Leslies answer

Hi Leslie,

I took a look at the photos you sent me on your maple and redbud tree. I know you love that redbud tree. From the looks of the tree you are doing everything you are supposed to. It just underwent a little stress while you were away, the summer months can get so hot. The large leaf trees suffer the most because they loose so much moisture from their leaves.
Most of the brown on the photo of the redbud is the seed pods that are hanging down off the branches. Just run your hand along the branch and they will fall to the ground. I know it sounds strange but your concern of the leaves that fell off the tree is a good sign not a bad one.
When a tree is stressing it will first hang its leaves downward out of alignment with the sun like it did the day we planted it. If it does not receive water in time enough to perk back up it will begin to drop leaves in an attempt to conserve water. If it still does not receive help (water) it will then begin to loose branches starting at the tips and working its way downward. The next stage after the loss of branches is the loss of the trunk, if it goes that far you get an ugly deformed tree when and if it regrows.
You are never in trouble when the leaves are falling to the ground,its a sign that the tree is still receiving enough to handle the problem on its own the way it would if it had grown from seed in the wild. If the leaves are turning completely brown and brittle and sticking to the tree, it is in trouble and the tree needs immediate attention. ( daily water for 2-3 weeks) Your trees both the maple and the redbud are showing only the slightest hint of stress for their first summer in the landscape. Your doing everything you are supposed to. Don't panic, Fertilize them with about a half a cup of "Osmocote" granular fertilizer, sprinkled around and under the base of the tree over the top of the mulch, and make sure to soak them really good once a week if we haven't got a really good rain.

Your maple is the same thing except it never stressed to drop any leaves. It just has leaf tissue that is burning through and showing brown/tan around the edges. This is almost completely unavoidable with a newly planted maple here in Florida. The leaves during the summer can actually loose moisture faster that the tree can take it in, causing holes in the leaves that almost look like something has been eating them, the way to know its not a critter is that you will see some of the leaves damaged on the edges with no holes in the leaves as well as a slight tanish brown burnt area around the edge of the holes. Treat it the same as your redbud, fertilize, water thoroughly once a week by hand (not your sprinkler system)

As for your flowering plants, its time to fertilize. You have a lot in your garden that really gives allot of flower color and heavy bloomers need heavy feeding.
I like to mix 1 part Osmocote 1 part Milorganite and 1 part Bloom booster ( any type will do as long as its granular) That way your plants get the immediate action of the water soluble bloom food, the water retention and leaf greener of the milorganite and the Osmocote's extended release action to be there when everything else has gone away.
Sprinkle this mixture beneath the foliage of the plants on top of the mulch. A few teaspoons or a handful per plant on the smaller plants and a bout a quarter to a half a cup on the larger plants..


And to answer your last question, I do offer what we call in the plant industry "scouting" services. This is basically a walk through of your garden areas checking plant health and soil conditions as well as checking for the existence of pests on plants.It helps allot with people who have planted a new garden or have inherited one with a new home and are are unsure of the care the plants require. Basically I would have done the same thing we did over the Internet through the emails except I would have had to come out to take a look at the problems myself. Its a minimal fee just to cover my time coming out. I charge $50 in the general area.
But never feel that this is needed in order to get the help you need. I'm always happy to answer any questions you are having. And love to see photos of how things are doing problems or no problems, so dint be afraid you are bothering me with questions. In fact I would just be spending this time on the Internet looking at gardening blogs and chatting about other peoples gardens if I weren't helping you. And by the way the echincea (purple cone flower) is looking gorgeous in your photo..
Let me know it I forgot to answer anything or you have another question. And give yourself a pat on the back, your doing really well with your new garden.
Charlotte

Leslies Trees

Back bed

This photo is of the back bed area standing far off. A windmill palm was added to the space between the two windows. The customer wanted to put a palm there that would not block the view of the lake from the windows on the back of the house,and that would not eventually overgrow its boundaries. A windmill palm serves the purpose nicely and will not block the windows on the bottom story or eventually grow to block the windows on the second story like other fan palms would have.

Heritag landing frnt addition

This was a fairly simple addition/change to the front landscape that had been installed when the house was built by the builder etc. A triple trunk Roebelenni palm ws added to anchor the corner. Teh bed was extended around the left side of the house meeting a small existing bed in the back. Nandina Domestica (heavenly bamboo) was added to distract from the water softener on the side of the house. With a good rain season they should be almost touching together on the sides and almost tothe top of the taller water softerner by t he end of the season. In the front we also resculpted the front edge of the bed to curve into the sidewalk towards the other side instead of dead ending at a straight 90 degree angle into the sidewalk. oh and I forgot, we added a sago palm to the front window area as an accent. I think I forot to take a before photo on either the front or the back. These photos were taken with my camera phone so the quality is a little fuzy but the picture is there! Overall I was really happy with the addition on the front, little changes that will make a big differnece!

definately not a photographer

I learned early on in my garden design that it takes more skill than I posess with a camera to do justice to a landscape. This is actually a walkway down the side of a house just after being planted, in fact the mulch wasnt even finished but for some reason I was taking the photo anyway.

My backyard at the mandarin site nursery

This is a picture I took of my backyard at the Mandarin S & J Nursery site. John and I lived there in a little green house in the front corner. I took this picture mainly of the Tibouchina bushes that had froze to the ground and regrew so nicely that same year and were up and blooming by the time the black eyed susans were just starting to bloom. As you can tell by the photo all my personal gardens are a bit on the wild side . But only becouse that is the way I like them to be, always with something blooming and beautiful no matter what time of year. The wooden fence divided my backyard area from the nursery site and if you look close at the picture you see Canary island fronds peeking over the other side of the fence.

The fountain

I am currently in the process of posting some of my gardens that I have done int hepast. Although finding the photos seems to be a bit more of a challenge than I had anticipated. This was a garden I did for myself and happened to take a photo of becouse I was showing my friend the fountain that my husband had bought for me. I know I had one of this area once it was grown in where the blooms showed up beutifully but so far I have not been able to find it.