What is a pansy?

Pansies are the most commonly planted fall and winter annual in our area and for very good reason!  Pansies bloom from fall into next spring, all the way through time to plant warm season annuals.  They offer a large variety of color choices and many have huge blooms!  Deadheading will help promote further blooming but isn’t completely necessary.  You will need to feed them though; we suggest using Ferti-Lome Premium Bedding Plant Food at planting as well as Good Earth brand Jump Start to promote rooting.  Additional feedings with water soluble BR-61 (which is like steroids for flowers!) is also recommended.  This can be done during warm spells for best utilization by the plants. For more information on planting, including soil prep, visit this blog post.

As mentioned above, pansies offer a wide variety of color choices.  Blotch pansies, which are also referred to as ‘with face’ are pansies that feature a dark area near the middle of the plant. The blotch color varies depending on variety and may be a darker tone of the same color, or as on light colored pansies, it can be a dark maroon or brown color as shown in the first image.  Blotch or no blotch, which to go with?  It’s all a matter of personal choice, both are beautiful!  Keep in mind that all these varieties we mention move fast, and there is a different selection each week.  Don’t wait to plant or you could miss out on your favorite colors!

Pansy

Viola

Pansies typically have large blooms, which are very showy!  However, sometimes the large blooms get weighed down with rain and winter weather.  Depending on how long they are wet, they don’t always stand back up.  Violas on the other hand have much smaller blooms that don’t get weighed down during rain, the result being flowers that stay upright.  Violas are also known for more heat and cold tolerance, which can mean a better spring display.  Although there are less color options in violas, there are some stunning ones out there.

Viola

Panola

One more great option to mention is Panola!  Panolas have the best of both worlds, durability of the viola and the larger bloom size of a pansy. Plus there are more color options available in panola than there are with violas.

Panola

Nature Series Pansy

Let’s talk about the Nature series of pansies; wow, are they cool!  They are new for us this year, and seem to be more compact than a viola, with blooms standing up taller.  The bloom size is closer to a viola than the bloom size of panolas but the color choices are lovely!  Take a look at these:

Nature Series Pansy

We can’t finish this conversation without mentioning one of our favorites; the Cool Wave trailing pansy.  The bloom size is smaller but the trailing/ spreading growth habit of these plants makes it perfect for pots.  Our staff knows from personal experience how awesome these are; we are talking gorgeous color, trailing out of containers with a length as long as eighteen inches!  These also create mounds of color in landscape beds; the spreading habit means you can plant them much further apart.

Cool Wave Pansy

Don’t forget to add accents such as Dusty Miller and ornamental cabbage and kale.

Dusty Miller

And here is the last tip from us (for this post anyway!).  Use quality potting soil in pots and prepare the planting area in landscape beds.  You can get the best plant, plant them correctly and in the best spot, fertilize, water and mulch them, and STILL not have a great looking if the proper soil isn’t chosen or the bed areas haven’t been prepped.  Take a minute to read the blog post referenced in the first paragraph and pick up some Good Earth brand Professional Growing Mix.  It’s what we use for a reason… it’s the best.  We look forward to seeing you this fall!  Keep in mind that all these varieties we mentioned move fast, and there is a different selection each week.  Don’t wait to plant or you could miss out on your favorite colors!

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Need some fertilizer guidance? Look no further. Gregg and Jeff have some information to help you make the right decision with ease.

Making Sense of Fertilizer

There are plenty of fertilizers on the market, and that can make the choice difficult when it’s time to buy. Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. We’ve got some suggestions for you, and luckily there are only a handful of fertilizers that you really need in your arsenal.

The Basics

A good place to start is ferti•lome’s Azalea Food with Systemic. Gregg says he uses this on just about everything in his yard, aside from edible plants. He doesn’t use it on edible plants because the “systemic” part of this fertilizer refers to systemic insecticide.

For plants that are edible, he recommends ferti•lome’s Fruit, Citrus and Pecan Tree Food to do the trick. It’s perfect for plants that want a more acidic soil. This mix also helps ensure these edible plants get the zinc they need.

Ferti•lome’s Premium Bedding Plant Food is a great fertilizer for blooming plants. Using this in your flower beds will bring out the blooms in droves.

