD, CO - SEPTEMBER 26: The xeriscaped gardens at Kendrick Lake Park and Gardens in Lakewood on Thursday, September 26, 2013. (Photo By Cyrus McCrimmon/ The Denver Post ) (Cyrus McCrimmon, THE DENVER POST)

That term, coined by Denver Water, doesn't mean a barren patch of rock. But it does mean recognizing that astonishingly moisture-rich springs like 2014 are rare events on the Front Range.

The low-water landscape is also low-effort. So once you've tried it, you'd better have a plan for using your extra time.

"My life is complicated with kids and a job. It made sense that my landscape was little work; that other type of landscaping was W-O-R-K, what with mulching and watering a lot," said Pat Hayward, executive director for Plant Select, a program that helps develop and market water-wise plants for the intermountain West. She lives in the foothills of Masonville, just northwest of Loveland.

"When we don't have to use as much water or work as hard," she said, "why wouldn't you want to do this?"

Perhaps it's the allure of the lush, dense landscapes that national magazines flaunt in their pages. Gazing at the cool greens and tropical blossoms, it's hard not to lust after that same look in our harsh, arid land.

"My experience is that we need to permanently shift how we think about water," said Alison Peck, owner of Matrix Garden Design in Boulder.

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Soggy spring is brief: For garden longevity, plant a Xeriscape

My dog keeps bringing ticks in, even though I have a tick repellent collar on him. Is there a way I can treat my yard to kill the ticks? Debbie, Burlington.

Talk to your veterinarian about a different type of tick repellent to use on your pet to protect him from ticks and fleas, but also consider some modification to your yard and landscape. Try to reduce leaf litter and ground cover areas where rodents can hide. Keep the grass mowed, and leaves raked and composted. If possible, keep your dog in the sunnier parts of the yard, away from trees, shrubs or wooded areas. If you find ticks on your dog (or on you), it is important to remove them right away to lessen the chance of disease.

Create a tick-free zone by spreading wood chips between your yard and any wooded areas, or use a barrier spray with a product containing permethrin. Permethrin can be found in a formulation for use on dogs, as well. If you decide to use a chemical application, always follow label instructions to the letter. Even though two products may contain the same active ingredient, permethrin in this case, other ingredients may be in there. So choose a spray specifically for use in the landscape for a barrier spray, and a different product for use on your clothing or on your dog.

For more information on ticks, and to find out how to get ticks or insects identified, visit the UW-Extension Insect Diagnostics lab website at http://labs.russell.wisc.edu/insectlab or visit the page specifically dealing with ticks at http://labs.russell.wisc.edu/wisconsin-ticks.

In addition, you can bring ticks or insects (killed in alcohol and in a container, please) in to the UW-Extension Horticulture Helpline sites at one of the Racine County Office Buildings in Ives Grove or Burlington.

Growing pole beans

Last year I had trouble getting my pole beans to set fruit. Was it too hot for them? Are there more heat tolerant bean cultivars to grow here? Trisha, Racine.

Beans are tolerant of heat, and typically dont have problems with pollination and fertilization of flowers unless the temperatures stay above 95 degrees for two to three days. However, if warm temperatures were combined with drought, you might see a significant decline in fruit production in beans.

Flowering and fruiting processes are sensitive to environmental stress. If the conditions are not right for the plant to produce fruit, fruit will not be produced. Tomatoes, for example, do not like high night time temperatures and will typically drop flowers on hot summer nights. But beans are okay with the warmth unless it is extreme. English peas, Sugar Snaps and other sweet peas are types that are sensitive to heat, but they are exceptions in the bean family. Blue Lake, Contender, French Filet, Yellow Wax and other bean cultivars do well in warm weather as long as the soil is moist.

Lack of water is a big issue for bean production, so make sure to keep those vines well-watered during times of flowering and fruiting. Dont fertilize beans, unless you know your soil is deficient from the results of a soil or a plant/soil analysis. Beans are able to gather their nitrogen from the air, but wont if they are supplied with a luxury amount of nitrogen in the soil. Sometimes too much of a good thing, nitrogen in this example, is really just too much. If the plants are green, growing and flowering, chances are they are getting the nitrogen they need.

