It’s always a good day for the team when we can take a minute to talk about some of our favorite plants. Fall is a fantastic time to plant, and an even better time to admire the landscape. We put pen to paper and came up with a few of our favorite Autumn plants. If you don’t see yours let us know, we love to know what you are planting!

• American Dogwood- Native tree with fantastic red fall color and interesting fruit set.

• Annual Mums- Everybody’s favorite fall flower that come in a wide range of colors and shapes.

• Japanese Anemone- Long blooming, deer resistant, clumping perennial at home in sun or shade.

• Little Quick Fire Hydrangea- the best fall foliage color of any panicled hydrangea, with long-lasting blooms persisting through the fall.

• Ivory Halo Red Twig Dogwood- Bright variegated foliage gives way to yellow fall color and blood-red branches in late fall and winter.

• Fothergilla- Unbelievable fall foliage display, showcasing the full palate of fall color- orange, red, yellow, and even purple hues in sun or shade.

• Montauk Daisy- Long fall-blooming daisy that stands up to salt spray, heat, and tight planting conditions in a cottage garden setting.

• Red Sprite Winterberry- the dwarf cultivar to have among an old-time Van Wilgen’s favorite plant. Large glossy red berries come out in fall and last well after the foliage has turned bright yellow and fallen off.

• New England Aster- Purple or pink flowers emerge in early September and brighten up any garden border

• Tree form Limelight Hydrangea- The only choice for a dwarf foundation tree with blooms that continue to be stunning through the fall.

• Itea- Deep red and even purplish tones emerge in the fall, helping this native shrub stand out in the woodland border.

• Sedum- Huge, almost broccoli-like flower heads that bloom from August to October are the favorite choice of bees and pollinators in the fall.

• Ornamental Grasses- The star of the fall landscape, with so many great colors and styles that we could devote a whole list just to them.

• Black-Eyed Susan- Classic native perennial that provides non-stop yellow blooms from late summer to mid-fall.

Labor Day is here. Let’s get out there and put a little bit of labor into our lawns. The summer heatwave has kept us sadly looking at our stressed-out lawns from the inside out. I know, it has been too darn hot to think about doing much in the yard, except for sitting under the shade of a tree with a cool drink in your hand. I myself have felt much less productive but I promise the cooler weather is on its way. Don’t delay.

September is the ideal month to care for and improve your lawn. You think you struggled in the heat and humidity!? Your poor lawn has taken a beating. It has nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. There is so much you can do to help your lawn right now. Take a break from the AC and get out there.

Of course, I am always going to push you to throw a little grass seed at your lawn. There is nothing better than filling in thin or bare spots or starting fresh with new grass seed. A thick lawn is the best defense against weeds and crabgrass. If you are just not up to seeding this fall, at least put down some fertilizer. Give your lawn a good organic fertilizer like Espoma’s Summer Revitalizer or Milorganite. I also love Greenview’s Lawn Food. Apply either of these in the Month of September. You will see a big improvement. Note: You are not off the hook after this application. A Fall application should follow sometime in October/November.

Back to seeding. September is a beyond-perfect month to seed. The nights are getting cooler but the soil temperatures are so warm for quick germination. You do not need to water as often and weed competition is not as big of a deal. You could start small and do some simple patch seeding or take it to the next level and over-seed your entire lawn. Whatever your fancy, I encourage you to do a little seeding.

If seeding is going to be your focus, let’s get going. Get your supplies: Van Wilgen’s Grass Seed, Starter Fertilizer, Chopped Straw, and do not put away those sprinklers. If you want to rent a core aerator and aerate your lawn before seeding, I will go to sleep with a big smile on my face. You should core aerate your lawn every two years. It is the best at relieving compaction, letting water and oxygen flow through, and giving you a healthy lawn. If used right before over-seeding, your results will be so much better.

Time to do a little labor on your lawn. Your lawn is calling you outside.

Come see us at Van Wilgen’s. We would love to help!

