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Welcome to the OLM newsletter! Each month there will
be a feature topic covered by an OLM consultant, plus
other bits of trivia and maybe some humor for your
entertainment. We will be talking about things relating
to home life as well as business, and welcome your
feedback, ideas and suggestions.
Visit our web site at www.olminc.com or e-mail us at
newsletter@olminc.com. We hope you enjoy The
Grapevine!
Container Design
Outdoor pots can be "landscaped" just like the rest of
your outdoors. Planted containers can be worked into
your larger landscape to enhance existing plantings, or
used to heighten the appeal of an entryway by placing
containers by the front door.
Many landscapers design container gardens with an eye
toward three distinct kinds of plantings:
-"Bouquet" containers, which combine three or four
plants in one pot to create contrast, color, and grace.
-"Accent" containers, which feature a prominent, eye-
catching plant not usually seen in pots, such as a
shrub rose or an evergreen tree.
-"Moveable gardens," a collection of different-sized
pots and plants that look good on their own, but also
complement each other, creating added visual impact.
Maybe the most appealing attribute of container
planting is its mobility. This feature can be used to
make you seem like a better gardener than you actually
are!
Pots can be rotated, with showy blooming containers
at the front while languishing, transitional plantings are
exiled to a different area. Groupings can be rearranged
for altogether new looks. And if company's coming
tomorrow and your containers are not just so, it's easy
to zip out an underperforming plant and put in a
replacement plant that just happens to be in full glory!
If you have any questions about your home or office
plant needs, never hesitate to contact OLM and we will
be glad to help.
Quick Links...
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FIGHTING BLACKSPOT ON ROSES By Mark Dunaway
Roses are really "put to the test," with rainy, humid
days and middling temperatures. Most roses will not do
well. And "Nearly Wild," the darling of local landscape
designers, can turn out to be a Blackspot problem.
Blackspot (Diplocarpon rosae) is the most dreaded rose
disease in the South. It disfigures, defoliates and kills
susceptible roses unless sprayed every seven to ten
days. For years, rose hybridizers have gone merrily on
their way producing lovely flowers while neglecting
disease resistance. Only very recently has Blackspot
resistance been a consideration in breeding programs.
Fortunately, by sheer accident, rose varieties listed in
the chart below were introduced that happen to be
Blackspot resistant. Nevertheless, no rose is totally
immune to this nasty malaise. Aside from choosing
from these varieties, other practices will help ward off
Blackspot without weekly spraying:
-Inspect roses for diseases and insects before
introducing them into your garden. Reject those that
are infected.
-Stick to resistant varieties. A non-resistant rose is
like a Typhoid Mary to the others.
-Plant roses in all-day sun. Do not test fate regarding
this rule.
-Mulch immediately following planting with activated
charcoal (like from a pet store) at least 1" deep, within
each shrub's dripline.
-Do not sprinkle the leaves; water roots only. Irrigation
should be a drip system.
-Keep rose beds fastidiously clean. Pluck spotted or
yellow leaves off immediately. Throw rose debris in the
trash, not a compost pile.
-Prune roses after winter leaf drop, on a day not
expected to drop below 40 degrees. Then treat the
bare bushes with Dormant Oil & Lime Sulfur for insect
and disease prevention.
Granular fertilize in spring with a slow-release whose
nitrogen content (the first number) is less than half it's
phosphorus content (the second number). Follow up
with monthly foliar applications of Mir-Acid (not Miracle
Grow) until September. Wet the leaves down first to
avoid burning them.
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EASY TO FIND DISEASE-RESISTANT ROSES By Mark Dunaway
Lady Banks Rose
This butter-yellow fragrant Rose might not immediately
be recognized as a Rose variety. It has few or no
thorns. It is as near disease-free as any Rose in
existence. The fragrant double flowers literally smother
this evergreen climber only in April, for a show-stopping
display.
Duchesse de Brabant
This 19th Century 'Tea' Rose was Teddy Roosevelt's
favorite. The shell pink old-fashioned, cabbage-shaped
bloom has an exquisite fragrance reminiscent of
raspberries. The blooms continue off and on from April
through October, at times literally covering the medium-
sized, attractive shrub.
The Fairy
One of the most famous and available disease-resistant
shrub Roses, The Fairy makes a wide, showy shrub with
little pink double flowers throughout the growing
season. If you can find it in the "standard" form (tree
form), buy it. It makes an especially handsome tree
Rose.
Iceberg
A white re-blooming Floribunda Rose introduced in the
1950's, Iceberg is equally at home in the landscape or
the Rose Garden. The snow-white blooms are borne
several to a stem, on disease-resistant, glossy, light
green foliage.
New Dawn
A climbing Rose extraordinaire, New Dawn is rightfully
adored by Atlanta gardeners "in the know". The
blooms are delicate peachy pink. The canes are strong
and vigorous, and though it does usually get a touch of
Black Spot, New Dawn simply ignores it and goes on
just blooming and thriving.
Midas Touch
Deep golden yellow Midas Touch is a beautiful Hybrid
Tea with the rare trait of true disease resistance.
(Don't trust the catalogs; if you want to sell the plant
every Rose is bulletproof.) It has multiple petals, a
high-centered shape and glossy dark green leaves.
Well worth a treasured spot in your garden.
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