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the average household spent more than $400 for garden-related items. Landscaping grew by 19 percent, water gardening by 49 percent, fruit tree planting by 26 percent and vegetable gardening by 1 percent. Experts watch sales and several other areas to distinguish trends.

Why are they important? Garden and landscape trends shape consumer choices for the next year and years to come.

I mentioned last year after returning from the International Master Gardeners Conference in Little Rock that green gardening was the undertone of many of the speakers. For 2008, the Garden Media Group identified going green as the No. 1 global trend, professional trend-watchers for the gardening industry.

“Environmentally savvy homeowners know that it’s not just good enough to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle; you’ve got to be environmentally responsible ” said Garden Media’s Susan McCoy.

Gardeners want to find ways to conserve water, use locally produced or recycled materials and use environmentally responsible maintenance procedures.

Eco-chic is the buzzword for gardens designed and maintained in an ecology friendly manner. Gardeners are recycling plastic pots, composting and using rain barrels to catch rainwater. To restore balance in nature, they are creating feeding spots for birds and planting flowers so that bees, ladybugs and beneficial insects have fruit and nectar to eat.

Water gardening is still trendy. However, it is not necessary to have a huge water feature. In fact, wasting water is out. New smaller scale fountains and ponds are en vogue. They use less water, require less maintenance and can be more interesting in a home landscape. Pondless waterfalls are an option as are tabletop and recirculating fountains.

Many gardeners are opting for less grass in smart and easy landscapes. They are adding stamped concrete patios, walks and driveways. Turfless landscapes are showing up as gardeners install rocks, shrubs, trees and ground covers rather than traditional grass lawns. More expensive initially, it will save time, money and energy in maintenance, especially if combined with a drip irrigation system. Natives show up frequently in low maintenance gardens as well as ornamental grasses.

Half of this country’s consumers say that a lack of time is a bigger issue than a lack of money. The landscape service industry is exploding as homeowners who have purchased homes with large landscaped lawns just cannot find time to maintain the outdoor aspects. Full-grown plants and trees are hot sellers for homeowners too impatient to wait for smaller ones to naturally mature in the landscape.

Outdoor rooms take center stage in gardening trends. For the past five years, outdoor living and decorating were cited as the top two mega trends. In 2007, $6.2 billion was spent on outdoor furniture, accessories and grills. More than a million outdoor kitchens were constructed, and upscale homeowners opted for construction of gazebos near their outdoor pools. Stylish table lamps, special submersible lighting for fountains and dramatic illumination options are now on the market as a result of interest in outdoor living projects.

Simplicity is in with a new twist on the monochromatic slant. One basic color theme dominates a bed or pot with foliage plants and succulents, many of them variegated, used as accents. Landscaping Services A ratio of 60 percent of a primary color, 30 percent of a secondary color and 10 percent of accent color is attractive for a pot or bed. Big is beautiful these days. Big plants in big containers with big bold color are being used to create stylish pot scapes.

The “slo” food movement is growing, according to Landscape and Garden Consultant Adele Kleine.

“This philosophy reduces dependence on convenience and processed fast food. One of the purposes of gardening is to encourage adults and children to feel better emotionally and to inspire them to take more control over what they consume. That’s what slo food does,” Kleine said.

Farmers markets and organic food stands are part of this movement, as well as home vegetable gardening. Garden sales via the Internet are increasing dramatically. This year, sales are expected to equal or exceed catalog sales, growing from $7 million in 2007 to more than $10 million.

Consumers jump on the bandwagon for products that are new and hot, so growers will continue to introduce hundreds of new plants each year to meet consumer demands. Organic pesticides, fertilizers, eco-friendly products and drought tolerant and/or pest-resistant plants, many of which are container suitable - plus more native options - are expected to be big sellers this year.

Hopefully, these eco-friendly trends are not merely fads that will fade with time Landscaping Services. We all can be responsible caretakers of the environment, but need readily accessible products to help us do so.

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Q
^:
I understand that winter is a good time to spray my fruit trees to get rid of pests. What kind of spray should I use?

%26#8212;Barbara Wolcott,

San Luis Obispo

A
^:
Yes, spraying fruit trees while they are dormant can kill many of the pests that attack backyard orchards. Horticultural oils applied during the winter, often called dormant oil sprays, will kill overwintering aphids, immature whiteflies, scales, mites, thrips and also the eggs of these insects.