Osmocote is a slow release formula with a coating that allows it to take into consideration the moisture and temperature. The coating allows the osmocote to release at an appropriate rate, which means this fertilizer can last up to four months!

And finally BR-61 is a great fertilizer to help really boost the blooms on your plants. With all fertilizers, but especially BR-61, make sure you’ve watered the soil the day before applying your fertilizer. This will ensure that the roots don’t absorb too much salt and experience damage.

Need More Help?
The Good Earth team is just a call or click away. We keep these fertilizers (and more!) in stock, and we’ll be happy to give you personalized tips for your own yard. Call us at 501.868.4666 or visit us at 15601 Cantrell Road in Little Rock!

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Deadheading Annuals

Deadheading, or removing spent blooms, increases the production of new blooms.  By this time of year (mid-August), warm season annuals can look a little leggy and worn out.  Deadheading gives them a fresh look.  This is also true about re-blooming perennials and shrubs such as Knock Out Roses.  Trim spent bloom off just above a node.  A node is where leaves meet stems.  Cutting above a node will allow the plant to fill out natural.  If just the spent bloom is cut off, leaving a visible empty stem, the plant can still look messy and won’t fill in well.

Sterilize your cutting tools by dipping them in a 50% water, 50% bleach solution.  We suggest watering your plants thoroughly before deadheading; remember that the plant will lose moisture from each cut.  If the plant is already water stressed, trimming can worsen plant stress.

Fertilizing Your Annuals

Another way to extend the bloom season of annuals is to fertilize them.  Our favorite product is BR 61; it provides a ton of flower power!  Each fertilizer has a set of three numbers listed.  This is the percent by weight of three main nutrients, Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K).  Each of these nutrients does something a little different for a plant; the middle number, indicating percent of Phosphorus, promotes the development of blooms.  Therefore, bloom boosting fertilizers generally have a higher middle number than they do Nitrogen, which promotes leaf and stem growth, or Potassium, which increases drought and disease tolerance among other things.

BR 61 has a formulation of 9-58-8; that is a lot of flower power in one products!  It’s water soluble, just mix the powder with water and apply.  As with all fast-acting water soluble fertilizers, apply when the plants are not in full, hot sun and when they are not water stressed.  Doing either of these things could cause the foliage to burn.

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It’s important to spend a little time getting to know your soil.  This will help you create the perfect growing environment for your lawn and landscape plants.  This post covers pH, which is the measure of a soil solution’s alkalinity or acidity.  Other soil health-related items to consider are organic matter, soil moisture level, and proper nutrients.

Step 1

Don’t make assumptions.  For example, native soil in central Arkansas is typically on the acidic side of the pH scale.  However, we are seeing that soils brought in for new landscape construction are more alkaline. Soil pH is key; it influences the availability of nutrients essential to plant health, as well as organic matter decomposition. Decomposition of organic matter adds natural nutrients into the soil, improves drainage, and benefits the soil’s ecosystem.

Step 2

Collect soil and take to your local county Cooperative Extension office.  Make sure you remove bark, stones and other large particles of organic matter.  For more detailed information about collecting and submitting your soil sample, click here.

Step 3

Bring your soil sample results in with you.  In general, you apply sulfur for alkaline soils, and lime for acidic soils.  The soil test will give a recommendation of what is needed but it can be difficult to interpret.  We can help guide you to the best solution.

Step 4

Invest in adjusting your soil pH as needed. Some nutrients get ‘tied up’ at certain pH levels.  This means that sometimes you can be applying the best fertilizers and they aren’t accessible to your plants because of the soil pH level.  Investing in pH adjustment can help decrease the number of fertilizer applications, and help overall plant health.  Soil tests will also list what nutrients are needed; you might need to add nutrients or micro nutrients to the soil as well as adjusting the pH.Plants are an investment; taking care of your soil health can increase their longevity.

Step 5

Retest.  Soil pH isn’t static; it can change over time.  Test every year for a few years and apply recommended adjustments.  Then back off a bit and test every few years, unless issues arise.

The post Getting to know your soil for the perfect growing environment appeared first on The Good Earth Garden Center.

Learn about fertilizer, azaleas and crabgrass here!

