by Eleanor Moyer, Clay County Extension Master Gardener
Well, that certainly was one chilly January! The warm spell this month just begs for garden time, with the most important task being pruning. The one caveat is to avoid pruning spring-blooming shrubs like forsythia, azalea, rhododendron, and lilac. Wait till after bloom to cut these and all other spring-blooming plants back. However, it is time to take cuttings of forsythia, crabapple, and cherry to force in a sunny window. Just put long stems in warmish water and wait till spring spills onto your table top.
Shrubs like roses, summer-blooming hydrangeas, butterfly bush, and evergreens will benefit from a haircut. Roses, especially, will provide stronger canes and more flowers with careful pruning. If you have hybrid tea roses (you intrepid gardener!), cut back to three or four of the strongest canes at about one to three feet high. If pruning landscape roses that bloom on new wood, cut them all about the same height to a level that works in your landscape. Remove all crossing, diseased, damaged, and dead stems. Dispose of debris. Roses may benefit from a dormant spray, but avoid fertilizing until March or April. Climbing roses don’t need much pruning except for damaged stems as listed above. They may need beefed-up support, however. Try placing the stems in horizontal formations for more blooms. Hydrangeas are a whole chapter in pruning. Mop head and lace cap varieties should be pruned after they bloom. Endless summer varieties of mop head hydrangeas bloom both on old and new wood, so it really is your call, depending on the shape the shrub is in. Certainly, remove old blooms at the tip of the branches. Panicle (limelight) and smooth (Annabelle) hydrangeas will perform better when pruned. Oakleaf and climbing varieties shouldn’t need pruning except for crossing, diseased, etc.
All those perennials that you resisted tidying up because they protected our beneficial pollinators and insects (you wonderful gardeners!) need to be cleaned out now. I would dispose of this debris away from your compost pile in case there are disease spores lurking about. Again, I think it is a wee bit early for fertilizer, but new mulch would help. Cut back ornamental grasses and shear liriope. Blueberry bushes should be pruned every year for optimum fruiting. These make wonderful additions to an ornamental landscape with varieties suitable for pots. If you have neglected your blueberries, N.C. Cooperative Extension has excellent instructions on how to revive your plants, “Blueberry Pruning.”
Take time to peruse and order seeds from the many vendors available. You can get exceptional varieties of commonplace flowers and veggies. The Clay County 4-H Plant Sale is now until March 13. The Master Gardener Plant Sale is scheduled for May 15-17. The organization is also offering classes both in the Discovery Garden on the second Tuesday of the month and at the Community Room of Moss Memorial Library on the third Saturday. Check out the offerings and dates at the Extension website at clay.ces.ncsu.edu. Registration is necessary.
