Greenscape Gardens Green Blog

LEWIS & CLARK EXPEDITION 200 YEARS AGO TODAY 12/12/1804

The morning temperature hovers at -21 F. The captains send three horses and a messenger to the hunters instructing them to return to Fort Mandan as soon as possible with whatever meat they have processed. Floating ice particles in the air is so thick it looks like fog.

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SALT DAMAGE, EFFECTS AND CURATIVE TREATMENTS

Deicing salts can save you from serious injury, but they spell disaster for landscape plants. Whether the salt is sprayed on the plants from passing traffic near the road or is shoveled onto plants near the sidewalk, the salt can cause damage.

Salts can adversely affect plants in several ways. Salts deposited on the surface of twigs, branches, and evergreen leaves can cause excessive drying of foliage and roots. They can be taken up by plants and accumulate to toxic levels. Salts can also cause a nutritional imbalance by changing the chemistry of the soil and can directly harm soil structure.

The most apparent damage from salts is death of buds and twig tips as a result of salt spray. As the tips of the plants die, the plant responds by growing an excessive number of side branches.
However, accumulation damage is more slowly manifested and may not be noticeable for many months. Sodium salts are the most common type used for deicing while calcium salts are used to a lesser extent. Effects usually appear as stunting, poor vigor, die back of growing tips, leaf burn or leaf drop. Winter and spring rains and large amounts of snow can help prevent accumulation by diluting the salt and helping to wash it out of the root zone. Supplemental irrigation is advisable when natural rainfall is scarce.

Protect roadside plants by constructing burlap or durable plastic screens to shield them from traffic splash. If screening from traffic is not practical, try to use salt-tolerant plants such as Juniper, Siberian pea shrub, Russian olive, poplar and honey locust.

Avoid throwing sidewalk residue on nearby plants, including shrubs and ground cover. Use alternatives such as clean cat litter, sand or sawdust to help improve traction on ice.

If salt damage is impossible to control this simple trick will reduce potential damage. Apply gypsum into the area adjacent to salt prone problems. This will counter react the effects of salt damage by neutralizing the salt before it causes damage to the turf and potentially to the trees and shrubs in the area.

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A REDNECK 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

On the 12 days of Christmas, my true love gave to me

12 pack of Bud
11 rasslin' tickets
10 tins of Copenhagen
9 years probation
8 table dancers
7 packs of Red Man
6 cans of Spam
5 flannel shirts
4 big mud tires
3 shotgun shells
2 huntin' dawgs
and some parts to a Mustang GT.

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GREENSCAPE GARDENS JOKE OF THE DAY

A pretty young woman visiting her new doctor for the first time found herself alone in a small waiting room. She began undressing nervously, preparing herself for the upcoming examination. Just as she draped the last of her garments over the back of a chair, a light rap sounded on the door and a young doctor strode in.

Coming to an abrupt halt, the doctor looked his nude patient up and down carefully and with considerable appreciation.

"Miss Jones," he said finally, "it seems quite obvious to me that until today you have never undergone an eye examination."