Here we go- It’s planting time girls (and guys). BEFORE you go crazy buying the beautiful plants in our local nurseries, stop and evaluate your pots and gardens. Make note of how much sun and rain they receive. That makes a big difference in what you plant. Don’t mix sun and shade plants. Think about how much water the plants need. You don’t want plants that need watering several times a week mixed with plants that only need watered once a week. Check the manufacturer card that comes with the plants or ask someone at the nursery. Putting the right plants together will make a huge difference in the out come of your pots.

Now think about the dirt in those pots. Has the dirt been there for several years? Then there is no nutrition in the soil. I now use Bio-Tone Starter Plus by Espoma in all my pots. Robyn from Briar Patch introduced this product to us. Follow the chart on the bag for instructions for amending your soil. I will NEVER plant without this product again. It has a higher nitrogen number which promotes root growth for healthier, stronger plants. It will also help the plants “green up”.

It’s also time to plant those boxes of Wildflower blend. Pick an area that gets morning sun. The best tip “Dear Violet” can give you for planting this seed mix is to WEED the area you are planning to use for the seed mix. Then when the seeds begin to germinate, you will know it’s a flower not a weed. The instructions on the box are very easy to follow. Take pictures for Dear Violet.

Planting instructions for the Siberian Irises:

Planting the Siberian Iris is best done in a rich, fertile soil with good drainage; however, Siberian iris will perform in lean or poor soils as well. Corms can be planted in full sun to partially shady areas. Keep the soil consistently moist until the plants are established, about a year. Water established plants regularly when drought conditions exist. Feed Siberian Iris plants with a nitrogen rich fertilizer and fertilize again when the blooms are spent. Trim the flower stalks as with all bulbs leaving the leaves to store food for next years flowers. Siberian Irises can be planting in the spring; just don’t expect blooms the same year. Siberian Irises are rarely bothered by rots and borers as are the bearded irises.

Remember trim off the flower stems from your daffodils and tulips. This one simple step will insure that you have tulips and daffodils next year. By trimming the flower stems, you send a signal to the plant to put all the food energy into the bulbs for next years flowers.

Happy Gardening!

WEATHER ALERT!

With the crazy swings we have been experiencing, remember to keep your potted plants watered especially your pansies. It’s very important with the freezing temperatures expected over the next 2 weeks.

April is a great month for planning your gardens or containers and attending all the wonderful educational classes offered here in our area as well as all the great plant sales.

APRIL DATES TO SAVE:

April 15 – our Zone 7’s  date for the last freeze but watch the weather.

April 16 – Old Salem’s Heirloom Plant Sale

April 16 – 19 Plant Sale and Programs at the Arboretum at Tanglewood. Dear Violet is signed up for the April 19th class. You can call 336 703 2850 to register. Information on the Plant Sale and Programs on www.forsyth.cc/ces website.

Forks on Fridays – Master Gardeners Spring Lecture Series held on Fridays at the Forsyth County Cooperative Extension office on Fairchild rd in Winston. You can call 336 703-2850 to register. Information on Forks on Fridays on www.forsyth.cc/ces website.

For the “Dear Violet” followers, Dear Violet has a surprise for you. Email if you can’t make the meeting or tell Dear Violet at the April Garden Club meeting the password “PURPLE” and you will get the surprise.

Happy Spring.

March is a very busy month for Bermuda Run gardeners. It’s the month to prune trees and shrubs and roses. Dear Violet has been pruning all month. Oh my aching back.

Remember you can NOT trim back any spring blooming shrubs or they will NOT bloom. Wait to prune back any spring blooming bush until it finishes blooming. That way the new buds for next year will form on the new branches.

Crepe Myrtles are usually trimmed this month. Do NOT Crepe murder your trees. Grumpy Gardener for Southern Living magazine has a great article on the correct way to trim Crepe Myrtles.

March is also the perfect month for cutting back roses, though you want to check on freezing temperatures. When you cut back rose bushes, you can expose the fresh cuts to freezing temperatures which will damage the canes. This Monday morning the temperatures are due to fall to or below freezing. The National Roses society at rose.org has several articles and videos on the care and pruning of roses.

March is also the perfect month for transplanting perennials, shrubs and conifers. Check out Adrienne Roething, the PJCBG Garden Curator’s tip on transplanting on the Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden website. While you are on this website, look at the up coming events at the Gardens. Dear Violet has marked her calendar for the April 10th Spectacular Spring Tulip Bloom and Lecture from Brent Heath owner of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs catalog. Dear Violet attended Adrienne’s “Lunch and Learn” on perennials and came back with several wonderful ideas for my garden.

Don’t forget about your pansies. This very hot weather has probably toasted your pansies. Water them! The rain and cooler temperatures this weekend will help to bring them back to life. Ever hear someone called a Pansy. It’s because they (and pansies) can’t stand the heat.

