Pretty Green Lawn

A RYAN customer in Gardner, KS, sent me this picture of his back lawn:

Can you tell where his lawn ends and his neighbor's begins?

Special thanks to Tyson for sharing this photo. I would love to show off your lawn, too. Send a picture to tara patty at ryan lawn dot com with your city, and a statement about why you love your lawn.

Trees and Power Lines At Odds

A local news story recently detailed the plight of homeowners in Lenexa whose trees are being removed or transplanted to accommodate overhead power lines. You can read the full article here Lenexa neighbors fight to save trees.

This brings up a common issue - trees and power lines don't mix. Local electric companies, largely for safety reasons, often prune or remove trees that interfere with their lines. At times, trees pruned to avoid coming into contact with power lines can look unsightly.

The best way to prevent these issues altogether is to avoid planting trees near power lines.

• Small trees, like crabapples and dogwoods, should be planted at least 20 feet from power lines.
• Medium trees, like American Holly and Lacebark Elm should be planted at least 35 feet from a power line.
• Large trees like red maples, Ginko, oaks and pines should be planted 45 feet from power lines.

Of course, if the tree is already planted too close to a line, this is not an option. In these cases, it is best to hire a professional tree company to prune the tree regularly to keep it from growing into the line. Arborists you hire will be more sensitive to the aesthetics of the tree than a company hired by the electric company.

Simple Container Planting

The other day, I was talking to a friend who wanted to plant some containers for her landscape, but didn't know where to start. I let her in on my secret:

1. Go to a nursery and find containers planted with a combination of plants you like.
2. Look at the plastic plant identifiers in the pot.
3. Buy those plants and plant them in a container.
4. (You can probably take a picture of the nursery's container if you are afraid you will forget.)

That's basically what I did with the container I planted above. It is on our front porch in full shade. I purposefully picked plants with varied colors and textures of foliage, but not a lot of blooms. (You can see one tiny purple bloom on the far right. There are three of these trailing plants in the pot that will flower.) Impatiens work well in the shade if you prefer to put more flowers in your pots.

Don't be intimidated because you think you lack creativity - nurseries, garden magazines and your local newspapers can all give you insight on how to put together a nice display.

"Neon" Grass in Your Lawn

Poa Annua (Annual Bluegrass) If you look closely, you can compare its color
to the darker grass in the background.

Two types of bluegrass, poa trivialis and poa annua (Annual Bluegrass) will appear in your lawn as neon green patches of grass in the spring. If you have a Fescue lawn, these grasses are generally regarded as weeds.

Annual Bluegrass is an annual. It will take away from the uniform color of your lawn in the spring, but will die during our hot summer. You can apply a preemergent in mid-August to prevent the grass from coming back next year.

Poa trivialis is a perennial. It is more "neon" than the annual version and tends to grow a little faster than the grass in your lawn. Because this grass is perennial, the only sure way to get rid of it is to kill out your lawn in July and reseed. Weigh your tolerance for the plant with the labor intensive project of reseeding to decide if this option is right for you.

*Poa annua and poa trivialis are very similar. The seeds on poa annua alternate, while the seeds on poa trivialis are directly opposite one another.

Tulips

Tulips won't be around for too much longer, but right now they are beautiful. One of my neighbors has a breathtaking bed of tulips every year (pictured). I love the mixture of colors.

A tip for those of you who are new to tulips: they are technically perennials, but the best blooms come the first year. For a spectacular showing, treat tulips as an annual and plant every year.

Volunteer Trees Are Stubborn

I went for a walk on Monday to enjoy the nice weather. I was thrilled to see several saucer magnolias in bloom, and several freshly mowed lawns. The rain last week has landscapes green and thriving.

Unfortunately, the rain also encourages the growth of volunteer or "weed" trees. When these pop up in the lawn, you can just mow over them. Eventually, they will stop springing back to life.

Volunteers next to your house, deck or fence line are a little more tricky. Sure, you can cut them down, but that is usually not enough to knock these plants back. Your best bet is to cut the tree as close to the ground as possible, then use a brush control product to keep the plant from reviving. (A little goes a long way.)

Eastern Red Cedars commonly come up as volunteers in our area. This one has been thriving in our side yard for a couple of years. As you can see, they grow fast!

Spring is Back...and so are Allergies.

My husband and I spent most of Friday night and Saturday outdoors. As Tom was planting his vegetables, I looked up and swirling in the wind were seeds, petals, pollen and other signs that Spring had arrived and was getting down to business.

The next morning, I walked out to my car and it was COVERED in yellow pollen. I am not sure which tree is the culprit, but I am amazed at the amount of pollen it produced.


Now, I know all you allergy sufferers out there are hurting. What do you do to alleviate your allergy symptoms? Leave a comment below or E-mail tara patty at ryan lawn dot com.