Hello Gardener,
Welcome to Emerald Gardens Newsletter  Fall is time to clean your ponds
 Start your pond off right next spring by cleaning in the fall.Fall pond cleaning is the most important for the long term balance of your pond. Removing all fallen leaves and spent aquatic plant foliage will reduce the decay on the pond bottom.
Less debris means less dissolved nutrients in the spring avoiding bacterial and algae blooms and stained cloudy water. The first step would be to remove dead plant foliage and use a net to catch all leaves and debris on the pond bottom. When a pond is only slightly dirty with muck (pond bottom mud) no more than an inch, it can be vacuumed with a rented pond vac. When a pond is very dirty it should be emptied to clean and all the muck scooped out. Heavily overgrown plants should be reduced in size but most plant division and fertilizing will be done in the spring.
 Fall Color
Often overlooked when choosing landscape plants and trees are the vibrant colors leaves can change in the Fall. Many varieties of shrubs give a great fall showing and Fall color in trees can be hard to beat.
Fall color shrubs include the many season Loropetulum with red and orange inner leaves.
Grasses that take on a burnt orange and rose color.
Spirea (golden yellow), Nandinas (fiery red and orange), Beauty berry (yellow leaves and bright fuchsia berries).
Many trees include Japanese Persimmon (red/orange), Bald Cypress (Sunset colors), Rough Leaf dogwood (red/orange), Pomegranate (bright yellow),
Crepe Myrtles ( bright yellows and oranges ) and the little know Shantung Maple from China that tolerates direct sun and alkali soil. One of the strongest fall color trees is the under used Chinese Pistache (vibrant burgundy, purple and red).
 Feed In the Fall for Great Plants
All hardy shrubs, trees and evergreens benefit more from fall feeding than any other.Fall is a season of moderation allowing plants to utilize fertilizer better than at a time of more stress or stronger growth rates. Fall feeding is more beneficial for roots and storage of nutrients needed first thing in the spring. Deciduous plants are able to generate a Strong spring flush and evergreens will produce more growth before it gets hot.
Fertilizer brands are as important as the correct fertilizer ratio. Most all plants will benefit from a 3-1-2 ratio ( 15-5-10 or 12-4-8 are examples ).Extra iron and sulfur are used in fertilizer made for our area, at least 1-2 % iron is wanted.
The food should be placed where the plants roots are, this is always below the soil at depths over 3-4". This is best done by pounding holes in the ground around the plant and distributing evenly. Beds of ground covers and densely packed color or shrubs can be fertilized by broadcast method. Be sure to rinse all fertilizer off of plant leaves and stems. Organic fertilizers are great and ones with slower releasing nutrients such as bone meal and plant based nitrogen like cotton compost will work best in the fall. Faster manure based feeds are more beneficial in the spring season where fast growth is wanted.
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