Apply Fertilizer in Summer

Summer chores can make all the difference this fall.  Remember to fertilize azaleas several times through the end of summer.  Apply Ferti-Lome Azalea/ Evergreen Food Plus; this will both feed your azaleas and control lacebugs.  Lacebugs are the most common insect pest on azaleas.   For more information on growing azaleas, visit this blog post.

Lawns also benefit from summer fertilizer applications.  Apply Good Earth brand Weed Preventer with Slow Release Nitrogen Fertilizer every 60 to 90 days during the growing season.  This will provide nutrients for your lawn and prevent weed seeds from germinating.

Kill Existing Weeds

A post emerge weed killer, such as Ferti-Lome Weed Out will take care of many broadleaf and grassy weeds.  Image or Sedge Ender may be necessary for nutgrass and other difficult to control weeds.

Treat for Fungus

If you had lawn fungus issues last fall or this spring, stay diligent.  Apply fungicide through fall to keep fungus from spreading.  We have both fungicide granules and sprays available.

Finish the season strong by fertilizing azaleas and treating for weeds, such as crabgrass, and fungus in lawns!

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The post Increase Flower Blooms All Season appeared first on The Good Earth Garden Center.

Soil Preparation

First of all, the most overlooked aspect of a successful planting is soil preparation.  Break up the soil in the planting area and mixed in Good Earth brand potting soil.  This potting soil contains all kinds of goodies that topsoil or even organic compost do not such as sphagnum moss, perlite, Actino Root Protection, and pH balancers all of which provide the plant roots with an excellent environment for growth.  We also added sand; it’s another great addition to your planting areas, as central Arkansas soils tend to be heavy and drain poorly. My soil happens to be very acidic so I added agricultural lime also. Adding these materials loosened the soil, created better air flow, and provided additional drainage.

Seasonal Color choices

Next, it was time to consider the plant materials themselves. Before you head to the store, do some research!  Start by learning how much sun your areas get and at what time of day they get it.  For best visual impact, plant a few larger areas of color as opposed to many small ones.  Take into account the style of your home; more formal landscapes will look better with fewer plant varieties where as more casual landscapes can accommodate a larger variety of colors and textures.  We used to suggest thumbing through magazines and books for ideas but now there is Pinterest, an online network that gives users the opportunity to find what they like and pin it to a specific board such as ‘Combination Planters’, one of The Good Earth’s most popular boards.

*The planting shown was installed in the fall.  The orange flowers and pansies and the purple are violas.  Violas have smaller flowers but the blooms tend to stand more upright than pansy blooms; however pansy blooms are larger.  Hybrids of both include Panolas and the Nature series of pansies, which offer the best characteristics of both; bigger blooms and durability.  Additional fall plant materials are ornamental cabbage, ornamental kale, swiss chard and one of our favorites, ornamental mustard!

For spring color, the options are numerous!  The Proven Winner series of annuals has been selected for hardiness and greatest visual impact.  And it’s not all about the flowers!  Coleus and other foliage plants offer vibrant colors.  For instant color, consider planting hanging baskets.  Depending on how your landscape is arranged, adding groupings of planters in your annual color areas, filling with a combination of plants, and surrounding them with a solid mass of low growing annual color can provide height and additional visual impact.

Feed Your Plants

Regardless of the actual plants you choose, do not forget this special ingredient when planting…Good Earth brand Jump Start!  This product contains mycorrhizae, which can increase water and nutrient uptake by up to 1000 times!  For this to be effective, add the granules into the root zone at planting.  To get maximum blooms throughout the season, apply BR-61, a water soluble fertilizer that is the equivalent of steroids for your plants!  Seriously, you will never use anything else once you start using BR-61.  At planting, use Ferti-Lome Premium Bedding Plant Food for slow release fertilizer, which is helpful during cooler months when applying water soluble fertilizers such as BR-61 is easy to forget.

Mulch

Mulch provides good weed control, soil moisture retention and can keep plant roots insulated.  Plus, it keeps landscape beds looking fresh!

Don’t forget!

