April 2007 , Volume 18 Number 5
Community Paper
copyright ©2007 by Community Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.

APRIL IN THE GARDEN
by Nick Francisco, Blodgett Gardens
3821 Edgewater Drive, 407-295-2363
See this month's ad!

April in Central Florida is a fantastic time of year. We have warm days with cool nights and gardens full of beautiful flowers. Take time to appreciate the natural surroundings we have been blessed with, by: planting some pots of color; taking a walk in one of our many parks; a visit to Harry P. Leu Gardens; creating your own paradise garden in your backyard; or maybe adding a pond or waterfall.
Use your imagination. Add bright color to your lives with Impatiens or Perennial Baskets as bowls of color throughout the house. Awesome containers of perennials or annuals assembled so they thrill, fill, and spill with beauty and bright cheerful colors will lift the poorest of spirits.

Brightly colored Azaleas adorn the College Park landscape like tinsel on the Christmas tree. Proper care of azaleas will ensure healthy plants full of blooms for many years. Trim the plants to attain the desired shape and height right after blooms have fallen. Many Formosa Azaleas are allowed to attain their natural mature height of 12' to 14' and will require no trimming, others might be used as foundation plantings around the house or under tall windows where you need to keep them to a 3' to 4' height. Prune these plants 6" below the desired height to allow for future growth. Keep the Azaleas trimmed monthly until the end of JULY or beginning of AUGUST when the last pruning is made just before the plants set their blooms for next year. Trimming after the middle of AUGUST will remove some of next years' blooms. Dwarf Azaleas need to be trimmed and fed after each bloom cycle to keep their compact dwarf habit (many dwarf varieties will bloom 3+ times a year).

Feed all Azaleas, Camellias, Gardenias, Hibiscus and other acid loving plants Fertilome Azalea Food at 1/4 cup per foot of height per plant, three times per year (Spring, Summer & Fall). This material comes in a light 20 lb. bag so it is easy to move and use. It is concentrated so DO NOT use more than 1/4 cup per foot of height, placing the fertilizer around the plant at the drip line (edge of the foliage), not on the stems. Azaleas are prone to Lacebug infestations (give the foliage a yellow pin pricked look). Prevent Lacebugs with regular application of Hi Yield Disyston or Imadichlorpid ( both systemic pesticides) or a natural Oil spray like Organicide.

Mow your turf at a 3" to 4" height using a sharp mulching blade. Allow the cut grass and leaves to fall on the turf and be recycled to new foliage. Re-mow any grass clumps so all the green matter is finely chopped. Natural Guard Decomposter (a granular soil additive) will help reduce thatch by feeding the microbes in the soil which in turn cycle the thatch back into nutrients. Weed-n-Feeds are applied NOW! Stop by Blodgett's for our year long landscape maintenance schedule for an awesome turf and landscape.

We offer assistance with specific gardening questions and correction of your gardening or landscape problems. Personal service may be provided with a landscape consultation where I will visit your home and address all your landscape concerns. Call and schedule your consultation today (time is fee based).

Blodgett Gardens is now channel 9's local garden expert. Channel 9 has a forum through their website where individuals may ask specific questions to their problems and we (the experts) will answer their specific questions rather than having to come into the store. Of course visual ID is required for some solutions but many may be answered without seeing a sample.
http://www.localsolutionsnetwork.com/expert/expert.cfm?cfapp=11&from=1&expert=96&eid=12969&specialID=1