Planting shrubs

I was checking around last week and visited Holland Nurseries. I was surprised to learn that due to the fine weather and changing seasons, they were having a truck of shrubs in from the mainland for some orders and for sale in the nursery.

While in the past, mid-October was considered late for planting, conditions these days make it OK. So here is your last chance to plant some containerized shrubs. Probably some of your local nurseries still have a few plants for sale.

Fall bulbs

Another surprise was that their Allium gigantum and one or two of their other smaller bulbs were sold out. However, they still had some of the small Allium danfordae, Iris reticula- ta and plenty of daffodils and tulips left, as had Gaze Seed.

So, get moving and buy and plant some bulbs for next spring and summer flowers.

Hydrangeas

A reader asked me last week about this plant. This year it had plenty of blooms. When should he prune it?

This is a popular garden shrub with lots of blooms. The most popular variety is the Mopheads, which carry very large blooms in late summer and early fall.

Hydrangeas form their flower buds in the spring and flower on new wood. Therefore, old wood should be pruned back in the dormant early spring.

However, as the flowers die in the late fall, one does not want any dropped petals to lie on paths and become a slipping hazard when wet. Neither do we want these large blooms to hold on to heavy snowfalls and break the branches, so the dead blooms can be carefully removed, but do not prune the branches. These can be tied up for the winter.

More on club root

I have heard several times over the years, both in England and in New- foundland, that putting a piece of rhubarb stalk or a mothball in each hole at planting time will stop club root.

Way back, I checked several sources and again last week, and can find no scientific proof that it works. There appears to be two schools of thought: one that it is folklore and does not work, and the other that it does work.

There have been lots of scientific experiments at agricultural research stations and recognized company research stations.

In one instance, they tried raising the pH to 7.0-7.5. It locked too much boron out of the root reach and the curds of cauliflower turned brown and caused as much damage as the club root. Another caused too much toxicity in the soil.

Soil sterilizers do not work, as the resting disease spores are tough and pass through in worm casts and still spread the disease. Other experiments have also failed.

The couple on the Bonavista Peninsula said they had tried this year sowing some seed that was said to be club root resistant, but with no success.

They laughed it off by saying either the seed was no good, or the club root disease was a different type.

I noticed that they could not resist planting a few rows of brassicas, even though they knew they had club root in the ground.