Arkansas Gardening Tips for February!
Oh, the excitement of Spring! The easy part is getting out the door into the landscape…but what do you do when you get there? Here are some timely tips for what to do now that will make a big difference all year long!
PRUNE
• Prune ornamental grasses, summer blooming spiraeas, and crape myrtles mid-February. Groundcovers such as liriope and evergreen ferns such as Autumn ferns can be cut back now before new growth begins. Also, clean up any evergreen perennials before new growth shoots up.
• Don’t forget to prune your fruits, including blueberries, grape vines, and fruit trees.
• Roses need pruning this month too. Prune your Knock-Out and Hybrid Tea roses this month, but wait until after blooming to prune your climbing roses. Also wait to prune any other roses that only bloom in the Spring until after they bloom.
• Prune boxwoods, hollies and other evergreen shrubs in March or early April.
• Not everything needs a pruning now! Wait to prune Spring flowering plants like azaleas, gardenias, hydrangeas and forsythia until after blooming.
FEED
• Add fertilizer to your bulb plants as the flower stalks begin to emerge, with a complete fertilizer like Start-N-Gro.
• Pansies and violas will be on the rebound as the days get warmer, so remember to fertilize to insure good blooming through the end of the season.
PREP AND PLANT
• Prepare the soil in your landscape beds with soil amendments such as lime and organic material.
• It’s time to plant cool season vegetable gardens with broccoli, lettuce, cabbage, onion, potato and spinach. Herbs parsley and cilantro also like these cooler temps. Other edibles such as fruit trees and blueberries can be planted now too.
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