10 Tips for Spring Pruning Success

by Melinda Myers (see more tips from Melinda at https://www.melindamyers.com/)

Early spring is a great time to do a bit of pruning. Knowing what to prune and when will help you achieve the best results for the health of your plants and beauty in your landscape.

·      Remove dead, damaged and rubbing stems and branches back to healthy growth. Prune just above an outward facing bud, branch or main stem and flush with the branch bark collar on trees.

·      Check plants for and remove the swollen growths of black knot on plum and cherry trees and sunken discolored cankers on the stems of trees and shrubs. Prune 6 to 9” below the canker and disinfect tools between cuts.

·      When pruning diseased material be sure to disinfect tools between cuts with a spray disinfectant or rubbing alcohol.

·      Prune summer blooming Annabelle-type hydrangeas, potentillas and spireas to encourage compact sturdy growth. Cut all the stems back halfway and half of these back to ground level.

·      Rejuvenate overgrown suckering shrubs by removing a third of the older and larger stems back to ground level. Reduce the overall height, if needed, by no more than a fourth. Repeat for the next few years.

·      Prune fruit trees and fruiting vines to increase flowering and subsequent fruiting.

·      Improve their appearance by removing faded flowers left on shrubs for winter interest. Be careful not to remove any flower buds already formed on spring flowering shrubs.

·      Wait until after spring flowering shrubs bloom to prune if you want to maximize the floral display. Consider doing more severe pruning, when needed, in late winter or early spring when it is less stressful for the plant. Force the trimmings into flower and enjoy in a bouquet indoors.

·      Make sure your tools are sharp, so the pruning cuts close quickly and use aquality bypass pruner, like the Corona® BP 6310. Through April 5, you can get it for only $29.88 + free shipping – a savings of 40% off the regular price.

Simply visit Corona’s website and use the code SAVE40MM to receive 40% off + free shipping! If you need help on how to get the 40% off + free shipping, visit https://www.coronatoolsusa.com/sas-help for instructions.

·      Remember to keep yourself safe by wearing safety glasses and heavy-duty gloves. It’s too easy to focus on the task and end up with a stick in the eye or scratches and bruises. Consider synthetic leather gauntlet style gloves like Foxgloves extra protection gloves that protect hands and forearms from harm.

Stay safe and healthy!

Melinda

Beloved Lilies

Beloved plant is toxic to house pets

The rules for calculating Easter are rather complex. Easter Day falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon that falls on or after March 21, but the “full moon” referred to is not the real moon but a theoretical moon that doesn’t quite match the one in the sky. In 1928, the British House of Commons agreed to a bill fixing the date of Easter, subject to agreement by various Christian churches. Efforts to secure that agreement, however, have been going on ever since.

The name of “Easter” is generally believed to be derived from Eostre, the pagan goddess of dawn, though recent research suggests that Eostre may not have been a goddess at all but the name of a season, and the “goddess” was only a mistranslation by the Venerable Bede in the eighth century.

Easter Island in the Pacific was discovered by the Dutch sailor Jacob Roggeveen on Easter Day 1722.

The plant that we now call an Easter Lily was discovered in 1777 in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan. Interestingly, though, the white lily is mentioned in the Bible and has been a symbol of Christianity since its beginnings. To learn more about the lily: https://pwa.www.1800flowers.com/blog/floral-occasions-holidays/history-of-the-easter-lily/

If you’ve been gifted with an Easter lily and you have pets, you should know that the plant is poisonous. Though the plant presents a high rate of toxicity to cats who ingest it, many pet owners are not aware of the dangers posed by it. There are no documented cases of poisoning by Easter lily in dogs, but there is a definite possibility of effects such as gastrointestinal upset or internal obstruction if your dog eats a large amount of this plant. Most cases of ingestion of the Easter lily by canines will mean mild gastrointestinal upset simply because the digestive systems of dogs are not used to processing plant material, especially in large quantities. While considered as lethal to cats, the Easter lily is not toxic to dogs but this does not mean your canine companion should have free rein to ingest this plant. The Easter lily is known to be extremely toxic to the feline species. While this flower is not documented as poisonous to dogs, ingestion of the flower in large quantities may  lead to digestive discomfort.

Read more at: https://wagwalking.com/condition/easter-lily-poisoning