All posts by jane

When to Prune (Shrub Name)

education, pruning, spring, the Lot

Since having received my Master Gardener Volunteer Certification, I’ve noticed I receive a handful of frequently asked questions. One of the more popular is “When is the best time to prune (name of flowering shrub)?” In our Zone 6a, pruning can be carried out in late winter, early spring, spring, or late summer. Which of those times a gardener picks to administer the horticultural haircut depends upon when the shrub blooms.

When to Prune Spring-Blooming Shrubs

If the shrub usually blooms in the spring, the best time to prune it would be immediately after the blooms fade. These shrubs form the next season’s flower buds during the previous summer. If you prune the shrub before it blooms in the spring, you will be trimming off all the flower buds. These shrubs include:

  • Forsythia
  • Lilac
  • Spirea
  • Weigela
  • Viburnum
  • Rhododendron
  • Fothergilla
  • Azalea

When to Prune Summer-Blooming Shrubs

Summer flowering shrubs are showing off blooms from buds grown that season. Prune these shrubs in late winter or early spring before they begin to push out new growth. The shrub will be able to devote all its energy to its upcoming flower display rather than wasting time on diseased or dead branches. The shrubs include:

  • Butterfly Bush
  • Potentilla
  • Rose of Sharon
  • Summersweet
  • Crape Myrtle
  • Saint Johnswort
  • Rose
  • Smoke Tree

When to Prune Hydrangea

There always has to be that one plant in the garden, right? Hydrangeas are a special case when it comes to pruning because it depends on what type of hydrangea you are growing. Most hydrangeas (oak leaf, mophead, lacecap) will bloom on old wood, having formed buds last season. This means pruning is best done after blooming in spring. However, reblooming varieties have buds on old and new growth, so the timing of pruning doesn’t matter as much. Still other hydrangeas form buds only on new growth. These would be trimmed in late winter or early spring the same as any other summer-blooming shrub.

Additional Resources

Shrub Pruning Calendar by the Virginia Cooperative Extension

Veggies 6.0

spring, vegetables

Today was windy and a bit chillier than this past week, but I took some time  to plant the cold weather crops. Wednesday had been beautiful, sunny and warm, so I had turned the soil over in  the 4’x4′ beds with a pitchfork. There were a few stray parsnips and green onions to remove. Otherwise the soil looked great.

This year I decided to only plant what we really like to eat and what “makes sense.” Even though we use the square foot gardening method, real estate in the 4’x4′ raised beds is precious. There will be no carrots this season since we don’t eat them often enough to give them a 70 day stay in the bed. We also are passing on beets. All our cold crops are direct sown into the soil as seeds.

2015 Spring Cold Crop Lineup

  • Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach
  • French Breakfast Radish
  • Baby Bok Choy Pak Choi
  • All Season Butterhead Mix Lettuce
  • Hollow Crown Parsnips
  • Oregon Sugar Pod II Peas
  • Jolly Jester Marigold

Tee-Peas

Last year we attempted to grow sugar peas up a bamboo tee-pee set atop a large planter. It was quite successful, so we’ll be doing that again this year. In a couple of weeks I’ll put together the container with snow pea seeds with the addition of pansies. This was a fun container idea shared by Rebecca Finneran, aptly named a P-Pot, at this year’s Smart Gardening conference. I’ll also assemble some smaller containers for Bright Lights Swiss Chard and Burgundy Okra.

Spring – Urban vs. Rural Gardening

fellow gardeners, spring

Yesterday it was absolutely beautiful when I returned home from work. Since 3pm at my desk, the window was open and all I thought about was everything I could be doing outside. It was 60 degrees and sunny when I finally got out into the garden.

I cut back the rest of the coneflowers, the coreopsis, black-eyed susans, and raked out the leaves in the front, south bed. I also cleaned out all the trash that collects from the sidewalk over the winter. In the backyard, I raked a lot of leaves out of the bed, allowing more sunlight to reach the emerging spring bulb foliage. The tulip leaves are up a good 6″ and the daffodils have buds forming.

I’ve posted signs of spring on the Lot in past years, but thought it would be fun to make a comparison to Mom G’s garden this year. The heralds of the season can look different for the two of us. The Other Half and I have a small urban plot while Mom G. has a rural 40 acres.

Spring on the Lot

  • the snowdrops and crocus arrive
  • the returning geese can be heard overhead
  • trash appears in all areas of the Lot as the snow melts
  • the icecream truck passes by
  • the skunk returns

Spring on Mom G’s Acreage

  • the tulip foliage and crocus begin to come through the snow
  • the returning sandhill cranes can be heard overhead
  • tons of willow branches appear as the snow melts
  • the road grater passes by
  • the bear returns

…yes, that’s right, THE BEAR returns to Mom G’s garden to help himself to the bird feeders.
Bear Crime SceneI suppose you would be a bit peckish after such a long, winter nap. Mom G then tucks away what is left of the feeders and in a few weeks the bear’s normal diet will be available. He’ll then leave the bird feeders alone and life in the garden can progress as normal.

Seeing that photo makes me ever-so-grateful for that little skunk.