We get asked very often about Louisiana super plants. What are they? Where to get Louisiana super plants? When to plant them? Where to plant them? Below all of these questions will be answered. What is a Louisiana Super Plant?What is a Louisiana super plant? These are plants which are strong enough to handle Louisiana's climate and pretty enough for you to want them in your landscape. Candidates for the super plant program undergo two strenuous years of testing in both north and south Louisiana. They also have to be easy to grow and distribute for nurseries. They are almost always marked with the Louisiana super plants logo shown to the left. Louisiana Super Plants ListThis is a list of the current Louisiana Super Plants. New plants are added twice a year so we will try to update this list when new plants are added. If you are interested in any of the plants, click on the name to follow a link to the LSU Agcenter page for each plant. There is information on planting, sun tolerance, and planting advice.
Where to Buy Louisiana Super PlantsMost nurseries will carry at least one or two Louisiana super plants. Click on this Louisiana super plant nursery list for names, locations, and phone numbers for all registered Louisiana super plant suppliers in the state. It would be best to call before you go to make sure they have the plants in stock since they have been known to sell out. Additional HelpGreenSeasons is always proud to offer Louisiana super plants in any of our landscape designs. If you are looking for a landscape plan that focuses on using Louisiana super plants, just click here and we will give you a call.
If you would simply like some landscaping advice with Louisiana super plants, please contact us.
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Mums are a very popular choice for fall color in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and throughout South Louisiana. Mums have a large array of colors to choose from to brighten up dull areas in your garden landscape. There are two ways to have mums in your landscape and that would be to either plant them as a perennial or to buy mums every year as an annual. Buying them is as easy as going to any store with plants, but planting them and having your mums come back every year seems to give gardeners some trouble. We will go through some steps for mum success. Caring for MumsLocation is important since it determines the amount of light your mum will receive. Mums should have eight hours of sunlight every day. Most varieties of mums can get by with a minimum of five hours, but would look much better with additional hours of sunlight. Also, if you have a choice, morning sunlight would be better if they are only getting around five hours. Mums should be watered whenever you see signs of wilting or dry soil. Watering this way will average about three times per week in the absence of rain. A layer of mulch, even in a planter or pot, will help to keep your mums healthy. Do not water excessively since mums can get root rot and that would defeat the purpose of putting extra time into watering them. Since mums flowering is so brief, they may not need additional fertilizer if they are in good soil. If you find they need a little something more, try a fertilizer with a higher rate of phosphorus (the middle number in the N-P-K numbering on all bags of fertilizer). How to Grow Mums in LouisianaA lot of people will tell you to plant your potted mums in late October before the first frost of the year. The next time you hear this you can firmly tell them they are wrong. If you plant your mums in October, they rarely have enough time to develop their roots to survive the winter. You will have a much higher chance of success if you keep them potted during the first few frosty days and nights of the year. Move them inside during frosty nights until all of the blooms and leaves have fallen off. This shows the mum has gone dormant. At this point you will want to plant the mum in the ground. Till the soil a good six inches deep to loosen it up and mix soil that drains well. Plant mums eighteen inches and two feet apart. Add mulch, leaves or garden debris up and over the base of the plant to prevent freezing. In late January or early February, prune the tops of the mums to under one and a half feet. Begin watering mums in early spring as they start getting their new growth and color. Apply some slow release fertilizer, 20-10-20, when the mums start to grow to ensure they take off. Your mums should be established then and will return for many years to add color to your home landscape. Alternatively, you could leave them in pots in a climate controlled environment until the following spring if you have the room. That would also mean having what would look like a bunch of sticks in a pot with soil in your home for months and most people would not care to look at that for so long. GreenSeasons is always glad to help with any concerns regarding your garden, landscape or flowers. If you would like for us to plant some flowers, shrubs or trees, just click here and we will give you a call.
If you would just like some more advice on flowers or landscaping, please contact us. Home vegetable gardens do not take a lot of your time and provide a solid reward for the work your do. Gardening can really help households come together have a hobby together. Especially consider a vegetable garden if you:
Vegetable Garden AdviceSunlight
GreenSeasons is glad to help with any gardening needs you may have. If you would like for use to install, maintain and plant a vegetable garden for you, just click here and we will give your a call.
If you would just like some more advice on vegetable gardens, please contact us. Working around your home garden during the summer can be exhausting. The hot summers in south Louisiana can quickly lead to heat exhaustion and heat stroke even for people who have never had either before. Both younger and older people are more susceptible to heat stroke and heat exhaustion. They, and those caring for them, need to be fully informed on the symptoms and ways to prevent it from occurring. Heat Stroke and Heat Exhaustion Prevention
Symptoms of Heat StrokeThese are the symptoms you will notice for the onset of heat stroke and heat exhaustion. The further down the list you get, the more severe the situation. In my experience, red, hot dry skin is one of the first sure signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke that is definitive and would not be confused with symptoms of some other ailment.
Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke TreatmentCall 911 if the person has any of the following symptoms:
Lower Body Temperature
Rehydrate
Rest
See a doctor
GreenSeasons is glad to help with any pest control or landscaping needs you may have. If you want help, please contact us. Aphids can become a problem before you realize what has happened to your once healthy garden. These tiny bugs sneak into your landscape and basically have a party. They eat and breed like crazy and decide they love the place so they stay. Aphids will suck the sap from your plant while also transmitting pathogens that infect your plant. Additionally, they secret honeydew which grows sooty mold all over your plant and will stop it from photosynthesizing. How to Prevent AphidsLook At Your Plants A big part of prevention of any pest is inspection. This should not be a problem since if you are frequently in your garden, you are undoubtedly looking at it. If you notice a little problem, do not let it become a big problem. Fertilize Properly Aphids love new growth, so do not over fertilize. Use an appropriate amount of slow release fertilizer. Quick release fertilizer will promote a lot of new growth which generally isn't what you would want in your plants anyhow. How to Treat for Aphids NaturallyYou have aphids on your plants, now what? Remove Completely prune away heavily infested areas. Discard them into a bag you can seal and throw away. Water Spraying your plant with a water from a pressurized nozzle will knock off a good number of the aphids. Aphids usually will not climb back up the plant after this. Be careful when doing this. You do not want to wash an aphid onto a nearby healthy plant. Soap A tablespoon of dish soap and a gallon of water will affect the aphids breathing and help fix your problem. If you have a lot of plants, there are water hose attachments that will mix a concentrate like dish soap with water for you so you can just attach it and spray your plants. Make sure to spray under the leaves since that is where most of the bugs stay. What Pest Control Product to Use on AphidsThere are a lot of different products that can treat aphids. These can be found at any hardware store or the internet. I recommend using insecticidal soap or horticulture oil. These products are less risky than other control products. This is important to think about if you have young children or pets that frequent your garden. Another good control product are ones containing pyretherin or pyrethroid. These will work to kill the aphids on contact.
If you have ever seen something like this on a plant, you've encountered whiteflies. They are very small insects that are not actually flies at all. They are relative of aphids and mealy bugs. The problem with whiteflies is they spread easily and damage rapidly. The adults whiteflies drain the sap from your plants and excrete honeydew. The honey dew attracts other insects the both damage the plant and protect the whiteflies. Then to make it worse, the honeydew usually begins to grow sooty mold. Sooty mold is a black coating to the leaves and stops light from reaching the plant. While the flies are feasting on your plants, they are also laying eggs. They are laying a lot of eggs. Fly eggs all over your plant. These eggs will hatch and the nymphs will begin feeding on the same plant. This is why it is important to target both the adults, nymph and eggs when treating an infested plant. Now you have developed a deep and growing disdain for these pest and you want to know how to get rid of the whiteflies? Well read on. Get Rid of Whiteflies without InsecticideFirst, remove any infested areas completely. Be sure to cut into a healthy part of the plant, just before the dead area. Throw away any infested material into a trash bag and seal it. Dissolve a bar of soap in up to a five gallon bucket of water overnight. Use a sponge or washcloth to soak the soapy water up and white down the leaves and stems of the plant. Make special care to do this on both the top and bottom of the leaves. Spray a soapy solution on the plant for the next one to two weeks to prevent eggs from being attached again. Buy and release natural predators for whiteflies. Delphastus pusillus eat a lot of whiteflies per day and can stop whiteflies in their tracks. Order them on the internet or try a local college. Finally, sticky yellow traps will catch whiteflies much like fly paper does for house flies and gnats. Place a few sticky yellow traps as a sign to know when your whitefly problem is gone. Get Rid of Whiteflies with InsecticideFirst, remove any infested areas completely, just like in the section above. Second, buy an insect control product containing either permethrin or bifenthrin which is also labeled for your target plant. These can be found at a local hardware store, some grocery stores or the internet. This will take care of the adult and nymph whiteflies. Buy and apply a horticultural oil mixture the affected and surrounding plants. Horticultural oil is great at suffocating insects that move very slowly. Be sure to follow all instructions on the label for the insecticides. These steps should solve your whitefly problem.
