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OVERGROWTH
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We just bought a home and all the shrubs are overgrown now but beautiful. There are spireas, azaleas, hollies, big grasses and altheas scraping the eaves. Which can we prune when? – Molly M., Clinton |
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Get out your calendar and mark these dates for a personal pruning calendar. In January, it’s ornamental grasses, which need to be cut down to a low mound about 1/5 the size it is now. The altheas (Hibiscus syriacus) needn’t mess up the paint job. Take off what’s necessary to control their height now. On your calendar, enter them on early March for annual pruning if needed. Baby’s breath (Spiraea thunbergii) blooms about then, so put in early March. Holly bushes (Ilex spp.) should be pruned once their berries are done, but certainly before new growth takes off in spring. That date falls somewhere between the hungry birds visiting in February and the emergence of first new leaves in March. Bridal wreath spirea (S. prunifolia) and azaleas (Rhododendron spp.) usually finish blooming together. Within one month of flowering, both can be pruned as much as necessary to get them back into shape. Go the extra mile for these shrubs this summer.Water weekly during dry spells, spread 2 inches of organic mulch around all of them, and fertilize lightly this month. |
NOT-SO-MERRY MARIGOLDS
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Every year I plant marigolds, sometimes from seed and other times I buy little plants. No matter which way I do it, the little French types die by July. I like both! What am I doing wrong? |
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Your experience is not uncommon in Mississippi, and explains why some gardeners choose to only grow the large,
incredibly odiferous African types (Tagetes erecta) with fat yellow or orange flowerheads. Dwarf marigolds (T. patula) are much more susceptible to common pests that erupt into huge populations of pain in the summer. You may have noticed that the little leaves get chewed or stippled with white dots, there might be tiny webs or white sticky blobs. Sometimes none of these are apparent because the little plants seem to dry up and die overnight. There is at least one way to grow both types of marigolds, especially since you grow from seed. Start dwarf marigolds, whether the painted petal types or the pom poms, in late summer for fall flowers. Next year, plant seeds indoors in January for transplant as soon as weather permits. Like nasturtiums, dwarf marigolds usually flame out at midsummer, but you can start the seeds early and provide protection if a late spring freeze is predicted.
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