Seasonal Tips for 2008
(Spring)

April | May | July | September | October

"The word May is a perfumed word. It is an illuminated initial. It means youth, love, song, and all that is beautiful in life...”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

In most parts of the country May is a ‘reward month’. All the hard work and preparation done from fall on through the winter shows itself with the show of flowering bulbs, dogwoods, azaleas, forsythia, phlox, primroses, and on and on....

Pruning
Keeping trees and shrubs healthy will reduce insect and disease problems. Be on the lookout for any visible changes in trees leaves, bark, or structure. Replacing mulch each year conserves water and controls weeds as the soil warms.

Continue to prune conifers and spring bloomers such as forsythia, Japanese andromeda, and lilacs after they bloom. Be sure to always use clean and sharpened tools. Cleaning tools with an alcohol moistened cloth and making clean sharp cuts with well-sharpened pruners will reduce infection.

Fertilizing
Now, as you begin to see the new growth, it is time to give the trees and shrubs fertilizer. Light applications of fertilizer at regular intervals will be beneficial to growth and stimulation of flower production.

Evergreens like rhododendrons, azaleas, viburnum, junipers can be fertilized with a ‘Rhododendron or Evergreen; type of plant food. A slow release fertilizer is the best method with 50 percent nitrogen. Nitrogen passes through soils rather quickly and should be completed in two intervals: half in the spring and half in the autumn. Always fertilize away from the trunk about 5 inches to avoid injuring the tree. Be sure to water the fertilizer in to the soil so as not to burn the surrounding lawn. Do not fertilize new or young trees where there is excessive growth, it is already in the process of completing a different task and over fertilizing is not necessary.

Bulbs
Once the flowers of the bulbs have passed remember do not cut the green tops until they begin to turn brown. They get their strength for next year’s bloom thru the leaves.

For summer flowering bulbs it’s always hard to beat the beauty and endless selection and the variety of Dahlias, Gladiolus, Tuberous Begonias, Lilies and Cannas. The selection is becoming readily available at many nurseries and of course the endless supply of specialty catalogues.

Perennials
Plant perennials, but watch for excessive drying. Remember to apply summer mulches to the beds to reduce soil moisture loss and inhibit weed seed germination. New plants in beds, especially raised beds are especially susceptible and may need to initially be watered daily. Once the root systems become established the intervals between watering can be reduced. Divide crowded clumps of early flowering perennials after they have finished flowering, the best time to divide all perennials. Plants that bloom in summer should be divided in early fall.

Annuals
By mid to late May it should be warm enough to plant out almost all of the summer annuals. At the beginning of the month plant Pansies; later in the month plant Dianthus, Geraniums, and Petunias. You should be able to set out impatiens by the end of May and more tender annuals like marigolds, lobelia, salvia, and zinnias.

Begin moving out container plants when danger of frost is past. Start by moving them out only during the day until all danger of frost is gone and then moving them permanently outdoors.