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Theatre West
Garden Walk
June 27th
Preview Pictures of
the Gardens you will see on Saturday |
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On the annual community events
calendar, the last Saturday in June has become the
permanent date for the Theatre West Garden Walk. So
Wyobraska garden walkers will be out in force this
Saturday morning, beginning at 8:00 am, with a few
worm seeking early birds probably crashing the
garden gates even a little earlier, if recent
experience is any indication. Wednesday night’s
pre-tour for Garden Walk workers revealed another
great group of gardens for the 2009 event. The
Theatre West Garden Walk planning committee has
tended, and rightly so I think, to select gardens
for the walk that are designed, developed, and
maintained by the homeowners themselves. As a
result, the walk has become an excellent display of
Wyobraska’s gardening and landscaping trends.
This year’s walk is no
exception. Expect to see lots of great annual
flower containers, some great specimens of xeric and
other new plants, intriguing plant combinations—and
don’t overlook the well-designed decks, patios,
garden paths, and garden arts and crafts. This
year’s event runs through 1:00 pm. Tickets are on
sale at garden centers throughout Scottsbluff and
Gering and at the Theatre West Box Office. In case
you’re wondering, and contrary to the apologies of
several of the garden owners, the recent hail did
relatively minor damage to only a few of the
gardens. I hope to see you Saturday morning. |
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Previous Articles
Yes It's Time March 12
Pruning Trees March 26
Plant a Tree in 2009 April 02
Great Old Trees April 09
"Nightmare
on Elm Street?"
Elms & Oaks for WyoNeb
April 16
Green, Easy & Cheap April 23
No GardenSpace? No Problem
April 30
A Mother's Garden May 07
What Makes a Good Perennial?
May 14
Summer School - Kids Gardening
May 21
Do it yourself Landscape Planning
May 28
Butterfly Gardening June 4
Versatile Viburnums June 11
Perennial Shrubs June 18
2008 Articles
2007 Articles
2006 Articles
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…As For The Hail
The end of the drought has
seemingly brought the return of hail to the
Wyobraska region after an almost 10 year reprieve.
I’ve had several questions in recent weeks about how
to deal with hail damage to plants. The region
experienced several major hailstorms in the late
1990’s, and it has been interesting to observe how
plants that were severely damaged in those storms
have mostly recovered. Hail is, of course, most
damaging to woody landscape plants like trees and
shrubs. Hailstones not only knock off the leaves of
trees and shrubs, which reduces the ability of the
plant to convert sunlight into the sugars and
starches which are the food it uses to grow new
leaves, branches, and roots, but many of those
hailstones also strike the surface of branches and
trucks of trees and shrubs, opening up wounds which
require significant resources from the plant in
order to do its version of healing. Trees and
shrubs don’t actually “heal” those wounds, instead
they undertake a series of responses which begins by
folding the exposed wood with toxic chemicals to
repel insects. Then they seal off the damaged bark
at a point where the bark is still properly attached
to the underlying woody tissues. Finally, over the
following several years, the tree or shrub gradually
covers over the wounded area as new bark grows each
spring. In effect, trees and shrubs grow over their
wounds rather than heal them.
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The best thing you can do
for a hail injured tree or shrub is to make sure
that it is well cared for during the recovery
period. That means mulch, water, and fertilizer.
The timing of recent hailstorms will make it
somewhat easier for plants trees and shrubs to begin
their recovery—a September hailstorm would be much
more traumatic. With trees actively growing during
the summer, there is still plenty of time to give
them an extra shot of fertilizer and add another few
feet of mulch around the base of the tree. Spraying
for insects or other chemical applications for
insect or disease control will do little to help
trees and shrubs recover.
As for perennials and annual
flowers, while they might look bad for a week or
two, with warm sunny days, a good pruning, and an
extra shot or two of fertilizer, they will all be
back to normal by the end of July. Their ability to
recover quickly from Wyobraska’s frequent hail
storms is one of the reasons that perennials and
ornamental grasses are the plants which more and
more Wyobraska homeowners are using to provide the
primary visual interest in their gardens and
landscapes. If you look carefully Saturday
morning, you’ll see that most of the hail damaged
perennials and annuals are already well on the way
to recovery.
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