1. Most of our herbs will survive in lower light situations but need higher levels for continued growth.  Try to place them in a southern exposed windowsill or a location where the sun will hit the leaves.  During the hottest days of the summer place them in a diffused lighting situation.

2. As the plants grow they will need to be transplanted into a larger pot.  Make sure at the time of transplant to loosen the root ball to allow water to be evenly distributed throughout the entire container.  Use a container with a drainage hole in it to allow soluble salts to leach out as you water.  Commercial potting mixes with peat, perlite and vermiculite are best for the herbs.

3. Most planting mixes contain low amounts of nutrients.  Use a slow release, low formulated organic mix like Yum yum mix for best results.  This will keep the plant from becoming too “leggy” and will maintain the proper amount of essential oils for maximum flavor and aroma.

4. You can harvest one half to two thirds without harming it.  Try and leave some of the more mature plant behind for rapid re-growth.  By cutting the plant back you will notice a bushier, healthier plant in several weeks time.  Always remove any flowers you see starting especially on plants such as Basil.

5. Watch out for pests and diseases causing damage.  Whitefly and aphids are the most common pest and can be found on the undersides of leaves and near stem axis’s.  Use one to two tablespoons of dish soap like Ivory liquid mixed with about a quart of water to kill pests.  You will have to spray in during the cooler part of the day and three treatments in three day intervals should wipe out the problem.  Powdery mildew is the most common disease on herbs.  It looks like a powder on the leaves and left untreated will consume the plant in several days.  When you notice the disease on you plants use one third hydrogen peroxide and two thirds water to kill the spores.  One to two treatments should be sufficient. 

Caring for your Topiary
 

Topiary dates back as far as 2000 years when the Romans created estate gardens using Boxwood in place of columns and pillars.  Now we don’t all have the need for such elaborate gardens but we do have the desire for something a little showy.  Today’s Topiary allows you to step up a regular houseplant into something a little more elaborate.  With this care guide you can enjoy your plant indefinitely and even create offspring from your thriving plant.

There are several things to consider about Topiary:

• Light
• Water
• Fertilizer
• Pruning
• Plant Type
• Pest’s and Diseases
• Propagation

Light:  Depending of which variety you choose (see plant types) you can feel comfortable placing Topiary virtually anywhere in you house.  Most Herbal Topiary will require a good amount of sunlight, say eight hours a day.  Now this doesn’t mean your plant has to be directly in front of a window, in fact it may be better to place it away from the intense rays of the sun.  Choose a room that gets plenty of light and stays bright for most of the day.  If your plant isn’t looking so great consider the amount of water you’re giving it and if you feel comfortable that it’s being cared for correctly move it to a new location.  It’s important to take action before your plant goes too far south so keep an eye on it.  Remember, Topiary is a step up from regular houseplants so you need to treat it accordingly.

Water:  Keep in mind that most of the Topiary out of our greenhouse is one and a half to two year old.  Looking at the size of the pot it’s in you may think “Now that poor thing has got to be root bound?” and you would be right.  At the greenhouse we’re sure to water and fertilize on a daily basis.  At home you probably won’t have the time or the desire to care for your plant the way you would a child.  So transplant it into a more spacious pot.  Having done this will allow you to keep the watering down to a minimum and you’ll have a much more attractive pot for your beautiful plant. 

Don’t let your topiary dry down, ever!  You will know you’ve dried it down to far if first flowers start dropping and shriveling up and then if leaves start falling off.  Once this occurs it is hard to revive your plant but not impossible.  Don’t oversaturated the plant, simply make sure the soil is moist and keep a close eye on it.  Those stressed out roots still need Oxygen and saturating the soil will remove all of it.  Don’t fertilize at this point either, your plant is going to go through very little water for a while so you run the risk of developing too many soluble salts;  again though a key to avoiding this is to transplant your Topiary into a larger pot.  If your plant starts to look a little yellow you may be over watering, too much love can be as bad as too little sometimes.

Fertalizer:  We use a liquid fertilizer at the greenhouse about every two weeks.  It’s just an ordinary Calcium Nitrate-Phosphoric Acid-Calcium Phosphate solution; or Miracle grow if that’s easier.  Look for something like 10-5-10 if you’re going to use a liquid feed and fertilize once a month.  Ideally you’ll use a slow release fertilizer like Osmocote or even better “Yum Yum Mix”.  These are both granular slow release but Yum Yum is organic and has a lower concentration of NPK.  Personally I like to use it because some of our topiary can be pruned and used to cook with like Rosemary, Basil and Thyme.  Miracle grow can be purchased and most garden centers and Yum Yum is available at many now.  If you can’t find it we carry it in our store so give us a call.

