NEWS photo Terry Peters
A DAHLIA enjoys the sunshine in a North Shore garden on an early fal! afternoon.

Friday, October

23, 1992 - North Shore News - 4

Cleaning garden

primary

purpose

of fall pruning

last
been

1 REALIZE that the
few articles have
rather chore-oriented.

I feel guilty that f[ have not
been mixing in a little of the fun
stuff such as new plant introduc-
tions, favorite plants, and which
politician's foot is planted in
which poli *s mouth.

I will try to do better in the
weeks ahead, but for now it is
back to the old grind with more
on fall clean-ups.

I would like to talk a little bit
about fall pruning. Yes, I know
the general rule of green thumbery
suggests that pruning should only
be done in the fall, but there are
exceptions.

Your primary purpose for pick-
ing up the pruning shears at this
time of the year should be strictiv
one of cleaning up the garden.
Not just the visual aspects, either.

Removing yellowed leaves,
spent blooms and other dead or
dying plant parts will certainly
make a substantial improvement
to the overall appearance of your
landscape, but that is not ail.

There is a wide range of health
issues to consider as well,

Many of our worst enemies,
e.g. garden bugs and diseases,
would love to turn this debris into
hearth and home for the harsh
winter months ahead.

They would then emerge next
spring and consume your garden
with great relish; hold the mayo.

Your best opportunity to reduce
most of next year’s problems lies
in the days and weeks ahead.

Most of you have littl problem
understanding that diseases such
as black spot on roses and scab on
apple trees are spread from spores
in infected leaves.

It is less understood that diseas-
ed branches and twigs can bring
about the same kinds of problems.

If you had die-back on a few
branches of trees such as flower-

Geoff
Tobiasson

OVER THE GARDEN GATE

ing cherry or shrubs such as
pyracantha, you may have had a
problem with scale last year.

Take a close look and you may
find the tell-tale signs: small,
brown, round shells or bumps
along the withered twigs.

The latest generation of these
pests will soon begin the crawler
stage of their life cycle. That
means that they are about to
begin migrating from the dead or
dying growth they inhabited fast
year to healthy growth which they

See Presentation page 19

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