The New Year is upon us! With all that pre-Holiday hustle and bustle finally behind us and spring not yet on the horizon, it’s a good time for all of us gardeners and landscapers to draw up our annual list of New Year’s Resolutions.

No, not the ones about low-carb diets and going to the gym and learning another language. All highly admirable. But I’m referring to some specific garden-goals you can set yourself.

I’m guessing there is at least one project you’ve been promising you’ll take care of when you get around to it.. So here is where we’ll begin…

Resolution # 1: A Round Tuit You said you’d do it when you got around to it, so I am hereby giving you a Round Tuit. Now you have no more excuses! Whatever it was… re-staining that fence, pulling out those overgrown brambles, replacing the rickety trellis that’s barely holding your Purple Wintercreeper vine… Resolve to really DO IT this year! Set yourself a “complete by” date and stick to it.

Resolution # 2: Plant a tree The world can always benefit from another tree. Take a look out of your window and visualize a new tree gracing your landscape. What’s your choice? A leafy shade tree such as a Red Maple, a Tulip Poplar or a Chinese Chestnut are good suggestions. Or maybe you prefer an evergreen such as the fast-growing Cedar Green Giant or the Colorado Blue Spruce. How about a nut tree? Think about the elegant Black Walnut or the Chinese Chestnut that will produce delicious nuts for future Holiday recipes!

Resolution # 3: Get involved! Lend your green thumb (with you still attached of course) to a landscape project somewhere in your area. There are groups of concerned citizens in urban, suburban and rural locations throughout America who “adopt” a blighted area and give it a facelift. Often, it involves little more than clearing away overgrown weeds and dumped garbage. Sometimes the plan calls for planting shrubs and trees to create a pleasant “green space.” If you don’t know of such a group, a good place to start might be at your local newspaper. Editors usually have their fingers on the pulse of the community and might be able to point you in the right direction.

Resolution # 4: Involve the kids Can you remember who it was who first aroused your interest in plants and how things grow? Now’s your chance to “pass it on” to your own children or grandchildren. Remember, it has to be fun and not a chore, so kids need to be doing more than simply weeding or raking leaves! Here’s an idea: set aside an area in your landscape and give it to your child for his or her very own garden. With your guidance and mentoring, they can choose what to plant and learn how to care for their own flowers, shrubs and trees as they grow. I guarantee that many years from now, they’ll return to “their” garden and say, “I grew that!”

Resolution # 5: Contact The Plant Man! That’s right: involve me in your projects. Send me an e-mail and tell me about your successes, pass on hints and tips for fellow readers or ask my advice about a problem your having with your landscape. I can usually respond personally within a day or two, and many of the comments and questions I receive are also published in this column.
No doubt you can add a few resolutions of your own. But the trick is to decide on just one or two and simply resolve to follow through and actually achieve them by this time next year. And now I guess I’d better get started on my own list of resolutions…!
The Plant Man is here to help. Send your questions about trees, shrubs and landscaping to steve@landsteward.org and for resources and additional information, or to subscribe to Steve’s free e-mailed newsletter, visit www.landsteward.org

Time to answer more questions from the e-mail bag… and a tip from a reader who kept deer from munching on his trees.

QUESTION: “I have east facing window boxes that are an eye-sore during the winter. Would English Ivy be suitable for planting now? I live in zone 8 or 9. Everyone here plants pansies during the winter (an abomination to this former New Englander) but I just can’t. I’d be very happy with green drapes. Please let me know if this is feasible. I’d really like to have something in the boxes. Thanks so much.” – Nancy Young

ANSWER: You can create some really interesting window boxes this time of year. The holidays are almost upon us, so you can decorate them with pine, cedar and boxwood branches and magnolia leaves adding in some poinsettias, holly, nandina and ribbon for splashes of color just as you would create arrangements inside for the holidays.

For true living window boxes, you can plant young junipers, arborvitae, pines, boxwood, holly, small mums, ornamental cabbage, rosemary, creeping thyme, pachysandra, small cool season ornamental grasses, ferns, heucheras plum pudding, and miniature roses (as well as ivy) at this time.

You should be able to get some ideas from your grocery store (some of the larger chains that have a plant dept). Usually this time of year you can find rosemary trees and other fun versions of plants to decorate your boxes.

For pictures and ideas of window boxes and containers, drop an e-mail to Cheryl at cheryl@landsteward.org and put “Boxes” in the subject line.

QUESTION: “I loved your article on planting Black Walnut seeds. My question to you is this: I have an old bag of Hickory seeds, I don’t know how old, but a few years. My friend gave them to me as he knows of my fondness for Hickory trees, and I wanted to plant the seeds around my property. He gave them to me when I was discussing your article the Walnut seeds. He had tons stored in his garage. Can I still plant them, and will they grow? Or should I just throw them to the squirrels?

“Also, a few years ago, I planted some Yoshino and Kwanzan trees. I noticed that the ones I wrapped with two inch masking tape for the last two winters, from the ground up, kept the Deer away from the bark! (I guess they can’t smell the bark? That’s all I could get, and it was cheap!) By spring the masking tape just fell off with ease. It flaked off like two inch dandruff pieces from the cold weather, I guess. It was an easy clean up, but best of all, it kept the pesky deer and rabbits off of my trees.” — Phil Downey

ANSWER: I’m sorry to say that the hickory nuts will probably not germinate, unless they have been kept at a good moisture content. However, if you do plant them cover them with soil about 1 ½ times the diameter of the seed. You will know soon enough in spring if they have germinated successfully! Thanks for the masking tape idea. I’ll pass it on to our readers.

QUESTION: “I have a 5 year old tree peony from China that has never bloomed. I fed it but nothing happened. It was supposed to have big blue flowers. Nevertheless, it just grows. So what I did 3 weeks ago, I chopped it down to 3 inches above the ground. Can you please tell me, will it grow back up or did I kill it?” – L. Salgado

ANSWER: Tree peonies once cut down, don’t generally come back. They are peonies that are grafted onto other root stock. They are usually easy to grow, but there is also a list of things that can cause problems, including late freezes, planting too deep, inadequate sunlight, too much nitrogen, over watering or over fertilizing.

Bone meal and compost is the food of choice for these plants. Tree and regular peonies often have problems blooming in warmer areas (especially zones 8 and 9) where the weather doesn’t provide enough chill time for them to regenerate.

The Plant Man is here to help. Send questions about trees, shrubs and landscaping to steve@landsteward.org. For resources and additional information, or to subscribe to Steve’s free weekly e-mailed newsletter, go to www.landsteward.org