Perhaps no other single plant or tree can add as much value to a garden landscape as a Japanese maple. They look great planted as a centerpiece in mounds or garden islands, plus they make excellent container plants for a patio or terrace. Japanese maples are also used quite extensively as bonsai specimens.

What makes this tree so popular is that it is available in many sizes, colors, leaf shapes, and growing habits. The color of Japanese maples ranges from bright green and variegated to shades of orange, red, and purple. The fall foliage on most varieties is beautiful. You can find single-stemmed specimens, multi-trunk, and low-growing mounded varieties.

This versatile tree can be planted any time of the year in most regions of the U.S., as long as the soil is not soggy. They require a location with good drainage and prefer protection from the wind. Avoid planting them in lawn areas, because lawns receive more frequent watering than Japanese maples require. Use red- and purple-shaded varieties against light-colored fences and walls, or to set off other plants. Use green-leafed varieties in shadier areas, against plain fences or darker shaded walls.

Most Japanese maples prefer a morning sun/afternoon shade or full shade location but will acclimate quite well after a few years planted in full sun, provided the soil around them is kept consistently moist. The key to watering Japanese maples is slow, deep and regular waterings. Never let the tree dry out. The soil should be kept moist, not wet.

Japanese maples are not heavy feeders, and can burn from too much or too strong a plant food. We recommend feeding twice a year during the growing season with Happy Frog Japanese Maple Fertilizer. It is important not to cultivate around the root zone. A 2" layer of mulch such as Gardner & Bloome Acid Planting Mix will help keep the upper layer of soil moist and help prevent soil crusting and weeds.

Pay us a visit and let one of our nursery experts help you pick the perfect Japanese maple tree for your garden.

If you ever find yourself getting bored with your garden, consider adding or creating some topiary plants to bring a little life to the party. Topiary, the art of fashioning living plants into ornamental shapes and sculptures, is an art that has been practiced for centuries: the practice of controlling plants by selective pruning and shaping.

There are many different plants that can be used to create topiary, but the main attributes for the types of plants used are that they are evergreen, have smaller leaves or needles, produce dense foliage, and have compact or columnar growth habits. While some folks use shaped wire cages to guide unsteady shears, most traditional topiary depends on patience and steady hands to create the shape one desires.

Mediterranean topiary dates back to Roman times where figures of animals, inscriptions, cyphers, and obelisks were introduced to gardens. The Romans also introduced the art of miniature landscapes. Clipping and shaping shrubs and trees has also been practiced in China, Japan and other parts of Asia for centuries but with completely different esthetic goals. The Orient has given us more "natural" forms of topiary including "cloud pruning."

Europe can be credited with starting a topiary revival in the 16th century and has historically been associated with the terrace gardens of wealthy European land owners. This is where traditional geometric topiary forms such as balls, cubes, pyramids, cones, tapering spirals, flattened hedges, and other formal shapes were introduced.

Hedging is an easy way to introduce geometric topiary into your garden. Simply take your selected shrubs and give them a smooth, crisp finish. Then cut out windows and doors, or turn the top into a battlement. You can use rows of smaller growing plants to create mini-walls to frame flower and vegetable beds--or consider creating a traditional knot garden with embroidery-like patterns.

For spirals, use a line of string tied to the top of the plant, and then circle it around and down to outline the shape. Then start pruning with some topiary shears. You can even create evergreen pillars and arches to highlight the entrance to a special part of your garden. For more informal but equally spectacular topiary, try Japanese cloud pruning. Simply strip most of the leaves off each stem leaving a ball of foliage at the end. This looks beautiful and impressive, adding an abstract formality to a garden and makes a great sculptural focal point.

If you're not sure about your pruning skills, buy 3-D wire frames, which are available in a huge range of shapes and sizes and are placed over plants to grow more complex figures. Just remember that shapes requiring sharp angles require using small-leaved plants. Another option is to plant a vine-type plant outside the shape and allow it to grow over the object.

Ask our staff which of our plants are best suited for what you wish to do with topiary. And check our selection of shears to find what you need. Then just let your creative juices flow--but please be careful where you point those shears!

Thanks for the many responses last week. All of them were correct, and they were all somewhat different, a testimony of the power of antioxidants.
Please, if you need an answer to a question, telephone us at (562) 947-2013.

This Week's Question: Why are those little geraniums called "cranesbills"?

This Week's Prize: Hanging basket ($18.99) of winner's choice.

Spring is around the corner. The cool season grasses such as fescue, ryegrass, and bluegrass are those lawns over which people have exclaimed, "You look marvelous!" (Can't you just hear Billy Crystal?) They have been bright green all winter. They are still growing fast; mow them weekly with a rotary mower (to 1 1/2 inches in height).

