I don't know about you but I'm buzzing like a bee about this weather. Temps in the 70s in early March?? Yes, please. Fingers crossed that it's here to stay. We really didn't think we would be out in the garden this soon! Our team already got to go out and start sprucing up some gardens this week. You can start waking up your gardens too! If you’d like some help e-mail us to schedule an early-season maintenance visit. Additionally, Staghorn also offers annual maintenance contracts that are tailored specifically to the needs of each garden. Contact us if you're interested in getting a quote.

Spring Garden Checklist

If you’d like to start waking up the garden yourself, there are some key things that should get done. Here is a quick checklist to get you going!

Turn Irrigation Systems Back On

Once the overnight temperatures are consistently well above freezing and daytime temperatures are consistently above 60 degrees, you can turn your irrigation systems back on. Now is a good time to check for any winter damage that may have occurred. Check to make sure water is coming out everywhere it should be.

Cut Back Ornamental Grasses and Perennials

You should cut back ornamental grasses and perennials to the ground or a few inches above. This should be done in late winter/early spring (now), before new growth begins.

Prune Trees and Shrubs

Spring-flowering trees and shrubs should be pruned in late spring after they flower. Summer-flowering trees and shrubs should be pruned in the winter or early spring just before they push out their new growth. Evergreens are best pruned in the early spring as well just before their growth spurt.

Fertilize

Most trees experience a burst of growth in the spring and then slower growth throughout the summer. It’s good to fertilize as this growth is about to occur. This can be done as soon as the ground is workable and into May. We recommend an organic brand such as Espoma or Dr.Earth.

Assess Winter Damage

As we start to see things coming back, we can assess winter damage that may have occurred. Maybe a few branches of a plant have died or have been broken from wind or the weight of snow. These branches should be pruned off below the damage, to the next set of healthy branches. Generally new growth will occur frm this area to replace the broken section.
 

If you'd like help in caring for your garden this year contact us about setting up a maintenance contract for the coming season. We would love to help you keep your garden looking it’s best all year.

Happy spring everyone!

Spring Houseplant Care

Spring is the active growing season for your plants. Here are a few key things you can do to keep your plants happy and healthy this spring.

Watering

As the the hours of daylight and temperature increases so should watering. Don’t go crazy with it. Overwatering is the easiest way to kill your plants. Gradually increase watering and keep an eye on your plants. If the pots are soggy for a couple days, water less. If the plant is wilting, water more. If your plants are drying out too fast you could add some rocks of pebbles to the top of the soil to help prevent evaporation. Also, terracotta pots dry out quickly so keep that in mind.

This does not apply to cacti and succulents. They need to dry out between waterings.

Maintenance

Plants benefit from spring cleaning as well!

Prune away dead/dying stems or leaves. This stimulates growth and helps prevent disease and insects that are attracted to dead plant material. (Always make sure to monitor plants for pest, especially spider mites! They are hard to get rid of once they are many)

Plants may have becomes leggy over the winter. Pruning away this weak growth will promote fuller growth.

It’s also good to dust the leaves of your houseplants. They gather dust just like our shelves. The dust can block the plants pores preventing photosynthesis.

Sunlight

The amount of hours of daylight will increase and become more intense with the season. Most houseplants thrive in indirect sunlight, as extended periods of direct sun can cause leaf burn. Consider moving plants depending on their needs. Remember plants can become shocked when moving from dark to bright or vice versa so do moves gradually. If your plants are reaching, you can rotate the pot occasionally to get even growth.

Again, cacti & succulents like direct light and heat so this does not apply to them.

Temperature

As it heats up many of us will switch on the air conditioner. Your plants will not like being blown with cold air in the spring/summer. It’s best to move them away from your AC unit.

Your plants will benefit from an open window. Some fresh air and humidity will do them good.

Moving outside

Some tropical plants can be moved outside if you have space as temperature rise (should be steadily above 50F).

If moving your plants outside, do so gradually. The plants will be shocked going directly into bright sunlight. Move them into shady area first.

Make sure they are protected from wind or they may break. Pots should also have drainage holes so they don’t flood when it rains.

Re-potting

Spring is the best time for re-potting plants. This can mean re-potting the plant with new soil into the same pot or giving it a larger one to grow into if it has become cramped in its current pot. There is a nice guide to re-potting plants here.

Your plants will really appreciate the love and care. Kick off their growing season right this spring!

A Visit to Brooklyn Botanical Gardens- Autumn is Coming!

We've all felt the shift. It's coming! Autumn. 

It dropped down to 60 degrees Sunday night! 

Ehhh-  I wasn't ready for that. I've been a bit anxious about the shift. To me it just means soon winter will be here and I am very far from ready for that. 

But! This week has been beautiful. So, I have come to terms with accepting Autumn's arrival. After all, it is the most beautiful(maybe tied with Spring, in my opinion) and definitely the best smelling season. This week really was like someone hit a switch and boom the season changed. Last week was a crazy, muggy, heat wave. Monday brought cool nights, fresh drier air, clear skies and that smell! You can smell the leaves! I could be making that up but I feel like it's the leaves I'm smelling. 

I want to get the most of this season change so I decided to visit the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens for a stroll through their Native Flora Garden. I am ashamed to say that this was my first visit (and I live very close by)! But I wanted to get in there and check everything out now so I can see how everything changes in the next few weeks. 

