The garden season this year, 2009, in the Twin Cities metropolitan area has been one of the driest and coolest in recorded history. As a generalization we can predict that signs of autumn will arrive earlier and the coming winter will be earlier, longer, and probably snowier.
The observing home owner will notice that foliage toward the interior of pines, arborvitae, junipers, especially and in general, of all evergreen conifers in our climate will begin to turn yellow. Folks become alarmed thinking some disease has infested their evergreens.
In fact, however, there is nothing to worry about, for nature is doing nature’s thing. These evergreen conifers are simply shedding the oldest needles of their crop as they do every autumn. It is as predictable as a sugar maple or any other deciduous shade tree shedding all of its leaves at the end of each growing season. We usually expect this ritual of nature in October, after all, that’s why we own leaf rakes.
Most Minnesota home owners call all coniferous evergreens “pines”. My pine this and my pine is doing that…..even though the evergreen tree might not be a pine at all, but an arborvitae, or a spruce, a chamaecyparis, or yew, here a juniper or there a fir or hemlock. Not all Minnesota evergreens are equal!
There are many “fish” in the Minnesota evergreen pond. Most are easily distinguished one from another.
We at Masterpiece Landscaping would like to invite interested home owners to learn more about these “pines” and their care, by offering a two hour session at our gardened grounds in Minnetonka tentatively scheduled for Saturday, August 29, at 9:30 AM. Attendance limited to 20. Call us at 952 933 5777 for further information. There will be no admission charge.