February Garden Tasks

February is a good time to start thinking about what kind of vegetables you would like to plant this spring.  Seed catalogs offer a great selection of lesser-known varieties and tried and true favorites.

• Prune dormant (deciduous) plants  fruit trees, maples, grapes, hydrangeas and roses.  First remove dead wood, crossing or rubbing branches, then you can make aesthetic cuts.  Cut back to a swelling bud or new growth.  Now is a good time to make large structural cuts as well.  Make cuts so that there isn’t an obvious stub left behind.
• Prune herbaceous plants  Lavender, rosemary, thyme can be pruned now to reduce size, enhance shape and remove spent flowers.  Do not prune back to wood or the branch will die back.
• Do not prune back frost damage until March  It’s hard to tell where damage ends/begins till next month when new growth appears.
• Plant bare-root plants like grapes, cane berries, fruit trees, strawberries and roses.  Bare root plants offer great value compared to potted plants.
• Clean up fallen camellia flowers to prevent camellia blight.
• Purchase camellias, azaeleas and rhododendrons  They are in bloom now or soon.