I have a problem. One the one hand, I have landscaping that I like to keep looking, well, ornamental. On the other hand, I prefer to avoid using herbicides and insecticides whenever possible. Now factor in the lack of gardening time that comes with working at a nursery and you can guess what my yard looks like by summer.

A lot of weeding can be avoided by keeping beds mulched, but what about driveways and paths? You can pull the weeds, if you can find the time to stay ahead of them. You can treat with herbicide, and depending on what product you choose, deal with too little - or too much - control. Or... you can do it the fun way - with a propane torch.

Editor's note: CPC is not endorsing this method. Use caution if you decide to try it.

What I like about this method is the instant results and minimal regrowth that comes with superheating the ground, simultaneously cooking weed roots AND seeds lying in wait. The crackling flame as your enemy combusts is also quite satisfying. You'll want to do this on a windless day, to avoid getting into trouble with smoke or sparks.

It should be noted that this is a two-man job, one person running the torch and the other manning the hose. Thoroughly douse everything down after the torch passes so you don't accidentally burn down the neighborhood. I am not kidding about this.

• Always stand with your back to desirable plantings. The HEAT is doing the killing and there can be a five-foot zone of death in front of your torch. (Don't ask me how I know this.) And look up - heat rises.
• Use a board as a heat shield to protect the edges of beds or ornamental fencing. 

• Work slowly and methodically and watch the breeze. If it gets windy you must stop!
• Water the ground the day before. You want green, short weeds, and seeds will cook better in moist ground. Do not use a torch on tall, dry weeds.
• Hose down everything thoroughly as you go so nothing is left smoldering.
• Be sure to have a spare, full tank in case you run out of propane before you finish your area.
• Older, tougher weeds can re-sprout, go back in a week or two and re-treat.
• Do not burn poison ivy - the smoke is toxic if inhaled.

The torch has an adjustment dial on the wand, you want to keep your flame just large enough to burn invisibly but not go out. As the pressure drops you can turn the dial to get more oomph. If your tank ices up stop and defrost it to get some pressure back.

This technique takes a little practice and is not for the faint of heart, but can't be beat for fast cleanups of driveways, paths, and paved areas. The torch shown is designed for clearing large areas, there are others on the market that have a smaller, more targeted flame.

We do this all the time!

We over use, we abuse, we’re in a hurry, and we’re lazy! The landscape/nursery industry is a repeat offender! We have our “go-to,” easy-money plants. On the surface that doesn’t seem to be a bad thing. Almost every contractor has their favorite group of plants; almost every contractor is stuck in some sort of rut! Week after week we get the same list from contractors. Only the numbers change!

Need proof? Recent history provides great examples! Let’s start with the Green Ash. (I hope you don’t need an explanation!) Another great example is the Norway Maple. Our storage field used to have hundreds of Norways of many varieties. It’s “go-to-ness” turned it into an invasive species banned from most cities due to its ability to reseed into alleys and easement areas. The resulting offspring were often not very landscape worthy. Tree growers were left with fields of trees with no market in which to sell them!

Looming on the horizon is the fate of the beloved Callery Pear. The Bradford Pear’s (a.k.a. “Banana-Split Pear”) popularity succumbed to the hyper-popular Cleveland Pear. It’s been the near-perfect tree: Popular, household recognition! Transplanting into most any soil, great form, great bloom quality, and rich, long-lasting fall color!

The overuse of this species has led to outbreaks of Pear Rust, and its ability to reseed has begun to clog open spaces with again undesirable offspring. States and cities have begun restricting its usage. And then there’s probable, correcting fireblight….

What’s next? Will growers develop a truly seedless Callery? Or, what will be the new big seller? Haven’t we learned anything? We don’t need another “go-to” plant. This industry needs good practices and diversity!

We already offer a number of trees that would substitute well for the Cleveland Pear. Some of these are:

•  Acer rubrum ‘Brandywine’
•  Acer saccharum ‘Legacy’

• Acer x freemanii Armstrong’
• Amelanchier laevis ‘Cumulus’
• Carpinus caroliniana

• Cornus mas ‘Golden Glory’
• Ostrya virginiana
• Syringa reticulata ‘Ivory Silk’

• Taxodium distichum ‘Shawnee Brave’

Resist the temptation, don’t be a repeat offender! Mix it up out there!

