Upcoming Events

The Art of Pruning: Tools, Timing, and Technique

Tuesday, February 10, 7:00-8:00 p.m. Presented by Master Gardener Pam Bohlander, as part of the ongoing Gardeners Night Out presentation series of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, at West Cobb Regional Library, 1750 Dennis Kemp Lane NW, Kennesaw, 30152. Free and open to the public.

Thyme to Read Book Club

Friday, February 13, 10:15 -11:30 a.m. Book club sponsored by Cobb County Master Gardeners will meet at the Training Room of the Cobb County Water lab, 662 South Cobb Drive (at the intersection with Atlanta Rd.). This month’s book is Brother Gardeners, by Andrea Wulf. Schedule and information can be found at www.cobbmastergardeners.com. Free and open to the public.

Dahlias!

Friday, February 13, noon-1:00 p.m. Renae Lemon, Cobb Extension, will share information about some of her favorite among those beautiful and varied bloomers, the dahlias, as part of the ongoing Lunch & Learn series of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, at the Training Room of the Cobb County Water lab, 662 South Cobb Drive (at the intersection with Atlanta Rd.). Free and open to the public.

Starting Seeds for Transplants for the Vegetable Garden

Tuesday, February 24, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. Learn what you need to know to start your own garden transplants from seeds. Presented by Amy Whitney at UGA Extension/Cobb County, second floor classroom, 678 South Cobb Drive, Marietta, GA, 30060. For additional information and to preregister, call 770-528-4070.

Annual 4-H Plant Sale

Annual fundraiser and source of great new plants, including fruit, shrubs, and perennials, for your yard is ongoing through March 11. For the list of available plants, see our home website or contact our office, at 770-528-4070.

IPM for Vegetable Gardens, UGA Video

UGA, in cooperation with University of Tennessee and Alabama Cooperative Extension, has put together a short video about pest management in the vegetable garden. As we all gear up for spring planting, keeping the ideas of promoting good health in our crops and of relying as much as possible on beneficial insects for pest control can help us in planning productive, beautiful gardens:

Annual 4-H Plant Sale

Flyers for the 4-H Plant Sale are here! 

A great way to keep a landscape fresh and inviting is to update with a few new plants, and Cobb County 4-H is offering a great selection of ornamental and fruiting plants for sun and shade again this year as part of its annual fundraising activities.

Among the new plants offered this year are the "Ruby Slippers" Oakleaf hydrangea, whose foliage turns ruby red in autumn, "Goldmound" Spirea, with color-changing foliage that will liven any landscape, "Rose Creek" Abelia, with evergreen leaves and butterfly-friendly flowers, and the high-yielding "Granny Val" Muscadine grape.

Orders for plants can be made now, continuing until March 11. Plants can be picked up at Jim Miller Park on March 21. For order forms and additional information, visit our office website or call our office at 770-528-4070.

To learn how to care for new fruit plants, you can attend the presentation "Growing and Caring for Fruit Plants," by Cobb County Horticulture Agent Neil Tarver, Monday, March 9, 6:30-8:00 p.m., at the Cobb County Water System training lab, 662 South Cobb Drive, Marietta, GA, 30060. Please preregister for the class by calling 770-528-4070.

When Can I Prune My Knockout Roses?

PHOTO/UGA Horticulture Specialist Bob Westerfield

Easy-care Knockout roses provide summer-long color in many of our landscapes, but to bloom their very best a little pruning helps, and the best time for pruning in Cobb County is nearly upon us.

Clemson University's "Ask a Master Gardener" publication "Pruning Knockout Roses: When and How," says "Rose pruning should be done just as buds break dormancy...probably around late February or early March. When the buds have swelled but no new growth has yet appeared, it is the ideal time to prune bush or shrub type roses."

North Carolina State University (NCSU) Extension's "Pruning Knock Out Roses" agrees with that timing, saying "Rose pruning should be done just as buds break dormancy, usually around mid-to-late February or early March in Zone 7. A good rule of thumb to help you remember is 'prune your roses when the forsythia is in bloom.'"

