July Newsletter

 

Greetings:                                                                                            July 31, 2024

 

Hope that you are enjoying the summer. Maybe traveling a little or having a family picnic?

This past weekend I hiked with a hiking group at the OARDC Secrest Arboretum. The Arboretum and gardens are beautiful this time of year.

 

July was a normal in temperature and a little dry in precipitation. It was the second month in a row to be low in precipitation. For the period June 26 thru July 26 the average temperature was 71.5 degrees. Normal for this period is 71.3 degrees. Precipitation was 3.0 inches while normal is 4.2 inches. For the year we are 4 degrees over the average temperature. And precipitation is 5.2 inches below normal.

 

Gardening tip:  Shearing versus hand pruning of shrubs. Generally, commercially, we shear shrubs like Hollies, Yews, Lilacs, Burning Bushes, Viburnum, and Privet.  Plants like Rhododendron and Azalea are generally cut back with hand pruners or loppers.

 

Shearing shrubs is faster and generally works fine. With shears, shrubs can easily be shaped. Over time, shrubs can grow larger than is appropriate for the landscape. And they can grow to where they are brown on the inside of the bush and only are green on the tips of the limbs. At this point the shrubs are healthy, they just look too big. They need a good hard pruning. Some people will cut them to a foot or so high and let them grow anew from the stump. A better way is to gradually cut them back. This is done by thinning out a large percentage of the branches so that light gets down into the crown and sprouts can grow lower in the plant. Then awhile later, the longer branches can be lopped off and the plant shaped to a smaller and better looking size.

 

 "Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you."

- John De Paola

 

Greg Dyer and Staff