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1st September GARDEN JOURNAL It's so easy to forget how too much water can be a disaster. The horrifying news and pictures from New Orleans makes us realize this only too clearly. I was about to moan about the lake of rain from Katrina in this area. I won't say a thing.

Spent a busy week chasing voles. I caught one yesterday and took a few snap shots. I will post him on my web site in a couple of days. There's now mistaking them with moles!!! I went around the garden center with my Round up spray. The late part of the growing season is the best time to kill weeds effectively. I was looking for dandelions, white mustard, bindweeds, crown vetch and other nasties. You just need to spray glyphosate (ROUND UP) on a couple of leaves to kill the whole plant. Weeds in shrubs and perennials can be removed in a couple of days without any disturbance to the desired specimen.

24th august GARDEN JOURNAL It's amazing how working outside can makes you fit. We have been heavily landscaping over the last 5 weeks. I must have lost 10-15 lbs in weight. All that lifting, digging, jumping, shoveling has hidden benefits! The nice thing is I actual enjoy doing the work. Not only do I get fitter but someone gets a nice garden! The weather has been so comfortable during the last couple of days it's like being on vacation.

On a completely different matter: Voles. The more I read about them the more I'm motivated to spread the news. They damage a phenomenal amount of plant material all year round. Their numbers are exceptionally high at the moment. They usually have a cycle that peaks every 6 years unfortunately the peak is going on a little longer. They eat any plant material just below grade. Trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals. If you see 1.5 in holes around plants or slightly raised tracks in the mulch you probably have them. I have been using bait stations for the last month or so. We sell a particularly effective one at the garden center now. A small investment will really save you hundreds of dollars of lost plants.

15th august.Some of the hanging baskets I cut back a few weeks ago are starting to look really good now. The hot humid weather can take a toll on the foliage. I expect a great flourish into the fall with all this new growth. This is fine for perennials and roses. Don't encourage new growth on shrubs...it might not harden off enough before frost.
The giant marsh hibiscus are looking great at the moment. We have a new plum colored one. It has a lovely purple tinted leaf too. The lower temps might tempt me to repair my vole damaged lawn. I'll rake out all the dead stuff and reseed. I use a Remay cloth to cover the seed. It keeps the moisture in and stops the birds from eating too much.
Don't forget to improve your soil whenever you get a chance. Organic matter can be added at any time. The major benefit being its ability to improve drainage and increase the moisture retaining nature of clay soil. Sounds like a contradiction...but not really. The ideal soil for most plants is moist but well drained. Organic matter hold moisture like a sponge, organic matter will increase the porosity of the soil, so if there is too much moisture, it can move away. Organic matter also allows earthworms to till the soil. They improve drainage and fertility of soil in amazing ways.

9th August 2005. I've already seen hardy mums appearing in garden centers and super chains. I always feel a touch of disappointment. Firstly, because many of them are not particularly hardy and secondly, because they are seen as the quintessential fall flower. I'd like to dwell on the latter bit. Having spent most of my childhood in the England, Fall or "Autumn", as we say, was full of all kinds of asters' heleniums, helianthus, roses, grasses etc. I had no idea that many of these wonderful fall flowers originate in North America. It's a shame that many of these are largely overlooked. I'm a great advocate for making the fall season the best one of the year and we are certainly blessed with a great choice of plant material. Try something different this year.

The weather in fall is usually fantastic, the skies blue and temps warm. Many flowers make a second return. Roses pick up again. Hopefully we get a more reliable rainfall. With this in mind, I starting to tidy up my beds. Some perennials like the cat mints can be cut back to encourage new growth and flowers. Watch out for more aggressive plants dominating overs. Trim them back. Some big grasses have a habit of falling over. Don't be afraid to chop the broken or fallen stems off.

In flower now are:

Helianthus "Lodden Gold": a bright and cheerful spreading double sunflower.

Hardy Geraniums: especially Rozanne and Dilly's. We are restocked.

Rudbeckia: all kinds ....Try a tall one like Autumn Sun.

Eupartorium Joe pye weeds...massive plants for a big place.

Hosta plantagiana...A cast iron plant.. Grows in Dry shade and is just about to flower. Pure white and highly fragrant.

Ligularia's ...Big leafed orange/yellow flowers. Great for shady moist areas.

Hydrangeas....all kinds of late flowering varieties are available. Try the late Panicle or Kyushu for a change.

