Thursday, April 24, 2008
Check with state officials on Dogwood pruning
John Arbogast
Landscape consultant John Arbogast answers your questions every Thursday. Send questions about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects to:
Dear John
5102 Greenfield St. SW
Roanoke, Va. 24018
Or send an e-mail. Answers will be given only in this column. Please don't send pictures or samples.
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Q: My daughter lives in North Carolina. Her home has been chosen to be on a homes' tour this spring. My sister and I live in Virginia, and are doing the flower arrangements for my daughter's house. My question is this - is it legal for us to cut dogwood branches (in Virginia) and carry to use in cut flower arrangements in North Carolina?
A: Sorry, but I am not a regulatory person. So, I can't answer your question. I suggest that you ask your local office of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (abbreviated VDACS) to learn if Flowering Dogwood blooms or any other parts are quarantined. Your local VDACS office should be listed under the "state" listings in your local telephone book. The Code of Virginia gives authority to the VDACS Board to quarantine parts or the whole Commonwealth to prevent or retard the spread of a pest into, within, or from this Commonwealth.
Q: We have a house that has lots of boxwood approximately 30 years old. I am told they are the old English Boxwood. Could you please advise me how to care for these plants? When should we fertilize them and what should we use?
A: The boxwood species known as English Boxwood (abbreviated EB) is known for its slow growth and formal use. Fertilizer is not needed for English Boxwood maintenance. Regular watering, protection from strong winds, and light pruning known as “thinning” are very important parts of its care practices that you should find helpful.
Thus, in an answer to your fertilizer question, no kind of fertilizer is recommended for boxwoods, nor is there a good time for this. Nutrients intended for any horticultural plant are leached downward in soil moisture and become wasted if not used or needed.
English Boxwoods should have a deep root system if the soil they are growing in is not excessively heavy, poorly drained, or compacted. This physical characteristic gives them the ability to reach down and retrieve dampness, except during periods of prolonged drought. So, to fulfill their need for adequate watering since you have lots of English Boxwoods, purchase and roll out a seepage hose under boxwood branches fairly close to boxwood trunks. Hook the seepage hose up to a faucet and let it run for a long while once per week during droughts if allowed. Take up and store each seepage hose after the weather turns cold in the fall.
Protecting English Boxwoods from strong winds should really be considered before planting EBs rather than installing or designing attractive wind screens. EBs that receive strong winter winds can get a yellow or orange discoloration on outer leaves primarily. So, a spring clipping that removes only the outer layer of EB growth should restore a nice green outer color.
English boxwoods need only light pruning, so annual clipping and shaping is not part of your required maintenance. However, if some of them have become too large for their available spaces during their 30 years, cutting them back heavily by about one-third or one-half their size is OK in the spring after the weather has begun to warm but prior to arrival of hot temperatures. This heavy pruning is considered plant renovation. Due to the slow growth of English Boxwoods, 2 or 3 growing seasons might be required before each heavily-pruned plant has an attractive landscape appearance again.
Annual “thinning” pruning will help your 30-year-old English Boxwoods remain “fluffy” and allow fresh air and limited sunshine to reach inner buds on older branch and trunk portions. This suggested maintenance practice can safely be done at any time during the growing season. It involves reaching into the EB outer greenery in scattered places and cutting out a 6 or 7-inch-long piece of end shoot growth in each spot before then moving on to another scattered location.
Q: Could the drought last year here in the Roanoke area have caused an abundance of the weed chickweed this spring?
A: My opinion is yes. Common and Mouse ear Chickweed are winter annual weeds whose seeds could have taken advantage of lawn thinning caused by the drought.
