Water your baby trees!
Faithful Garden Variety reader Holly asked me to remind gardeners to water their young (and old) trees during this hot spell.
"I am keeping my flowers watered each night but finally looked up at the branches of my beautiful 5-year-old red maple and felt like a guilty neglectful parent," Holly writes to me.
"More than half of it's leaves were crinkled from not enough water! I am in a frenzy each day now to give it a good long drink and I hope it isn't too late to save it! "
It was a wake-up call for me, too. And I am putting the Tree Gator back on my 2-year-old maple. Filling the 20-gallon bag once a week allows the slow watering the tree will need to get it through this summer.
Experts recommend about 5 gallons of water three or four times a month, and your sprinkler isn't going to get this done.
This Website has other watering information for young trees, too.
And so does The Philadelphia Flower Show blog.