Oil sprays work by coating soft-bodied insects and suffocating them. These products can damage green growing tissue, so deciduous plants

should be sprayed before buds open to avoid harming new leaves or blossoms. Roses, too, benefit from dormant oil spraying if leaves were removed during pruning. Spray when the weather is forecast to be dry in order to avoid washing away the oil before it takes effect.

Dormant oils have low residual toxicity and are safe to use around pets or wildlife. Made of paraffin or petroleum- based oil, the sprays work only on direct contact with insect pests. Since most beneficial insects are inactive in winter, they will not be harmed. Even though dormant oil has low toxicity, precautions such as mask and gloves are recommended during spraying.

When buying oil spray, read labels carefully to find a product recommended for the plants and situation you want to treat. Lighter oil sprays, sometimes called summer oil or horticultural oil, exist for use on nondeciduous or nondormant plants later in the year when the heavier dormant oil would not be appropriate.

Problems of coddling moth or peach leaf curl will not be corrected by dormant oil. Contact a garden center or the Master Gardeners for suggestions of treatment for these problems.

%26#8212;Dale Norington

Tags: beneficial insects, fruit tree, master gardener, master gardeners, plants, suggestion
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New Market, Va. - It seems everyone has a tale to tell about why they decided to grow organic.

For some, it may have been one E. coli scare too many and concerns about becoming ill after eating fruits and vegetables produced in contaminated fields half a continent away. Perhaps it was the desire to see if homegrown foods really tasted all that much better than store-bought.

For Doug Oster, co-author of “Grow Organic: Over 250 Tips and Ideas for Growing Flowers, Veggies, Lawns and More” (St. Lynn’s Press, 2007), the decision came after watching his then 3-year-old son wandering down the plant rows moments after he’d dusted with an insecticide to rid some cabbage plants of green caterpillars.

An awakening

“I stood triumphant as I looked over the garden - the conquering hero who had destroyed the invading force so determined to annihilate my crop,” Oster wrote. ” … My smugness turned to dread in the pit of my stomach, and I thought, ‘What have I done?’ That was my awakening, the innocence of a small boy searching for a fresh treat.

“It was the last day I ever used chemicals in the garden and my first as an organic gardener,” he wrote. … “It has been a wonderful journey of discovery and it’s not over yet.”

Organic gardening generally is defined as growing without the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. It’s using natural ingredients to feed the soil rather than the plant.

Five percent of the overall U.S. gardening population grows organically, said Bruce Butterfield, research director for the National Gardening Association.

The number of organic gardeners will increase from 5 million to 8.1 million in the next few years, Butterfield said, giving an estimate based on his research.

“The practice will grow around 10 percent a year. … That’s double the growth of conventional gardeners.” Oster and co-author Jessica Walliser recommend that would-be organic gardeners think of organic growing as more a marathon than a sprint. It takes time - on average, two years - before any dramatic changes occur as the result of having abandoned chemicals.

First signs might include a sudden emergence of earthworms, for example.

“You’ll notice slower growth, initially. But eventually, organic gardens surpass traditional gardens,” Walliser said from her home in Sewickley, Pa.

However much of your yard you choose to make over or however you choose to do it, the conversion method will be comparable to giving up smoking, and the garden will need time to recover, she said.

“Do a different part of the garden every year. Or do a different aspect every (growing) season. By that I mean work up the soil. Then handle the insects. The goal at the end is growing organic.” If this is the year you decide to convert, then start with improving the soil.

Gardeners also should learn not to expect perfection if they’re mulling a return to the natural rather than the synthetic way of doing things, she said.

“We gardeners have to teach ourselves to be more tolerant of having a manageable number of pests and weeds in the garden,” she said.

Lower tolerance level

The tolerance level of people who grow vegetables is generally lower than that of people who raise ornamentals, she said. “With ornamentals, it’s aesthetics. With vegetable growers, it affects their bottom line.”

Once you’ve made the conversion and your yard has kicked the substance habit, there’s always the maintenance. Keep your organic vegetables, flowers and lawn thriving with the necessary preventive medicine: pruning, staking and adding trellises, picking up the litter, introducing beneficial insects, and adding organic matter - the more the better to keep your soils from becoming tired.

