General landscape advice
- Reassess your garden.
- Consider adding plants or replacing underperforming plants.
- Are the plants suited to the site (e.g., soil texture and pH, drainage, sun and shade patterns, wind).
- Limb-up or “tree-form” large shrubs that may be out of scale with their neighbors.
- Evaluate your successes and failures in the garden last year. Review your records.
- Focus on plants that grow well in our USDA planting zone (7B-8A)
- Take care of the soil and improve your watering practices.
- Avoid walking on grass or groundcovers while they are frozen, as leaves are tender and easily damaged.
- Dig wild onions and garlic as they emerge by removing the bulblet underground.
- Mow Liriope and cut back ornamental grasses this month. Remove all cuttings.
- Take a soil test. See this great resource for what to do.
Perennials, Annuals & Bulbs
- Watch for signs of growth in early spring bulbs.
- When about 1-inch high, start removing mulch (cloudy days are best). Fertilize emerging bulbs.
- Check dislodged perennials caused by freezing and thawing of the soil.
- Dig up, separate if necessary, replant and water back in.
- Plant seeds of Columbine, Foxglove, Coreopsis, Phlox, Daisies, Blackberry Lily.
- Spread wood ashes on bulb beds, vegetable beds, and non-acid-loving plants.
- Feed pansies in late February.
- Wait until new growth emerges before cutting back Lantana and Salvia.
- Trim away dead leaves and stems from Asters, Coreopsis and Rudbeckia.
- Clean up Lenten Roses and Epimedium. Remove old, dead and dying leaves to reveal the flowers.
Shrubs and Trees
- Don’t prune Azaleas, Dogwood, Gardenia, Forsythias, Loropetalum, Hydrangea macrophylla and Spirea now, other than to remove dead or damaged wood. Prune after they bloom.
- What you can prune:
- Hydrangea paniculata by 1/3 as needed and cut back Hydrangea arboresens to 10”
- Prune Buddleia, Beautyberry, and Smoke bush to the ground to encourage summer flowers.
- Prune Abelia and Elderberry.
- Prune Caryopteris back to low permanent framework as buds begin to swell.
- Prune hybrid teas, grandiflora and floribunda roses before bud break in late February. On mature plants thin out 1/3 of the old canes to the ground to open up the plants.
- Boxwood can be lightly pruned.
- Prune evergreens for shape and to encourage new growth.
- Prune fig trees.
- Prune any dead, diseased, dying or damaged wood.
- Take stems of Red Twig Dogwood down to the ground to prepare for new spring growth.
- Prune to get a desired shape or form. Severe pruning can be done now, but take no more than 1/3 of the plant’s height.
- Watch for damage to trees and shrubs from ice and heavy winds.
- Remove any broken branches following proper pruning techniques.
- Check for scale on Camellia and Euonymus and for spider mites on Juniper.
- Treat as needed following instructions on pesticide labels as directed.
- Transplant trees and shrubs so that they get settled in before the summer heat sets in.
Indoor Gardening
- Start slow-developing flowers, like alyssum, coleus, dusty miller, geranium, impatiens, marigold, petunia, phlox, portulaca, salvia and verbena.
- Start herb seeds now in your own indoor mini-greenhouse in a warm, bright location out of direct sunlight.
- Resume a fertilizer schedule for indoor plants. Water a couple hours before fertilizing to avoid burning roots.
- Once a month, water your acid-loving house plants (gardenia, citrus) using a solution of 1 teaspoon of vinegar to 1 quart of water.
- If your house plants are not growing well, check all five growing factors: light, temperature, nutrients, moisture and humidity, which must be favorable to provide good growth
- Avoid placing cacti and succulents in hot, stuffy areas.
- Be sure the indoor garden is well ventilated, yet not drafty.
Edible Gardens
- Plan and purchase vegetable seeds before spring planting season.
- Sow seeds of cool-season vegetables, like kale, chard, spinach and peas after the 15th.
- Create your own culinary theme garden with seeds for the cuisine you favor.
- For Oriental cooking, choose snow peas, green onions, Daikon radish, Chinese cabbage, and long, thin eggplant.
- For French, include haricot vert green beans, Courgette zucchini, mini-carrots, Butterhead lettuce, and the herbs chervil and French tarragon.
- Indian cuisine needs shell peas, fiery peppers and cumin.
- For Oriental cooking, choose snow peas, green onions, Daikon radish, Chinese cabbage, and long, thin eggplant.
Mecklenburg Extension Master Gardener℠ Volunteers
mastergardenersmecklenburg.org
mastergardenersmecklenburg.org