SHOPPING LIST:

*Espoma’s Organic Summer Revitalizer (the yellow bag)

*Milorganite

The perennial department at Van Wilgen’s lives at an interesting crossroads. We watch as the nursery yard fills up with evergreen interest, and the Greenhouse loads up on pansies, and we poke and prod our plants, waiting for the day that they too might be in bloom. Then the evergreen gives way to the spring bloomers, and the greenhouse starts whispering about veggies and herbs, and perennials…. While, we proudly display four or five perennial plants that bloom early (here’s to you, hellebores, and columbine) and continue to wait. Until now.

The perennial season is finally in full swing, and our humble department is about to go off like the fourth of July. From catmint and salvia in full bloom to coneflowers, yarrow and coreopsis just about to break open, all our favorite plants are finally arriving on the scene. Red Hot Poker? Budded. Delphinium and Heliopsis? Buds and blooms! Bellflower and Iris and Bee Balm, oh my! It’s June- the best time of year to be a perennial gardener. Come enjoy it with us.

Here are a few of Trevor’s favorite’s that look fantastic right now!

Echinacea Lemon Yellow– Sunny, lemon yellow blooms sure to brighten a summer border! A must-have for a cutting garden, this drought-tolerant perennial was bred for cold hardiness and compact form with prolific flowering over an exceptionally long season.

Gaillardia Spin Top Yellow Touch-Each plant is bathed in big, flat, solid, medium red daisies with just a touch of yellow at the tips of each petal that blooms from late May through early July.

Geranium – Johnsons’s Blue-Large, blue-violet flowers appear continuously from spring to fall above finely cut, divided leaves. Use in borders, rock gardens, and containers.

Perovskia- Crazy Blue-A compact and colorful, easy-care perennial for use as an accent, border, or mass planting. Violet-blue flower spikes arise from the lacy, gray-green aromatic foliage, adding an airy feel to the landscape. Hardy and heat tolerant, and sturdy, interlacing branches do not fall open in wind and rain. Deer and rabbit-resistant.

Delphinium – Blue Butterfly -This little beauty stands at a height of 14″ and forms compact mounds of well-branched foliage. It puts on a spectacular show from early summer to fall, with 1.5″, deep blue flowers that cover the lacy leaves. Though it is short-lived, it is worth using as edging, a bedding plant, or in containers combined with brightly colored annuals.

Will O’Hara

Perennial Manager

(Why beneficial insects really are beneficial!)

Release the hounds! Not literally, but I do want you to release the Ladybugs, Lacewings, Praying Mantids, and Nematodes. They are fantastic hunters and a huge benefit to your lawn, flower garden, and veggie garden.

These beneficial hunters have many things in common. They are meat-eaters. They never eat your plants. They only eat bad bugs. Ladybugs and Lacewings will eat aphids, whitefly larvae, mealybugs, scale, mites, and many other soft-bodied insects. Ladybugs can easily eat over 50 aphids a day. Lacewings are voracious and eat as many as 1000 per day. Nematodes are power eaters of bad bugs in the soil. They will eat over 200 insects such as cutworms, armyworms, grubs, sod webworms, fleas, fungus gnats, etc. They are the best hunters ever because you do not have to care for them, feed them or train them. Their instinct is to go where the food source is.

There are a few things you can do to make these beneficials even more beneficial. Be sure to release them all at night. Ladybugs fly away in the day. Lacewing eggs and nematodes can dry up in the hot sun. Water the garden. The first thing Ladybugs do when you release them in your garden is drink. Lacewing eggs like the moisture for hatching. Nematodes spread more quickly when kept damp. Release these hunters at the source of their food. Place Ladybugs and Lacewings at the bottom of plants. Ladybugs naturally crawl up. Lacewing eggs will hatch and the larvae will immediately eat insects dwelling on the plant. Nematodes need to be in the soil, where they can attack their unsuspecting food source. Praying Mantids can hatch right in the container but you have to release them right away so they don’t gobble each other up. Otherwise, place the Praying Mantis egg case in the crutch of a plant outside and wrap it with dental floss or thread to hold them in place.