Butterflies are nature's dancing flowers. No other living creature has as many colors and moves in such great numbers as butterflies. This is all the more reason to have them visit your home. With the addition of a few plants, your number of butterfly visits will swell. Another benefit of a butterfly garden is hummingbirds are attracted to many of the same plants as butterflies, so it is like getting a 2 for 1 deal! Plants for ButterfliesThere are two classifications of butterfly plants you will want, host and nectar. You will want a good mix of both. Nectar plants will allow butterflies to feed while host plants are where butterflies leave their eggs. Important: Since butterflies leave their eggs on the host plant, do not treat it with insecticide. Also be willing to accept the host plant losing most of its foliage when the caterpillars appear. A few nectar plants are zinnia, marigold, petunia, lantana, rudbeckia, butterlybush, purple coneflowers, butterfly milkweed, and salvia. Host plants include artemisa, nettles, hops, pawpaw, dill, legumes, parsley, fennel, wisteria, tulip poplar and passion vine. Butterfly GardensPick a spot that gets a lot of sun and very little wind. Create a raised landscape bed with some good dark soil. Landscape beds can be any size and shape. An idea is to have two separate landscape beds on both sides of an outdoor sitting area everyone can enjoy them regardless of where they are looking. Another option is to have them border a pathway in your yard so you can see the butterflies every time you walk through. Be creative! Once your beds are built, it is time to select where you want to put the plants in your garden.
There is only one thing to do once your plants are in and your garden is finished. Wait. The butterflies will come, they just have to realize there is a butterfly all you can eat buffet in your backyard. The best time to see butterflies in south Louisiana will be between 10 am to 3 pm during August and October. Butterflies can still be seen in the meantime, but those two months are butterfly prime time. So until then, keep an eye out and enjoy the show. Laying sod in your yard is instantly gratifying. You can turn barren areas into an area with a perfect grass in a day. First things first, you will need to have the ground prepared to help the sod take root quickly. The soil needs to be loosened to a depth range between four and six inches. If you need to bring in additional soil to fill in low spots, we recommend either top soil with a sandy loam or river-silt. Fertilize the soil with a slow release, complete fertilizer. Follow the directions on the bag but do not water it in. This is not recommended from September 1st through April 15th. It is important to remember sod comes in its own environment. It is very important to avoid leaving the sod moisture deprived for very long. Apply a lot of water to the sod within thirty minutes of laying the first piece. Leave your sprinkler in one place for two hours and then move it until the entire newly laid sod has been equally soaked. Initially you will need to keep the sod wet for the first five to fourteen days depending on temperature. Do not let the sod dry out until the union between the sod and soil surface is firmly established. This means the roots have grown into the soil and the grass cannot easily be lifted. During the cool months, these instructions are not as crucial as sod will not require as much water. For the first week water thoroughly every day. For the second week, water every other day. If it rains, it should be at least one inch before skipping a watering. After two weeks, water as needed. When the grass looks healthy and rooted, you may let it dry out some to promote root development. The best time to water is in the morning, so less water is lost by evaporation. The worst time to water is in the evening, because the lawn stays wet all night and this encourages disease development. Also, lawns watered too frequently tend to develop shallow root systems, which may make the sod more susceptible to grub damage. When the grass is 50% higher than you desired mowing height, it should be mowed. Mow often enough that you do not remove more than 1/3 of the blade at one time. Clippings are beneficial in that they return nutrients and organic matter to the soil. If grass is mowed on a timely schedule, clippings do not contribute to thatch.
knockout rose gets knocked outYou are outside admiring your landscaping when you notice something different about your knockout roses. New, long, red shoots are protruding out from your otherwise normal looking plant. The flowers have bloomed and appear gnarled. What you are looking at is the effects of the virus known as rose rosette disease. The disease will continue to spread to all other parts of the plant. The knockout rose's health will continue to degrade and it will die. ...but wait, there's more! If that wasn't bad enough, the virus is spread by eriophyid mites. These mites are about the size of dust and simply go where ever the wind takes them. You read that right. Wherever the wind blows is exposed to the risk of rose rosette and all of their knockout roses dying. If the mites, which you can't see, land on your knockout roses and feed, they transmit the virus and your roses chance of survival drops substantially. how to treat rose rosetteWell the short form of it is you can't treat it. Once the virus has entered the knockout rose, its there to stay. Your only chance of saving the plant is to catch it early remove the infected part of the plant by cutting well below the infected area, cutting into the healthy part of the plant. If you didn't notice the disease until it has infected the entire plant, here's what you do. Uproot the plant and dispose of it. Sorry, but there is no other options to save it.
Unfortunately, knockout roses are not exclusively the only rose the rose rosette damages. There are many other varieties susceptible to the virus so keep an eye out. All roses with the virus will display the same symptoms as the infected knockout roses. Watermelon will grown on a large vine sprawling out from the seed you plant. The plant loves heat and sunlight. In southern Louisiana this means planting watermelon seeds in late March to Mid April for best results. There are two beautiful things about growing watermelon. First, once they start growing, they need very little attention. Second, they are great to eat!
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