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Showing posts with label trees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trees. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Superb dry-weather plants
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Deer-resistant plants
If you're not keen on blowing Bambi's brains out with a shotgun (which we do NOT advocate), try planting one of many deer-resistant plant varieties carried at Whispering Hills.
Below you'll find lists of trees, shrubs, perennials, vines and flowers that DOE'nt attract deer.
Deer-resistant Trees:- Deerproof Arborvitae
- Douglas Fir
- Scotch & Mugo Pine
- Colorado Blue & Norway Spruce
- Blue Star, Mountbatten & 9 other types of Juniper
- Whitespire Birch
- Norway Maple
Deer-resistant Shrubs:
- Chicagoland Green, Green Mountain & 5 other types of Boxwood
- Weeping Siberian Pea Shrub
- Common Lilac (Purple & white)
- Cranberry Viburnum
- Japanese Barberry
- Shamrock Inkberry
- Renaissance Spirea
- Blizzard & Dwarf Snowflake Mock Orange
Click here for a list of of deer-resistant vines, flowers, and groundcovers.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Hummingbird-friendly plants
Hummingbirds are able to assess the sugar content of nectar and prefer flowers with higher sugar percentage, so there's a limited selection of plants that will invite them to your yard.
Hummingbird-friendly Perennials
 |
| Hummingbirds are "suckers" for Morning Glories and other sweet flowers. |
Achillea
Aquilegia
Aster
Buddleia
Campanula
Delphinium
Digitalis
Iris
Heuchera
Lobelia
Monarda
Penstemon
Phlox
Shrubs
Clethra
Hibiscus
Itea
Lonicera
Weigela
Whispering Hills stocks many of these varieties. Call 847-658-5610 for more information.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Drought-hardy plants
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| OK, it's not this dry. But it's really dry! |
Indeed, as local meteorologist Tom Skilling notes, we've seen much, much wetter Junes in Chicagoland. Skilling reports that this June could be a record-breaker in terms of consecutive 90-degree days, but what's worse for the region's plant material is that it's been hot without rain.
It's been at least a dozen days since the last heavy rainfall, and with no moisture and sweltering conditions in the forecast for the next five days, proper watering habits may mean the difference between life and death for many of your plants.
For instructions on how to water properly, please view our watering guides (one for annuals and perennials and one for trees and shrubs). Before watering mulched areas, be sure to move the mulch aside with a rake so the water can soak directly into the ground. Once replaced, the mulch will keep the soil wet.
There are many varieties of plants, however, that are designed to beat the heat. Below you'll find a list of the most drought-tolerant plants we carry at Whispering Hills.
| Perennials |
Shrubs
|
Trees |
|---|---|---|
| Grasses | Limelight Hydrangea | Evergreens |
| Tickseed | Tickle-Me-Pink Hydrangea | Crabapple |
| Baptisia | Rose | Sugar Maple |
| Cotton Candy Stachys |
Viburnum | Hawthorn |
| Nepeta | Barberry | Serviceberry |
| Salvia | Weigela |
*Tolerance depends on establishment of plant. Well-established plants will have optimum tolerance.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
10 tips for a victorious vegetable garden
Few things make more sense than planting your own vegetable garden. Cheap, high quality vegetables spring up just a few feet from your door, and gardening is a healthy and educational experience for the whole family.
The trouble is vegetable gardens take time and effort to maintain, and not all of us have the time. But the financial impact, as well as the fun factor, ensures you'll be well-compensated for the time spent with your hands in the dirt. Take these 10 tips from Whispering Hills and the University of Illinois Extension and start building your own backyard farm stand.
#1 LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
It's a cliche for a reason. Just as location is important in everything else you do, a successful vegetable garden starts with the right plot. Make sure your veggies aren't close to trees or shrubs that will compete for resources, and make sure the garden fits in with your landscape design. Do we have to tell you that vegetables need a ton of sunlight? If possible, plant your garden close to a water source as well.
#2 MAP IT
Make a list of the vegetables you want to plant and look up growing tips for each kind. The University of Illinois' horticulture extension has a handy chart to help you with this. Sketch out which vegetables will go where before you just go buying all kinds of plants at the store.
#3 MAKE YOUR BED
This is the most important part of a vegetable garden. Proper soil for a garden is soft, loose, nutrient-rich and well-drained. Northern Illinois soil does not naturally have those properties. It is hard and full of clay, so be sure to mix in an adequate amount of topsoil and a nutrient-rich amendment (like mushroom compost, Bumper Crop, or material from your own home compost pile) to prime your bed before planting.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Local love: Where were your plants grown?
 | |||
| Was your Colorado Spruce actually grown in Colorado? |
Plants, however, aren't blessed with (cursed with?) the ability to speak, so you'll have a harder time figuring out if that arborvitae in your yard came from down the road or Tennessee. However, if the plant took a long time to thrive, that might be an indication that it wasn't grown in northern Illinois soil.
It's not just big box stores that sell non-local plant material; many area garden centers sacrifice quality when they bring in cheaper plants from areas with longer growing seasons.
Not only are locally grown plants already adjusted to the soil in your yard, they also have a shorter trip from the grower to the market. That means the growers can time their shipments accurately and deliver the plants when they are just about to hit their peak bloom.
Locally grown plants typically look better in your yard, but it's not all about you, you know. The growers obviously benefit, too, and when you buy their plants you help keep their fields from becoming another Wal-Mart. And we have enough Wal-Marts in our area.
How can you tell if the plant you're buying is grown locally? The root ball will be much smaller than ones on their non-local kin. The soil on a locally grown plant will be dark in color and have a high clay content, whereas non-local soils will likely be a lighter, reddish color (Tennessee) or have a high sand content (Michigan).
If you'd rather not worry about whether a plant you're thinking of buying was grown locally, just come to Whispering Hills. Nearly all of our plant material is locally grown, coming from such places as Harvard, Marengo, and Poplar Grove.
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