Category Archives: pruning tips

February gardening tips, pruning tips

Early February – What to Do in the Garden

Blireana_budsGiven the strange weather we?ve had so far this winter I shouldn?t be surprised that many of the plants and trees are showing signs of life. I see white blossoms on Flowering pears and the huge pink flowers of Saucer magnolia starting to open. My Blireana flowering plum is covered with rosy buds ready to scent the garden with fragrance when they open. This mild weather signals the birds to eat as much as they can in preparation for the breeding season. The other morning an Anna?s hummingbird landed on the mulched ground to pick up a spider or insect. Hummingbirds seek out small insects during the breeding season as they contain the protein needed to start a family. Spring is afoot to paraphrase Sherlock Holmes.

Seemed I had so much time to complete my winter-dormant season gardening chores a month ago. But time has a way of getting away from you and now I need to do some of the more important tasks in the next few weeks. I?m not a ?weekend warrior? type, preferring to enjoy working in my garden so I?ll just do a little here and there until I?ve gotten my list checked off. Here are my priorities.

I used to live in mostly shade where invasive and noxious weeds were not a Hedge_parsley_weedproblem. I now live in more sun in Bonny Doon and I am engaged in a great battle. There exists here an annual weed that produces seeds covered with tiny burrs. They stick to your socks, your shoelaces, your dog?s fur, your pants, your gardening gloves- anything that brushes against them and they are nearly impossible to remove. It?s called Hedge parsley or Torilis arvensis and now is the time to control it. If you have this weed on your property pay attention to the following advice. It applies to most any annual weed you might need to get rid of.

My goal is to prevent the production of seed in this obnoxious weed. Hedge parsley can set flower umbels as early as late spring so I still have some time to get a handle on it before the dreaded spiny balls appear to ruin my clothes and the dog?s fur. I prefer to use non-chemical control methods. These are more time consuming but life?s a trade off the way I see it.

In larger areas where I see this weed has germinated I can cut the taproot with a hoe or spade 1-2? below the surface. The seedlings look like small carrots or parsley now. Do not rototill or turn the soil. This will just bring up more buried seed.

I can also pull the seedlings while the soil is moist if they are growing next to or within a perennial or shrub. If some still persist when the flower stalks start to lengthen but well before they have gone to seed, I?ll mow or weed wack them down. I may have to do this a time or two but I?m determined that this noxious weed will not rule my life and prevent me from wandering on my hillside come fall. There?s a saying about weeds- ?One year?s seeding means seven years? weeding?.

I also might try a homemade natural weed herbicide in a few areas. The recipe is 1/2 gallon vinegar, 1/2 cup salt, 2 tablespoons dish soap. Worth a try on this annual weed. In a nutshell, weeding is one of my top priorities.

Later mid to late February I?ll have other tasks to add to my list. Right now I?ll concentrate on pruning roses, hydrangeas, fuchsias, fruit, nut and shade trees and deciduous vines like clematis. Cut back woody shrubs to stimulate lush new growth on plants like Mexican bush sage, artemisia and butterfly bush. You can cut back these plants close to the ground. Don’t use this approach on lavender or ceanothus, though. Prune them lightly after blooming.

I?ll also wait to prune back perennials that may have their new foliage damaged in a late frost. It?s been fairly mild at night lately but the next month or so can bring a cold snap.

I won?t prune spring flowering shrubs and trees like lilacs, flowering cherries, plums and crabapples, rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, weigela or spirea until after they flower.

As always spend as much time enjoying your garden as you can. Reward yourself for your efforts.

berries, birds, California Native Plants, grasses, plant maintenance, pruning tips, wildlife gardening

What to Do in the Garden in Wintry Weather

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toyon-berriesTwas the weekend after Thanksgiving and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a gardener. I should probably do something productive, but what? Should I be good and do a little light weeding? Maybe I can muster up the energy to plant a few more bulbs. Come spring I?ll be happy I did. Then again I could make notes of my gardening successes and not so great horticultural decisions. ?I know?, I say to myself, ?this weekend I?ll revel in what I don?t have to do in the garden?.

I don?t need to prune trees and shrubs at this time of year. Other than clipping a few OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAwell placed branches to use in a holiday wreath, I?m off the hook for this task right now. Deciduous trees are still in the process of losing their leaves and are not fully dormant. Evergreens shrubs and conifers can be trimmed lightly but most shaping is done when they start growing in late winter or very early spring.

The season is pretty much over for me except to enjoy what?s left of fall color and the ornamental grasses waving their seed heads in the wind. A lot of perennials are dying back but I?m not in a hurry to neaten things up. The seed heads left in the garden supply food for birds and other creatures while the foliage provides shelter for the plant in the cold and frost. Remove anything that has turned slimy or just plain unattractive but leave berries and seed heads for food and winter interest.

hakonechloa_winter2At this time of year my garden is visited mostly by chickadees, nuthatches and goldfinches. They will spend the winter here and I?m doing them a big favor by not cutting back brown foliage containing nutrient-rich seed heads. Some of the reliable seed producers that I won?t have to clean up this weekend include artemisia, aster, coreopsis, penstemon, sedum, lupine, salvia, black-eye Susan, coneflower, phlomis, monarda, agapanthus and grasses.

