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What do the terms grafting and budding mean?

  Budding is a form of grafting. Grafting is the art of
attaching a piece of one plant to another plant, creating a new
plant. Grafting is usually done because the desired plant is
extremely difficult if not impossible to propagate through other
means. Dogwoods, for example, are easily grown from seed,
however, it is next to impossible to grow a Pink Dogwood from
seed. The seeds from a Pink Dogwood will produce seedlings that
are likely to flower white.

  The most common method for producing Pink Dogwood trees is to
remove a single bud from a Pink Dogwood tree and slip it under
the bark of a White Dogwood seedling. This process is known as
budding, and the seedling is known as the rootstock. This is
usually done during the late summer months when the bark of the
White Dogwood seedling can be easily separated from the tree,
and the seedling is about 1/4″ in diameter.

  A very small “T” shaped cut is made in the bark only, and the
bud is slipped in the slot. The actual bud itself is allowed to
poke out through the opening and then the wound is wrapped with
a rubber band both above and below the bud. By the following
spring the bud will have grafted itself to the seedling, at
which time the seedling is cut off just above the Pink Dogwood
bud, and the bud then grows into a Pink Dogwood tree.

  Budding is usually done at ground level, and often times the
rootstock will send up shoots from below the bud union. These
shoots, often called suckers, should be removed as soon as they
appear because they are from the rootstock and are not the same
variety as the rest of the plant. Flowering Crabapples are also
budded and are notorious for producing suckers. When removing
these suckers don’t just clip them off at ground level with
pruning shears, they will just grow back. Pull back the soil or
mulch and remove them from the tree completely at the point
where they emerge from the stem.

  Most people clip them off a couple of inches from the ground,
and then they grow back with multiple shoots. This drives me
crazy! Get down as low as you can and remove them completely and
you will keep them under control. On older trees that have been
improperly pruned for years I take a digging spade and literally
attack these suckers hacking them away from the stem. Sure this
does a little damage to the stem of the tree, but when a plant
is let go like that I figure it’s a do or die situation. The
trees always survive and thrive.

  Other plants are grafted up high to create a weeping effect.
One of the most popular trees that is grafted up high is the top
graft Weeping Cherry. In this case the seedling is allowed to
grow to a height of 5′, then the weeping variety is grafted on
to the rootstock at a height of about 5′. This creates an
umbrella type effect. In this case the graft union is 5′ off the
ground, therefore anything that grows from the stem below that
graft union must be removed.

  Many people don’t understand this and before they know it they
have a branch 2″ in diameter growing up through the weeping
canopy of their tree. Before you know it there are several
branches growing upright through the canopy and the effect of
the plant is completely ruined.

  At my website, http://gardening-articles.com I’ve got a couple
of photos that show exactly what I’m talking about in this
article.  You can clearly see the weeping effect that the
Weeping Cherry tree is supposed to have, but then up through the
middle come these branches that are no more than just suckers
from the stem, or the rootstock as it is known in the nursery
industry.

Looking closely at the photos you can see that these suckers
originate from below the graft union.  This problem could have
been prevented if someone had just picked off these buds when
they first emerged on the stem of the tree.  Then they would
have never developed into branches.

This tree can still be saved, but there will be a large scar on
the stem when the upright branches are pruned off.  But under
the canopy of the weeping tree these scars will never show.

Another interesting plant that is grafted is the Weeping
Cotoneaster. In this case the seedling that is grown to serve as
the rootstock is Paul’s Scarlet Hawthorn, and Cotoneaster
Apiculata is grafted onto the Hawthorn rootstock at a height of
5′. Years ago a nurseryman found through experimentation that
these two plants are actually compatible, and a beautiful and
unique plant was created. I have one of these in my landscape
and we love it.

  Once again since the graft union is at 5′, any growth coming
from the stem (rootstock) must be removed. In this case the
growth coming from the rootstock will be Hawthorn and will look
completely different from the Cotoneaster which is what the
plant is supposed to be. The easiest way to keep up with this
type of pruning is to keep an eye on your grafted plants when
you’re in the yard. As soon as you see new growth coming from
below the graft union, just pick it off with your fingernail.

  If you catch these new buds when they first emerge, pruning
them off is as easy as that. Walk around your yard and look for
grafted or budded plants, and see if you can find any that have
growth that doesn’t seem to match the rest of the plant. Look
closely and you may find that the growth is coming from below a
graft or bud union.

Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his
most interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign up
for his excellent gardening newsletter.  Article provided by

http://gardening-articles.com

Michael J. Mcgroarty
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/pruning-weeping-cherry-trees-and-other-grafted-and-budded-ornamentals-3235.html

The ideal time to plant bare-root trees and roses is mid-November to mid-March. This gives trees the chance to put out new roots while dormant and not cope with drying winds and hot sun.

Step 1:

Remove any leftover packing material very carefully. Rinse off or gently remove clumps of earth still hanging on the roots. Inspect the plant and clip off damaged or dead roots.

Step 2:

Submerge the roots in a bucket of room temperature water for one to four hours. This ensures that the roots have enough moisture for planting.

Step 3:

Dig a hole two feet wider than the trees root system and as deep as the roots. Loosen the soil around the sides of the hole.

Step 4:

If you are planting a tree that needs support, place stakes in the hole.

Step 5:

Set the tree. Spread the roots with your hands if necessary.

Step 6:

Fill the hole about halfway with a mixture of soil amendment for your soil type and native soil and step on it lightly with your foot to remove any existing large air pockets.

Step 7:

Stand the tree or shrub straight up. Water enough to saturate the soil and remove any remaining air pockets.

Step 8:

Continue filling the hole with soil until you have built a temporary berm above the perimeter of the roots. Then, water again.

Step 9:

Keep the soil moist for the first year after planting. Cover the soil with a layer of mulch to help retain moisture. As soon as the soil feels dry, water it immediately.

Bill Camarillo
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/how-to-plant-bare-root-fruit-trees-roses-722401.html

Now that I’m officially a senior citizen, I find myself strolling down memory lane more than ever before.  I’m also more aware of just how much our world has changed since we were kids dashing to the first McDonalds in our town.  You could buy a hamburger for just 15 cents!  Like those burgers, many of the things we enjoyed years ago are no longer with us.

In high school, my friends and I would anxiously await Friday nights. Four of us boys, with our crew cuts and Jimmy Smith’s duck tail, would pile into Jimmy’s 1957 Chevrolet and go to the local drive-in movie. 
 
We would park 3 rows to the right and 4 to the back of the concession stand so we could see any unattached girls as they went to get popcorn and a Coke.  We thought we were slick back then as we would race to the concession stand to try and meet girls that we thought were worthy of our attention.
 
Sometimes during my late teen years, Aluminum Christmas Trees became a trend that my parents thought would solve the problem of dry evergreen needles on the floor.  Until that time we had always cut our Christmas tree from the woods that was only a mile from our house. 

My first year in college, I remember returning home for the Christmas holiday, horrified to see a glistening gigantic shredded roll of aluminum foil shaped into a tree, standing in a corner of the living room.  I was shocked when I saw it occupying the space that had been dedicated to a freshly cut aromatic cedar trees.
 
 Thankfully that fad came and went in just a couple of years, then we moved on to fake green trees with little bottles of aerosol spray that was guaranteed to smell like a fresh cut cedar or spruce tree.
Whatever happened to television test patterns that would suddenly appear on the screen at the stroke of midnight?  As strange as it seems, there was something comforting to us insomniacs about staring at that immovable page emanating from the picture tube as if it held the secret to the universe!  It’s quite possible it did, but whatever its message, it went over my head.

There were some things that were so far ahead of their time, that it seems incomprehensible that they’re gone.  In an era in which people really loved their cars, the Studebaker was in a class of its own.
 
While my friends proclaimed the delight of owning their ’57 Chevys and Fords, my 1953 Studebaker Starliner was my pride and joy!  That car looked like it was going fast even when it was standing still!  Besides being a great automobile, it set you apart from the rest of the crowd.  Not everyone owned a Studebaker!

Do you remember the 5 cent Coca-Cola?  When I was a kid in the summertime, I’d walk to the small grocery store about a mile from the house, pulling my red Radio Flyer behind me.  I would buy a case of Cokes and a half block of ice. 

I had extended the sides of the wagon 6 inches taller so I could chip up the ice and pour it in the wagon; then I would lay the bottles of Coke on the bed of ice.  I walked another mile to a housing development being built close to town.  There, in the Alabama heat I would sell that case of Coca-Colas to weary carpenters, masons and painters for 15 cents each, or two for a quarter.  I sold out every day.

Many of us thought that 25 cents a gallon gasoline was far too much to spend for fuel. There’s a country song somewhere which was written by someone who was obviously a philosophical genius.  The line that I’ll always remember is “When gas was 25 cents a gallon, love was only 50 cents away.”

