Green Hills Lawn and Garden

12/17/2018

It is not too early to start thinking about spring. In fact if you know anything about gardening now is the time to start planning for spring. It will be here so much quicker than you imagine!

Grow Portland provides a list of free and low costs gardening classes in Portland, OR. If you want to improve your skills growing vegetables and fruits in Portland, look at these chances to learn more. Growing your own food in the Pacific Northwest is easier with expert help.  Learning to g

07/29/2016

This is a difficult time of the year for pruning. It's so hard to know what to do. Some shrubs, like Japanese Skimmia, won't be ready for quite a while. Some, like Western Redcedar, should really be done in the winter. And for some, like rhodies, the pruning season JUST ended. So what CAN you do??

Well, here's one thing you can always do and should always do. Prune away dead branches, diseased wood and leaves, and anything that looks like it's going to fall down any minute. For instance, in addition to deadheading roses, you should prune out leaves with rose rust, for example.

There are exceptions, of course-- stop pruning away brown fern fronds. But in general, it's a good rule to follow, and you want to prune this way no matter what time of year it is.

07/24/2016

A quick note: the window for trimming rhodies is officially OVER. See those flower buds on your rhodie? Don't trim them off. In the spring, those will be beautiful flowers! :) The only exception is if you have a rhodie that is a complete mess, in which case you'll want to cut it down to 18 inches off the ground anyway.

07/12/2016

More About Rhodies...

They're really, really tricky to prune-- and in another way, they're not. The main thing to remember is that you normally do NOT want to prune them the way you would a lot of other bushes Cutting them down to the ground, like a butterfly bush? Bad idea. Cutting them down to half their height, like a rose bush (well, the way you'd prune a rose bush in Zone 9-11)? Just as bad. Trying to shear them into hedges? No no no no... (facepalm)

So what DO you want to do? The secret is that rhodies should be naturally shaped. There are exceptions (as in the case of the Giant Leggy Rhododendron From Hell That's Taking Over Your Yard), but you normally do not want to do extensive pruning at all. More tomorrow! :)

07/04/2016

*Is your rhododendron out of control?? Believe me, if it is, you'll know it. I tried to find a good pic of a truly overgrown rhodie, and I haven't seen one I like yet... I think that anybody with a rhodie that bad is embarrassed to post a pic. :P Let's just say that once they get to that enormous leggy spindly stage, you have a problem on your hands. So what can you do? We'll be posting a lot of info this week as we head into the pruning season for rhodies (and other shrubs that flower on old wood.) But for starters, I will tell you that it's NOT an easy question, and you will see many many rhodies pruned wrong.

07/04/2016

Hi all, Next week, we may be getting rain in PDX! Yep, you read that right... rain in the forecast. We could possibly even get rain on the 4th. :) Stay tuned for more developments.

06/30/2016

Important Note: (maybe I'll pin this to the top...)
We are NOT able to take any new customers for lawn care only at this time. Our business is BEYOND full and bursting at the seams in that category! :) Here are the slots we DO have:
-- Regular weeding
-- Bush Trimming
-- Garden Care
-- Landscape Design, Installation, and Maintenance
-- Blackberry Bush Removal
-- Garden bed cleanup and mulching
-- Summer Cleanups
-- Rose and Flowering Bush Care

06/23/2016

It's supposed to rain tonight, yay! :)

In other news, a word of warning about pruning rhodies. This is the time to prune them (and there's a narrow window of time), but DO NOT whack them down to a couple of feet off the ground if you expect to see any flowers in the next couple of years! The biggest mistake we consistently see is when people treat them like butterfly bushes, or the way you'd cut rose bushes in cooler USDA gardening zones. Rhododendrons are very picky about pruning. The only reason to prune them so drastically is for regenerative reasons... if a rhodie becomes leggy, droopy, way too spread out, shows only a few flowers every year, etc.

Anyway, more on rhodie pruning soon! :) We will also discuss deadheading of roses.

06/22/2016

We are definitely getting more rain than last May and June... by this time last year, my pear tree had pretty much given up. There are actual pears this year! :) (A long way from being ripe, though..) This is good, because it's just been too early for the summer dry season to start yet.

06/14/2016

Wow, it's raining today!! Which is a good thing, because it's WAY too early for the dry season to start in PDX. It looks like rainfall should be fairly average this month.

06/14/2016

Hi all,
So this is our new page! :) We'll be adding regular posts with gardening and landscaping tips, info about regional events, weather, and conditions, and fascinating facts related to all aspects of the above. Feel free to ask questions and leave comments. Let's get started!

06/14/2016

More coming soon!