Care of Ornamental Plants in the Landscape
Ornamental plants in the home landscape can really help show off a property. Plants can be part of the overall landscape plan that can give the property balance and eye appeal. This week’s article will center on the care of established ornamental plants. Keep in mind that even established ornamental plants would need maintenance from time to time in order to stay healthy. Note, that some plants will be lower maintenance while other items will require more attention to stay top notch in the landscape.
I will be sharing infor- mation gathered from a UGA publication written by now retired UGA Extension Horticulturist, Dr. Gary Wade and also retired UGA Associate Dean of Extension, Dr. Beverly Sparks.
Fertilization is a great place to start when we are discussing ornamentals. According to our data, fertilizing is a pretty simple landscape practice that sometimes gets confusing due to the different products on the market. There are the general- purpose fertilizers all the way to specialty products where the actually fertilizer may come in a variety of forms. You will even have fertilizers designed for specific plants. Fertilizers can be granulated, liquefied, encapsulated and pelletized just to name a few. Just keep in mind that plants normally do not care the form as long if in a form they can use or take up by their root system. You can note that a soil test can help you in selecting a fertilizer right for your soil. According to Wade and Sparks, keep in mind that most ornamental plants can use a fertilizer in a 3- 1- 2 or 4- 1- 2 ratio of N- P- K. For new gardeners, the N stands for nitrogen, the P stands for phosphorus and the K stands for potassium and are in that order when looking at the numbers on a fertilizer product. I think the biggest take home point is timing of fertilization. Our research shows that woody plants will take up or be more active in absorbing nutrients during the growing season and need fewer nutrients during the dormant winter season. Apply fertilizer when the plants start coming out of dormancy. Stay away from fertilization after the first frost, which is nature’s signal for plants to start going dormant for the winter. How often and how much fertilizer is based on the specific plant you are growing and the type of fertilizer being used.
Supplemental irrigation is another topic to consider in ornamental plant care. It is true that you can really cause plant health issues when you over-water so you need to know the symptoms of water stress. In addition, knowing the water needs of your different plant items will help you know which plants will normally need more water in times of drought. Do keep in mind that most ornamentals can go days or weeks without irrigation if they are well established with a great root system. In times of dry weather, keep an eye out for plants that are wilting or seem to be more pale grayish- green in color according to Wade and Sparks. Naturally, your need to add irrigation would be more in times of drought in a hot and dry summer which moisture is evaporating more easily. The best time to irrigate is late at night or in the early morning hours.
Mulching is another great practice to keep your ornamentals healthy and in top performance. Mulch will not only help conserve soil moisture and slow down weed growth, but will also help protect plant roots from weather temperature extremes. Mulch can also help slow down some soil developed disease issues, be a buffer from turf to plant and can even protect plants from normal landscape activities such as mowing. Your mulch should be 3-5 inches in depth and really needs to come out beyond the ornamental canopy. Basically any good organic mulch option can work well such as pine bark nuggets, hardwood chips and even fall leaves. Stay away from using grass clippings since they can actually mat down and slow down the flow of nutrients and water.
Finally, pruning of ornamentals is something you need to study due to the different techniques, timing and needs of certain plants. Stay away from pruning in the fall and winter because it can stimulate new growth that can result in severe winter injury. For more information, contact Gordon County Extension at 706- 6298685 or email gbowman@uga. edu.