If your tulips are blooming, then it’s also time to fertilize your Irises. Use a 6-10-10 fertilizer. Apply 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon per rhizome clump in early spring and again about one month after bloom. Work into the soil. Take care to keep fertilizer away from direct contact with rhizomes. Water well after each application.  Also check your Iris rhizomes for soft spots (bacteria rot), trim back old leaves and be sure to remove any dead debris from around the rhizomes so their “backs” can feel the sun.

You should also start cleaning up, if you didn’t last fall, your gardens. Start weeding now and your job will be easier the rest of the year. Weeds have jumped with all the warm weather and now rain. Perfect combo for weeds.

There’s a great article on the New Garden Landscaping Spring 2016 newsletter online about the Impatiens Downy Mildew. This newsletter also contents helpful tips for March, April and May. Impatiens Downy Mildew is the fungus that has been causing your Impatiens to drop their leaves and the flowers to fall off over night.

Hope all this information helps and as always, Happy Gardening. Is there anything better than dirt under your nails!!!

February’s Flower is our club flower the Violas (Violets and Pansies)

Here’s a web site to check out this beautiful flower and growing inform. You can sign up for a news letter from the All things Plants web site. Several of the our members enjoy this web site.

allthingplants.com/idea/view/dave/2578/Februarys-Flower-Voilas-Violets-and Pansies/

My favorite flowers for February are Primroses. Check out the Southern Living Magazine web site for a beautiful arrangement and growing tips. I have seen them at all the garden shops in reds, yellows, pinks and purple. They look wonderful paired with a fern or 2 in a large bowl.  Instant Spring!

Happy Gardening.

February is a great month for planning for spring 2016. Here’s some tips and websites to check out for information on everything from the winter weather to classes on spring planting.

1. Remember to water your potted plants and pansies. During the winter months, plants that are watered effectively will be more likely to survive severe cold. We have been very fortunate this winter and have had a lot of rain. You can still water your pots of pansies if the temperatures are cold, just use warm, not hot, water. Pansies should be watered weekly. This coming week’s weather is a perfect time to water all your pots. Check out the tip for winterizing your pots on the PJCBG website- February newsletter – Garden tip by Adrienne Roethling. Adrienne will also be hosting a Lunch and Learn class in March on growing perennials for our area.
2. If you are wondering about any damage to your shrubs, trees or plants from our 2 snowfalls, check out 2 articles at kerry@provenwinners.com on pruning winter damage. This will also help you to identify if you have an damage.
3. February is my month for cleaning out my garden room and mine is a disaster! Organize pots and clean them so they are ready for the new season. Clean, sharpen and properly store your gardening tools. Check your stock of sprays for the coming year. Here are 3 of my favorites: Natria, a Bayer product, Insect, Disease & Mite control – Garden Safe Insecticidal Soap and Spectracide Immonox fungicide. Also remember to buy a bag of  milorganite the deer repellant/fertilizer.  Several gardeners in our area have had wonderful results using this deer repellant. Pinterest has lots of articles on How to Clean, sharpen and store your garden tools as well as some articles on organizing your garden room. Love my Pinterest boards. Feel free to take a look!
4. The NCSU website – extensiongardener.ces.ncsu.edu has it’s winter edition of the Extension Gardener with articles on Tool Sanitation and Storage and Native Plants Sustain Overwintering Birds.

With the beautiful weather in store for this weekend, I’m sure all us gardeners will be thinking of Spring!

Tree planting – Continues to head the list of important gardening jobs for January.
A wide planting hole insures successful planting with trees. No amendment is necessary, just stake trees for four months. Small trees work well in foundation plantings. (Ground bark mulch is used to amend clay soils when planting container grown trees.)

Winter Watering – Keep in mind that plants, especially newly set plants, need water during winter months. A cold, dry wind is very damaging to plants as it removes moisture from the soil and the plant tissues. The only way to know when a plant needs water is by the actual condition of the soil in which it is growing. When in doubt, scrape off a few inches of the topsoil and water it if it is dry. Mulches, drip irrigation, and soaker hoses help ease the task of watering.

Check bulbs in storage – Often dahlia tubers and gladiolus corns are attacked by rot in storage; throw out any with rot.

Mulch strawberry beds – For winter protection, use wheat straw or pine needles. Pull the mulch back and blooms appear and fertilize.

Tree wound paints are virtually useless in sealing pruning cuts. The effects are mostly cosmetic. If you feel better painting a cut, by all means do it. When pruning large limbs at the trunk make the cut outside of the bark collar (a ring at the point of branch attachment). All trees can be pruned in the dormant season.

Spray roses with lime-sulfur this month to control insects and disease.

Fertilize spring flower bulbs when 1″ of growth is seen above ground.

Set garden plans down on paper. As you stroll the yard, note what needs to be trimmed or moved.

