Welcome to the first issue of Bennett Garden and Gift Center News. We thank you for signing up, and are very excited about the information this newsletter will offer.

Our goal here at Bennett Garden and Gift Center is for you, our valued customer, to use this newsletter as a tool to answer many of your gardening questions. When it comes to information, we will strive to offer you pertinent material and advice to care for your garden and landscape.  We have a wealth of information available to us from a variety of sources, including some of our best and most trusted growers. We will also, from time to time, be introducing you to some of the newest and best garden-related products on the market. As always, your comments and questions are not just welcome but encouraged, and we look forward to hearing from you.

As we celebrate another year, it’s important to say thank you for helping our business thrive.  It has been a great spring, even though the weather has been a bit challenging to all of us at times.  As with every new year, spring is a great time for us to not only renew old friendships, but make new friends.  Thank you continuing to make our dream a reality.

As always,
Bonnie

Blooming perennials color the landscape for years to come. Because of this, it's important to carefully plan where you plant them to make best use of their blooming time.

Some prefer to plan their gardens so they are all blazing with complementary color around the same time. This is a great tactic if you have an especially important annual holiday party.

Others prefer to have a little color throughout the spring, summer, and fall. By following this pattern, you trade off having a spectacular show of color for a short period, but you enjoy color throughout the season.

When planning your own garden, come to our nursery to consult with our garden pros, look at our great selection of perennial plantings, and wander through our gardens for great ideas for your own landscape.

For the Perennial Garden:

• If you don’t have a gardening journal, now is the time to start one.  A great place to begin is with your perennials; lots of things are growing in the perennial garden right now so it’s time to pay attention!  Make a note of what plants are growing well and identify anything that you would like to change.  For example, if a plant is not flowering up to your expectations, is crowding everything else out, or can’t be seen behind taller plants--these are all potential changes for next year. Note any plants that you tried and didn’t like. That way you will avoid trying them in the future. 
  
  
• If the weather is dry, water your perennials when they wilt.  It’s best to apply approximately one inch of water early in the day so that plants can dry before temperatures drop in the late afternoon or early evening.  Some plants will wilt during the day but will look better and perk up when the sun goes down.  These plants may not need water, they may just need to have water sprayed over the top of them to cool them off (a process known as syringing).  If the soil is not dry, do not water--you don’t want the roots to drown.   
  
  
• Newly planted perennials may benefit from a quality fertilizer.  We have a new line of organic fertilizers, Dr. Earth®, and they are receiving rave reviews from our customers. Be sure to ask us about these fantastic, eco-friendly products. 
  
  
• June is the month to shear the tops of spring bloomers to ensure a more  uniform and ornamental foliage effect for the remainder of the season. Grass shears can be used for this task. Plants to be cut back include Iberis sempervirens (candytuft), Arabis caucasica (rock cress), Aubrieta deltoidea (false rock cress), and Phlox subulata (moss phlox). You should also cut back the foliage of spring-flowering daffodils and tulips six to eight weeks after blooming. This will send energy to the roots to grow a stronger plant. 
  
  
• Tall, late season bloomers benefit from being cut back by half to control height and eliminate the need for staking sometime in early to mid-June. Pruning this way will help the plants mature at a shorter height and they may flower slightly later than unpruned perennials. Plants that respond to this treatment include Aster novae-angliae (New England aster) selections, Artemisia'Silver King', Boltonia asteroides(boltonia), Eupatorium maculatum (Joe-pye weed), Rudbeckia nitida'Herbstsonne' and Sedum 'Herbstfreude' (Autumn Joy sedum).
  
  
• During June and through the summer, deadhead flowers as they fade. This improves the overall looks of the plant, eliminates unwanted seedlings, and promotes continued blooming (or reblooming later). Plants that need deadheading include Coreopsis lanceolata(lanceleaf coreopsis), Hemerocallishybrids (daylily), Alliumspecies (chives), Phlox paniculata(garden phlox) and others.
  
  
• Be on the lookout for pests; aphids, mites, thrips, whiteflies, earwigs, and grubs can be common problems for your perennials at this time of the year.  We have a variety of products designed to control any pest problems you may have from organic to natural to chemical-based.  We would be happy to make a recommendation.   
  

Replenish your Mulch:

• If you haven’t yet, now is the time to replenish your mulch.  Organic mulch will keep the soil cooler, reduce water loss, protect trees from lawnmower damage, control weeds, improve the soil as it breaks down, and generally make the landscape look better.   