Please note that this process shouldn’t be done once and then forgotten; amend the soil with every seasonal color change out.  Add Good Earth brand Jump Start with every planting, including shrub, tree, perennial and annual plantings.  Always have fertilizer on hand and don’t skip the mulch!  Be aware during the process; for example, I noticed a ton of grubs in my soil, so I now know that treating the soil for grubs is going to be part of my maintenance routine.  We hope this helps get you going and inspires you to create some amazing spaces!

The post How to Create the Most Stunning Seasonal Color Display in the Neighborhood! appeared first on The Good Earth Garden Center.

PRUNE
•    Prune ornamental grasses, summer blooming spiraeas, and crape myrtles mid-February.  Groundcovers such as liriope and evergreen ferns such as Autumn ferns can be cut back now before new growth begins.  Also, clean up any evergreen perennials before new growth shoots up.

•    Don’t forget to prune your fruits, including blueberries, grape vines, and fruit trees.

•    Roses need pruning this month too.  Prune your Knock-Out and Hybrid Tea roses this month, but wait until after blooming to prune your climbing roses.  Also wait to prune any other roses that only bloom in the Spring until after they bloom.

•    Prune boxwoods, hollies and other evergreen shrubs in March or early April.

•    Not everything needs a pruning now!  Wait to prune Spring flowering plants like azaleas, gardenias, hydrangeas and forsythia until after blooming.

FEED

•    Add fertilizer to your bulb plants as the flower stalks begin to emerge, with a complete fertilizer like Start-N-Gro.

•    Pansies and violas will be on the rebound as the days get warmer, so remember to fertilize to insure good blooming through the end of the season.

PREP AND PLANT

•    Prepare the soil in your landscape beds with soil amendments such as lime and organic material.

•    It’s time to plant cool season vegetable gardens with broccoli, lettuce, cabbage, onion, potato and spinach. Herbs parsley and cilantro also like these cooler temps.  Other edibles such as fruit trees and blueberries can be planted now too.

Your success is our success!  Visit thegoodearthgarden.lab5.matmon.com for the rest of the calendar, the blog, sign-up for the email newsletter, like us on Facebook and more!

The post Arkansas Gardening Tips for February! appeared first on The Good Earth Garden Center.

During drought conditions, how should you go about using fertilizer?
Your turf and landscape plants are still going to need food even if it’s dry.  Make sure to water thoroughly before fertilizing either one of them since all fertilizers except organic ones have some traces of salt in them.  If the grass cells aren’t well hydrated, the application of fertilizer may cause fertilizer burn.  A high nitrogen (first number) fertilizer encourages of top growth, which the grass will need more water to maintain. So it’s a cycle; the more you encourage fast top growth, the more water you need to apply, the more mowing you will have to do.   A good balanced fertilizer, a slow release fertilizer, or an organic fertilizer are better choices during times of drought.  We suggest applying a slow nitrogen release fertilizer called Milorganite, which also adds humates to the soil.

How much water do lawns need to keep thriving every week– is there a way to find out specific to your lawn?

Yes, a little work is required.  Investigate the sub-surface of your soil by digging a hole at least eight inches down.  The upper three to four inches is the top surface and below this is the sub-surface which determines the drainage of the soil.  Is your sub-surface clay or porous?  You can also buy yourself a moisture meter and adjust watering accordingly.  In the case of my yard, I have a lot of hard pan (clay and rock) two inches down, so this time of year I have to cycle and soak which means I water each zone for 10 minutes, then another 10 minutes, then 20 minutes in order to increase absorption. I know how much water my heads put out; in a 30 minute period they only put out about 1/8th of an inch because I’m on a well.  If you are in an area with good water pressure, the heads could be putting out as much as 1/2 inch in the same time period.  To determine your watering rate, use the tried and true method of putting cans or other containers out in different areas of your lawn and landscape while system cycles through.  Between being familiar with your soil and knowing how much water your irrigation system is applying, you can figure out how to water appropriately. I try to water about an inch a week by watering my lawn four time a week and my landscape beds twice a week.  This works for my soil because my roots will never go deep with a hardpan so close to the surface.  Other landscapes that have a deeper topsoil layer could water less often and deeper to encourage a deeper root system.  So you can see that there is not one solution for everyone!  We have a lot of customer that say that one side of the yard does much better than the other even though they get the same water.  Two things could be happening; the irrigation heads may not be putting out the same amount of water and the drainage and sub-surface of the soil may be totally different in various parts of the lawn and landscape.

