Tips from a Gardener

• March

• April

• May

March

Clean up

If you haven’t already done so this is the time to clean up! Shrubs collect windblown leaves in fall and winter. Matted leaves and debris covering perennial plants in early spring can hold moisture, which can cause crown rot and offer ideal hiding places for slugs. Rake them out gently so as not to damage tender new shoots. They’ll profit by the sun’s direct, warming rays.

A word of warning: immediately after snow melt, or heavy rains, planting beds are often too wet to walk on. Soil is very easily compacted when wet, damaging soil structure and plants’ roots at the same time. Wait until soil is no longer soggy. If you have to get into a wet area, use some wooden planks to distribute your weight and reduce compaction.

Prune roses

Early March is a good time to prune most kinds of roses, including hybrid teas, floribundas and landscape roses. Using a sharp pair of bypass pruners, reduce rose canes to 6" - 10" from ground level, cutting each back to 1/2" above an outward facing leaf bud. This will encourage strong new shoots to grow from the base of the plant. Remove all dead, blackened or spindly stems. Make sure any foliage from last year is cleaned out from beneath the plant, especially if black leaf spot has been a problem. A top-dressing of compost will help to feed your roses through the season, and a layer of mulch - ground or shredded bark, cocoa hulls, or other material will keep weeds out and moisture in. Always pull mulch away from the crown of the plant, where good air circulation is key. 

April

Containers & Window Boxes

It’s not too early for some color in containers and window boxes. If you’ve been using the same soil for years, take the time to replace or recondition it. Modern potting mixes, found at local nurseries and hardware stores, are lightweight and sterile, but have no intrinsic source of nutrients for your plants. Consider adding 50% compost, humus, or good topsoil to these mixes. Time released fertilizers, like Osmocote, can also be mixed in to assure a consistent supply of nutrients for up to three months. Plants that will do well in the still-brisk weather: pansies, ivy, vinca, lobelia, snapdragon. Larger, non-porous containers (ones whose heights and diameters are at least 14") can offer winter frost-protection to a collection of perennials, dwarf shrubs, and/or ornamental grasses. Leave some room around the perimeter to add some annuals later, if so desired.

More for Less

Now is the time to divide well-established perennial plants that bloom in summer or fall, when the soil is beginning to warm up and new growth is imminent. A plant can signal the need for division by dying out in its center, or by sending out weak, congested stems, or by a reduction in blooms. Boltonia, Aster, Sedum, Daylily, Helianthus, Hosta, Echinacea, Rudbeckia these and many more can be lifted from the soil and their roots teased apart into smaller divisions. Each division should have its own crown or growth point as well as healthy roots. Plant them 10" - 18" apart, depending on the plant’s ultimate size, and at the same depth that the original plant sat in the soil. Keep watered and weeded and enjoy the fruit of your propagating skills and the money you’ve saved. It’s a nice way to share favorite plants with friends and community gardeners.

Look…and Plan!

Start regularly visiting botanical and other public gardens now - to see what you like and get ideas for your own garden or containers. Of course, the Conservatory Garden is a great resource, with hundreds of different perennial and annual plants on view. Keep notes on interesting plant combinations. Visit nurseries early to get first dibs on plants because, while most receive new material every week in the spring, it moves fast.

Go armed with a list of the things that interest you; wandering around without a plan can lead to impulse buys. Resist the almost overwhelming urge to buy every thing you see in bloom at the nursery. New York is full of gardens that boast forsythia, azaleas, cherries and dogwoods, but have little to offer the rest of the year all because spring is the time when people flock to nurseries. Plants are an expensive investment, so take your time and plan to insure four-season interest.

May

Annuals

Though you see annuals for sale as early as April, it’s best to wait until the third week in May, whether you're planting into beds or boxes. Remember that most annuals are tropical or sub-tropical plants and their roots don’t get going until the soil is quite warm. They’ve been growing in greenhouses and just hardened off for a short time before shipping. There are so many more interesting annuals in the nurseries and markets today than a few years ago, such as angelonia, great new species of salvia, agastache, alternanthera, lantana, pentas, arctotis, and melampodium, to name a few.

Journal

If you haven’t already done so, start a garden journal that you take with you to nurseries and gardens, and keep at hand when looking through catalogues, etc. Record plant names, weather conditions, bloom times, general observations on plant conditions and health, successful color and textural combinations, and design ideas. It will come in handy as a reference time and time again. A small digital camera is a great recording device, of course, but if you don’t write down the name of that magnificent something in your handy journal as well, you may kick yourself later.