Give old gardening catalogs to church daycare or kindergarten classes. They are of great use for Easter and Spring artworks.

Population of overwintering insects can be reduced by turning soil and exposing the slumbering plant eaters to he freezing nights.

Test old seed by placing 10 seeds on a moist paper towel. Roll up the towel, put in a ziplock bag, and keep warm. Check in a week and see what percent has germinated.

Wood ash left over from cozy fires can be used as a soil amendment on the lawn and garden. This ash can be sprinkled on bulb beds, garden plots, and lawn. *Use only on non-acid loving plants.

Send soil sample to NCDA to avoid spring rush.

Keep compost pile turned and watered.

Contact your extension agent to see what winter gardening programs are scheduled.

Please feed and water the birds during cold weather. Birds are the gardener’s friend.

Use up that old Christmas tree and mantle greenery. Prop tree in a corner and decorate with popcorn and cranberry garlands, leftover fruits, holiday fruitcake, or bread. The animals will love the sheltered dining atmosphere. Cut boughs and needles can insulate perennial and bulb beds against severe cold. Put the tree stump in the firewood pile.

On a warm day, prepare a spot in the vegetable garden for early vegetables. Soil may be too wet to work come planting time.

Houseplants – the four major causes of houseplant deaths during the winter months are over-fertilizing, over-watering, under-watering, and improper light. DO NOT fertilize houseplants in the wintertime; let your plants go into a dormant period, a period of reduced growth, so that they will be ready for vigorous growth in the spring months. For supplemental lighting – use a “shop light” fitted with one cool white and one warm white bulb.

The following houseplants adapt well to warm indoor conditions: Jade Plant, Australian Umbrella Tree, Pothos, Wax Plant, Crown of Thorns, and Kalanchoe.

Overgrown plantings that tend to become bare at the base cannot be helped by “tip” or “top” pruning. These must be cut back near the ground to produce new growth down low. Old established plants of Burford Holly, Cleyera, Japanese holly, Ligustrum, and similar broad-leaved evergreens can be cut back 15-24 inches from the ground in the dormant season. February and early March are good times for severe pruning. Conifers (as Arborvitae, Pfitzer Juniper, etc.) cannot be as heavily pruned as can broad-leaved evergreens. Shear conifers. Winter pruning jobs include trimming of tree branches where necessary, pruning out diseased and dead wood from shrubs and climbing roses, and the annual pruning of old flowered wood from deciduous flowering shrubs – those that bloom after midsummer. Don’t prune early-flowering shrubs until after they have bloomed.

Order flowers for your sweetheart for Valentine’s Day!

Gather branches for forcing in the house from pussy willow, forsythia, flowering quince, and Sweet-Breath-of-Spring.

Biennials such as pansy, and hollyhock, canterbury bell, forget-me-not, wallflower, English daisy, and foxglove, may be planted for spring bloom provided yu buy well-established plants.

Cut a few tall stalks of nandina and mahonia to the ground to induce compactness.

Prune boxwood in early February before new growth begins.

Start a record on sowing and planting dates. This will help you avoid mistakes and to remember what you did when a crop does well.

Save plastic milk jugs to use as covers for baby plants; cut off the bottoms and use the bottom cut in strips as garden labels. Label with a permanent marker.

Coat your snow shovel with a non-stock cooking spray; the snow slides right off.

Check your corms, tubers, and roots stored last fall and discard those that are decaying. If decay is severe, move plant parts to a drier place. If roots and tubers show signs of shriveling, they are too dry, so slightly moisten the material in which they are stored. Bulbs of lilies and caladiums can be potted for an early start in the garden.

Study seed catalogs early this year and place orders before the spring rush. Check local catalogs for regional plants.

Mow Lirope (Monkeygrass) to remove windburned foliage.

Control wild garlic with 2,4-D amine spray (add surfacant).

Prune fruit trees. Strive to keep the height own and the tree open for good light peneration. Peach diseases are lessened when trees are pruned in late February.

Apply a dormant oil spray to fruit trees and ornamentals for control of overwintering insects and eggs. Do not apply to broad-leaf evergreens when freezing temperatures are expected.

Grape vines are subject to winter injury if pruned too early. Prune after most of the severe cold has passed, but before they leaf out. (Make a grape vine wreath with the trimmings!)

Prune bush roses. Thin to 3-5 good strong canes and shorten canes to 15 inches. (Prune climbers after they flower in early summer.)

Early in the month start plants from seeds by sowing indoors, under light. (14-16 hours of artificial light).

Service power equipment: change oil, replace filters, belts, spark plugs, and sharpen or replace mower blades.

Calcium chloride or fertilizer can serve as deicing salt on walks or patios.

Use the cold weather to replenish mulch in foundation plantings and rose beds.

Prune back Pampas Grass to within 10 inches of the ground now that the leaves are dormant. Late pruning could injure new emerging leaves. Ornamental grasses can be divided now.