Author Archives: turfworks

Hi, this is Matt with TurfWorks and I’m here with Jacob again and from Greenstock Nurseries and we’re here today to talk a little bit about the native perennial plants that you might want to incorporate into your landscape.  So what are some of the benefits to planting native plants for this area?  That’s a good question, there’s a lot of benefits native perennials native plants that are well suited for Oklahoma weather and our changing seasons. They benefit a lot of native wildlife including birds with their seeds and bugs as pollinators.  So I would also imagine that these plants are going to be a little bit less maintenance prone then let’s say something that might not be native, they might be more apt to not get diseases, and not require as much irrigation?  They are better suited for drought conditions typically and better suited for heat and also our cold winters.  So, let’s talk about each one of these plants and specifically where you might incorporate it into the landscape and its watering and maintenance requirements and what it’s going to do.  Ok, all of these perennials we have in front of us are going to be full sun, heat tolerant bloomers.  To my left we have Guara.  Guara is a native that will grow in most of Oklahoma, you can find it in pastures, bar ditches, even your backyard.  It’ll bloom in the summer, it’s a very heat resistant and drought resistant plant.  Right below it is our state wildflower Gaillardia or blanket flower and it’s just summer bloomer, it doesn’t stop, and it will take a lot of heat.  Verbena or Homestead Verbena is really close to the native one that grows around here and it will definitely grow in full sun and with just a little bit of deadheading and you can get this thing to bloom all summer.  Golden Rod, so if you see fields of yellow or at least bar ditches of yellow it’s probably Goldenrod in the summer or late spring.  Not Canola!  Goldenrod, full Sun it’s a really pretty showy bloomer for at least a month in late spring early summer and a few varieties we have, Fireworks.  And we talked a little bit about this beforehand, this cultivar is an upright cultivar that’s going to stay pretty compact and bushy as opposed to laying down everywhere.  Yes.  Spiderwort right now and May and June, Spiderwort is blooming it’s Tradescantia and you’ll see them blanketing pastures in fuchsia, violet and lot of really pretty blues and purples.  And you said this is primarily a spring bloomer.  Yes, so throughout the summer and the fall it’s pretty much a clumpy grass.  Coreopsis or tickseed, full sun, heavy bloomers in the spring and they can even bloom afterwards if you do a steady deadheading throughout the summer.  Coneflower or Echinacea is extremely tough, birds really love the seeds, so you can benefit your neighborhood by planting some helping the birds out!  They’re summer bloomers, they can take a lot of sun and they don’t they don’t quit blooming when it gets too hot.  So, I see this and I say well it looks a little bit like a Gerber.  Little bit they’ll get a lot taller and they’ll definitely put up with the heat.  As opposed to stopping blooming and looking a bit weedy.  This is a neat one pretty unique Leatrice and you can find this pretty much in and a lot of pastures even ones you would think would be an inhospitable to plants, they’re pretty tough.  Leatrice is a purple bloomer and it blooms pretty much one time in the summer and it’s worth the planting this could be really showy.  So we talk about a lot of these native plants what are the fertilization requirements for them?  Are they going to bloom without fertilizer?  Are they going to bloom if they’re a bit neglected?  Are they still going to look great if you’re not a hardcore gardener out there fertilizing and deadheading every day and doing all those things?  Natives are a little bit easier to care for, they don’t take as much fertilizer, they can actually look kind of leggy or weedy if you over fertilize and also over water they can be a lot more efficient as far as that their water consumption.  So as far as plants for Oklahoma these are the set it and forget it of the landscape.  They can be, if there is such a thing.  They can be a lot easier to care for, for sure, they’ll continue to bloom for you, continue to grow and even with a little bit of neglect.  Well I appreciate you sharing all these plants with us today and I hope you’re able to get a little bit better idea of all these different species and where you might incorporate them into your landscape to add some color really because they all look awesome!  Well thanks for joining us today like I said before we’re here at Greenstock, that’s where we get all of our plant material from their located at 4000 North Boulevard in Edmond is retail location and come see Jacob he’ll be more than happy to show you around and find one of these to fit into your landscape!

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Turfworks The Oklahoma City Metro’s Landscape Maintenance Expert.