Chickadees gather hundreds of seeds in fall and early winter and store them in hiding places to ensure themselves a food supply later in the season. They are a remarkable bird that we take for granted being so common. I read in Audubon magazine a couple years ago that a chickadee weighs about as much as a dozen paperclips but their body is large for their weight. This means they have to ramp up the number of hours they devote to feeding. At night chickadees cram themselves into tiny cavities and shiver, burning the day’s fuel to keep from freezing.

Hummingbirds still need a nectar source at this time of year. Anna’s hummingbirds live in this area all year long. So In addition to the plants in my garden that supply nectar I keep my feeders up year-round and keep them clean.
They need your nectar even more in the winter when very little is in bloom. In addition to nectar rich natives like mahonia, my abutilons are a winter favorite for them.

Other tasks I can put off at least for this weekend include planting wildflower seeds. I see California poppies coming up all over the place. Nature knows when the time is right. Well, maybe I?ll broadcast a few working them into the soil very lightly. I need to hoe off some early weeds that would compete with them. How many calories aren?t burned in light gardening? I might just reconsider not being a total couch potato this weekend.

cut flowers, fertilizing, flowers, fragrant plants, gardening tips, mulching, pruning tips, roses, watering

Rose Tips and Tricks

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The_Mystery_RoseSurrounded by roses of nearly every color in the rainbow I smelled vanilla, spice and honey. The sun peaked in and out of the clouds allowing the vivid hues of the petals to change with the light. I was enjoying the garden of rose aficionados Mark and Lane Maloney of Scotts Valley. Among their 40 rose bushes I was to learn how an expert cares for these beauties.

The oldest roses in the garden are 60 years of age. Mark dug them from his mother’s collection when she died in Atherton 5 years ago. He starting collecting most of his other roses 20-30 years ago when he and Lane moved to the Scotts Valley property. Because he seldom has a rose die the only new rose in the garden is a double blooming red variety called Legend and named after Oprah. It was just starting to open on the day I visited this amazing rose garden.

I asked Mark which rose is his favorite. It was hard to pin him down to just one. The Distant_Drum_rosegarden is divided into two separate beds. One bed is devoted entirely to roses while another blends roses with other perennials. I admired a large shrub covered with pinkish flowers and he replied “this is one my most beautiful roses. It starts out a deep dusty rose then fades to lighter shades as it ages”.? Most of the roses in the garden have large ornamental name tags that he purchased online. The sign at the base read Distant Drums.

I was drawn to the Double Delight as I know it’s one of the most fragrant. Another rose with an incredible scent is Dolly Parton but on this day it hadn’t opened yet. Mark described it as “big and pink”, which seems appropriate.

Strike_It_Rich_roseDouble Delight, like many roses, blooms in cycles. They set buds and bloom for a month, rest for a month, then set another round of blooms. Mark said he usually gets about 3 cycles per season. One of his favorite roses will bloom all summer non-stop. Strike it Rich lives up to the name with lovely sherbet-orange flowers.

Mark also likes Black Magic with deep, reddish-black blooms that last 2 weeks in the garden as does another of his favorites, Fame, with pink flowers so bright they are nearly iridescent .? With deep yellow blooms Gold Medal caught my attention. But then I saw St. Patrick with those cool greenish-white blooms. Mark told me that in the white rose department he thinks White Lightnin’ is a beautiful rose as is the classic, JFK.

The roses in the Maloney’s garden are lush and healthy. What’s your secret I asked? Mark Perfect_Moment_rosesmiled and handed me a Rose Garden Calendar he had prepared on his computer for me. In a nutshell this is how he does it.
Late December- prune heavily down to about 24″ tall.

Early January- spray roses with dormant spray and again in early February.

March 1- fertilize and repeat each month through September.

Mark uses a systemic fertilizer which keeps insects at bay. He also uses an acid fertilizer once or twice a year as well as putting banana peels on the surface of the soil for potassium. I laughed when he told me his banana peel tip. I was nearly standing on a blackened peel with sticker still intact when he shared this info.

His other “secrets” include picking off diseased leaves regularly, pruning lightly throughout the year, mulching with several inches of chipped wood and watering with 1″ of water per rose each week applied in a trough? surrounding the shrub.

Mark is a member of ARS (American Rose Society) with he suggests as a good source of information and also rose recommendations for different areas and climates. He also maintains the roses at the Scott House at Civic Center. So when Mark talks roses, I listen.