Late winter a good time to plan garden

Home | Back

March 1st, 2014 11:00 am by Marci Gore

Although were not completely out of the woods yet, the warmer, sunnier weather weve had these past few days does hint at the end of what has been a very long and very cold winter.

Local gardening expert and horticulturist Roy Odom II says now is the perfect time to think about getting our gardens and landscaping ready for spring and summer.

February is a great time to prune fruit trees and fruit bushes, Odom said. Mainly what you want to do is just remove any overgrowth, anything thats just really sticking out.

However, dont prune anything that blooms in the spring, Odom advises.

Anything that blooms before June, things like azaleas, rhododendrons, forsythia, dogwoods, red buds, you dont want to be whacking on right now. If you prune those right now, youre cutting the bloom buds off, he said.

Odom says February is also a great time to check for any winter damage.

With the cold weather, theres a lot of burned foliage. But dont get too eager to start cutting things back. Keep in mind that just because foliage is burned, this doesnt mean that the stems and trunks are dead, Odom said.

It is also a good time to cut back liriope, sometimes called monkey grass, Odom said.

Read the original post:
Late winter a good time to plan garden