Garden Tips Newsletter
Houseplant
Rejuvenation
March 16, 2009
With spring’s arrival, houseplants should be ready to again grow quickly. Help them along by removing dead leaves, cutting back straggly stems, and repotting those that have outgrown their containers. Begin feeding every two weeks with water soluble 18-18-18 or 20-20-20.
Pussy Willow
Bring branches of pussy willow indoors as the buds begin to swell. When placed in a container of water, the furry buds will continue to open. If removed from the water and dried before the yellow flower parts appear, the graceful branches studded with downy catkins can be kept for years. The branches root easily, so keep a few in water until they are well rooted. Then you can transplant them into the garden.
Add some shrubs
Consider adding a few new spring-flowering shrubs to your garden. Dependable choices include forsythia, spireas, double Japanese kerria, Burkwood viburnum, doublefile viburnum, deutzia and star magnolia.
Divide summer and fall blooming perennials
Now is the time to divide perennials that bloom in the summer and fall. As you dig up the clump, discard weak or diseased parts and set healthy divisions at the depth they were growing before. Allow enough space between divisions so that the mature clumps will touch but not compete.
Lelia Scott Kelly, Ph.D., writes Garden Tips weekly and is a Horticulture Specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. Her office is in the North Mississippi Research & Extension Center, Verona.