What’s in a name? Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus) is one of our finest native shrubs. Its waxy, reddish brown flowers emit an enticing fruity fragrance. The 2″ wide flowers bloom starting in late April, and sporadically June through August.

Many gardeners in the southern Appalachians (plant hardiness zone 6 -8) call it “bubbybush” or “sweet bubby”. In the 1800’s, long before deodorants, women used the fragrant flower as a perfume to mask body odor. They would hide the tough, almost indestructible flowers under their dresses, in their pockets, even pin them on their clothes.

Sweet shrub is easy to grow. Plant in fertile, well-drained garden soil and in sunny to partly shaded landscape. It flowers best in full sun and stay dense and tight. The beautiful deep green leaves measure 5-6″ long, ovate, and exhibit a nice yellow fall color and persist into November. The large, ‘urn-shaped’ fruits mature in October.

The cultivar ‘Athens’ has yellow fragrant flowers. New Asian/American hybrids from the North Carolina State University’s plant breeding program are ‘Hartledge Wine’ (red, non-fragrant flowers) and most recent introduction ‘Venus’ (creamy white, fragrant flowers).

Photo: Heuchera villosa natural purple leaved form

April is time for a minor lawn renovation. All lawn chores should be completed before April 18th, here in the Southern Appalachian region (USDA zones 6a – 7a). If you are planning a major lawn renovation, hold off until September.

Following a rough winter, fertilizing is a positive first step for rapid green recovery and filling in dead spots. Steps for over-seeding small dead areas: 1) light soil tilling with a rake, 2) fertilizing, and 3) seeding.

Over the lawn, apply a crabgrass preventative and again 3 months later (early July). Timing is crucial. When yellow flowering forsythia is passed blooming, crabgrass seedlings have germinated and most preventatives don’t work. Do not apply a crabgrass preventative to recently seeded areas.

Dandelion, henbit, chickweed, wild garlic and other broadleaf weeds are sprayed on non-windy days. Choose a day when air temperatures remain above 60°F for 6 hours or more.

Chart your annual mowing height through the year: first mowing at 1 ½ inches high; after first cut at 2 ½ inches until Memorial Day; during summer at 3 inches; and after Labor Day, back to 2 ½ inches.

photo credit: Dr. Frank Hale, Entomologist, University of Tennessee
The Eastern tent caterpillar is frequently the first insect that I receive calls about in the spring. Eggs overwinter on wild cherry trees and move on long silken treads to tasty landscape tree foliage nearby. Larvae and caterpillars consume lots of leafy matter over the next month.

Dirty white webs form in limb crotches beginning in late March when wild cherry leaves are developing. Larvae leave the web on warm sunny days to consume leaves of ornamental crabapple, peach and cherry. They remain in the web during cloudy or rainy weather.

Large landscape trees are damaged temporarily, and new foliage grows back rapidly. However, newly planted or young trees may lose most of their 1-2 year old foliage and have no reserves to grow new shoots.

In March and April, many different insecticides are labeled including horticultural oil, Sevin (Carbaryl), Bt (Dipel), Orthene, Malathion, and insecticidal soap. Always read the pesticide label for all precautions. For example, the label on Orthene states “may cause foliar injury to flowering crabapples”.

Photo is an 18- year old ornamental peach tree in Columbia, Tennessee. This tree blooms with 4 different colors bright pink, pink, peppermint, white each year. The tree is full of bloom and obviously well-pruned and cared for.

It may have been a “5 in 1” grafted tree that the home gardener purchased years ago. Ornamental peach is very challenging, susceptible to numerous diseases and insect pests. I congratulate the homeowner for keeping the tree healthy all these years.

Light up dark areas in your shade garden with this wonderful golden ornamental grass from Japan. Golden hakonegrass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’) grows 12-18 inches tall and 18-24 inches wide with a mounding cascading form.
Very thin green stripes (veins) flow the length of the ½ inch wide golden leaf blade. The cool nights in the fall adds a pink to reddish tinge to the blades before all dies back for a long winter’s nap. Tiny, relatively inconspicuous, floral spikes appear for a short time in late summer.
Golden hakone prospers in moist humus-rich, well-drained soil. Contrarily, it grows poorly in compact heavy clay soils. Hakone prefers a partially shaded garden spot, receiving 2 hours of early morning or 1/2 day of dappled sunlight.
Golden hakone grows slowly, spreading by stolons and rarely trespasses spaces occupied by neighboring hosta, astilbe, heuchera and other companions in the shade garden.
Golden hakone is rarely bothered by disease or insect pests and is not troubled by deer. ‘Aureola’ hakone grass was selected the Perennial Plant of the Year in 2009.

photo: the clean summer foliage of ‘Allegheny’ viburnum