by Lindsay Bond Totten
Scripps Howard News Service
Gentlemen, rev your engines. Mother Nature has raised the green flag; the race is about to begin. Gardeners call it spring.
But no matter how hard you've trained, or how thoroughly you've planned, there's simply no way to adequately prepare, either physically or mentally, for the sprint ahead.
I love spring. I live for spring. Someday, I hope to actually enjoy spring.
Unfortunately, this spring will probably play out like the others before it. I'll wake up one June morning to find that spring is already gone--vanished before I've had a chance to savor it.
But maybe not. Last season, I had the foresight to make a list of things I should have tackled before spring arrived. Once spring came, of course, it was too late. Items on my "to do" list became entries in the "didn't get done" column. For a few, the window of opportunity closed when new growth appeared. With others, more pressing chores simply pushed them aside. I've lived with the consequences for almost a year.
So, as soon as I push the PRINT button on this column, I'm heading for the garden to:
Cut the old foliage off patches of groundcover such as liriope, carex and Epimedium "Frohnleiten."
Even though these plants are evergreen, the winter-weary foliage lies limp and ragged this time of year. The tufts may look silly for a little while, but eager leaves will soon push up through, at which point it will be too late to cut off the old foliage without damaging the new.
These beautiful groundcovers will fill in better and look neater this coming summer without a skirt of tattered leaves to hide.
Problematic, but worth the effort, is removal of last year's Lenten rose foliage. The old growth, though tired, helps shield extra-early blooms from late-winter blasts, so here in USDA Zone 5b, we leave the foliage on the plants as long as possible. But it's time to let the new growth take over--just watch not to nick the flower stalks!
Shear the vinca.
With the lawn mower set on "high," newly sharpened blades will skim off the shabby leaves and let the warm spring sunshine reach the crowns. Myrtle beds will grow back thick and lush, and the buzz cut will help to control the fungus that causes stem rot.
Be sure to rake or blow out the clippings to exhume the source of fungus spores. Then, kick-start new growth with an application of slow-release fertilizer.
Prune, prune, prune. I won't be satisfied until I have a bonfire-size pile of clippings and brush.
"Dormant pruning" is serious work. It has to be done now, before trees and shrubs leaf out. I remind myself that bare branches are much easier to thin and shape than they will be later in spring.
I'll tackle maple trees, grape vines and other "bleeders" first. That'll give pruning cuts time to callus before the sap rises. It wouldn't really hurt the plants to do it later, but sap flowing from wounds is unsightly and will stain the bark.
The evergreens come next, especially the rhododendrons, hemlocks, junipers and chamaecyparis. This is a good time to control their size, since I missed the opportunity last year. Thinning cuts will be hidden by the new season's growth, and soon they'll look full and natural again.
Finally, to the roses--looks like they'll push early this year--and, if there's time, the shrubs like rose-of-Sharon and panicled hydrangea, which bloom on current season's twigs.
They can be pruned hard anytime in spring and still respond with gorgeous blooms this fall.
I'll wait till later to attack the willows and red-stemmed dogwoods, which display their most vibrant colors just before the buds open.
Pull winter weeds.
I won't let them get ahead of me this season; that's why I have chickweed and cress seedlings choking the beds right now.
Seeds of winter annuals sprout in the fall and wait impatiently as tiny green seedlings for the first warm days of spring. They bloom before other plants are even up, set abundant seed quickly, then disappear till fall.
Our mild winter brings them out early this season, along with the onion grass and garlic mustard. Their strategy, to sneak in under my radar screen, isn't going to work this year.
Because I'm ready.
(Lindsay Bond Totten, a horticulturist, writes about gardening for Scripps Howard News Service.)