So, you’re ready to install some landscaping. What plants should you use, where, and how many? 

First thing to consider is the environment

Shady, sunny, windy, sandy, clay, deer ridden, salty… all of these conditions can exist on the same property. It is important to choose plants that prefer the environment you are dealing with.

Every environment has plants that love it

You will need to know how the sun is tracking and consider existing large trees or other plants to know which areas will be sunny, shady, or both. Some plants are excellent for adapting to several different conditions. For instance,  Diervilla (bush honeysuckle) grows in sun, shade, dry soil, alkaline soil, or acidic soil, and is deer resistant.

Draw your plan to scale using plant's mature sizes

Plan your landscape, on paper, to scale, and draw your plants at mature or near mature size. Scale is important for determining how much material you will need. Drawing plants at mature size will avoid overcrowding, and that in turn reduces maintenance as the plants have the room they need to grow and don’t have to be chopped into ugly unnatural shapes to control their size. This way, instead of becoming overgrown and ugly and needing redoing, your landscape will continue to improve with age.

Use garden art or boulders to fill in gaps while plants grow

If this leaves some open spots while you’re waiting for the plants to grow, these are perfect spots for garden art, sculptures, containers, bird baths, fountains, and accent boulders. Accent boulders are usually a good idea intermingled with large perennial beds to maintain some visual interest in the winter.

Use some evergreens for winter interest

And speaking of which, plant some evergreens so you have some winter color, and leave your ornamental grasses up until spring for some winter interest.

Use beds large enough to layer different sizes of plants

Another good reason to know how big your plants are going to get, aside from overcrowding, is so you can plant "stadium seating" style. Taller plants in the back, shorter in front.

Follow these guidelines, and your customers will be recommending for years to come.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I do NOT follow fashion trends. In no way am I a fashionista! In fact, according to my wife I should go on one of those TV shows where the Dad gets a makeover on his wardrobe. On the other hand she knows all of the fashion trends. As a hair stylist, she keeps up on what is hot, what is not, and what is coming back around.

So how are landscape plants like the fashion industry? Well, new plants are constantly being introduced, replacing older models. Other plants fall out of use, some for good reason. We have watched flowering pear go from the tree that everyone planted everywhere, to one that goes on a landscape only rarely. Or how about creeping junipers? Anyone remember those? One of our veteran employees and I were recently lamenting how we used to get a semi-load of creeping junipers almost every week “back in the day”. Now we get them about once a month, and never a full truck load. They are still a great option but it seems that people are planting other things instead. I am betting it won't be long before they come back around.

So plants are like pants. They come into fashion, they go out of fashion, and sometimes they come back in again. And sometimes to be different, you have to look at what is old or out of fashion. For instance, Kolkwitzia (Beauty bush) is a cool plant that no one uses anymore, but should. You see them often where an old farmhouse once stood, or in older neighborhoods like downtown Plymouth. The masses of pink flowers in the spring are really striking and the dark green leaves turn an awesome yellow in the fall. A great plant to use in areas where viburnum or forsythia would go.

So change your p(l)ants! Look at using something old or different and your designs can appear fresh, new, and not like everyone else's. I would still avoid the pear, though.

The first time I saw a plant reversion, I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. A customer had called and said there was a TREE growing out of her Dwarf Alberta Spruce. I had never seen this before, so I had to get my Dad involved. He said it was a classic! One of the buds one year cast off the dwarfing gene and the regular white spruce began to grow instead. I have to admit it was pretty cool looking - the white spruce growing straight and tall - but the customer wasn’t thrilled. The reversion is always more vigorous and would eventually take over the plant if not addressed.

Many of the most interesting and unique plants in the trade come from a spontaneous mutation, like a witch's broom or a variegated sprout. The mutation is discovered, a cutting is taken, and the variety eventually propagated and introduced. Some of these mutations aren’t that stable, and you will see parts of or entire plants reverting to the original form. I would like to point out that this is different than when the rootstock takes over a grafted plant, in that case you can see the growth is coming from below the graft.

Reversion can be brought on by many factors, but environmental stress seems to be a common cause. If you are observant when you are out on landscapes, you can see reversions all the time. That spruce example happens now and again, and loss of variegation is another one that’s fairly easy to find.