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The Root of It All: Keeping ticks out, and growing pole beans

AMES, Iowa Complete control of weeds in the home lawn or garden is not a practical goal for many homeowners. A more realistic approach is to minimize weed populations through various control measures.

How do I control dandelions and other broadleaf weeds in my lawn?

Good cultural practices are an important key to controlling broad-leaf weeds in the lawn. Proper mowing, fertilization and other sound management practices help establish a thick, healthy lawn. A dense stand of grass provides few opportunities for unwanted weeds. When broad-leaf weeds invade lawns, mechanical and chemical measures can be undertaken to remove or destroy the weeds.

Removing weeds by pulling and digging is an effective control option in small lawns or when only a few weeds are present. This method is best accomplished after a soaking rain or deep watering.

In many situations, herbicides are the only practical method of weed control. Effective broadleaf herbicides include 2,4-D, MCPP, dicamba, triclopyr and others. The most effective broadleaf herbicide products contain a mixture of two or three herbicides as no single compound will control all broadleaf weeds. Fall (late September to early November) is the best time to apply broadleaf herbicides in Iowa. Broadleaf herbicides can be applied as liquids or granules. Before applying any herbicide, carefully read and follow label directions.

How do I control weeds in my garden?

Cultivation, hand pulling and mulches are the primary means to control weeds in the home garden.

Cultivation and hand pulling effectively control most annual weeds. Perennial weeds are often more difficult to control. Repeated cultivation or the use of herbicides may be necessary to destroy some perennial weeds.

When cultivating the garden, avoid deep tillage. The roots of many vegetables, fruits and flowers grow near the soil surface. Deep cultivation will cut off some of these roots. Also, deep cultivation will bring deeply buried weed seeds to the soil surface where they can germinate. Hoe or till around plants or between rows and pull weeds close to plants. To effectively control weeds, cultivation and hand pulling must be done on a regular basis through the growing season. Small weeds are much easier to control than large weeds. Its also important to destroy the weeds before they are able to go to seed.

Mulches control weeds by preventing the germination of weed seeds. Established weeds should be destroyed prior to the application of the mulch. In addition to weed control, mulches help conserve soil moisture, reduce soil erosion, prevent crusting of the soil surface, keep fruits and vegetables clean and may reduce disease problems.

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Yard and Garden: Minimizing weeds is a more realistic goal

Its a great weekend to get out and boy are there a lot of ways to accomplish that this weekend. You can take on a serious run with the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey which goes for 178 miles through some beautiful landscape. Or you can take a walk around the track at Reno High School and help raise money and awareness for those fighting cancer. You can catch some off road races in Fernley, hit up a 40 household yard sale in historic Old Southwest Reno and attend a NDOW workshop to teach your kids to fish in Verdi.Enjoy!

Friday 5/30

Reno Tahoe Odyssey

This 178 mile relay race winds from Reno to Tahoe and back through some incredible landscape.

http://www.renotahoeodyssey.com

Stuff a bus for seniors:

This event is part of the national celebration of older Americans and it takes place at the Aces Ballpark. The cities of Reno and Sparks are teaming up with the Washoe County Senior Services to fill the bus with things seniors need. They have list of wish items on their website. It runs from 10:30 a.m. -8 p.m.

http://www.reno.gov

Wild West in Midtown:

The Creative Coalition of Midtown is holding an event tonight, from 5-9 p.m. to show off the changes to that part of town and to celebrate the history of the Wild West. 40 businesses are taking part.

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Things 2 Do!

By Julie Moore Master Gardener May 29, 2014 4:10PM

This mature backyard landscape design features a beautiful mixture of plant materials, colors and textures that create privacy. | Courtesy of Julie Moore

storyidforme: 67069916 tmspicid: 23905940 fileheaderid: 11747386

A landscape design requires the right tools, and the first ones to pick up are a pencil and paper. A well thought-out plan will be your guide and should result in a more successful project than one that is done piecemeal.

If this sounds daunting, it doesnt need to be, according to Richard Hentschel, University of Illinois Extension educator in horticulture.

The landscape design should draw the eye to the front door, Hentschel notes of the front yard. This can be done using walkway and garden-bed designs that lead the eye to it. Walkways should be wide enough to accommodate two people and can be curved or straight, based on a casual or more formal outcome to be achieved.

