Get Ready, Set, Go Gardening!

by Lydia Holley February 7, 2022

Gardeners, gather your pruners. Find your clippers. Sharpen your hand saws. It is time to get the garden in shape.

Mid-February is when most shrub roses are traditionally pruned. It is important to know which classification your rose falls under before you start pruning, however. For instance, most of the advice for pruning roses is meant for hybrid teas or modern roses, which like to be pruned heavily. But antique roses prefer just a light snipping and shaping.

Most climbing roses prefer to be pruned in fall or after flowering. If in doubt, all can be pruned to remove dead or damaged branches. Wearing rose gauntlets can help keep your skin from becoming scratched.

Besides roses, you can also prune abelias, buddleias, rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus), and vitex. Seedheads can be removed from crape myrtles. While most hydrangeas should be pruned later in the year, Hydrangea arborescens is the exception. You can prune your ‘Annabelle’ and ‘Incrediball’ hydrangeas now.

Although many shrubs and trees can be pruned before they begin to bud, some should not be pruned until after they bloom. These include: azaleas, forsythia, fringe tree, honeysuckle, Indian hawthorn, Japanese quince, redbud, viburnum, and early blooming spireas. Pruning these now will cut off their beautiful blooms, so wait until they have finished flowering to cut them back.

If you have not already done so, you can remove the dead leaves from your deciduous ornamental grasses. Winter weeds are already starting to show up. Remove them before they flower and go to seed. Applying mulch can help reduce the number of weeds which germinate.

In addition to cutting back, there are numerous vegetables which can be planted in February. Valentine’s day is the traditional date to plant potatoes, although you can do that a week or two earlier or later if you are busy that particular day. Plant cabbage and cauliflower transplants, and seeds or starts of carrots, kale, lettuce, radishes, and spinach.

You can also plant asparagus crowns now. If you have planted asparagus in the past, watch them carefully. They sprout quickly and you want to enjoy them before the spears pop out into ferny growth.

Take advantage of sunny days to get your garden ready for spring. March will soon be here – and another list of things to do.

For more information, call 903-675-6130, email [email protected].