Pruning:  Now this is where it gets to be fun and you’ll see why Topiary really is a step up from regular house plants.  We start out with a young plant that has one main, dominant stem.  This part of the plant is called the Apical Meristem.  Meristematic tissue is where cell division occurs or to put it simple it’s where the plant grows up.  We predetermine how tall we want out plant to be by use of properly sized pots and bamboo poles which also help support the young plant.  Placing the plant in the pot with a regular old potting mix we then affix the plant to the bamboo pole with twist ties.  As time goes by and the plant begins its accent we continue to fasten it to the bamboo pole with more ties.

As the plant grows we strip off leaves allowing only the top three to four inches of leaves to remain.  We like our topiary to have a ball about 1/3 or ¼ its total height so as it gets to the top of the pole we stop stripping leaves.  Once the plant has grown one to two inches over the top we pinch off the Apical Meristem  (the top) and the plant ceases growing up.  It will never get any taller at this point so be sure this is the height you want.  Now as time passes the plant begins to grow out rather then up.  As we continue to prune the sides it becomes thicker and thicker so we do this often, maybe once a month.  Once the plant is shaped and large enough pruning is all personal preference.  Some of our customers prefer a “wild” look while some prefer a more “elegant” look, it’s up to you.  Remember though, most of our Topiary will bloom and if you continue to prune it back you will never see the plants flowers.

Plant Type:  The plants we can use for Topiary are endless.  We can use plants with more woody types of stems for the upright “standard” type Topiary or we can use plants with more pliable stems for heart and wreath shaped Topiaries.  For species like Rosemary and Scented Geraniums we can find upright and trailing varieties within their families.  When choosing a plant for standard Topiaries we use one plant unless the choice is to braid the plant as it grows.  On hearts and wreaths we use two plants, one on each side of the frame.

We do several herbs at the greenhouse including Rosemary, Thyme, Lavender, African Blue Basil and Santolina.  In addition to these we also do several Scented Geraniums, Dwarf Myrtle, Variegated Dwarf Myrtle, Coleus, Serissa, Angel Vine, Creeping Fig and Cuphea or some people refer to it as Mexican Heather.  As I mentioned there are some species of plants that we have several varieties of depending on the habit, aroma and flavor.  Feel free to experiment with your favorites, the sky’s the limit.

Pests and Diseases:  There are many ways to kill your plants so try and limit the number by close monitoring.  Pests that can attack your plant include but are not limited to Whitefly, Aphids, Scale, Thrip and Fungus Gnats.  Most of these pests can be eliminated by using organic methods.  At the greenhouse we use a insecticidal oil that we purchase from a local distributor but at home we all use Ivory liquid mixed with water.  I like to find a spray bottle that I can add about a tablespoon of dish soap to and then fill with water.  I spray the entire plant taking care to get the undersides of the leaves.  You have to take into account the life cycle of the insects and remember that you may be getting the adults but not the eggs.  Spray your plants every three days for about a week, this means three cycles.  This should be adequate for all but the Scale and Fungus Gnat.  You’ll have to wash the stem of the plant with the solution to eradicate the scale.  Fungus Gnats usually rely on wet soil to live and lay their eggs so try and back off the watering and bring your soil to a slightly flaky brown color to rid yourself of these pests.

The only disease you might run into is powdery mildew.  On plants like Rosemary, Lavender and Thyme it’s a killer in the winter.  Again scouting can save your plant, if you see a powdery residue on your plant you may be running into a problem.  Again we use an organic solution on this consisting of Hydrogen Peroxide and Water.  Mix one part Hydrogen Peroxide with Three parts of water and spray infected area.  You may notice loss of tissue where the plant was infected but that’s alright, its better then losing the whole plant. 

Keeping your plants healthy can reduce the chance that you run into any problems so take care of them.  Remember they’re all about two years old so they’ve lived a good long time, keep ‘em around for a while.

Propogation:  Remember talking about pruning?  That’s the time you start thinking about future generations of Topiary.  Every plant we use for Topiary is produced through “Vegetative Propagation”.  This simply means we use cuttings to start new plants instead of planting seeds.  Whenever we prune our plants we cut off thousands and thousands of baby plants, all we have to do is give them the conditions they need to grow roots.  First of all a nice cutting should have very soft tissue, this means no woody material you should be able to bend it easily.  The cutting should be about two inches long with leaves all along the stem.  Now at the greenhouse we use “plug” trays, these are trays that have about one hundred small cells to house 100 small cuttings.  At home you can use a Styrofoam egg carton because you’ll only want to do several cuttings.  Fill the cells with a standard potting soil and moisten with water then poke small holes in the soil with a shish kebob skewer, one per cell to place your cutting into.  Strip about ½ inch of the leaves off of the cutting and place it into the soil.  Sometimes we use a rooting hormone but this isn’t’ always necessary.  Now you just need to put it into a warm location and keep the humidity up by enclosing it with plastic wrap or mist it down occasionally.  If using plastic wrap elevate it off of the cutting with toothpicks.  In about a month you should have some roots and brand new plants to begin your Topiary with.

I hope these guides have been helpful, if you have any further questions please foreword them to our staff and we’ll be happy to help out in any way we can.