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Welcome to Steve's Garden homepage. This is the shrubs page. Shrubs are an important part of any garden. They provide shade, structure and substance to a garden. Shrubs come in all shapes and sizes-some as small as 6-8" and some as large as 15-20'. Some shrubs are so distinctive that the can be used as a single specimen in a lawn or border. Below you will find some helpful tips on buying, planting, and taking care of shrubs.

• Buying Shrubs

  Shrubs can be purchased container-grown, bare-rooted, balled, or pre-packaged. Container grown plants are a little more expensive but can be planted at just about any time of year as long as soil is workable. Bare-rooted plants are not as expensive but should only be planted during the dormant season. (In other words if the leaf buds are beginning to open don't buy it!) Often larger evergreens are sold balled and burlaped. Pre-packaged shrubs are often found in department stores. Although they may be fine it is more difficult to assess the health of the plant. I much prefer buying my shrubs from reputable garden centres. REMEMBER, no matter what type of shrubs you buy always check for signs of desease and health. Wilted or spotted leaves often are a sign of an unhealthy shrub.
  
  

• Planting Shrubs

  The following tips on planting shrubs comes from Dr. D.G. Hessayon's book called The Flowering Shrub Expert
• First make up a planting mixture in a wheelbarrow of 1 part top soil, 1 part moist peat and 3 handfuls of Bone Meal per barrow load.
• Next dig the hole large enough to hold a 3-4" layer of planting mixture all round and deep enough to ensure that the soil ball will be 1" below the surface.
• Next add a layer of planting mixture.
• Next remove the plant from the container very carefully. Gently tease out some of the roots on the side of the soil ball. For a balled plant, untie and loosen top of the sacking-do not remove it. If the covering is netting or sheeting carefully remove but do not break up the soil ball.
• Next add more planting mixture around the side of the whole firming down the mixture with your finger tips until you reach the top of the soil ball.
  
  If you follow the above steps you will get your shrubs off to a good healthy start!
  
  

• Shrub Care

  The following maintenance guidelines apply to most shrubs. Check with your local garden centre to be sure that they apply to the shrubs that you purchase.
  
• WATERING: Established shrubs really only need watering during prolonged dry spells. Newly planted shrubs of course need to be watered. Be sure to water deeply. Watering often and lightly encourages root growh close to the surface. You want your roots to dig down deep. The best time to water is early evening.
• FERTILIZING AND MULCHING: Most shrubs will benefit from regular fertilizing. Slow release fertilizers are best applied in the spring. Quick release fertilizers should be worked into the soil over an area slightly wider that the spread of the top growth of the shrub. Once again it is a good idea to check with your garden center for the best fertilizer for your shrubs.
• A mulch of bark chips or wood chips should be applied around newly planted shrubs. It should be about 2-3" deep and kept clear of the stems. The mulch helps to retain moisture and heat. One side benefit is that it also inhibits weed growth.
• WEEDING: Although weeding is not a pleasant chore, weeds compete for nutrients. Be sure to clear all weeds before planting. Once your shrubs are established you will not have to weed so often.
  
  I hope that these tips will help you get started planting shrubs. Check out the reading corner below.
  
  

• The Reading Corner

• Hessayon, D.G. The Flowering Shrub Expert, Expert Books, New York 1994.
• Cole, Trevor Practical Guide to Gardening in Canada RD Press, Montreal 1993.
• Lancaster, Roy What Plant Where, Cavendish Books, Vancouver 1995.
  
  If you have any questions just e-mail me at perrys@glen-net.ca
  
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