You should be feeding all established lawns now with a complete lawn fertilizer--containing phosphorus and potassium as well as nitrogen--to get warm-season grasses off to a good start and keep cool-season grasses going longer. A healthy, well-fed lawn is better able to withstand pests and diseases and choke out weeds

Warm-season grasses, such as Bermuda, dichondra, and zoysia, are waking up from winter dormancy. As they start growing, begin mowing weekly with a reel mower to the correct height for each. Mow common Bermuda to 1 inch, hybrid Bermuda to 1/2 or 1/4 inch, St. Augustine to between 3/4 and 1 1/4 inches, and zoysia to 3/4 to 1 inch height. Cut Adalayd grass with a rotary mower between 3/4 and 1 inch in height.

We have mentioned two different kinds of lawn mowers: rotary and reel. A rotary mower is one in which one blade spins horizontally and uses a sucking and tearing action to cut the blades of grass. A reel mower is one in which the blades spin vertically and use a scissoring action to cut the blades of grass.

You notice that we recommend fertilizing with a complete fertilizer (we recommend Dr. Earth Super Natural Lawn Fertilizer or Gro~Power Hi-Nitrogen Fertilizer for most lawns). While nitrogen gives your lawn top growth and a healthy green color you can see, phosphorus and potassium feed the roots and growth systems of the plant that are unseen but just as important. Phosphorus and potassium are longer lasting in soil than nitrogen, so one feeding a season with them is often adequate. After this complete feeding, you can switch to a less expensive, pure nitrogen fertilizer if desired, and feed warm-season grasses with it once a month for the rest of the growing season.

Before applying your complete fertilizer, be sure to read the instructions for your lawn type. Apply fertilizer when the ground is damp and grass blades dry, and follow up by watering deeply. Otherwise, you risk burning your lawn. As an alternative fertilizer for the cool season lawn, add coated slow-release fertilizer. Cool-season grasses need little or no fertilizer during the warmer months of the year. Slow release fertilizer will work perfectly for this type of lawn.

Irrigate all lawns now, according to their individual needs, if rains have not been adequate.

Both warm- and cool-season grasses may be bought as sod, and cool-season grasses can be planted from sod any month year-round. Although you can plant both warm- and cool-season grasses from seed this month, fall is actually a better time to plant cool-season grass seed. This is because fall planting gives cool-season grasses planted from seed more time to establish a root system before summer heat arrives. When planting warm-season grasses, wait until the weather has warmed up in your area. (If you plan to plant zoysia, it's best to wait until June.)

There are numerous lawn types and you should investigate each of them before choosing and planting one. How do you choose which grass is right for you? There are many considerations: sun, shade, foot traffic, pets, children, hardiness, style, color, and simply the "look" that you like.

When planting a new lawn, regardless of the type of grass and method of planting you choose, be sure to prepare the site thoroughly. If you're planting an invasive grass, such as Bermuda or an invasive variety of zoysia, first install edging to keep it from creeping into borders.

For all lawns, roto-till deeply, add plenty of soil amendment, then level and roll this amended ground. "Level" might mean rolling the area completely flat or it may mean compacting the soil but adding mounded areas of interest. The point is to level out soil so that your new lawn is not filled with hundreds of hills and valleys that would make walking on it (and mowing it) difficult.

If you have chosen to put in a seed lawn, sprinkle seeds evenly. This is most efficiently done using a hand-held fertilizer spreader or a seed spreader and covering the seeds with mulch or a lawn topper product.

Perhaps you are putting in a lawn that can be grown from stolons. Stolons are little portions of the plant that will root once in contact with the soil. St. Augustine is an example of this type of grass. Either roll stolons with a roller to press them into the soil or simply partially cover them with topsoil or a lawn topper product (LGM Seed Cover is excellent). Keep your freshly planted lawn damp until established. Sprinkle it two or three times daily, and avoid watering late in the day.

Just water and watch. In a few months--voilà--your new lawn!

Is rainwater really better than faucet water for my plants?

Answer:

Yes.

Many municipal water systems put chlorine and other chemicals in the water. Chlorine is bad for soil bacteria, not to mention our air. Rainwater is oxygenated, un-chlorinated and warmer than tap water, qualities that make it a better source for plants and safer for the environment. Cold tap water can also "shock" your plants.

There is a growing movement to conserve water by collecting rainwater in plastic barrels. The water collected this way is better for plants, plus you don't have to pay for it. It also reduces energy consumption--every 1,000 gallons of tap water requires about one kilowatt hour of energy to be treated and pumped. Reducing such water use also slows the need to expand municipal water treatment and sewage plants.

If you decide to use a rain barrel, make sure it's childproof. To be safe for kids (and inquisitive animals), it should have a secure lid that can't be opened easily. You don't want anyone using your rain barrel as a swimming pool!

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