[r schipul]

I work in zones 5 and 6 in CT. I've noticed a lot of evergreen perennials such as dianthis and iberis aren't so evergreen. More like brown. Quite a few Ilex crenata's also a nice shade of tan. Very strange considering it was a very mild winter.

Also, first time in 18 years I've had a vole problem. 2 separate properties so far. If you've never witnessed them, consider yourself lucky. They're like little beavers. No one knows how to control them. I've mixed apples with mole bait on one property where there are plenty of holes. the other property I can not find a single hole.

What have you noticed?

[GLAN]

I can't speculate on your "Vole" problem....

As to the rest?.........do you think what you see can be atributed to the drier winter we just had?......More so the dry March?

[r schipul]

I'm thinking it was the dry summer and fall we had last year followed by the one week of bitterly cold weather in November which happened to be the coldest week of the whole winter. In 18 years I have never figured out plants and I probably never will. Do you ever get the thought that the longer you're in this business the less you know?

[TrickyDick]

My theory is that we had such a warm winter that evergreens weren't dormant for as long as usual and since it was so dry they had nothing to drink. Rhodys especially look like hell and the more sun they get the worse they look. It's just a theory though...I could be an idiot.

[johnkeegan]

VERY warm January and then a cold snap in late Feb./early March plus no snow cover. Perhaps a combination of incomplete hardening off, lack of insulation and moisture left them befuddled. And I agree on the vole problem. I'll bet they raised havoc when there was no frost in January (at least where I live). There was a thread earlier here about how to control them. I'll give some of their suggestions a try. I remember someone saying "...voles are essentially mice that burrough underground..." Might be true because I know in my garage last year I caught alot of voles in mouse traps I had baited with apples and peanut butter.

[GLAN]

Originally posted by r schipul
I'm thinking it was the dry summer and fall we had last year followed by the one week of bitterly cold weather in November which happened to be the coldest week of the whole winter. In 18 years I have never figured out plants and I probably never will. Do you ever get the thought that the longer you're in this business the less you know?

The longer in business, the less I know?

LOL....

I thought of it this way.......The longer I am in business the more confusing it gets

I know I had a problem for a while that I would over analyze things to death......trying to find the common denominator........the rational explanation to things.

Trying to do that at times is like trying to answer "Why am I here?"

There is one thing I did realize some years ago and kinda goes with the this thread topic......First there is the environmental factors.......then there are the human factors.

The human factor will either help or do unkowingly harm to a situation. Once I began to understand the human factor better the easier it was finding solutions and answers.

First year plantings I tell my customers.......You have to be the last scheduled sprinkler turn off or close to the last when your company makes the appointment. I tell this to my maintenance customers as well..............and sometimes it take beating them over the head about it to get them to change.

As we all know first year plants will need sufficient soil moisture to do well through the winter...............so does a lawn during the fall and heading into winter.

I have a maintenance customer down the street.......6 HUGE Oaks along the curb strip...........for years they had the system turned off end of September or first couple days of October.......One year some years back I lost it and got in their face about disregarding my instructions to have the system turned off late in the season, like second half of November.

They responded. The sprinkler guy said the lawn would not need water in October and November..........OMG. I got so reved up that I was practicaly screaming chewing their head off..........Who would know better about growing turf?.......Sprinkler guy?.........or me?..........Who do you pay to grow your lawn?.......ME!

And what would happen every spring.......after power raking I would have to use large amounts of seed.

I told them to fire the sprinkler guy and call my friend.

Well they did............and now every spring I only need to use a couple hand fulls of seed instead of pounds. On the plus side for the home owner.......not only did they have decent lawn through the winters, but our spring cleanup and seeding charge, we were able to reduce.


That's just a little story on the human factor and over wintering a landscape