The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

c economist suntribune saturday may u 2002 15 total advertising feature of the markham economist sunstouffville tribune has spring arrived well spring has arrived i think or maybe this is summer or winter who knows the way the weather is changing lately its no wonder were all confused and if were confused just think how the plants feel they get all systems on go put out new shoots and then get zapped with that white stuff that has no business showing up at the end of april how is a plant to know what to do for all gardeners this crazy spring has been a challenge during that hot spell we had my daffodils sped up and went into bloom in record time and my roses put out some tender new shoots only to be hit with some very cold nights and more of that white stuff but dont worry about your springblooming bulbs bulbs like daffodils and tulips will recover from these temperature variations the bloom time may be shorter because of this stress but if you make sure they have sufficient water and fertilize them they will recover to put on another show next year more tender shoots like roses and early perennials may have charlie dobbin gotten a bit of frost damage and will show some blackened tips if the damage is minor just leave it alone and the shoot will renew its growth if the entire new shoot has been ruined you may want to prune these off the plant will put out new shoots when the temper ature warms up again the strange anomalies that are occurring right now like my roses breaking out in bud before the forsythia are hard to cope with and harder still to know what to do ultimately we must depend on the versatility and hardiness of plant growth to rebound under these conditions if you are in an area that is get ting frost and you are concerned with some of your more tender plants like roses and perennials cover them up at night with sheets plastic landscape fabric or other light material or just let mother nature do her thing and hope for the best i know this can all be very frustrating i have already put some plants out on my deck taken them back inside put them out again taken them back in and finally gave up and left them inside until the weather makes up its mind what its doing sometimes i long for those days when we used to have slow dependable tempera- ture transitions you knew exactly when to do things and it made gar dening much easier however i remain optimistic that spring really will happen and that summer will follow i can only hope in feeling a moment of spite that all the nasty bugs will suffer greatly from this weird weather and make pest con trol this summer an afterthought charlie dobbin bscagr is a horticultural expert from white rose home garden centres consulting a horticulture specialist anyone can plant trees shrubs and flowers around a home all you need to do is buy the plants stick them in a hole cover the roots with some soil and water them from time to time right wrong unfortunately its not that simple you could always try this approach but chances are you probably wont get ideal results not only do some plants require more care than others but where they are planted should also be carefully considered if you want to create the most attractive land scape designing a landscape choos ing the right plants and making sure that they thrive is not as sim ple as it may seem it takes quite a bit of skill talent and knowledge like most people you may not possess all these qualities thankfully there are ornamental horticulture specialists who do these experts often work- as con sultants in garden centres for spe cialized landscaping companies at private companies and sometimes even for individual homeowners these specialists possess extensive knowledge when it comes to caring for indoor and outdoor plants they know the characteristics of various trees shrubs plants flowers you name it they know it they know everything there is to know about planting caring and pruning plants as well as how to protect them for the winter seeding and caring for lawns is another part of their job this includes having a vast knowledge of the various types of chemical and organic products that exist for controlling and eliminating harmful weeds and insects more specifically they know what these products are made of what their individual advantages and drawbacks are as well as how and when they should be used last but definitely not least ornamental horticulture special ists are geniuses when it comes to designing stunning land scapes roses are red our lobelia is blue your mom would just loves a basket or two 0 opsg 5 zjffittm right now kennedy greenhouses has the perfect mothers day gifts beautiful arrangements in plastic fibre or cocolined baskets these baskets are complimented with a hardy selection of the very best annuals and perennials in canada this year give a gift mom can enjoy ail summer long and we wont tell her if you pick up something for your own garden too gome and experience the difference quality makes at kennedy greenhouses mmammmm at kennedy the hardiest best lookifi flowers a plants available greenhouses 98 weekdays 96 weekends 905887h30 siouffviue bo 91h avtnul eigis mills- major mackenzif