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| Green and Growing: Cure for pruning anxiety (Spring 2006) |
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Dear G&G: Call me an old softie, but I hate to prune trees and shrubs for fear of harming them. Am I being too squeamish?
Dear Prudish Pruner:
Fear of pruning is probably as common as fear of heights, but don’t despair. What you need is a confidence builder and here it is—shrubs actually benefit from renewal pruning. It’s okay to cut individual shoots off just above ground level. On a typical flowering shrub, remove the oldest branches to open it up and allow more sunlight into the center. This kind of pruning promotes new growth at the base for lilac, deutzia, forsythia, and red-twig or golden-twig dogwoods.
Single-stem shrubs (miniature trees) prefer removal of old wood back to the main branches.
Some shrubs require rejuvenation pruning by cutting all stems down to 4- to 6-inch stubs. These are spirea, honeysuckle, beauty bush, snowberry, slender deutzia and privet. Get a good book on pruning for illustrations and be bold.
Dear G&G: My neighbor aerates his lawn every year. Is that really necessary?
Dear Neighborhood Watcher:
Keep an eye out for kids running on the grass or vehicles rolling across it. These are the causes of ground compaction. This makes it difficult for air, water, and nutrients to reach the lawn’s root system. If you have this problem, you probably noticed that the grass is not doing well.
Take a tip from the pros and aerate in the fall. You can attach a lightweight aerator to your lawn tractor, or you can rent a walk-behind unit. An aerator pulls plugs of soil to open the ground. Rake the plugs to break up and distribute the soil, then apply fertilizer to feed the root system. Next spring you’ll have the lawn everyone looks at with envy.
Dear G&G: My work keeps me so busy I don’t have much time to plant a flower garden. How can I enjoy flowers after a hard day on the job?
Dear Busy Bee:
If you can make the time to plant a perennial bed, you’ll be rewarded with beautiful flowers for at least three years. You can find perennials that fit all kinds of situations - sunny, shady, moist, or dry. And they don’t require a lot of care.
Here are just a few popular perennial plants for you to consider: artemisia, begonia, columbine, daisy, foxglove, gaillardia, hollyhock, iris, liatris, phlox, rudbeckia, salvia, trollius, and veronica.
Follow these timely tips: Put them in after the frost-free date. Some require staking to keep them upright. Feed with a small ring of 5-10-5 fertilizer around each plant in early spring, then again six weeks later, and repeat one more time six weeks later. Water the fertilizer in and wash off leaves to prevent burning. That’s all there is to it, so pencil in a date on your day planner to get started.
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