Hibiscus: we have some lovely Rose of Sharon plants, Minerva and Aprothrodite. These newer hybrids have bigger flowers and flower for a much longer period. Some of the most amazing flowers are provided by the perennial Hibiscus. These huge dinner plate size flowers are out now. One of my favorites is Lord Baltimore. A bright red. The come back every year. A bit later than most perennials so don't panic.

GARDEN JOURNAL July 20th I still have seen only one Japanese beetle this year. If you do have problems, place traps down wind so they are drawn away from your plants. Traps draw more insects than you would have had in the first place!!! (Give to your neighbours!)

It's a time that some botanical gardens start top dressing their beds with compost/manure/topsoil mix. They start early because they have some much to do. They benefits in soil quality are too good to overlook. I have pile already at home!!!

This week have been finish a landscaping project on Grove Street, Clarks Summit. We have planted Insurance Markets grounds with a cheerful mix!!. To make life easier we have installed a soaker hose system to aid irrigation. I bumped into Larry from WNEP. He tell me says The Grey Towers ( Pinochet's house in Milford PA) segment I did with them a couple of year's ago is being repeated this week at 7pm on Saturday

GARDEN JOURNAL 7th July 2005
I don't know if it's the new bio stimulant,Jungle flora, but things are really greening up. I, of course, used it everywhere and are unable to tell scientifically how good it is. We have a tropical hibiscus at home that now has the most glorious shiny dark green leaves. That has never happened before.

Of all the jobs that the gardener tires of, weeding comes pretty high up the list. This time of year things should be slowing down. Watch out for the occasional big weed amongst the shrubs and perennials. If you can stop them before they go to seed you will save yourself a lot of work next year. Weeding is made easy by new mulch, good soil, occasional use of round up and the timely use of some pre-emergents like Preen. Never let things get to out of control. If you plant fully, there's not too much room for the weeds to creep in. My wretched Silver Maple decided to set seed this year. I'm on the prowl for seedlings...I don't want any more silver maples!

GARDEN JOURNAL 21st June Anything in containers is demanding a lot of extra attention. If you used those water gels and crystals in spring, you will be thankful. The better the plants have grown the more water they lose. You can't win can you! The larger the containers, the easier they are to keep watered. Try not to let your soil dry out too much. It shrinks and compacts. You can waste a lot of water trying to dehydrate it. The same is true of your lawn. To keep it looking green let it grow longer. Leave the clippings on the ground. This tends to shield it from direct sun and keep any moisture that lands on it. Baked clay acts like blacktop. Water just runs off it. To fight the clay nature of our soils ..add plenty of organic matter. Lawns, beds, borders all benefit from it.

GARDENING JOURNAL: 1st June I'm trying to complete all our container planting this week as it looks like things are finally warming up. How about trying some large plants? One of my favorite annuals is the Castor Bean Plant...it produces a massive tropical plant with purple red leaves....Upwards of 5 feet in a container and bigger in the ground. This year, I'm trying the new sumac "Tiger Eyes". It possesses large ferny, chartreuse leaves with red tints...it looks like a winner that can be transplanted into the garden in late fall for use next year....Other perennials to try in containers. Grasses, ferns and hosta for shade, dead nettles, ligularia, geranium Rozanne, heuchera. We will plant our cafe entrance basket with a perennial collection today.

GARDENING JOURNAL: 19th May 2005. I have the most extraordinary number of flower buds on my peonies at home. It will be a stunning display if the weather leaves them alone. I have been introducing more single varieties as they are less maintenance. Come see some of the newer singles like Flame and Krinkled White. They don't need so much support and the rain doesn't damage the flowers so readily.
The weather continues to very dry and relatively cool. Try not to water unless really necessary...plant roots will search out water by growing rapidly. Your plants will tolerate drier conditions better if you let them develop a better roots system! New plants must be kept well watered.
I am determined to renovate a couple of my garden beds still. Everything is growing so quickly that I'll have to move quite fast. I noticed a couple of my really large clematis were damaged severely this winter. One is re shooting from the base and the other ...no signs of life yet. With all seemingly dead plants, its a good idea to be patient. Check the bark for life. Make a little nick and see if you can spot any green moist tissue. If so leave it alone for several months. With clematis, they are quite capable of shooting from the roots many months later. Be patient!