The plant beds created need to be large enough to support the desired plantings.

In the backyard, Hentschel says to take inventory of the areas your family will need.

Will the yard be one with a lot of activity or more passive? Do you need a kids play area, or spaces for entertainment, adult recreation, gardening interest or storage needs?

The next step in the design process is a site analysis.

View original post here:
Master Gardeners: Plan landscape on paper before planting

Published: Wednesday, May 28, 2014 at 6:53 p.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, May 28, 2014 at 6:56 p.m.

We need trees for many, many reasons. Ecologically, trees reduce air pollution filtering the air we breathe. Leaves absorb ozone, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide and release precious oxygen. Storm water runoff is greatly reduced as trees intercept the water even reducing flooding possibilities.

Trees provide homes for wildlife and, of course, tree houses for us. The benefits of trees economically, environmentally and socially is overwhelming.

Probably the benefit that most of us think about first is shade. Strategically placed trees can cut down on cooling bills in the summer. I dont know of many people who place their picnic table out in an open area. No, we find picnic tables under trees ... in the shade. While you may think this article is about trees, its not. Its about shade, the shade trees provide in our landscapes.

Many phone calls come in this time of year pertaining to lawns. Some are questions about weed infestations, but a lot have to do with moss moss overtaking the lawn.

This is a bit of tale moss is not actually taking over the lawn. Rather, moss grows in conditions that arent favorable for the growth of lawns. Lucky us, nature plants a ground cover where are grasses do not grow well.

Dani Carroll is the regional extension agent for home grounds, gardens, and home pests for Etowah County.

Mosses are small, green, primitive plants that have reduced leaves and a mass of fine, threadlike stems. Mosses produce their own food and do not take steal nutrients and water from our lawn grasses.

Mosses are able to absorb nutrients directly from the air when the humidity is right. They form a low green mat atop the soil an excellent ground cover. I, personally, love the light, almost lime green color of some of our mosses. There are more than 400 species of moss (liverworts and algae, too) that grow in the Southeastern U.S. Many homeowners may gasp at the thought of moss growing in the landscape, but it is quite beautiful and has been a part of Japanese gardens for years. Feel lucky if you have moss growing, it is a good bio-indicator of air and water quality.

Dani Carroll is the regional extension agent for home grounds, gardens, and home pests for Etowah County.

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EXTENSION CORNER: Moss can be beautiful, but it's not in everyone's landscape plans

One of the joys of attending garden tours is seeing how other gardeners creativity can make their yard into a personal expression.

So, grab a camera and attend the Muskogee Garden Tour on June 7 and get some new ideas for sun, shade and poolside.

Homeowners Leslie and Randy Scott have spent a few years transforming their front, back and side yards into a relaxing spot for friends and family.

We started in the fall of 2010 with a plan by Steven Williams Landscape in Tulsa, Leslie Scott said. What I like about the plants he selected is that once they are established, they take little water and care.

When you first arrive at the Scotts home, you are treated to their pleasingly landscaped front yard on a corner lot. Look for azaleas, oak leaf hydrangea, crape myrtle, boxwood, leatherleaf viburnums, mugo pines and Otto Luyken laurels.

The Otto Luyken laurel is a dwarf variety of English laurel that is hardy in zones 6 to 9.

The bees like the white flower spikes, and the birds enjoy the black berries on the Laurel, Scott said. I like to plant things that bring birds into our yard.

Immediately out the back door of the Scott home is an outdoor kitchen with an entertainment area and swimming pool.

When we bought the house, the lawn was filled with 40-year old sweet gum trees that we had to remove, Scott said.

Other structures in the back yard include the pool house and a potting shed where Leslie stores the mower, tools, pots, etc. Randy takes care of the mowing, and Leslie prunes and continues to add plants. A large potting cart sits by the shed.

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Scott garden one of four on Muskogee Garden Tour

Provided by Networx.com

Gardens that grow vertically rather than spreading across the landscape are all the rage among urban gardening fans these days. Their popularity is due in large part to the fact that they allow home owners and renters alike to grow bountiful crops of produce or flowers in a small area of square footage. You dont need a big backyard a vertical garden will work just fine on a small strip of soil in front of your house or even on a balcony. But beyond their highly-touted space-saving abilities, vertical gardens have a host of other benefits to offer you.

