Planting tip ~
Whether a plant has been growing in a pot or is covered snugly in burlap we need to make sure that it’s roots are loose enough to grow out and down into the soil. This won’t happen automatically if the plant has been growing long enough in it’s pot for it’s roots to experience the limits of the pot and begin to grow in circles and into each other.
Before you plant make sure to loosen the root ball. If the roots are not tightly bound together just gently rough up the root ball with your fingers. If the roots wrap around on the outside of the soil you want to be a little tougher in making sure the roots are loose. Sometimes you’ll find that the roots are tightly wrapped together and do not pull apart easily. In that case take a knife and make several slits into the root ball.
Weather commentary ~
In the midwest the weather turned very warm and then very hot and humid early this season. Some plants awoke and began growing earlier than usual. My Goatsbeard (Aruncus doicus) is in full flower – two weeks early, Snakeroot (Cimicifuga racemosa) has flower buds but is generally a late summer flowering creature. This is true with other plants too – though not all. It’s not uniform. This leads me to surmise that the changing weather, global warming, does not simply alter the time that all summer flowering plants will flower – but it’s turned flowering time upside down on it’s head.
We don’t know what the impact of this helter skelter change will have on the environment, on the insects, wildlife, bird life that expect and need plants to flower and grow berries at certain times of the year. We have a lot to keep our eyes on – even in our own back yards.