Whatever happened to flashbulbs, Timmy and Lassie, Bryllcreme, The Ozzie and Harriet Show and metal ice cube trays that either made the ice break free or cause the lever to bend.  Everyone remembers the Burma Shave signs on the side of a two-lane road.  Where have all these things gone?  Where ever they are, I miss them!

Bob Alexander

Watering: Good winter care starts with thorough watering in the fall.

When the garden season draws to a close, it is tempting to just forget about your plants.

However you should continue to water all woody plants – especially newly planted trees and shrubs and all evergreens in the fall.

Evergreens and broadleaf evergreens don’t lose their leaves, so they need a good store of moisture going into winter because they continue to transpire (give off water vapor) through the cold months.

Most winter damage to evergreens doesn’t actually come from cold, but from the drying effects of late winter sun and wind. With the soil frozen hard, plant roots can’t take up water to make up for moisture losses from transpiration and, as a result, dehydration can cause browning or burning of foliage.

• If your plants get salt spray from the road, burlap may help, but wrap them with a double layer, not a single layer. To avoid having to cover your evergreens, don’t plant them near a road that gets salted, or plant salt-tolerant species such as junipers.

• Protect broadleaf evergreens such as rhododendron, pieris and laurel from the drying effects of winter sun and wind with an anti-desiccant spray such as Wilt-Pruf, which coats foliage with a protective waxy film. You can also wrap with burlap, if you must.

• Protect young trees by putting plastic tree guards around the bottom of their trunks to prevent damage from gnawers such as rabbits and mice. Make sure the tree guards go high enough – over the snow line. Always remove them in the spring because it looks better and you don’t have the problem of the guards trapping moisture against the bark in the summer and attracting insects.

• If rabbits are a big problem in your area, winter care of trees and shrubs should include putting chicken wire cages around the plants they find most tasty.

• Protect upright evergreen junipers and cedars from breakage due to ice and snow by wrapping branches with heavy string or mesh covers sold for this purpose. Once fastened into place, you’ll hardly see the string or mesh.

Cactuslover

A deciduous tree is most commonly found in a forest. If a deciduous tree is located in an urban area then the tree is usually planted along a walkway or a sidewalk. A deciduous tree is commonly found in conjunction with other trees, plants and flowers in both urban and rural areas. The deciduous tree does not compete with surrounding foliage for water or attention. This is the perfect tree to have as part of outdoor landscaping. There are many plants and flowers that work will with and compliment a deciduous tree.

A deciduous tree comes in many different shapes and general outlines. The shape of the deciduous tree will determine the height and branch width of the tree. It is important to know the shape of the deciduous tree before planting in order to ensure that the deciduous tree is planted in a proper location and that there is adequate clearance from other obstacles.

One of the more popular shapes of the deciduous tree is columnar. A columnar deciduous tree is tall in structure and not very wide. A round deciduous tree is about as broad as the tree is tall. This type of tree is most commonly found in landscaping projects or back or front yards. A weeping deciduous tree, for example the weeping willow, is when the branches of the deciduous tree tend to bend downward in a weeping motion.

Other common shapes of a deciduous tree include conical, broad, elliptical and upright. A conical deciduous tree is when the tree is more cone shaped. This means that the tree is broad at the base but becomes narrower at the top. A broad deciduous tree is a wide vase like shape. An elliptical deciduous tree is a popular type of tree because the tree is not very broad or wide. The last shape that a deciduous tree can take on is upright. This is when the deciduous tree has a narrow vase shape.

Each of the shapes and types of deciduous trees that are mentioned above has different types of leaves or foliage. A deciduous tree that is located in a cold climate tends to shed its leaves during the winter months whereas a deciduous tree that is in a dry climate will shed its leaves during the driest months of the year. There are other factors that can cause a deciduous tree to shed its leaves. One of the factors is a lack of water or moisture.

The foliage of a deciduous tree can vary in color from a dark green to a yellow fall color. The leaves of a deciduous tree can become scorched when placed in dry conditions or when there is a negative rooting situation. A negative rooting situation can be described as a situation that prevents the roots from becoming rooted deep into the soil. As the seasons change the leaves will turn to red and then eventually brown before they are shed.

A deciduous tree is one of the most popular trees. It is because of the beauty of a deciduous tree as the tree blooms and then slowly changes color during the spring, summer and fall months. This is one of the most colorful and gorgeous times of the year.

Gen Wright
http://www.articlesbase.com/accessories-articles/the-relationship-between-deciduous-trees-and-foliage-695910.html