Ladybugs don’t always stick around for a long time but this is ok! Ladybugs will feed for a little bit but most importantly, they quickly begin laying eggs on your plants. Those eggs will hatch and give you voracious Ladybug larvae. The larvae are very cool. They look like mini black alligators with orange spots and they are hungry for bad bugs in your garden. When the Lacewing larvae hatch from the eggs you released, these Aphid Lions have serious munchies and eat over 1000 bad insects per day. Lacewings can have multiple generations in one season. How awesome is that!? Nematodes have been known to hang around in the soil, eating plant damaging insects for 2 years straight. Praying Mantids will mate and lay more egg cases on your plants for next season hatching.

These hunters are so easy to have around the yard. You will barely notice them but they will be very busy helping you eliminate plant damaging insects. Let them go and they will reduce your need to use pesticides in your gardens, they will keep your plants healthier, and they will become an integral part of your garden community.

Note: The Ladybugs that you buy from Van Wilgen’s are not the ones you see inside your homes. The beneficial Ladybugs are native to the USA and do not invade homes.

SHOPPING LIST:

*Ladybugs

*Lacewings

*Nematodes

*Praying Mantis

Buddleia ‘Pugster Blue’

Full-sized flowers on a dwarf plant!

Meet Pugster Blue – it’s a whole new look for butterfly bush. This compact plant reaches just 2’/.6 m tall and wide but has the large, full flowers normally seen on a much larger plant. It blooms non-stop from early summer through frost with true-blue flowers, each with a tiny yellow-orange eye in the center. Thanks to thick, sturdy stems, the Pugster series offers vastly improved hardiness and winter survival over other types of dwarf butterfly bush.

Top three reasons to grow Pugster Blue butterfly bush:

1. Appealing true-blue flowers add hard-to-find color to any type of garden or landscape.

2. It produces full-sized flowers on a compact, dwarf frame.

3. Thick, sturdy stems ensure better winter hardiness in zone 5 than other dwarf butterfly bush.

Monarda ‘Pardon my Cerise’

Tuck this sweet and petite perennial into the front of your flower border where it will create a colorful edge of dark cherry pink flowers in high summer. Butterflies and hummingbirds adore it!

Salvia ‘Pink Dawn’

I BLOOM for your PLEASURE.

This colorful perennial produces cotton candy pink flower spikes atop the mounded, aromatic foliage. Lovely when planted in drifts. Attracts butterflies and hummingbirds and resists deer and rabbits. Easy to grow in almost any climate in full sun. Drought tolerant but blooms better with average moisture. Cut back after flowering to promote rebloom.

Cupea ‘ Vermillionaire’

Garden VALEDICTORIAN.

Abundant yellow-orange flowers all season long; loves the heat and loved by hummingbirds. Vermillionaire, like all Cuphea is a heat lover and will do best in warm gardens with bright light. Always keep this plant in full sun for best flowering and to avoid it stretching in the shade.

Petunia ‘Bubblegum’

Don’t JUST keep up with the Joneses. LEAPFROG them.

Supertunia Vista petunias are very vigorous, with mounding habits that can reach up to 2 feet in height in the landscape and will trail over the edges of baskets and containers up to 4 feet by the end of the season. They are fantastic landscape plants and are great in large containers, where they function as both fillers and spillers. In garden beds, they will work either in the front or middle of the bed. They have medium-sized flowers.

Lantana ‘Grape’

I can go ALL summer.

Extremely heat tolerant; a brighter purple than Trailing Lavender.

If you are looking for a tough plant it’s hard to beat lantana. Lantana is heat tolerant, uses little to no supplemental water in the landscape, will tolerate less than ideal soils, and usually doesn’t need to be deadheaded. If you are looking for a plant that will thrive on neglect, lantana is the champ.

