IN THE GARDEN

By Doreen Trudel

Spring is almost here and since I have chosen to ignore Punxsutawney Phil, I believe that the warm sunny weather will arrive soon. There is so much to be done in the garden this month that no matter what the weather we will have to ignore it and head outside to prepare for the growing seasons.

Five years ago this month I began writing this garden column. By now you know that it is time to clean-up garden beds, prune summer and fall blooming shrubs, spread a layer of manure and then mulch the beds, plant, transplant and weed. It is also a good time to begin a daily garden routine which will carry you through until frost next fall.

I receive many questions about pest and weed eradication and because I don’t use herbicides or pesticides I recommend a daily walk in the garden looking for pest damage or activity and pulling weeds when they first appear. In the evening I walk around the garden with a flashlight and a can to collect slugs, snails and root weevils.

Last spring my garden was left unattended for two months and my husband and I spent uncomfortable hours every day until September trying to catch-up and repair damage caused by our neglect. That experience made me realize that mother nature will quickly reclaim her property. Those charming horticultural hybrids that we add to our gardens are lovely and we receive a great deal of pleasure from them but planting isn’t the end of the story, it is the beginning of a rigorous but rewarding commitment.
Pruning is one task that is time sensitive. If you wait too late this year’s flower production could be stunted. Woody perennials and smaller bushy shrubs such as Calluna (heather) or Erica (heath), Thymus and Lavandula (lavender) need special care. These three do not “break” from old wood. That means that if you prune them back into the old woody stems no new growth will develop. Calluna, Erica and Lavandula all thrive and bloom best when pruned with shears or secateurs to maintain shape and remove last year’s growth.

Perovskia, Lavatera, Indigofera, Hypericum, Euphorbia and Buddleia all respond well to being hard pruned in spring, cutting back to the basic framework usually within 12 to 18 inches of the soil.

Some plants such as Santolina, Cistus, Rosmarinus, Potentilla and Artemisia need to be pruned to prevent leggy growth patterns. If they are neglected you can try to renovate them by hard pruning but they may not always respond well to this treatment and may need to be replaced.

Before you begin spring pruning remember to sharpen and clean your cutting tools. Buy a bottle of rubbing alcohol to leave in your garden shed as a reminder to wipe down the blades before moving on to prune another plant.

The Point Roberts Garden Club meeting will be Thursday March 13 at 7 p.m. at the community center. Bloomer’s will be opening this month and Nielson’s Building Supply has convenient bags of steer, chicken and mushroom manure for your garden beds.

Here are a few of my favorites from the 2008 Great Plant Pick list.
To see all of the selections go to www.greatplantpicks.org.
• Ceratostigma willmottianum (Miss Willmott’s Plumbago)
• Cynara cardunculus (cardoon)
• Darmera peltata and ‘Nana’ (umbrella plant and
dwarf umbrella plant)
•Disporopsis pernyi (evergreen Solo-mon’s seal)
• Eryngium agavifolium (agave leaf sea holly)
• Acucuba japonica ‘Goldstrike’
• Camelia x vernalis ‘Yultide’
• Grevillea victoriae
• Carpinus japonica (Japanese hornbeam)
• Chionanthus retusus (Chinese fringe tree)
• Aesculus parviflora (bottlebrush buckeye)