Organic gardening is practical gardening, Oster and Walliser write. “Not only will it reduce your personal exposure to potentially toxic substances, but once your garden has made the transition to organic care, you’ll find it’s easier on the budget, too.”

Tags: amp, beneficial insects, dramatic change, lawns, plants, soil, vegetables, weeds
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Because he wanted his garden to be alive in every way, he also made sure the landscape provided habitat, shelter and food sources for wildlife and beneficial insects, such as butterflies and bees.

Le Guilloux, a Trinity Preparatory School French teacher, planted his landscape in stages, using as inspiration landscaping at places such as Disney’s Epcot and Orlando’s Harry P. Leu Gardens. “If they appeal to me, I stare, memorize it, and recreate it,” he says of the places he admires.

To define his backyard — and to create shade for future plantings — he began by planting podocarpus bushes on two sides, leaving open the view of a lush conservation area behind his home. Le Guilloux chose podocarpus as a hedge because it is “tall, slender and easy. Viburnum grows like wood” and is harder to maintain, he says.

To this backdrop, he began adding trees — cassias, jacarandas with lavender umbrellas of blooms, and citrus that yield bushels of fruit. Then he began planting a wide variety of things at their feet.

Instead of drawing attention with mass plantings, Le Guilloux played one variety of plant off another. Call it a cottage-garden free-for-all. In went bleeding hearts, red and purple passion vines, woody bougainvillea, fire spike plants, delicate palms, giant birds of paradise and crotons with “paint-spattered” leaves. In went cannas with yellow-red blooms and flaming glory bower, which stand gaily above the damp understory, where variegated ginger plants hide their vivid red cones near the mulched bed’s surface.

When he added a pool in 2002, Le Guilloux continued with the tropical feel, adding more crotons, delicate palms and birds of paradise to curved planters on the deck.

The resulting landscape at first appears half-wild and unkempt, but a slow stroll reveals a place alive with simplistic design and the charms of a wide color palette. Butterflies flit about, feasting on everything from fiery fire spikes to yellow cassia bells to gay passionflowers. Many types of birds — and an occasional raccoon — enjoy snacks from a feeder that rises above an island of jumbled plants amidst St. Augustine grass.

Le Guilloux was mindful of the colors he introduced to his landscape. “Vegetation should have enough color to be powerful,” says this self-trained gardener. Against the conservation area, for instance, he put a row of gardenias, which in spring reward him with the heady scent of milk-white flowers. White, he says, is a garden showstopper that can be enjoyed around the clock. “Did you know that white is the last color you see at night?” he asks in lightly accented English.

His now mature understory hides a variety of nooks and crannies that invite discovery. In spring, Le Guilloux tames the landscape a bit by mulching paths that plunge into shaded areas, where citrus trees grow in dappled sunlight and azaleas display spring’s first buds.

Though Le Guilloux loves his spring-blooming gardenias — he calls them “the royal plant of perfumes” — he can’t name a favorite season. “How can you say the spring when the fall is beautiful, too?” he asks.

The gardener purchased many plants at local nurseries and propagated others from cuttings. “My father had golden fingers for that,” he says. Though he didn’t garden as a child, he has green thumbs on both sides of the family — his 83-year-old mother still tends her garden in Brittany, France.

Le Guilloux starts plants from cuttings, giving them to friends and family, just as his father did before his death several years ago.

The giving goes both ways. A knee-high lime tree, a gift from the parents of a student, is planted on the fringes of the St. Augustine lawn. And knockout rose bushes, given to him by a student after his father’s death, spread out under the bird feeder, shading an aloe plant that hummingbirds love.

Le Guilloux has no plans to add more to the yard — “I need a bigger yard,” he says — but he’ll never say never. There’s always a place for something special.

“I think a lot of times a poet doesn’t know how his poem is going to end,” he says with a smile.

s yard. . WHAT’S IN HIS GARDEN? PHOTO: A heliconia makes a bold and colorful statement in the backyard. PHOTO: How can visitors not be attracted to these delicate Cassia blooms? PHOTO: A lantana’s colorful blossom attracts a butterfly to the garden. PHOTO: The flower from a red passion vine beckons, as do other vines in the garden. . PHOTO: Lush roses surround a bird feeder focal point in Herve Le Guilloux’s Oviedo backyard. DENNIS WALL/ORLANDO SENTINEL

Tags: amp, beneficial insects, blooms, bushes, dappled sunlight, fingers, focal point, grass, green thumbs, landscape, Landscaping, mulch, plantings, plants, poe, pool, s yard
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Because he wanted his garden to be alive in every way, he also made sure the landscape provided habitat, shelter and food sources for wildlife and beneficial insects, such as butterflies and bees.

