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6 Tips for Beautiful Spring Gardens
It’s Spring, well this week it feels like we have skipped spring and headed right into summer. Here are some tips for when to get into the gardens when Mother Nature is playing her games like she has done this spring. I hope these tips will help but if you are still unsure, hire LA GARDENS to take care of your garden maintenance needs.
1. Winter Interest Needs to go ASAP
Ornamental grasses, hydrangeas and sedum heads that were wonderful to see all winter need to be a distant memory. It’s the first thing we do in the gardens, sometimes before the snow is gone.
Rule of Thumb for Grasses - Tall - over your waist - cut down to 6-8” - Short - below your waist - cut down to 1 - 2”
2. Colours of Spring.
Need colour but the daffodils aren’t up yet? Add a spring planter to the front door. Think it’s a waste? Not at all, most of it can be added to the gardens. Plant in those tulips, daffodils and croci into your gardens and tuck the pansies into a semi shade area, cut them back and they may give you a second show when the temperatures drop down again in the fall.
3. Is it Ever Too Early to Garden?
Not really, ok when we have 3 feet of snow yes, but as soon as the ground thaws give it a little stir and get leaves off the budding up bulbs. They will grow through almost anything but make it pretty at their feet. Just be careful of wet soil you don’t want to compact it. If need be use a 2 x 4 to walk on into the back of the garden.
4. Some Like it Hot.
Some plants like warm soil, they look dead, but they are just waiting for the sun. (Rose of Sharon, Perennial Hibiscus and some ornamental grasses)
5. Nip and Tuck.
If you have hellebores,keep the plant compact by cutting off all the leaves as soon as the snow melts. The flowers show off better and the leaves grow back over the summer. Apparently it’s the way the British do it. Heuchera (coral bells) can be treated the same way, cutting off the large outside leaves and leaving the smaller, new growth leaves on the centre.
6. Spring is the Time for Pruning
3 D’s + the X. Remove Dead, Disease, Dying as well as any stems that Cross. It looks a little harsh and naked at first but soon fills in. I often whistle: “cruel to be kind, in the right measure”
