Ten simple ways to stop wild animals from digging, eating or stealing your newly planted tulips & crocus.

Ten simple ways to stop wild animals from digging, eating or stealing your newly planted tulips & crocus. Save your bulbs from hungry wildlife or destructive critters!

Here are some suggestions for how to prevent wild animals such as mice, voles, moles, woodchucks, chipmunks, skunks, and deer from digging up or eating or otherwise destroying your newly planted bulbs (without the benefit of Ewoks to stand guard of course).

1. Dip your bulbs in animal repellent before planting. We carry an organic animal repellent liquid that smells like peppermint, so it will keep the critters away, but it won’t make you gag.

2. Plant pellets of mole and vole repellent in the hole with your bulbs. The organic pellets contain castor bean oil, which keeps the critters at bay.

3. Water well to firm in the soil around newly planted bulbs. Nothing calls to chipmunks like soft, freshly dug ground.

4. Another strategy to guard your bulbs from scavenging chipmunks is to trim the stakes of a gridded peony support and push the shorted plant support into the dirt over your bulbs, so the metal grid is flush with the soil. You can leave it in the ground all year long, and your bulbs will grow up in between the grid.

5. Line your planting hole with old window screen or chicken wire, cover with a layer of soil, and plant your bulbs within the protected hole.

6. Plant sticks with your bulbs, criss-crossed and pointing in all directions to discourage tunneling moles and voles.

7. Get rid of moles and voles permanently by killing the grubs they feed on. Use Milky Spore (organic, kid-safe, pet-safe) on your lawn. The spores kill the grubs, and as the grubs decompose, the spores multiply. One application of Milky Spore will stay active in your soil for years to come. This has the added benefit of reducing the Japanese Beetle population.

8. Plant your bulbs in a pot in your garden. By sinking a plastic pot into your garden soil, you can deter moles and voles from getting at them them from below.

9. Plant sharp shards of broken terracotta pots in the hole with your bulbs.

10. Plant Daffodils instead. Daffodils are toxic (when ingested) and that’s why the deer also leave them alone.

In the spring, as soon as you see green breaking through the soil, spray deer repellent and enjoy your spring blooms!

Try one or all of theses organic, kid-safe/pet-safe techniques to guard your precious spring color from the wild animals and hungry critters!

For more Star Wars vs. Chipmunk images: http://www.parsingnonsense.com/ttdnst-chipmunk-whimsy/

Hudson Valley Magazine

This was a nice little blurb about the green wall in the Hudson Valley Magazine "Best of 2010" issue. (Double click on the picture to enlarge).

If you haven't stopped by yet, the sedum planted vertically on the front of our building will be changing colors in the cooler weather. Varieties like 'Sexangulare' and 'Orange Ice' will turn from a lime green to orange in fall weather, while Sedum 'Dasyphyllum Major'takes on a mauve cast during cool weather. (So cool!)

Other Rosendale businesses featured in HVM's "best of" issue were The Postage Inn, The Alternative Baker, and The Rosendale Cafe. Pick up an issue, and visit us all in Rosendale!

Fall Color: Fruiting Shrubs - Ilex x meserveae (Holly)

Meserve Hybrid Holly
Ilex x meserveae
Hardiness Zone: 5 - 8
Mature Height: 6-8 Feet
Mature Width: 6-8 Feet
Lustrous, blue-green, evergreen foliage all year; stems are reddish purple; bright red fruit on female plants.Prefers full sun to partial shade; moist, well-drained soil is best.
Cultivars:

* 'Blue Boy' - 10-15 feet tall; dark green leaves (male).
* 'Blue Girl' - 8-10 feet tall, dark green foliage and bright red fruit (female).
* 'Blue Prince' - 8 inches-2 feet tall, and very dense, with dark green foliage, very cold hardy, (male).
* 'Blue Princess' - 15 feet tall, dark blue green foliage and an abundance of red fruit (female).
* 'Mesdob' (China Boy®)- 10 feet tall, good cold hardiness, (male).
* 'Mesid' (Blue Maid®)- 15 feet tall, red fruits (female).
* 'Mesog' (China Girl®)- 10 feet tall , green foliage and abundant red fruit (female).