GARDENING JOURNAL: Armed with a sharpened spade, I have been taking all kinds of divisions from my grasses. A good clue to a grass needing division is the middle dying out and a ring of new growth around it. Really big grasses need to be split with a sharp felling axe! What a huge growing week this was... I really didn't get all the things done I wanted! As things start to grow, now's the time to apply manure or bagged fertilizer. We like the Espoma products (Holly Tone) they are all organic and are matched to particular needs. For containers, you cant beat the Osmacote products. They don't burn and mean you never have to fertilize all season. Try some water retentive tricks to. They work all summer too.

1st May
My Mulch Fest's end is in sight. We have completed over half the garden center's beds. It's hard work but it really pays dividends in maintenance and development of a good soil. It's important not to build up too much against the trunks of trees and shrubs. I always check to see that last year's application has broken down and earthworms happy. Last week saw cooler temps and solid growth in the mass of perennials. While the leaves are off the shrubs, it's a good idea to remove any damaged or dead branches. For full, yet more compact shrubs, potentilla. and the paniculata hydrangeas can be cut back without hindering flowering. The paniculata hydrangea are those that flower late in the summer and whose flower are cream, turning pink later. There are now all kinds of varieties available...White Swan, Late Panicle, Kyushu, White Moth, Pink Diamond, Little Lamb and Pee Wee to name but a few! The weather looks great for the next few days. I'll attempt to revive an old Flower bed at home. I want to increase the amount of good soil...The existing plants have to be lifted and then replanted after the new soil is added. I'll let you know how I got on next week.
On Friday, I am giving a talk to the annual Master Gardener conference at State College. Hope to see some of you there! I talking on Steppable plants in the afternoon and giving a talk on English garden design during the Evening Banquet!

Never so relieved to have cool weather back again. Temps in the 80's can lead to trouble. Buds can burst prematurely only to be nipped back by the frost. Still it was a great working week..I already have my farmer's tan! The spring bulbs will persist a little longer if it cools done. We still have a great selection of spring bulbs that perennialize. That is, come back bigger and stronger each year.
We have started to clean and mulch our beds at Greystone. Be careful with the mulch...jeep it away from the crown and trunk of plants. Make sure last year's has broken down. If not your soil may not have enough bio activity...not very healthy! Try adding some organic fertilizer first and a sprinkling of more healthy soil as an inoculation. Today I have to shoot some footage of the spring bulbs before they disappear for another season.

Almost a perfect spring week. Temperatures in the 50's and 60's and a chance for the soil to dry out. We have a wonderful display of ground covering bulbs in full flower. It's amazing how far these little devils spread. Take a walk in our woodland walk. We have a whole range of these spring flowering bulbs for you to purchase. We have planted them in pots and you can easily incoporate them into you garden now.
I've been fishing in my pond for all that debris that collected in the late fall. You need to get it out now before it starts to rot and smell. At home, I've been tidying up my beds. I cut a new edge by removing all last years mulch about 6' of the stuff. I throw this deeper on to the bed, just removing the grass clumps if there are any. The trench will be filled with mulch when the time comes. All my rock garden plants are greening up rapidly and starting to produce flower bud. All I have to do this week is rearrange the gravel a little and wait for the early spring display. This year it will be great. It's a great time to divide and multiply your garden plants. There are so many opportunities right now. I've already divided my aconitum, leucojum and daylilies. Today we go for Ladies Mantle and more.

FRIDAY 7thApril
Plenty of Sun this week. I even managed to wear a pair of shorts. A light rain last night and more sun for a week. Now's the best time to split and relocate perennials. I moved a large clump of fall blooming monkshood. They were in a too shady spot and always would collapse. I moved it to a sunnier location and made 5 divisions. We have been light raking all our beds to get rid of decaying foliage. Don't rake too deep as you could damage emerging shoots. We cut back most of our ornamental grasses this week. We pot up a lot of bulbs in the fall and have these available for sale now. If you missed the fall bulb season, now's you chance to catch up. We have emptied our perennial frames and are fast emptying our cold frames. The shrubs look great. Next week we will be moving our trees into position

The week started by introducing Mud Season, however nobody liked this and we are back to Snow Season with 7 inches of fresh precip. I spent a prickly time removing various seeds from their prickly pods. It's funny how you start a task like this as a 'chance passing by' and then devote a whole hour determined to perfect the perfect technique of removing the seed from case. It's a bit like cracking nuts.
Being an ardent snow lover, there is a certain loss felt when it warms up. However this loss is soon replaced by the hidden garden's reappearance. Winter without snow is a gloomy period. Drab, Decaying and Dormant! It seems to go on far too long. Snow protects, beautifies and moistens all in one..sounds a face lotion for your garden. It certainly shortens Mud Season.