This time of year we are all itching to get in the garden. All it takes is a few warm days, some sunshine and we are all ready to dig in the dirt. At the garden center we get asked all the time, what can I plant now? There are many choices for early spring perennials, and with proper planting, you too can have beautiful blooms this time of year. Just be sure to amend your soil with Van Wilgens Premium Planting Mix and add Jump Start to push root growth so your perennials have a healthy start. Top with mulch so your blooms stay nice and cozy and your good to go! Here a few of my early spring favorites.

1. Hellebore- Great shade-tolerant deer-resistant perennial that comes in a rainbow of colors
2. Candytuft (Iberis)- profuse white blooms and neat mounding habit make for a perfect early season edging plant
3. Columbine (Aquilegia)- Eastern US Native with distinctive show-stopping flowers
4. Creeping phlox- Gorgeous mounding groundcover with pastel flowers giving way to mossy green foliage
5. Forget me not (Myosotis)- Long-lasting, true blue flowers make for an unforgettable plant
6. Rockfoil (Saxifraga)- a super cold hardy plant with early blooms that’s at home in any alpine planter or garden
7. Yellow Alyssum (Aurinia)- traditional cottage garden border plant that’s also at home in alpine gardens or as a border groundcover
8. Windflower (Anemone)- The early spring entry in this broad plant family provides huge blooms in an array of colors to brighten up any spring landscape

Will O’Hara

Perennial Manager

We have all heard the phrase ‘April Showers bring May Flowers’ but it turns out there are few things we need to do to freshen up our gardens. April is the perfect time for spring clean-up! Starting with simple raking and going for a clean slate in the garden, prune any broken branches, and fix any uneven ground by adding Van Wilgen’s Topsoil or Compost. Next is the all-important new layer of mulch. Mulching is the perfect way to get your garden off to a great start. Not only does it help settle in the roots, but it will provide warmth, hold in moisture, suppress weeds, encourage growth, and make your beds look all around beautiful.

We understand that everyone has their own style when it comes to mulch. Whether it’s the classic look of Black Mulch or Van Wilgen’s favorite Pine Bark Mulch we have one that’s just right for your landscape. Probably the biggest question we get is “how much mulch do I need?”, no problem, visit VANWILGENS.COM click on the mulch tab and we have a handy mulch calculator. Pop in the dimensions of your bed and how thick you would like it and we do the work for you! Would you rather have your mulch delivered? We just made that a little easier for you, you can also order mulch online and schedule delivery right to your home. Easy peasy!

Not quite sure what you are looking for and need a visual to get your creative juices flowing? Our North Branford store has several display gardens for you to walk through, sometimes seeing it in person is just what you need for inspiration. We hope to see you soon!

Jason Scire, Nursery Manager

WHAT DO THEY ALL HAVE IN COMMON?

(How to protect our plants in winter)

The Winter Warlock is coming soon. With him, he brings salt, sun, wind, snow, and animals. This does not sound too bad, does it?! Hmmm. Let’s think about this. Salt, delicious in our food. Sun, great for supplying us with Vitamin D. Wind, cools us on the hottest of days. Snow, perfect for building snowmen. Animals, cute and fuzzy. This definitely is one way to look at things.

Let’s look at these things from the perspective of trees, shrubs, and flowers. Shall we?!

SALT: The big, mean, town trucks come along dumping drying salts along the roadside. Homeowners throw damaging salts onto their icy walkways and driveways. These salts dry out evergreens, cause leaves to brown and kill roadside plants.

SUN: This hot, yellow thing shines down from above burning up boxwoods and creating splits in the tender bark of maples, crabapples, etc.

SNOW: Although beautiful, giant snowplows pile it against hedges, causing them to suffocate, break and rot. Japanese Maples, Arborvitaes, etc. split under its’ weight.

WIND: It blows across branches and leaves drying them up, causing them to curl and fall off. Salty, ocean wind is the worst!

ANIMALS: Cute and fuzzy turns into mean and ugly when winter hits. Voles eat roots of roses and more. Mice gnaw at the base of tree trunks, making their survival difficult.

