It is an accepted fact that plants increase in value as they increase in age; therefore, it becomes very important that trees and shrubs be put in the correct location at their initial planting. The loss of even one season’s growth can harm the design effect of your plantings. Now is the time to check these placements before actual planting begins.
This is also a very good time to get the garden record book ready for the season. Nothing is more important than records to give the gardener information on local conditions, specific to his own garden. Make entries such as purchases, prices, delivery dates vs. planting dates, germination, budding, flowering, even visitors to your garden, height of beauty, and dates of pest infestations.
Pruning
February is a good month to prune. By careful examination, determine the location and extent of any dead, damaged, or diseased limbs and remove these first. Next, look for crossing or competing limbs and remove these. Then study the overall outline or shape of the plant and prune to remove any undesirable growth.
The pruning shears, knives and saws should be sharp, and clean cuts should be made. Every cut over one-half inch in diameter should be painted to seal it against bleeding, drying out, or entrance of disease. Tree wound dressings are on the market now in small spray cans. This type of wound dressing has merit as it is under pressure and can be applied into crevices in the wound area.
A smart gardener will know what not to prune during February. All of the early flowering shrubs (e.g. forsythia, pussy willow, cydonia) have their flower buds formed and any pruning now will remove part of the flower crop. Prune these types of plants immediately after flowering. Severe pruning now of crape-myrtle, vitex, buddleia, and other plants that produce flowers on new growth, will stimulate the necessary new growth.
Late February is the time for pruning roses in this section. The same principles of pruning apply here - roses are not basically different from any other shrub. More careful attention should probably be given to pruning for direction of growth and painting the wounds. Rose canes tend to dehydrate more readily than other types of plants.
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