Plant warm-season crops:

• The soil is finally starting to warm up so, if you haven’t yet, it’s time to plant warm-season crops such as cucumbers, pole beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers, melons, and squash.  It’s best to make sure the soil temperature is above 65 degrees and put transplants out on a cloudy, still morning or evening.  Water in well, and watch for a few days to make sure they settle in.
  

For a more detailed, day by day listing of gardening tips check out the University of Illinois Extension Service website. You can find a link under the “Resource Links” section of our home page. 

The Endless Summer® Collection of hydrangeas are mophead hydrangeas that can bloom on both old and new wood. The repeat blooms truly offer gardeners an endless summer of incredible color. This hardy plant is perfect for everything from foundation planting to container gardening. It makes a perfect focal point or accent to any shade garden. You can even make an ideal floral arrangement or table setting with the cut flowers.

This year's newest member of the Endless Summer® Collection is the "Twist-n-Shout™" big leaf hydrangea. "Twist-n-Shout™" produces abundant blooms on both old and new wood all summer long. Lacy, deep-pink centers are surrounded by gorgeous blossoms of pink or periwinkle blue, depending upon the soil type. Sturdy red stems and glossy deep green leaves turn red-burgundy in fall to offer year-round interest in the garden. Easy to care for and hardy to zone 4, "Twist-n-Shout™" is an elegant stand-alone specimen, dramatic in combination with other plants, and compact enough for containers.

The flowers grow up to 8" in diameter, with pink blooms in alkaline soils and blue blooms in acidic soil. As with all hydrangeas, Endless Summer hydrangeas perform best in moist (but not wet) soil conditions and protection from the afternoon sun. We have a great selection of these beautiful hydrangeas, so don’t delay. Add some color to your shade garden today!

Outside of the easily-identified blueberries and strawberries, the world of berries can be very confusing. You have blackberries, black raspberries, red raspberries, and yellow raspberries. And don't forget boysenberries, loganberries and marionberries, which are all closely related. How do you tell them apart? Berries whose core stays intact are blackberries. Berries that lose the core and resemble a thimble are raspberries. But then...a few berries are a cross between the two!

The similarities don't stop there. All bear fruit on two-year-old wood, except for the ever-bearing raspberries that also fruit on first year growth. These are also called two crop raspberries because they bear a late summer or fall crop on the first year growth and a second crop the following spring on the two-year-old wood.

Different types of wood? What's that all about? Ok, it may help clear up a lot of confusion about blackberry and raspberry culture if one remembers that after flowering and fruiting, any cane that bore fruit dies back to the crown. All the new growth will rise out from primary buds just below the soil line.

Now here's the good news, blackberries, raspberries and any other favorites will thrive in most locations and soil types, but good drainage is desirable with most varieties. Just give them some room to ramble because they do like to spread out. As far as cold-hardiness goes, raspberries tolerate very cold temperatures better than blackberries.

Most berries like being fed at blooming time, with a follow-up feeding in early fall after the plants have finished fruiting. Just use a well-balanced fruit food. They prefer staying moist, and should be watered regularly if rainfall is insufficient.

The new canes that grow out each spring will not bear fruit until the following summer when they are two years old. After harvest, the two-year-old fruiting canes will start to die back and should be removed as close to the ground as possible without injuring the new canes.

In mild climates berries can be trained to stakes or trellises in late summer or early fall, after the fruiting canes have been removed. In colder climates, the canes should be left on the ground over winter--making them less likely to be damaged by cold. The ideal time to "spring train" is after the danger of freezing weather and before the leaf buds begin expanding.

We have berry plants that grow well in our local area. The bottom line is that all berries are easy to grow and they taste great. So don't stress about all your different choices. Just plant some berries and enjoy!

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If you haven't yet, start planning your vegetable garden now. You need time to properly prepare the beds, as planting times are approaching. If you plant a garden, you'll get to enjoy the harvest!

To provide adequate light, place your vegetable garden site where it will enjoy full sun for the majority of the day. Without sunlight, your plants will succumb to disease and fail to flower, and you won't get a crop.

One of the most important steps in gardening is preparing the soil. Turn the soil to a depth of 7 or 8 inches, at minimum. If you did not plow or spade the garden site in the fall, turn the soil in spring as soon as it is dry enough to work. A good test to determine if the soil can be worked is to mold a handful of soil into a ball. If the ball is not sticky but crumbles readily when pressed with your thumb, the soil is in good condition.