What to do? PLENTY! There is plenty of help you can offer to your plants to protect them from the Winter Warlock.

COMBAT SALT: Apply Gypsum to the soil around plants that are close to roads, walkways, and driveways. Do this before snow and ice are anticipated. Gypsum helps to displace salt from the soil so our plants do not absorb the deadly salt through their root system. Wilt-Pruf will also give leaves extra protection from salt spray.

COMBAT SUN: Wilt-Pruf acts like sunscreen for most of our evergreens. It helps protect evergreens, like vulnerable Boxwoods, from sunburn. Tanglefoot’s Tangle Guards work well to protect the bark of young trees from splitting due to sunburn.

COMBAT WIND: Rolls of Burlap staked to make a wind barrier for vulnerable plants will help to prevent drying winds. Look for Shrub Jackets and Winter Pals in the store to cover plants individually. Wilt- Pruf to the rescue again. It works to prevent leaves and needles from curling and dropping.

ANIMALS: Voles, unlike most animals do not go into winter hibernation. They love the Winter Warlock and all the snow he brings. They are most active under snow, chewing on plant roots and gnawing on bark. Mice also enjoy nesting at the base of trees and scraping away at the bark. Protect trunks with TreeKote’s Vinyl Tree Guard. I Must Garden’s Mole & Vole Repellent is a must to protect trees, shrubs, roses, and plants from vole damage. Apply this good smelling repellent in garden beds and around the base of trees and shrubs before the winter snow hits. It will really help!

Salt, Sun, Snow, Wind, and Animals. It all depends on how you look at it. These things can be good until Winter Warlock brings them to our trees, shrubs, and flowers. These are winter gifts they could do without. PROTECT THEM!

Come see us at Van Wilgen’s. We would love to help!

It’s been a busy season. The summer has flown by and like many people I spent far less time in my garden than I would have liked. Fortunately, the fall weather has been fantastic for planting and I am still taking advantage of it!

My second tree is finally in the ground and I think it looks terrific! For the somewhat sunnier side of the yard, I’ve chosen a Japanese Red Maple. Acer palmatum “Red Emperor” is a beautiful, fast-growing tree, maturing at about 15 to 20 feet tall and wide. The leaves develop later in the spring than other species and this helps the tree avoid damage from late spring frost. The brilliant red foliage of this variety will last throughout the summer, then warm up to an incredible crimson red late in the fall. At maturity, this beauty will provide just the right amount of shade over my patio while remaining small enough to fit the scale of my cozy backyard retreat.

No garden is complete without a strong evergreen foundation. Winters are long in Connecticut and planning for four-season interest is very important to me. I walk through my garden at least twice every day on my way to and from work and I love to sit by the window on a cold winter’s day, sipping a hot cup of tea and enjoying my cozy outdoor space from inside my warm home.

On the other side of the fence in my neighbor’s yard is a tall blue Colorado Spruce. I wanted to echo the color of my neighbor’s tree but not the size, so I planted a Blue Globe Spruce (Picea pungens “Glauca Globosa) on the south-facing side of the yard. This delightful globe-shaped dwarf evergreen shrub will slowly grow to about 5 feet tall and possibly 6 feet wide over time but this will take many years. The Spruce prefers full sun and fortunately, this location is sunny all day long. It’s deer resistant and the steely blue foliage creates an excellent contrast in front of the rich red Japanese maple.

Closer to the walkway and a little bit to the left of the maple is another new addition to the garden that goes by the name of Goldilocks. This Dwarf Japanese white pine (Pinus parviflora ‘Goldilocks’) is a multi-stemmed slow-growing evergreen with a gracious sweeping habit. The long, soft bluish-green needles are frosted with gold and the color won’t quit during the long winter months.

We have nearly reached the end of October but the weather and soil temperature are still great for planting! I’m hoping to add a few perennials before putting the garden to bed for the winter. I can’t wait to see how the things I’ve planted this year look next spring and I’m already planning and dreaming of the new additions that will come next year.

Happy Gardening!

Cecile