Garden Party

My good friend Anne recently hostessed a planting party at her house. She provided the dirt, and everyone attending brought full-sun flowers and a container to plant.

Everyone had a great time and left the party with several pretty pots to take home. Most gardeners brought medium-sized pots, so we had a surplus of flowers necessitating a quick run out for more containers.

Our growing season has barely started, so there's more than enough time for some of you to plan a flower swap of your own. (I recommend having each guest bring half a flat of flowers.)

Falling Sycamore Leaves

Yesterday, I came home to this:


A smattering of crinkly Sycamore leaves on my lawn. This happens every time we have a cool, wet spring. One of our foresters calls it "Wet Weather Disease." It's technical name is Sycamore Anthracnose.

Are you raking leaves in May, too?

Coming Home

The last blooms on my lilac.

I haven't enjoyed my landscape more than I have this year. My flowers are all doing well, the lawn looks great and my husband planted some Oakleaf Hydrangeas in the backyard.

I still have room in a few pots, and I am dying to get one of those Drift roses I wrote about in April, so I am heading to Suburban Lawn & Garden at 105th & Roe in Overland Park on Friday to get the last few things on my list AND support a worthy cause.

Friday, from 5-8 p.m., Suburban is donating 10% of every purchase to the Children's Center for the Visually Impaired.

Here are the official details if you would like to join me:

Get your yard ready for summer with CCVI!

Another Bloomin' Fundraiser

5 to 8 p.m.
Friday, May 28
Suburban Lawn & Garden
105 and Roe in Overland Park, Kansas

View and purchase new spring bedding plants, trees and shrubs for your yard and garden while enjoying live music, light hor d’oeuvres and beverages. Suburban Lawn & Garden will donate 10% of every purchase to CCVI.

For more information, contact Jennifer Anderson (816) 841-2284 x2016 or janderson@ccvi.org.

Hope to see you there!

Lawn Brown Spots

I mentioned earlier this week that all the rain may lead to lawn disease when the weather warms up. This weekend Kansas City is supposed to be a toasty 87 degrees. This means we may see a flare up in lawn disease. (Warm nights + moisture = a breeding ground for fungus.)

Brown Patch, the most common Fescue lawn disease, causes thin patches of light brown grass that are roughly circular in shape. Sometimes, the disease skips the circular phase and presents as large, thin, brown areas. To determine if disease is causing your brown spots, look at an individual leaf blade for lesions.

This, my friends, is what the lesions look like.
I know, because this came from the lawn of yours truly.

Ryan Lawn & Tree can take care of your lawn disease. Request a free estimate. (We can also prevent disease.)

Vegetable Garden

Victoria recently sent in photos of her first vegetable garden. She built raised beds and filled it with rich soil. Many plants were started indoors from seed.

Photo courtesy of Victoria.

I can't wait to see how the garden progresses! If you would like me to feature your lawn and garden projects, send the details to tarapatty at ryanlawn dot com.

Bermuda Lawns Slow Coming Out of Dormancy

Weather in the Kansas City Metro has been hard on Bermuda lawns. The cold, long winter led to more than normal winter kill, and the cool, wet spring is keeping them from greening up on time.

Winter kill occurs when large areas of grass die off during the winter due to low temperatures, too little precipitation, or excessive foot traffic. It is very common in Kansas City, because we are in the Transition Zone. (This simply means we are on the border of areas where warm-season grasses, like Bermuda, and cool-season grasses, like Fescue, thrive.)

Because temperatures have been milder than usual, and we have had more rainfall than normal, Bermuda lawns have also been slow to break dormancy. This means the grass is still brown, rather than the deep green we're used to seeing this time of year.

Rain and Your Lawn

Photo from Galyna Andrushko - Fotolia.com

We have been getting a ton of rain in the Kansas City Metro area recently. Initially, I was grateful to skip a day of watering my container plants; then I started to worry they were getting a little too wet.

Containers aside, what does all of this rain mean for our Fescue lawns?

Because the weather is cool and the rain has stopped for now, it may simply mean we get to enjoy our lush, green spring lawns free from drought or heat stress. However, yards with drainage problems or standing water can pose a threat. Waterlogged soil has less oxygen available for plant roots and may lead to wet wilt, a fairly rare condition.

Another possible complication concerns temperatures. If they heat up too soon, it will make our currently wet lawns more susceptible to fungal disease. These diseases can potential kill grass, especially in Fescue lawns planted in the last two years.

For now, though, I think we can safely enjoy the new life that the rain has brought forth. If conditions change, you know I'll keep you posted.