Between Almost and Nearly

• Posted on 9 March 2023
• 0

Now OPEN Sundays Noon – 4p; Spring Forward Saturday night!

You can feel it in the air, it’s almost spring…well,nearly.  That’s exactly where we’re caught, between almost and nearly.  The weather, with the exception of a whole lot of wind earlier this week, has been trending decidedly ‘spring-ish’.  Lord knows there’s no shortage of projects to get underway.  Warm days have begun to awaken plants.  That means you’re ready to trim off the frozen dead stuff from the freeze before Christmas.  I encourage you to stay ready, but try to hold off on pruning…we’re somewherebetween almost and nearly ready to get that process going.

I have heard reports from my spies…  I know some of you have already been ‘at it’.  I admit, it has been a long difficult winter to see brown be the dominant color on evergreens.  So, will it hurt your plants if you’ve already trimmed them?  No.   What waiting does, is make the trimming you do, more accurate.  That is to say, I’m trying to save you some work, so you don’t have to go back and trim still more. 

The other side of that coin, is that you possibly might trim more severely than necessary. To be sure, even that won’t likely be harmful, but depending on your level of frustration at the outset of the ‘hack’ job, you might achieve an unnecessarily stubby look.  You may not be able to hide the fact that you are working through an unrelated resentment. If this severity of pruning is indeed necessary, be prepared to explain that the paring down of your prunus was done under the auspices of best horticultural practices, not in a teeth clinched tirade.

We have plenty of information for you, to assist you in your happy gardening moments.  Austin Lohin talks about trimming Annabelle-type hydrangeas and, how and when, to prune switch grass.  We’re sure you have copious gardening questions; submit them here.  We answer those questions every Saturday morning on, “The At Home Show” live at 8a; available for streaming, anytime, at your convenience.

David Bates