NCSU's instructions include the qualifiers, to wait until the second and possibly even the third year of growth before pruning, and that some shaping and thinning can be done in the summer, if needed. This summer thinning is especially useful to eliminate any points of contact where branches touch or rub against each other, to reduce spots where disease might enter the plant.

Clemson's publication explains the best method of figuring out where on the cane to make a pruning cut:

"Prune the bush to make it more open in the center. This will increase air circulation and help prevent diseases. Since rose bushes send out new growth from the bud just below a pruning cut, try to make pruning cuts above a leaf bud facing out from the center of the plant. Make a cut 1/4 inch above the bud and angled at the same angle as the bud."

UGA's Georgia FACES article "Prune Roses Now for More Blooms Later," by UGA Extension's Frank Watson, adds an emphasis on checking the pith, or center, of the stem after it's been cut. If the center is creamy white or greenish, then the stem is healthy, but if it is brown or black, Watson recommends "continu[ing] to cut down the cane until green or white pith is revealed. In some cases this may mean a drastic reduction of the cane. Occasionally, the pith will become darker with each successive cut, and the cane will have to be removed at the bud union using a small pruning saw."

For further information, read the complete articles at the links as they appear above.

For those who have not planted Knockout roses, but who are planning to, the UGA publication "Roses in Georgia, Selecting and Growing Techniques," by Horticulturists Bob Westerfield and Malgorzata Florkowski and Technical Assistant Adrianne Todd, provides a clear and easy-to-follow description of how to plant and care for your new roses, to promote abundant bloom.

Vegetable Growers Workshop

This program about growing food for yourself or for profit, coordinated by Bob Westerfield, Extension Horticulture Specialist, is for both beginning and experienced growers.

Participants will learn how to select varieties, grow their own transplants, understand their soil, plant and maintain vegetable crops, troubleshoot vegetable problems, and select and maintain equipment, and they will gain insights into how to successfully market and sell a crop.

Date:             Friday, January 30
Time:             9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Location:       UGA Griffin Student Learning center Room 105
                      1109 Experiment Street
                      Griffin, GA 30223
Cost:             $30, includes handouts, lunch, and refreshment breaks

Pesticide credit in both commercial and private category 21 will be offered.

Preregistration is required. To pay online, visit UGA's  Vegetable Growers Workshop webpage; for additional information, call Beth Horne at 770-228-7214.

Upcoming Events

Thyme to Read Book Club

Friday, January 9, 10:15 -11:30 a.m. Book club sponsored by Cobb County Master Gardeners will meet at the Training Room of the Cobb County Water lab, 662 South Cobb Drive (at the intersection with Atlanta Rd.). This month’s book is The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert. Schedule and information can be found at www.cobbmastergardeners.com. Free and open to the public.

Vermicompost: Recycling with Worms!

Friday, January 9, noon-1:00 p.m. Amy Whitney, Cobb Extension, will explain how to benefit your garden and the environment using worms to turn waste into high quality compost, as part of the ongoing Lunch & Learn series of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, at the Training Room of the Cobb County Water lab, 662 South Cobb Drive (at the intersection with Atlanta Rd.).

Historic Gardens: From the Roman Empire to Colonial America

Tuesday, January 13, 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. By Cobb Master Gardener Sue Burgess, who leads the Master Gardener volunteer project at Marietta’s Root House Museum, as part of the ongoing Gardeners Night Out presentation series of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, at East Cobb Regional Library, 4880 Lower Roswell Rd., Marietta, 30068.

The Art of Pruning: Tools, Timing, and Technique

Tuesday, February 10, 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. By Cobb Master Gardener Pam Bohlander, as part of the ongoing Gardeners Night Out presentation series of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, at West Cobb Regional Library, 1750 Dennis Kemp Lane, Kennesaw, 30152.