Le Guilloux, a Trinity Preparatory School French teacher, planted his landscape in stages, using as inspiration landscaping at places such as Disney’s Epcot and Orlando’s Harry P. Leu Gardens. “If they appeal to me, I stare, memorize it, and recreate it,” he says of the places he admires.

To define his backyard — and to create shade for future plantings — he began by planting podocarpus bushes on two sides, leaving open the view of a lush conservation area behind his home. Le Guilloux chose podocarpus as a hedge because it is “tall, slender and easy. Viburnum grows like wood” and is harder to maintain, he says.

To this backdrop, he began adding trees — cassias, jacarandas with lavender umbrellas of blooms, and citrus that yield bushels of fruit. Then he began planting a wide variety of things at their feet.

Instead of drawing attention with mass plantings, Le Guilloux played one variety of plant off another. Call it a cottage-garden free-for-all. In went bleeding hearts, red and purple passion vines, woody bougainvillea, fire spike plants, delicate palms, giant birds of paradise and crotons with “paint-spattered” leaves. In went cannas with yellow-red blooms and flaming glory bower, which stand gaily above the damp understory, where variegated ginger plants hide their vivid red cones near the mulched bed’s surface.

When he added a pool in 2002, Le Guilloux continued with the tropical feel, adding more crotons, delicate palms and birds of paradise to curved planters on the deck.

The resulting landscape at first appears half-wild and unkempt, but a slow stroll reveals a place alive with simplistic design and the charms of a wide color palette. Butterflies flit about, feasting on everything from fiery fire spikes to yellow cassia bells to gay passionflowers. Many types of birds — and an occasional raccoon — enjoy snacks from a feeder that rises above an island of jumbled plants amidst St. Augustine grass.

Le Guilloux was mindful of the colors he introduced to his landscape. “Vegetation should have enough color to be powerful,” says this self-trained gardener. Against the conservation area, for instance, he put a row of gardenias, which in spring reward him with the heady scent of milk-white flowers. White, he says, is a garden showstopper that can be enjoyed around the clock. “Did you know that white is the last color you see at night?” he asks in lightly accented English.

His now mature understory hides a variety of nooks and crannies that invite discovery. In spring, Le Guilloux tames the landscape a bit by mulching paths that plunge into shaded areas, where citrus trees grow in dappled sunlight and azaleas display spring’s first buds.

Though Le Guilloux loves his spring-blooming gardenias — he calls them “the royal plant of perfumes” — he can’t name a favorite season. “How can you say the spring when the fall is beautiful, too?” he asks.

The gardener purchased many plants at local nurseries and propagated others from cuttings. “My father had golden fingers for that,” he says. Though he didn’t garden as a child, he has green thumbs on both sides of the family — his 83-year-old mother still tends her garden in Brittany, France.

Le Guilloux starts plants from cuttings, giving them to friends and family, just as his father did before his death several years ago.

The giving goes both ways. A knee-high lime tree, a gift from the parents of a student, is planted on the fringes of the St. Augustine lawn. And knockout rose bushes, given to him by a student after his father’s death, spread out under the bird feeder, shading an aloe plant that hummingbirds love.

Le Guilloux has no plans to add more to the yard — “I need a bigger yard,” he says — but he’ll never say never. There’s always a place for something special.

“I think a lot of times a poet doesn’t know how his poem is going to end,” he says with a smile.

s yard. . WHAT’S IN HIS GARDEN? PHOTO: A heliconia makes a bold and colorful statement in the backyard. PHOTO: How can visitors not be attracted to these delicate Cassia blooms? PHOTO: A lantana’s colorful blossom attracts a butterfly to the garden. PHOTO: The flower from a red passion vine beckons, as do other vines in the garden. . PHOTO: Lush roses surround a bird feeder focal point in Herve Le Guilloux’s Oviedo backyard. DENNIS WALL/ORLANDO SENTINEL

Tags: amp, beneficial insects, blooms, bushes, dappled sunlight, fingers, focal point, grass, green thumbs, landscape, Landscaping, mulch, plantings, plants, poe, pool, s yard
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Here we go again: another plant pest! On Dec. 5, I received an e-mail alert that the red palm mite (Raoiella indica) had been found in Palm Beach Gardens. A coconut leaflet sample collected on Nov. 11 had several colonies of the red palm mite. The leaflet had 100-plus adult mites and hundreds of eggs. This is the first report of live red palm mites in Florida and the continental United States.