1. Hard-working vertical gardens help shield your homes exterior against harsh weather conditions and ultraviolet rays. If you live in an exceptionally rainy state like Alabama, green wall gardens can help protect your Birmingham paint job from damage.

2. These vertical plantings also act as a form of insulation, increasing the energy efficiency of your dwelling and potentially earning LEED credits for your house.

3. Placed on the outside of a window, a vertical garden will shade the room from both strong sunlight and inquisitive passersby, as well as creating a lovely view in a crowded urban neighborhood.

4. Vertical gardens may be either trained to grow up an existing fence or supported on purpose-built frames or posts. These green fences will offer you not only privacy and aesthetic appeal, but also noise reduction.

5. You might want to hide unsightly objects on your property, such as garbage cans or an electric meter, with a screen formed by vertical plantings.

6. Indoors, a vertical garden will work as an attractive room divider. Planting in wheeled containers is recommended so that the divider can be moved -- or removed altogether -- according to your needs.

7. Speaking of indoor vertical gardens, adding plants inside your home will serve to improve the air quality. Live greenery removes carbon dioxide and absorbs common indoor pollutants like formaldehyde (yuck!), found in some carpet dyes and wood flooring resins.

8. Vertical gardens lend themselves to the use of repurposed materials. They may be planted in such unusual pots as recycled plastic bottles or old shoe organizers.

Originally posted here:
Vertical gardens offer more than just space saving

Originally published May 23, 2014 at 8:00 PM | Page modified May 24, 2014 at 8:16 AM

Tips for beginning gardeners

Do your homework. Read the description card that comes with each plant or research plants online, says Mary Kulseth, who learned this lesson the hard way. I didnt know that anemones could be so invasive, she says. It took me years to get rid of them.

Mulch a lot. I never liked the look of mulch, but now I swear by cypress mulch, she says. It keeps moisture in and looks nice and neat.

Start small and be flexible. If a plant doesnt work in one spot, try it in another, she says.

Plan ahead. Learn when plants bloom and coordinate plantings for all-summer-long color.

When in doubt, plant day lilies. They are so pretty and hardy, and come in so many colors, says Mary, who has 20 varieties. Strawberry Candy looks good enough to eat.

Consider investing in a watering system. Im glad we have a drip-irrigation system, she says.

Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

In 1999, when Mike and Mary Kulseth built their home in Andover, Minn., all they wanted for their yard was a carefree, low-maintenance landscape.

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Beginners luck: Inexperienced gardeners create beautiful yard

AMES, Iowa Creating a beautiful, functional landscape depends on putting the right plant in the right place.

Which shrubs grow in shade?

Most deciduous shrubs perform best when grown in areas that receive partial to full sun. However, there are shrubs that can be successfully grown in partial shade. Sites in partial shade receive two to four hours of direct sun.

Deciduous shrubs that can be successfully grown in partial shade include; gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa), bush honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera), fothergilla (Fothergilla spp.), common witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana), smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens), Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica), Japanese kerria (Kerria japonica), alpine currant (Ribes alpinum), arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum) and American cranberrybush viburnum (Viburnum trilobum).

Yew (Taxus spp.), arborvitae (Thuja spp.) and Russian cypress (Microbiota decussata) are evergreen shrubs that can be grown in partial shade.

Which trees grow in shade?

Deciduous trees that can be successfully grown in partial shade include serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.), American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), redbud (Cercis canadensis), pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia), corneliancherry dogwood (Cornus mas), ironwood (Ostrya virginiana) and hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata). Locations in partial shade receive two to four hours of direct sun each day.

Which shrubs grow well in wet soils?

Deciduous shrubs tolerant of wet soils include red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia), common sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), summersweet clethra (Clethra alnifolia), gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa), redosier dogwood (Cornus sericea), Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica), northern bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica), purpleosier willow (Salix purpurea) and arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum).

Which trees grow well in wet soils?

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Yard and Garden: What will grow where now?