Get a smooth, level surface by raking as soon as possible after turning, making the soil as fine as you can. This step helps to firm the soil, break up clods and leave a smooth surface for seeding. Soil left in rough condition for several days after turning in the spring may dry out and form hard clods, making it much more difficult to prepare a good seedbed. Regularly rake the soil to keep down weeds and to prepare a smooth, clod-free planting bed.

Vegetables need deep, fertile soil. Sandy or decomposed granite loam is best. If you don't have great soil, don't despair! There are soil amendments that will allow you to enjoy great veggies as well. After the soil has been turned and firmed up, spread compost and fertilizer onto the bed, mixing it in well. You can prepare a small garden plot for planting by using a spade, shovel, or spading fork to mix in the amendments; use a small tractor or rototiller for a larger garden. Raised garden beds allow for relatively easy soil preparation for planting once they are constructed. They also have an added benefit of allowing for good drainage.

In addition to good soil, vegetables need adequate drainage. If your soil is rock hard or drainage is nil, planting in raised beds that are filled with top soil mixed with a good quality compost allow for good drainage. If roots are a problem, plant in large containers with paving stones underneath.

Finally, decide on a watering system. The furrow method is good, especially with heavy soils, but it wastes water. Overhead sprinkling can work, but in highly humid areas excess moisture on leaves, cool temperatures, and a moist atmosphere may encourage fungus growth. The best way for modern gardeners to water vegetables is with a drip system. Most vegetables need the equivalent of an inch of rain per week for healthy growth. Drip systems use 40-60 percent less water by putting water where roots are. It can seem like a lot of work, but the increased harvest is well worth the effort!

Lay out crops in your vegetable garden to make the best use of sunlight. A good rule of thumb is to plant tall crops to the north and short crops to the south, and arrange your rows from north to south so the sun goes from side to side across them. If you really want to grow vegetables but do not get full sun, try lettuce, potatoes, asparagus, and herbs. Tomatoes will bear a crop with just four or five hours of midday sun in a warm, sheltered location, especially if it also provides reflected heat.

A wide range of vegetables can be grown in our area: corn, green beans, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, carrots, radishes, beets, chard, and turnips. As the temperatures increase, you can even plant heat-loving vegetables like peppers, lima beans, melons, pumpkins, eggplant, and okra.

Conventional row spacing is 36 to 40 inches apart, but spacing depends on a number of factors: equipment, garden size, and vegetables being grown. Rows for vigorously vining vegetables like watermelons, cantaloupes, pumpkins, and winter squash are usually 6 to 8 feet apart.

The Japanese beetle was first discovered in the United States in Riverton, New Jersey, in 1916. It spread rapidly in the United States and has now become a pest in more than 20 states. More than 400 plant species are susceptible to attack by this pest.

The Japanese beetle is brilliantly colored, oval, and less than half an inch long. Wing colors are coppery, and the body is a beautiful metallic green. The adults feed in the daytime from early June to Labor Day. They devour leaves as well as flowers on many ornamental plants, shrubs, vines and trees. The leaf tissue is eaten between the veins so that the foliage looks somewhat like lace. Beetle grubs feed on plant roots, attacking mainly lawn turf but also damaging the roots of many other crop and ornamental plants.

When populations of adult beetles are too high to pick by hand or when damage to desirable plants in your landscaping is noticeable, you should treat the plants to bring the population down to a manageable level with an insect spray.

Treating ornamental plants will also help reduce the numbers of eggs being deposited in the soil close to or under your lawn, but it is not a substitute for controlling Japanese beetle white grub infestations as a stand-alone pest control method. For that, we recommend a yearly application of a time-release insect control product such as the environmentally friendly product, Milky Spore, which is applied three times a year, for two consecutive years.

Hunks of spit? Soapy foam? Not exactly. It’s sudsy foam from the spittlebug. These little guys are the immobile nymphs of the spittlebug, and they are buried in their own foam. The adult is a brown oval insect that hops and flies from plant to plant and does not produce the foam that the nymph makes.

Yes, the nymphs are sucking at your plant, but the damage is minimal at worst. If you don’t like the "spit" look all over your plants, just hose it off. That’s all you have to do to clean up after the spittlebug!