Get Ready…..Get Set……

 We have had a rather mild winter and there doesn’t appear to be too much winter damage to plants in the landscape compared to the past 2 years. Broadleaved evergreens like hollies, boxwood and euonymus are nice and green while last spring at this time we noticed a lot of brown leaves due to dehydration of the foliage from very cold temperatures coupled with windy conditions. If we have more mild weather like we have had recently there will be an opportunity to get out in the yard and start the pruning and clean-up so it is finished before we get into the planting season.

 This is the perfect time of the year to prune some of our evergreens like yew shrubs, arborvitae, hollies and junipers to name a few. If you have any of these varieties that may have become a little too large for their location this is the time to give them as severe a pruning as necessary. The great thing about pruning severely at this time of the year is that the plant is loaded with energy and is ready to really “pop” after the dormant period. Another thing that is so good is that you will not have to look at the stubs very long that will result because the new growth will be coming in just a matter of weeks. It would be good to have this type of pruning finished by the last week of the month.

 Remember, if you prune any of your spring blooming shrubs before they bloom this spring you will lose the flowers for this year. Blooms of varieties like forsythia, bridal wreath spirea, lilac, mock orange and weigelia were formed last summer and will be pruned off if they are trimmed in early spring, prune the right after they bloom. As far as your roses are concerned they could be pruned back now but it would be best to wait until the end of the month to do this, just before the plants start to grow. When the shoot buds start to swell and emerge on the stem, this is the time to cut any type of shrub type rose back to about 12” from the ground. Climbing roses should only be pruned back slightly to remove any really wild growth.

 If you have covered some tender perennials or garden mums with straw, leaves or mulch, to protect them for the winter, about the middle of the month is the time to pull any of these materials back away from the plants for two reasons: 1)so they do not start to grow prematurely and then get damaged by a late freeze and 2)avoiding rot than can occur causing damage to the stems of the plants you tried to protect. The very harsh, freezing temperatures are behind us no damage to the plants is likely to occur now.

 Enjoy the nice days that are ahead, get outside and soak up the spring. If a question comes up, drop us a line at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., we’ll do our best to help you.

 Meadow View Growers

 www.meadowview.com

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