So getting back to my “Classic” scenario, my Dad suggested to our customer that we should prune it out immediately, as it was only going to get worse. There was a good chance the plant would survive and eventually fill in around the removed portion. If we didn’t, the reversion would dominate, and the resulting tree was never going to be an attractive specimen. I’m a tree hugger and my Dad’s even worse so of course we recommended trying to save the tree. In the end, we replaced the plant - because of its location and visibility the recovery time was unacceptable.

Each case is a judgement call. If you catch it while the reverted growth is fairly small, a simple pruning may be sufficient to eliminate it. Perennials such as hosta can be dug up, split, and replanted.

So be on the lookout for reversions. They are kind of cool, sometimes a little weird but definitely more common than you think. Take some pictures, share with us what you are finding and I will pull together a follow up discussion on this topic. Remember: Prune out all you can to “nip it in the bud” - if it’s too late replace it - and get a picture for our discussion.

Selecting plants that can grow under dry conditions can be challenging. Selecting plants that can grow in the shade can be challenging as well. Finding plants that can grow well under both conditions? Well, that narrows your plant selection down a bit, but there may be more options than you think.

It must be realized that even though a plant is considered drought tolerant, this is only the case once their root systems are firmly established. Until that point, they must be watered regularly. This could take up to a year or more of effort before you can cut back on the watering, but during extended droughts, even established plants need a little help to survive. Using mulch will help by retaining water that is provided by you or mother nature.

Also, there is a difference between shade loving and shade tolerant plants. Some plants that grow well in full sun can tolerate shade, but they will be a bit thin and wispy and not blossom as much. If these plants are to survive, all of their other needs must be met to compensate for the lack of sun.

I will start with shade tolerant varieties. The one selection which, can in some cases, be considered a small tree, is hamamelis (witch hazel). Shrubs include buxus (boxwood), taxus (yew), aronia (chokeberry), and diervilla (bush honeysuckle). Hydrangea quercifolia (oakleaf hydrangea) are surprisingly drought tolerant once established, and of all the shrubs mentioned will tolerate the shade best as they are considered shade loving.

Shade tolerant perennials include campanula (bellflower), hemerocallis (daylily, especially stella d’oro), digitalis (foxglove), geranium sanguineum (cranesbill), liriope (lilyturf), euphorbia (spurge), and phlox subulata (creeping phlox).

You may have better luck with these shade loving varieties. Hosta (plantain lily), ajuga (bugleweed), pachysandra (spurge), vinca (myrtle or periwinkle), tiarella and huecherella (foamflower), hellebore (lenten rose), brunnera (bugloss), lamium (dead nettle), athyrium niponicum (painted fern), and bergenia (pigsqeak).

It may be difficult to plant a shady dry area, but if you put the time in to make sure the plants will be healthy and establish a good root system, I think you’ll do fine. It’s not the biggest plant list, and may not cover every possible candidate. Hopefully you don’t also have deer around making the list even smaller (as well as your hostas).

Designers need to consider many factors when choosing plant material. Evergreen, herbaceous, deciduous? Foliage or flower color, bloom time, preferred growing conditions and so on. One of the most important considerations is plant habit and "ultimate size".

What does "ultimate size" mean?

• Complete in natural development or growth.
• A tree or plant that has reached a desired size or age for its intended use.

Like the old saying goes “Right plant, right place”. Planning and research is vital when evaluating ultimate size to avoid future problems. In addition to knowing how large a given plant may grow, you also should factor in the growth RATE. Dwarf plants aren't always that small at maturity but if it takes them 50 years to get there is that really going to be an issue? On the other hand, popular plants like Colorado Spruce or Weeping Cherry tend to outgrow their siting in a decade or two.

Research is important, and not just on the habit and size of the plant but also the root system, which is often overlooked. For example, don’t plant a Willow tree over a septic tank. Yes, someone I will call ...John Doe... did this to get back at his landlord. Now that might be an example of someone who knew what “ultimate size” would do with the wrong intentions but, planning is everything.

Is it going next to the house? Sidewalk? Driveway? Near power lines? If it’s a row of pine, are you planting them too close to each other making them susceptible to needle diseases in the future? Will the property owner be able to shimmy past the planting bed to get to the building entrance a few years from now? These are just a few examples of what to consider when choosing the right plant.