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Hi, this is Matt with Turfworks and I’m here with Jacob from Greenstock nurseries today.  They are our landscape materials supplier they also have a retail location at 4000 North Boulevard in Edmond. We’re here today to talk about a few roses they’ve got on special this week and their requirements in the landscape as far as watering, fertilization, and pruning and what to expect when if you plant one of these.  So, could you give us a little run down on these roses?  These three roses are Julia Child, Double Knockout, and the hybrid tea Oklahoma Rose.  So, what would the watering requirements be on something like this?  The watering requirements on roses are pretty simple.  You want to keep up with watering when you’re getting them establish.  It’s good to plant them in the spring and supplemental watering in the heat of summer.  What type of fertilizers would you use on these plants?  Fertilizers?  There’s a wide range, anything that helps with blooming and anything that will help with nice green growth in the spring time like Miracle Grow rose food, there’s also Super Bloom which is a Bonide product.  Fertilizing is best in the spring and while it’s booming through the spring and early summer and stay away from fertilizing in the fall.  What are the three pruning requirements on these three roses?  Not too different, the hybrid teas will just have one rose on one stalk and once it’s expired you want to clip that away and another stalk will replace it.  The Floribunda has several blooms on one stock and you just want to get rid of the old bloom to make room for the nice fresh pretty ones.  How about the double knockout? The double knockout is pretty simple, for the most part self prunes.  So on the Double Knockouts you see them around town and they get kind of big in a bit unruly.  If people want to get them back down to size, what’s the best time to prune them and what you want to do with those to shape them?  For all roses it’s always best to prune in early spring.  A lot of people will stay when you’re Forsythia are blooming.  Knockouts however aren’t as particular, they can handle pruning throughout the summer as long as you’re getting rid of old growth or dead wood, you’re safe.  Well I think you for your time and I hope we’ve given you some tips on may be where you’d want to plant these and how you’ll take care of them.  If you want any roses come see Jacob at Greenstock.  They’re very knowledgeable here they’ll be more than happy to point you in the right direction and be able get you the Rose that you need in your landscape.

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Turfworks The Oklahoma City Metro’s Landscape Maintenance Expert.

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Lawns:

It’s time to start cutting warm-season turf such as Bermuda. Be careful not to scalp your lawn, even if your lawn has not been cut yet, you want to remove much of the dormant turf, but not the crown of the turf.   Adjust the blade height so that the turf looks cut when finished, but you can’t see spots of soil. A good rule of thumb for spring cutting is to not remove more than one third of the height of the plant. During periods of fast growth in the coming months, it is best to cut the lawn once per week to avoid damage to the turf and keep the lawn looking its best.

Weed Control and Fertilization:

If you’ve been following a typical schedule, it’s probably about time to have another round of pre-emergent applied to the turf to guard against weeds. To feed the turf so that it has the nutrients it needs for optimal growth, applying a fertilizer with ammonium sulfate, such as 21-0-0 would be appropriate.

Pest Control:

For pest control; Cutworm, Grub, and Pillbug pests may become an issue and can be treated as they arise.

Mulch:

Now that winter is gone, remove and replace mulch around such plants as azaleas and roses to lessen the chances or harboring disease causing spores or insects. If you think disease or insects are not a problem, just freshen your mulch to a depth of 2-3” for the best weed suppression and moisture control. Make sure not to bury the root crown of any trees you may mulch around as it can cause many issues including decay of the trunk, insect damage, rodent damage, root girdling, and failure to develop a normal root flare.

Irrigation Systems:

Now that the threat of frost is gone it is safe to turn your irrigation system back on. It is a good idea to run through the system and check for any broken heads, heads or nozzles that need adjustment, leaks, or broken or stuck valves. If you had previously programmed a watering schedule, check it make sure that it is appropriate for this time of year. We would recommend approximately 15 minutes every other day for warm season turf and approximately 20 minutes every other day for shade turf. Do not water past the point of runoff. If you notice a significant amount of water on any hard surfaces you may want to check to make sure that you do not have an issue with hydrophobic soil or have a broken or misaligned sprinkler head. Oklahoma Mesonet, a local weather provider, does provide approximate soil moisture levels and turf rainfall needs. You can view their site here: http://sip.mesonet.org/

We hope these tips will help you with your lawn maintenance needs and as always, if you have any questions or need any help, call us at 405-494-6020.

Sincerely,

-The TurfWorks Team

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Turfworks The Oklahoma City Metro’s Landscape Maintenance Expert.

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Hi, this is Matt with TurfWorks and we’re out today at one of the HOA’s that we service to look at some Crepe Myrtles and how to correctly trim them. This is Martin’ Flores one of our commercial crew leaders and he is going to show us how to properly trim a Crepe Myrtle. Without trimming the incorrect way, which is to cut the plant off at the base, I know a lot of people do that and you may see them around town. It is definitely not the ideal way to trim a Crepe Myrtle. It really does no good for the plant and overall a bad idea. For really healthy good looking multi-trunked Crepe Myrtles you want to avoid that practice as much as possible. What we want to do is come up to the canopy you want to remove a lot of the canopy but leave some. Martin’ can you tell us a little bit about how you go about deciding which branches to trim off of the canopy and which branches you want to leave. You want to cut the ones pointing down and you want to cut them six inches from the base of the canopy as well as remove all of the little dead branches. You want to try and shape the tree in the way you might want it to grow in the future. You want to cut the branches that are pointing down that are in later years not going to provide the shape you desire. We’re going to go ahead and let Martin’ and the crew trim this Crepe Myrtle and we’ll come back at the end and show you what it looks like. This is the Crepe Myrtle after it has been trimmed, as you can see all of the trunks are still intact, we’ve left about six inches on the canopy, trimmed all of the small branches and removed any dead branches. We now have a Crepe Myrtle that will look awesome this summer. Remember it is totally unnecessary and not a good practice to trim the plant at the base. If you have any questions or need any help with Crepe Myrtles please feel free to give us a call at 405-494-6020.

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Turfworks The Oklahoma City Metro’s Landscape Maintenance Expert.

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