Mature Form: Rounded
Native To: Of hybrid origin
Soil condition: Moist Well-Drained

Fall Color: Fruiting Shrubs - Pyracantha coccinea ( Scarlet Firethorn)

Scarlet Firethorn
Pyracantha coccinea
Hardiness Zone: 5 - 9
Mature Height: 6-12 Feet
Mature Width: 6-12 Feet
Clusters of small white flowers bloom in early summer (flowers have a mildly unpleasant fragrance); shiny green leaves are semi-evergreen in zones 5,6 and 7 and evergreen in zones 8 and 9; bright red-orange fruits are borne in clusters from late summer into early winter.Prefers full sun to partial shade; moist, well-drained soil is best, but will tolerate dry soil; tolerates alkaline soils.
Cultivars:

* 'Kasan' - Hardy to zone 5, orange-red fruit, 10 feet tall, susceptible to scab
* 'Lalandei' - Hardy to zone 5, orange-red fruit, 10-15 feet tall, susceptible to scab

Mature Form: Upright and open to rounded
Native To: Europe and Asia
Soil condition: Dry, Moist Well-Drained
Tolerance: Alkaline Soil, Dry Sites
Additional Notes: Stems are thorny.

Fall Color: Fruiting Shrubs - Cotoneaster dammeri 'Tom Thumb'

Changing foliage is not the only option for color in your fall garden – callicarpa, winterberry, cotoneaster, pyracanthus and holly all show off with colorful berries in autumn.





Tom Thumb cotoneaster
Cotoneaster dammeri 'Tom Thumb'
Hardiness Zone: 5 - 7
Mature Height: .5 -1 Feet
Mature Width: 3 Feet
Small, pale pink flowers in spring; summer leaves are lustrous; small, bright red fruit in late summer and autumn; autumn color is red.
Full sun; prefers a moist, well-drained soil, but can tolerate dryness; tolerates alkaline soil, somewhat tolerant of salt.
Mature Form: Rounded shrub with slightly arching branches.
Native To: China
Soil condition: Dry,Moist, Well-Drained Moist, Wet
Tolerance: Alkaline Soil, Dry Sites, Salt,Wind

Fall color: Fruiting Shrubs - Ilex verticillata (Winterberry)

Changing foliage is not the only option for color in your fall garden – callicarpa, winterberry, cotoneaster, pyracanthus and holly all show off with colorful berries in autumn.





Winterberry
Ilex verticillata
Hardiness Zone: 4 - 9
Mature Height: 6-9 Feet
Mature Width: 6-9 Feet
Bright red fruit on female plants; autumn color is pale yellow. Prefers full sun to partial shade; moist, well-drained soil is best, but tolerates wet sites; tolerates alkaline soil.
Cultivars:

* 'Afterglow'- 10 feet tall, orange to orange red fruit, good cold hardiness, (female).
* 'Jim Dandy'- 10 feet tall, (male).
* 'Red Sprite'- 3-5 feet tall, large, bright red fruit (female).
* 'Southern Gentleman' - Hardy to zone 3, (male).
* 'Spriber' ('Berry Nice')- 6-8 feet tall, outstanding display of bright red fruit (female).
* 'Winter Gold'- 7 feet tall, yellow fruit (female).
* 'Winter Red'- 9 feet tall, bright red fruits are abundant and persistent.

Mature Form: Oval to rounded; will sucker
Native To: United States (and Illinois)
Soil condition: Moist, Well-Drained Moist, Wet
Tolerance: Alkaline Soil, Soil Compaction, Wet Sites, Wind

Additional Notes: All species of Ilex have male and female flowers on separate plants. Fruit will be produced only if a male plant is available to pollinate the females. Leaves of this species will fall off in autumn.

Fall Color: Fruiting Shrubs - Callicarpa Japonica (Japanese Beaty Berry)

Changing foliage is not the only option for color in your fall garden – callicarpa, winterberry, cotoneaster, pyracanthus and holly all show off with colorful berries in autumn.





Japanese Beautyberry
Callicarpa japonica
Hardiness Zone: 5 - 8
Mature Height: 4-6 Feet
Mature Width: 4-6 Feet
Small, pink flowers bloom mid-late summer; clusters of small, bright violet-purple berries in autumn; yellow or purplish autumn color. Prefers full sun to light shade; moist, well-drained soil; best in acid soil, but tolerates neutral soil pH.
Mature Form: Rounded with arching branches.
Native To: Japan
Soil condition: Well-Drained Moist
Tolerance: Wind