A Festive Time for Evergreens
By Ken Lain, The Garden Guy

Well, I have to admit it was cold at Prescott’s parade and courthouse lighting, but the festive event was well worth the runny noses and red ears. I have to brag just a little because I’m so pleased that Watters Garden Center won the "Best of Floats" in the commercial division. Of course, our float had lots of plants in full bloom and ornaments borrowed from the Christmas shop, but I believe it was the beautiful girls wearing Watters’ classic red aprons that made the float exceptional.

Lisa and I are blessed with identical twin daughters, Meghan and McKenzie, who were helping out with this year’s float. Well, they decided to invite their friends to join them on the float. What a brilliant idea that turned out to be! Each one of those girls brought huge, warming smiles of fun that can radiate only from middle school girls who realize that they are the center of attention. I told the girls just before we started along the parade route: "This is not a parade, but a memory; enjoy every moment." They had a ball! Congratulations, girls; you were the best.

Yavapai County winters are unique because our landscape plants continue to root deeply into the earth during the cold months. Last week’s rain activated the 'Winterizer' plant food I've been recommending for the last few weeks. You can bet that already our plants are benefiting from those rain-released nutrients.

Thanks to last week’s beautiful rain the pressure to irrigate is off for the next 2-3 weeks. I irrigate my trees, shrubs, and roses every 14 days unless the garden receives 1" of rain or 7" of snow within a month’s time.

With all the rain, though, I did experience gutter problems. Leaves had clogged the downspouts. I cleaned out the leaves and ran down to True Value and bought some downspout screens to keep the gutters open. No more clogs, so bring on more rain.

I am a strong believer in the use of 'Shredded Bark' around plants. Not only is 'Shredded Bark' a beautiful top dressing, but a 2-3" layer of bark has the same effect as a warm blanket would have in warming the root structures of plants. It prevents the soil from freezing as often or as deep. This allows plants to root even more prolifically during the winter.

Bark also keeps the soil from heaving. Soil heaving is caused by the repetitive freezing & thawing of the soil. It can force the top layer of soil, rocks, and roots to rise out of the earth. This is very hard on plants, especially plants that have been in the ground for only a couple of years.

I had just completed three new gardens just before the rains arrived. I had planted a mixture of trees, shrubs, perennials, and a few annuals, and top-dressed them all with a layer of shredded bark. I watered them in with a hose and added each to my drip system, but nothing beats the kiss of Mother Nature and the slow soak from 2.66" of rain. With their blanket of bark and their ‘Winterizer’ supplement I'm sure my plants are rooting more deeply than they would have with only the rain to encourage them.

This is the ideal time to determine where evergreens should go in your landscape. Now that deciduous plants are leafless it’s easy to pinpoint the naked parts of the yard.

Larger evergreens like pine, fir, cypress, and spruce are best installed before the spring planting season. These large evergreens are hesitant to grow new needle and candle growth without a substantial root structure to support them. They typically root for two years before they exhibit substantial new growth. However, if planted now the trees begin rooting right away. More roots sooner mean stronger healthier plants that look better sooner.

I advise my clients to cut back on the money spent on fast growing trees like aspens, willows, maples, and sycamores; their money is better spent on a large, although slower-growing, evergreen. A sycamore can be planted now and easily grow three feet in a year, but a small spruce will put on only half that growth in the same period of time. It's well worth spending a little extra on large evergreens to plant the size that looks best now in a landscape rather than waiting years for them to grow.

As we go about our preparations for Christmas, let's remember this week was the start of Hanukkah. So, to my Jewish friends: may you have a most blessed Hanukkah season.

Until next week, I’ll see you in the garden center.

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