Pleasant Landscapes

Spring Has Sprung

With mother nature allowing spring to finally break we will start seeing changes in our low-country landscaping. First of all, we have had a brutal winter for our area compared to prior years. We should expect that some plants that would normally make it through the winter will not have survived the cold and prolonged temperatures we have seen. A lot of southern grasses will have a condition called winter kill. This could be a situation where either brown patch has over wintered (see previous articles on brown patch) or that the freezing temperatures have actually killed the southern grasses. The grasses that often die first are ones that are stressed out due to things like: shade, foot traffic, or boggy conditions.

The low-country is right on the tip between a tropical environment and a cold hardy environment. We often see tropical plants arrive in our garden centers or big box stores. Sometimes cold winters like we have had will put a hurting on our more tropical species of plants that many of us enjoy in our landscaping. Perennial flowers, shrubs and trees may appear dead, but could actually still come back. If it is a woody shrub then you can try scratching the bark off to see if there is a soft green wood underneath the bark. If so, you have a good chance this plant will be fine and come back as the warmer temperatures resume. Some perennials will not show any soft green texture and will actually come back from the roots as it warms up.  If you have a plant in question, we advise cutting it back to the ground, marking the area where it is at (so it won’t be mistaken for a weed) and then seeing what happens over the next month or two. These plants will often emerge thru fresh pine straw or mulch finding their way to the warmth of the sun.

I would like to reiterate the idea that if you are not familiar with where this plant is located please be sure and mark it as it may look like a weed in the beginning.  Once it gets bigger it will begin to bloom and resemble the original plant. Spring is often a time to add a well balanced fertilizer to your lawn and shrubs. It will promote a spring flush of the plants and a greening up of the lawn. More is not always better when it comes to fertilizing lawn and shrubs. This is especially true for Centipede grass. Centipede grass is a poor man’s grass which means it requires very little fertilization and overall care.

In today’s society we always want the bright green golf course looking grass, but Centipede should be the color of a lima bean. Our other southern turf grasses can often take more nitrogen which is the first of three numbers on a fertilizer bag.  The higher the first number is the more nitrogen contained in that bag of fertilizer.  An easy way to get a nice green up on all plants and grass is thru the use of iron. Iron promotes a dark green color in plants and shrubs without the use of fertilizers. Iron will give you the nice green color without causing the grass and shrubs to grow rapidly. Care should be used with iron supplements as iron is the same by-product that comes out of people’s well water that stains their concrete driveways and homes. If you are going to use an iron supplement to green up your lawn and shrubs keep if off of any new concrete, stucco or painted areas of your property as it will oxidize in the air and cause an orange stain.

As always, if you have any questions about your lawn or garden you can reach me at www.pleasantlandscapes.com or at the following contact numbers: Summerville (843)851-8008   John’s Island (843)768-6808 East Cooper (843)886-9314 Murrell’s Inlet: (843)928-4159 Daniel Island (843)216-4796.

James Parker