Comments on: Gardening in February

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 02:13:22 +0000

Judy–so sorry to hear about your accident. If soreness is the worst of it, I guess it could have been worse. I think a lot of our trails started out as deer trails, but we’ve widened them. White-tail deer don’t have the bulk of moose and elk.

By: jenn

jenn — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 21:01:17 +0000

I think the dramatic pruning might have varied success based on the age of the wood.

In my youth we had a pair of what I believe were annabelles that had been grown to a standard, and then coppiced yearly.

They had a nice shape, huge leaves, and flowered abundantly. This was in zone six.

I also know that many vigorous bushes can be treated like woody perennials in the border – trimmed down to a few inches above ground every year and kept to a border height. I’m thinking if I ever get another purple smokebush I might try this.

(My first was a large transplant that did okay the first year in its new home, and then slowly faded away. In retrospect, it needed to be in better soil than the sand it ended up in. Duh.)

By: Judith

Judith — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 18:52:50 +0000

Definitely something about the angle or intensity of the sun feels springy some days, doesn’t it? And especially as it’s moving north quickly now.
One day we gained a half hour of sunshine as the sun rises now north of Black Mountain rather than south of it.
We had a mild week and one sunny day like that I got some raking done up near the house where there’s no snow, gingerly as I’m sore from a car accident, and then it was back down to zero. The germinators keep me busy indoors now anyway. Some of Mom’s crocus at her foundation are blooming–none of mine are even sprouting yet.

And I confess I just use the game trails when I walk in the woods, the deer/elk/moose folk do the bushwhacking for me. Enlightened laziness?

I don’t grow hydrangeas, but I agree if you’re going to cut off all the sustenance they have stored in their wood, you’d do well to feed them extra to make up for it. Some things (Potentilla for example) don’t seem to mind such drastic treatment, but after a while they can dwindle without replacement TLC.

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 02:55:21 +0000

Michele–I don’t have Annabelle hydrangeas, but those chop them down to the ground scenarios always make me nervous. Being the cautious type, I would probably prune one or two hard and leave the others be, and then compare. If you know someone who’s actually done it, and the shrubs grew just fine, ask them if they take special pains to baby them after the surgery. I always find it hard to believe that a plant would take such drastic pruning in stride. Surely it must need top-dressing or extra watering to make it through, and I commonly forget to provide such aftercare. But you’re probably better about such things, in which case, prune away.

By: Laurie Gano

Laurie Gano — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 23:41:33 +0000

My winter chores consist of pruning whatever needs doing after using most of the watersprouts on my apple trees to smoke sausage earlier. I got most of it done last week on a quiet day in the 40′s. The next day it plummeted down to below zero. The low temp was -33 here, some in our neoghborhood had -40. Ugh! And there’s virtually no snow cover. So I am back inside the house quilting!

By: Zoey

Zoey — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 23:40:47 +0000

That sounds like it was a wonderful way to spend a winter day!

I don’t venture out until at least April.

By: Michele Owens

Michele Owens — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 23:24:02 +0000

I am thinking it’s time to cut all the Annabelle hydrangeas in my garden down to a few inches. I’ve never done it before, but I noticed that people who do cut them down wind up with nicer-looking plants.

By: Alice Nelson

Alice Nelson — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 19:42:36 +0000

My February gardening consists of thinking about various clients’ gardens and the challenges they present, like one where the backyard is almost completely rock with cracks and fissures, and another business place that will have about 150 feet of fence in an area that is quite linear. I alsohave lots of plants that I have held over and that need caring for.
With three feet of snow and the zero temps we have had finally, inside jobs are the way to go.