This mite is common in the Middle East and India. It was detected in several Caribbean islands in 2004 and in Puerto Rico in 2006. It is easily distributed by wind currents and infested plants, whether from the nursery or tourists carrying souvenirs of infested plants or some object near an infested plant with wandering mites attached. Unlike the southern red mite that attacks some of the same hosts, the red palm mite does not produce silken webbing and is slow-moving.

The damage by these mites as they feed on the underside of the leaf is caused by the piercing action of thousands of little mite mouthparts, like thousands of little stiletto daggers, piercing the cell walls to release the fluid inside. These mites feed deeper, down into the leaf mesophyll rather than on the surface cells where most mites receive sustenance.

The red palm mite is a pest of several ornamental and fruit-producing palm species such as coconut, date and areca palms, and has been found attacking bananas and plantains in the Caribbean. Ornamental palms, including hurricane or princess palm (Dictyosperma album), Christmas palm (Veitchia merrillii) and queen palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana) have also been damaged. Palms are important components of our tropical landscapes, both indoors and out, and in many countries coconut palms, Cocos nucifera, and date palms, Phoenix dactylifera, are important food crops.

The red palm mite has been collected from ornamental plants such as heliconia (Heliconia rostrata); bird-of-paradise (Strelitzia reginae); and gingers (Alpinia purpurata and Etlingera elatior) in the Caribbean islands, but it is not clear whether these are valid host plants or whether the enormous mite populations on coconuts and other canopy palms had mites that had dropped onto the understory plantings.

In any case, the red palm mite is expected to cause economic damage to tropical and subtropical agriculture and to urban and indoor environments where palms are grown in the Western Hemisphere. It is predicted that palm nurseries, landscape palms and horticultural gardens will be affected by this new pest.

The red mites are easily seen against green leaves. Heavy infestations of the mites on the lower surface of the leaves cause yellow speckles and blotches on the leaves. Yellowing of the leaves may often be severe.

Palms affected by R. indica show scattered yellow spots on both leaflet surfaces to a strong yellow discoloration of the entire leaflet, with most of the leaflets affected located in the middle area of the leaf. Coconut palms with severe infestations will have entirely yellow leaves, particularly on the lower third region of the canopy. These symptoms are similar to potassium deficiency and lethal yellowing disease. There could be multiple problems, so it is important to look closely for the mites. Very young coconut palms as well as very old palms (more than 50 feet tall) have been severely affected. Young coconut plants may be the most affected by this mite. The yellow color of the leaflets is followed by the abortion of the flowers or small nuts in coconut palms.

The lower leaves of banana and plantain turn yellow with small, patchy, green-yellow areas. Most of the mites are on the lower leaf of the host plant and the presence of yellow coloration on the upper surface of the leaf corresponds to the presence of a mite colony on the underside of the leaf.

As with many mite species, this mite flourishes when the weather is hot and dry. Populations are negatively impacted by high humidity and rainfall. Biological suppression occurs in some countries due to predator mites and several species of indigenous lady beetles. Hopefully, the research entomologists involved with this project will import some of these beneficial insects, but screening these insects to determine their acceptability in our ecosystem will take several years.

Jorge Pena with the University of Florida is working on a treatment strategy for any nurseries that may become infested. Residents should contact their local extension office or contact the Florida Department of Agriculture, Division of Plant Industry (DPI) help line for additional information at (800) 282-5153.

Some of this information was excerpted from:

creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/orn/palms/red_palm_mite.htm

www.eppo.org/QUARANTINE/Alert_List/insects/raoellia_indica.htm.

Doug Caldwell, Ph.D., is the commercial landscape horticulture extension educator and landscape entomologist with the University of Florida Collier County Extension Service. E-mail dougbug@ufl.edu; phone, 353-4244, ext. 203, or visit: collier.ifas.ufl.edu.

Tags: amp, beneficial insects, landscape, plantings, plants, rta
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