It’s hard to not catch Spring fever this time of year! Some plants began budding out as early as mid-February, and that was certainly a breath of fresh air. By now, cherry trees are flowering, yellow daffodils have shown their bright faces, star and saucer magnolias display pastel flowers before they’ve even leafed out, and yellow forsythia hedges wave ‘hello’ in the breeze.
The timing is right to prune overgrown shrubs, not known for their flowers, that held on to their leaves all winter. Think of boxwoods, hollies, ligustrum, aucuba, and pittosporum. A rule of pruning is to only remove about one-third of the plant at a time, so resizing drastically could take two or three seasons. Always make angled cuts with sharp pruners, and then cut back to another stem or ‘growth point’ rather than just cutting in the middle of a limb.
And careful to not get too carried away with those trimmers and loppers! Anything that is known for spring and summer flowers should only be pruned after blooming. It’s remarkable how many months it takes a plant to produce and hold on to buds that then anxiously open when given the right environmental cues, like soil temperature, air temperature, and day length. Flower buds are often unknowingly removed when a spring and summer blooming plant is pruned too soon.
Landscapes can quickly and easily be spruced up by adding fresh mulch, like chips, pine bark nuggets, pine straw, or even fallen leaves. In my opinion, one is no better than the other. It often comes down to cost and aesthetic preference. When put down in a two to three inch-deep layer, all of these serve their purposes of helping the soil around the plant retain moisture and keeping weeds out.
Speaking of weeds, prevention is the best medicine when it comes to a healthy, lush lawn. Homeowners should always prioritize an application of a preemergence herbicide at least twice per year. This granular application must be timed right so it kills unwanted weed seeds as they begin to germinate in the soil. Proper timing to prevent summer weeds is generally from mid-February to mid-March in our area. And to get ahead of annoying winter weeds like poa annua, an application of preemergence in late August to mid-September is just right. And there are weed prevention products that are labeled safe for use in garden beds and vegetable beds too! If working with herbicides and pesticides, make it a priority to always read the label before use.
Common mistakes when it comes to weeds are not keeping up and letting them take over or pulling them all and leaving an area of just bare dirt. Depending on the size of the area with weeds, mowing, mulching, hand-pulling, and spot treating with a herbicide spray are all approaches that work well in concert with one another. Once they’re all taken care of, don’t leave soil bare, lest it wash away or become too dry. Try to plant something there- a perennial plant perhaps! The roots of a new plant work to hold the soil in place. Or at the very least, cover the dirt with mulch so it doesn’t erode away.