Above image courtesy of the Arbor Day Foundation (www.arborday.org)

Of all the questions I get about growing hosta the most common one is: which varieties will take sun - and how much sun is too much sun? Many shaded areas get SOME sun and choosing the right varieties for the conditions will be the difference between success and...

Maybe we won't talk about that.

All hostas prefer to have morning sun and maybe some late afternoon sun. It is that midday sun that is the challenge. Sun tolerance, is to some degree, leaf-color related.

Most hosta with whitish variegation will burn in hot afternoon sun. Those that have more green to chartreuse variegation will handle some of that midday sun as long as they are getting plenty of water. You should avoid putting blue hosta in the sun as the blue color is a waxy coating on the leaf and will melt off, turning your blue plants green. Golden hosta WANT sun. If they don’t get enough sunlight they will turn that sickly greenish-yellow chartreuse color. You know the one. Green hosta will typically take some midday sun, and I have found that the thicker the leaf the more sun they will take.

Do you have a shady area that merges into a more sunny area and looking for some continuity? Here is a list of sun-loving hostas to fill in the sunny areas. Remember, soil moisture is key to keeping the plants looking good.

Rhododendrons are considered among the more difficult plants to trim. Many sources of information about pruning Rhododendron come from the Southern and Western states. The usual complaint about Rhododendron is that they get too large. That is not a big problem in the Midwest.

"Disbudding" refers to two aspects of pruning Rhododendrons. The first is simply removing spent blossoms. I’ve heard arguments over the years that, unless removed, the old flowerbuds will inhibit production of new flowers. I found absolutely no reference to this in my research travels. Also, to me this makes no sense. Mother nature put those flowers there and she can take them off – the shrub will bloom again! The best reason to remove them is one of aesthetics.

The second aspect of disbudding is pruning a Rhododendron for shape, compactness, and size of planting area allowed. Most pruning recommendations include removing dead or damaged branches as well as removing branches along the ground. These danglers can be more easily affected by fungus and can be a highway for weevils.

Now for the tough part – pruning a Rhododendron for shape and size. In essence, any pruning one does is shortening the distance between growth years. You can prune the current year’s growth back by hand right after blooming when the new growth is sticky or by mid-June with pruners when new growth has hardened off a bit. Pruning deeper on bare wood does not usually give good results. That limb will often die back or result in new shoots that may be spindly. One aside is my own observation that some of the newer grafted Rhododendrons are producing growth buds on low, woody branches which may develop if apical branches are damaged or removed.

Rhododendrons also include PJM types and Azaleas - both evergreen (kaempferi) and deciduous (Exbury and Northern Lights series). Most of the pruning rules are the same, however, you can prune much deeper into secondary wood and even lightly shear with good results. Compactness for shape is encouraged but avoid the meatball-effect. Also, hard pruning can reduce respiration and recovery.

Pruning aside, the best results for Rhododendron will be had from good soil preparation (i.e. moist, well-drained conditions), the addition of organic matter, and application of acid fertilizers.

Boxwood blight is a fungal disease of boxwood that results in the defoliation and decline of boxwood plants. Once it’s in the landscape it is very costly and difficult to control with fungicides. The boxwood blight fungus has a short life cycle and infections can spread quickly between plants, especially under humid, warm and wet conditions that favor disease development.

The main way that this disease is spread is through the movement of infected plants, cuttings, and boxwood debris. The sticky fungus spores are also spread on contaminated tools and equipment, worker's clothes, and water. The spores are unlikely to travel long distances through the wind. All plants infected with the fungus should be destroyed, as the chance of further spreading the fungus is highly probable. Limiting the spread of this sticky fungus is very difficult and can only be accomplished by following good sanitation practices.

Boxwood blight has been found in Michigan. Because of this we will NOT accept any returns on boxwood once they have left the nursery. We will also ask that you do not bring any boxwood plants, leaf litter, or clippings into our nursery. We reserve the right to not load any vehicle that has boxwood or debris from outside of our nursery. Please do not bring in any samples of boxwood that you are trying to match - take several pictures of the plant you are trying to match and we will help the best we can.

Boxwood blight can look like many other issues that boxwood can have, such as leaf spot, winter burn, and other non-threatening fungal diseases. This means that:

The only way to confirm whether a plant has boxwood blight is to submit samples to a professional plant disease diagnostic lab.