On Sunday, I went and took a guided walk with Uli Lorimer, the curator of the new section of the Native Flora Garden. It was a great informative intro to the garden. Here is some of what I saw:

Jewelweed

 Jewelweed, Impatiens capensis, also goes by the name 'touch-me-not' because of it's awesome seedpods that when touched uncoil like a spring and shoot out their seeds. Very cool. 

End of season blooms in the understory of the old section of the Native Flora Garden. The bees are busy gathering as much as they can before the cold comes. 

Entering the meadow

The meadow is the newer expanded section of the Native Flora Garden. On the walk, I learned that most of the plants in this new area were started from seeds collected in the wild from the surrounding NY- NJ area.

The grasses! Autumn is the time for ornamental grasses to shine. They are dramatic wispy rays of sunshine. The meadow has so many different species such as Little Bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium, which turns reddish and then bronze later in the fall. 

I spent twenty minutes chasing around some monarch butterflies trying to get a photo but this is as close as one would let me. It's there! That small sliver in the upper middle of the photo on the white flowers. 

I did find a monarch chrysalis though on some Tall Boneset, Eupatorium altissimum. It was near the swamp milkweed, which is the monarch caterpillar's food source. 

Some Milkweed bugs going to town on the milkweed.

The Eupatorium plants smelled sooo good that ALL the insects had to visit. I took a video to show how active it was but I'm not sure it'll work here. 

Let's see:

Here are a few other random facts I learned on my walk:

• Spicebush is the sole larval host of the spicebush swallowtail. That means no spicebush, no swallowtail.
• Native Americans used the resin of the Sweetgum tree medicinally.
• May Apples, which are dormant now but bloom in the spring, have little low hanging fruits that box turtles eat and then spread the seed.
• Cherry birch is actually what they used to make root beer from, not sassafrass like I always thought,
• The pond in the Native Flora Garden is no longer covered in algae but now is covered with the smallest flowering plant on Earth, Wolffia.

Rooftop Gardening Guide

Rooftop gardening and gardening in the ground are VERY different things. There are many factors that you need to consider when rooftop gardening. We have created a guide to some of these factors.

This is based off experience and is our rule of thumb. It’s not proven science...yet.

Rooftop garden with Red Cedar and Baptisia by Staghorn NYC (us!)

PLANTS

When choosing plants, you want to make sure they are super tough and hardy. For help making this selection, check out two of our other posts to read about some super tough perennials and things to consider when selecting rooftop trees.

GROWTH

This applies to growing in planters on ground level or roof level.

Plants grown in the ground grow faster and larger than when grown in planters.

When a plant is grown in ground, it’s roots have ample room to reach and grow. In a planter, roots are limited to the space of the planter. The above-ground plant generally grows as much as its roots can support. When root growth is limited, the above-ground plant’s growth is also limited.

Also, some faster growing plants can become root bound in a planter after time and will need to be repotted. Larger planters allow for more root growth and thus larger plants.

Root bound plant

WINTER

Plants have hardiness zones which are the areas in which they are capable of growing well. This is dependent on the minimum temperatures which the plant can stand. Zone 1 is pretty frigid and zone 12 is the tropics. New York is said to be zone 7.

Link to map

As soon as you put a plant into a planter, you should consider that environment 1 zone lower. This is on ground level, not on a terrace/rooftop/or balcony - so now we're talking zone 6.

Put that planter on a rooftop and drop it down another zone - zone 5

If you're over 10 stories high, a good rule of thumb is to take it down another zone - zone 4

A good comparison is the bridge freezes before road in the winter  - just like a bridge, a planter will lose heat from the top and from the sides, and to an extent from the bottom, causing it to freeze faster. An in-ground garden, like a road, only loses heat from its surface, and otherwise remain insulated by earth

WIND

Amsonia blowing in the wind

Some rooftop/terrace/balcony gardens are taken to the next level of extreme with the wind factor. Depending on how protected or exposed your space is will determine how important the wind factor is in your plant choice.

Evergreens are the only plants that keep their leaves through the frigid, windy winter months. Thus, they are the only ones that experience the worst the wind factor has to give: winter burn. Here is an article about preventing and dealing with winter burn.

The size and shape of your plants will also determine how well they will hold up in the wind. Top heavy plants, ones with large blooms are more susceptible to breaky in the wind. For example, peonies won't do so well, but amsonia is great.

WATER

Since planters are confined spaces, they can dry out pretty quickly, especially on a dry, windy, sunny day on a rooftop. They should be watered between 4-5 times a week depending on the size/depth of the planter.

We highly recommend irrigation systems to all of our clients, friends, families, and complete strangers. They save lives, plant lives.

PLANTERS

Planter garden by Staghorn NYC

Terracotta - Don't bother unless your plants are small and you're cool with them being possibly disposable.

Wood - Be careful here. Quality wood and craftsmanship can give you a great planter that'll look beautiful and last years. We recommend going with custom built. If you can’t, make sure it’s good quality teak, cedar, or ipe, otherwise you’re looking at a rotten mess a few years down the line.

Fiberstone - A good buy, pricey, but worth it. Comes in nice colors, very lightweight and easy to move, super sturdy, and won't crack in winter.

Metal - Wouldn’t mess with anything outside of Cor-Ten steel

Plastic - May surprise you with some positives, but it’s plastic, so manage those expectations.