Thyme to Read Book Club

Friday, February 13, 10:15 -11:30 a.m. Book club sponsored by Cobb County Master Gardeners will meet at the Training Room of the Cobb County Water lab, 662 South Cobb Drive (at the intersection with Atlanta Rd.). This month’s book is The Brother Gardeners by Andrea Wulf . Schedule and information can be found at www.cobbmastergardeners.com. Free and open to the public.

Dahlias!

Friday, February 13, noon-1:00 p.m. Renae Lemon, Cobb Extension, will share information about some of her favorite among those beautiful and varied bloomers, the dahlias, as part of the ongoing Lunch & Learn series of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, at the Training Room of the Cobb County Water lab, 662 South Cobb Drive (at the intersection with Atlanta Rd.).

North Georgia Gardening Symposium, Feb. 26, 2015

The 2015 North Georgia Gardening Symposium is set for Thursday, February 26, at the North Metro Campus of Chattahoochee Technical College.

For landscape professionals, the Symposium provides for 5-hours pesticide re-certification credit for category 24 licenses or 1-hour pesticide re-certification for private applicators. It also has been approved for 5-hours (CEUs) for ISA Arborist and Municipal Specialists.

For everyone who attends, the Symposium offers a great opportunity to enhance garden and landscape knowledge and skills!

This year's offerings will help gardeners and landscapers avoid common mistakes in using broad-leaf herbicides, learn to diagnose common tree disorders in the landscape, and use the best and most innovative sustainable practices in landscape maintenance, and more.

8-8:30 a.m.                    Registration/Check-in 
8:30-9:30 a.m.               Herbicide Effects on Landscape Trees and Shrubs, by Paul Pugliese, Bartow County Extension
9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.      Creating Tough Turf, by Becky Griffin, UGA Extension Urban Ag Associate
10:30-10:45 a.m.            Break
10:45-11:45 a.m.           Tree Scene Investigation, Mary Carol Sheffield, Paulding County Extension
11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.   Break for lunch and vendor visits 
1:15-2:15 p.m.                New Diseases, New Products, What Else is New?, by Dr. Jean Williams-Woodward, UGA Extension Plant Pathologist
2:15-3:15 p.m.               Sustainable Landscape Practices, by Dr. Bodie Pennisi, Extension Landscape Specialist
3:15-3:30 p.m.                Break
3:45-4:15 p.m.                The Latest and Greatest Plant Introductions, by Rex Bishop, Chattahoochee Technical College
4:15-4:30 p.m.                Pesticide re-certification/evaluation

The course fee is $35; lunch and breaks are included in the fee.

To register online, scroll down the list of courses for Continuing Professional Education to choose the North Georgia Gardening Symposium class and register. Also, you may call 770-528-4550 for more information or to register for the Symposium.

Azalea Leaves Turning Yellow, Dropping?

Evergreen Azalea in early December.  PHOTO/Amy W.

When leaves of a favorite, beautiful azalea turn yellow and begin to drop, a homeowner might become somewhat alarmed. We tend to think of azaleas as being evergreen, and in our minds, "evergreen" is nearly the same as "never-yellow."

However, the UGA publication Selecting and Growing Azaleas, by Extension specialists Wade, Braman, and Woodward, in cooperation with members of the Azalea Society of America, points out that not all azaleas are evergreen, and for those varieties, total leaf-drop is completely normal.

It turns out that some leaf yellowing and loss is completely normal for evergreen azaleas, too.

In the online article Are Your Evergreen Azalea Leaves Turning Yellow or Reddish-Purple This Fall?, Joey Williamson, of Clemson's Home and Garden Information Center, explains:

"Remember that no leaf lasts forever. The older leaves, further down the stems, will fall off during the late fall and early winter season..." He adds, "White and pale-pink colored azaleas will typically have bright yellow-colored foliage just before leaf drop."

For information about selecting, planting, and care of azaleas in the landscape, along with descriptions of other potential causes of leaf yellowing and lack of vigor in azaleas, read the UGA publication linked above.

For azaleas about which the cause of a problem is unclear, the local Extension office can be contacted to provide assistance in tracking down the cause.