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Jill and Rick Van Duyvendyk answer all your gardening questions in Garden Talk on 650 CKOM and 980 CJME every Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Here are some questions and answers from the Jan. 18 show:
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These questions and answers have been edited and condensed for clarity.
Q: What is the best rose to grow in Saskatchewan?
A: Campfire. It has the colours of all the different embers in a fire — orange, red, yellow and white. Each single flower has all those colours. Some flowers will be more yellow than other and some more orange, so a a variant of colours.
It blooms like crazy. I’ve seen them blooming with a petal sticking out through the snow in the fall. Make sure you’re not fertilizing too late in the season and slow down watering in September. Get the rose to produce rose hips so do not deadhead it.
It’s very hardy in Saskatchewan. It only grows about three feet tall maximum.
Q: Little bugs that resemble maple bugs have been appearing all winter in my house. Did they come in on my outdoor plants that I brought into the house this fall?
A: They could have, or they came in through some cracks or some pipes that come through the wall or something. Because the house is warm, they’re going to be active.
They don’t feed on anything in the house, they just hang out until they can get back outside in the spring.
They need to be on maple trees to lay their eggs because the young feed on the seed of the maple tree. They’re harmless. Vacuum them up when you see them is probably the simplest way, or take a clean piece of toilet paper and flush them down the toilet. Don’t leave them in the vacuum, empty it out right way into the trash and put the trash out into the garbage.
Don’t squish them because they have a liquid in them that stinks and stains.
Q: Can I make a single plant from cuttings from five different Christmas cactuses to make a plant that has different colours blooms?
A: You’re basically going to put five plants into one pot. Take five different little cuttings and put them in a six inch pot. Each stem will have a different colour flower.
Don’t start too big, it’s better to start small and then transplant. As the plant gets bigger after a few years you can move it up into an 8 inch pot, and then a 10 inch pot as it grows.
Q: How do I care for a potted tea rose?
A: In a pot, you’re going to fertilize it different than if it was outside, because every time you’re watering you’re leaching fertilizer out of the pot.
If you want it to start blooming this winter, you need to give it lots of light and fertilize it about every third watering. If you have a 10-15-10 fertilizer, do it every third time, but if you use a 15-30-15, then dilute that by half and do it every third watering.
The soil should be dry before you water it. Then when you water, take it to the sink and water so the water goes right through the whole pot, and then don’t water again until it is completely dry.
Q: What is a good hedging plant for Saskatchewan?
A: Cotoneaster is a nice plant that grows fast and turns red in the fall, but also try Dwarf Korean lilac. It gets no diseases, blooms like crazy in the spring and keeps filling out and growing.
It makes a good windbreak for an acreage, as it is so dense and requires less maintenance. It’s as tough as nails and very drought resistant.
Q: What’s the best way to incorporate gypsum into my garden in the spring?
A: If you are going to till, the area should be tilled first, then gypsum spread over and tilled again. Most people are trying to get away from tilling for soil health, so you’re not breaking down the nutrients and the structure of the soil. You can work very little of it into the top two inches of the soil — just sprinkle it and then till it in once.
Q: Will vinegar kill goat weed?
A: Vinegar burns on contact, but it’ll still keep coming from the root. It doesn’t kill the root.
You need to figure out where your main plant is and put in a barrier. Take a nursery pot and cut out the bottom then bury it in the ground and with the lip sticking out of the ground. Plant my goatweed inside and then it can’t escape.
Q: How do I rejuvenated a mandevilla before putting it outside in spring?
A: Hopefully you trimmed it back when you brought it in. If you didn’t, trim it back right now and then put it in a place with lots of direct bright light. It can be bright light or direct sunlight.
If you want, you can transplant it into a pot one size bigger. Then start fertilizing it about every third or fourth watering to get some growth. You can put a new trellis around it and start training it up that and then you’ll have a nice plant for spring.
Q: What’s a great shade tree for Saskatchewan?
A: If you have the room then silver cloud maple. It is a big tree that grows quickly with shiny silver backed leaves. If you want something a little bit smaller try an ivory silk lilac. It will give you some shade and it’s a smaller tree.
Q: How do I deal with wind damage on trees?
A: Wait to trim until March or the first week of April, unless it’s a maple or a birch, then wait until July and August.
If a branch is broken and hanging there by a thread, or there cracks in tree forks trim those to stop further splitting. Let it dry and use some pruning paste and smooth out so it doesn’t hold any water in the wound.
Q: What is a good tree for small spaces?
A: Narrow trees like Midnight Spire, Green Wall or Prairie Spire flowering crabapple. It’s very narrow, about three feet wide.
If you want something a little bit wider, the one nicest one I love is called Courageous flowering crabapple. It has pink flowers, greeny purple leaves and is not really wide. The fruit on it is about the size of a pea.
Q: What is the best apple variety to grow in Saskatchewan?
A: September Ruby or Prairie Sensation. Both are very hardy, and can survive in an open area.
In the city, try Red Sparkle or Honeycrisp, or if you want something really narrow, there’s a new one called Red Treasure that grows three feet wide.
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