How tall should you keep your grass? Why? 

We maintain over 200 acres of turf and we have found that 3.5 to 4″ height works well on zoysia, which accounts for 99% of the turf we maintain.  This may be different than other recommendations, but it has been the most successful for us.  A higher height is better for lawn health and helps decrease weed issues.

What is the importance of keeping your mower blades sharp? 

Dull mower blades can cause injury to the grass blades by tearing the grass instead of cutting it.  Cutting with dull blades will cause the plant loose much more moisture and slow down the healing time.  Think of it like split ends on hair; you want a clean cut, not breakage.

Should you recycle clippings into the lawn? Why or why not?

We recycle clippings on 75% of the lawns we maintain.  This puts valuable nutrients back in the soil, which means you can might be able to decrease nitrogen fertilizer applications.  Every cutting needs to be no more than 1/3 to better grass health.  Studies have been done that indicate that thatch build up is not a result of recycling clipping but is instead a result of the imbalance of shoot growth and microbial activity.  Ferti-lome has a product called Soil Activator to increase the growth of beneficial micro-organisms and can decrease thatch.

Is there any additional tips that you recommend for saving your lawn during droughts?
The damage you see today may have been caused weeks ago.  Also, watch for fungus issues and grub damage since they may look like water issues in the beginning.  Big established trees may seem like they can survive anything but if severe drought can cause serious damage.  Let a hose drip in the root zone for a nice long watering.

The post Water & Your Lawn! appeared first on The Good Earth Garden Center.

This is the best time of year for inspiration!  But sometimes it’s difficult to narrow down all the options and create an interesting, lively container to perfectly complement your space.  So… let us help!

If you already have a container to plant in, measure it before you go shopping. If you don’t have a planter, consider style options as well as sizing.  You want it to fit in proportionately with your existing space.  Also, think about where the planter will be; do the plants need to be tall or cascading down the sides, or both?  Next, figure out how much sun will the planter be getting.  Got it?  Okay, now that you are sufficiently armed with all kinds of good info, it’s time to shop!

At The Good Earth, we separate our plants based on the sun requirements, so if you need plants for a shady area, head to the shade!  If sun plants are what you are looking for, pick up one of our sun hats, and begin the search.  The Proven Winner series of plants have been carefully selected for their hardiness, and offer a variety of striking textures and colors.  Mixing some of these in with a larger statement piece such as a perennial or tropical in the middle works very well.  Generally speaking, it’s important to have a plant for height surrounded by filler plants, and spot in some trailing plants. Here are several great color and texture combinations:

For shade:
1. Green Spice Heuchera, Impatiens, Moneywort (top image)
2. Maidenhair Fern, New Guinea Impatiens, Hosta, Heuchera (middle image)
3. Impatiens, Maidenhair Fern, Torenia (bottom image)

For sun:
1. Angelonia, Bacopa, Moneywort, Wave Petunia
2. Red Star Cordyline, Ageratum, Silver Frost, Million Bells
3. Chinese Fan Palm, Verbena, Sweet Potato Vine

Don’t underestimate the importance of good soil! We started growing our perennials in a new potting mix a few years ago and it was so successful, we decided to bag for our customers to use too!  Look for Good Earth brand potting mix next time you are here!

To get the roots established well, use Espoma Bio Tone with mycorrhizea at planting.  Throughout the growing season, apply water soluble fertilizer such as BR-61 or Ferti-Lome Premium Bedding Plant Food to radically increase blooming and strength.

If the planters are located near a sprinkler line, it might be possible to run a drip line off the system for consistent watering.  Talk to the Good Earth Wet Tech, our sprinkler technician, for advice and estimates.  Otherwise, plan to hand water several times a week as needed.

Are you getting excited?  Well, we are too!  See you soon at The Good Earth Garden Center!  If you have more time, check out our combination planter board on Pinterest for more ideas!  And don’t forget, you can always bring your planters in and we can plant them for you…or come to your house and plant them, whichever you prefer!

The post How to Create Interesting and Successful Combination Planters! appeared first on The Good Earth Garden Center.