Calendar of the Soul

Gardening Tips for February

Here in California February is the biggest month for pruning. This is the best time to prune roses and deciduous plants such as magnolia verbarnum, ribes and forsynthia. I always tell people to think of Valentines Day when they ask me when to prune their roses. Wherever you are, the key is to prune after hard frosts are over and before things leaf out. February is also the time to prune fruit trees except apricot, which is pruned in August (how strange – it has to do with sap flow). It is also good time to divide bamboo, iris, and other clumping plants.

This is also the biggest month to plant bare root trees and shrubs like blueberries. Sequoia strawberries are a personal favorite of mine. They produce large sweet berries in spring, summer and fall. After purchasing your bare root plants be sure to plant then right away or heal them into a pile of moist soil or sawdust and water them in thoroughly if you can’t plant them the same day. Also stay away from trees with crossing branches, dogleg grafts where the base of the trunk doesn’t come up straight and trees that have more than one leader (that’s the very tip of the tree).

This is the best time of the year to prune Japanese Maples and other deciduous trees since the sap is not flowing during dormancy and you can really see the structure of the branches. Remove crossing branches that point into the center of the tree and thin dense branch areas to make room for future growth. This is also the time to get on the weeds while they're getting going and before they seed. Remove by hand and add mulch to base areas. For large areas like orchards, weed whip to remove seed heads and then seed area with native grasses in the fall. Apply non toxic snail bait, like Sluggo, as snails love the rainy months.