Saturday, April 22    ARBOR DAY SPECIAL!

Buy a tree and receive a FREE bag of hardwood mulch!

FREE CLASS Held at McAdam Nursery & Garden Center
11:00 to 11:30 on Mulch and Amendments.

FREE CLASS Held at McAdam Nursery & Garden Center
12:00 to 12:30 on Rose Care.

Arbor Day was the idea of one Julius Sterling Morton (1832-1902), a Nebraska journalist and politician. Morton thought Nebraska's landscape and economy would benefit from the wide-scale planting of trees. He set an example himself by planting orchards, shade trees and wind breaks on his own farm, and he urged his neighbors to follow suit. When he became a member of Nebraska's State Board of Agriculture, he proposed that a special day be set aside dedicated to tree planting and increasing awareness of the importance of trees.

Arbor Day was officially proclaimed by Gov. Robert W. Furnas of Nebraska on March 12, 1874, and the day was observed April 10, 1874. Nebraska's first Arbor Day was an amazing success. It was estimated that more than one million trees were planted. In 1885, Arbor Day was named a legal holiday in Nebraska and April 22, Morton's birthday, was selected as the date for its permanent observance. Morton first worked to improve agriculture in Nebraska. He then did the same for the whole United States when he served as President Grover Cleveland's Secretary of Agriculture. But his most important legacy is Arbor Day.

In the years following that first Arbor Day, Morton's idea spread beyond Nebraska to other states. Today all 50 states celebrate state Arbor Days with dates that vary in keeping with the local climate — from Hawaii's first Friday in November to Alaska's third Monday in May. The National Arbor Day of the last Friday in April was chosen because many of the states celebrate theirs on that date.

Arbor Day is also now celebrated in many other countries, although they have different names and often weeks instead of days. For instance, it is called 'Greening Week' in Japan and 'The Tree-loving Week' in Korea. Planting a tree is a good idea anywhere in the world!

For the homeowner, National Arbor Day is a great day to look over the trees on the property and plan for the future. Check your trees for damage, disease and pests. Think about planting a new tree as a windbreak, for shade, or just for looks. If you are a parent, National Arbor Day is a great opportunity to share some family activity, by choosing a tree and planting it with your child (or children). If you have no space to plant a tree, consider a small, slow-growing tree in a pot — or give a tree as a gift to someone who needs some trees on their property.

Before applying mulch, remove weeds and water thoroughly.
You’ll get the best weed control when you weed first then spread the mulch. And it is often easier to wet the soil before applying mulch.

Replace grass with mulch under trees and around poles.
Mulching under trees to the drip line minimizes competition for water and nutrients from grass and mimics the way trees grow in nature. It simplifies mowing and can reduce trimming operations and labor. In addition, mulching around poles, tree trunks, and over surface roots prevents damage from mowers and weed eaters.

Keep mulch 6–12 inches away from the base of trees and shrubs.
Tree trunks are not suited to wet conditions. Placing mulch so that you can see the root flare keeps the trunk dry and reduces the risk of damage from disease, insects, and rodents.

Choose the application rate that will give you the best results.

• General Use: Apply a layer that settles to 2–4 inches deep. This is the best general application rate, especially for use in planting beds.

• Fine Mulch: Apply no more than 2 inches. Thin layers of fine mulch (particle size of half-inch or less) are less likely to impede air and water. Fine mulches decompose more quickly and need to be replenished more often than coarse, woody mulches.

• Coarse Mulch: Use 4–6 inches or more to control weeds in open spaces. Coarse mulch is best for weed control; it prevents annual weed seeds from germinating. Weeds that do sprout are easier to remove. For maximum weed control, replenish mulch once a year.

• You can have too much of a good thing: Use lesser amounts of mulch on poorly drained soils.

Resource: A Landscaper’s Guide to Mulch

Roses must be pruned every year to maintain vigorous growth and to keep them flowering well. While they are dormant is the best time to prune.

Steps in pruning your roses:

• Think about each cut before you make it. All cuts should be at an angle and just above a bud that is facing away from the center of the bush.
• Remove dead branches and canes.
• Remove old canes that produce only twiggy growth. If your bush is old and has only these old canes, save three or four and cut those back to 3 feet.
• The height to cut your canes back depends on the type of flowers you want. If you want the long stems for cutting, cut your canes back to 3 feet. If you want profuse flowers, but you're not concerned about stem length, cut the canes back one third.
• Remove all branches that are thinner than a pencil.
• Pull off all remaining leaves, rake up all debris, and put it in the trash. Do not use this for your compost pile, as there may be overwintering insects and/or diseases.
• Spray the pruned bush with dormant oil spray.

To those of you who are new to the more organic way of gardening, here are a few tips:

Monitoring — that means catching problems when they are small. For example, rose slugs chew holes in the leaves from the underside. Watch for them when they are small and easier to control. Once they get large it's more difficult to slow them down. A regular spray with Rose Pharm, from Pharm Solutions, Inc. about once a week will suffocate the eggs or young larvae. Once they get large it's more difficult to slow them down. Follow label directions.

Another control is to keep a water supply close by to attract birds. Larger birds often like worms, caterpillars and such. Smaller birds — especially hummingbirds — will keep the aphid population down. Keep bushes hosed off and that should help with most insects.

A Rose History Lesson:

Species roses have been growing wild for hundreds or thousands of years. Early Romans loved roses and used them in many ways, even as medications. Early Christians used rose pictures in stained glass windows of medieval churches. The rose garden of Josephine, first wife of Napoleon, at Malmaison, is still in existence. It contains almost 250 different roses, mostly distinct species and natural hybrids.
China roses and ever-blooming types came from the Orient. The Bourbon roses from Reunion, an island in the Indian Ocean, are also ever-blooming.
Hybrids between ever-blooming China roses and Rosa Moschata led to the Noisette roses. The 'Hybrid Perpetuals' were developed from mixed parentage. These were crossed with tea roses from China, resulting in the first hybrid tea rose, known as 'La France,' in 1867. Thus any rose introduced before 1867 is classified as an Old Rose. *

The subdivision of Old Garden Roses:

• Alba — Usually white or pale pink with gray-green leaves. Once flowering.
• Bourbon —First repeat flowering roses. Very fragrant.
• Centifolia — "Cabbage" roses. Over 100 petals. Once blooming.
• Damask — Very fragrant. Usually white, pink or red. Some bloom once, others repeat.
• Hybrid China — Open plants. Repeat flowering. Need winter protection north of zone 7.
• Hybrid Gallica — Pink, red or purple. Intense fragrance. Once flowering.
• Hybrid Perpetual — Repeat flowering. Pink, red or sometimes white.
• Moss — Centifolia roses. Have slightly sticky green or brown moss like growth on flower stems and buds. Fragrant and mostly once blooming.
• Noisette — Large sprawling plants with clustered fragrant flowers.
• Portland — Very fragrant. Repeat blooming. Usually with pink flowers. Sometimes called Damask Perpetuals.
• Tea — Repeat flowing. Usually light yellow, pink or white. Few thorns.

*Old Roses tend to grow tall and wide. Give them room.