It’s Time to Get Ready for Spring:

The weather in March can be unpredictable.  In the past few years we have seen everything from deep snow to daffodils.  It’s important to prepare your landscape for the end of winter and the beginning of spring.  There are all kinds of chores to do in order to get your landscape started out on the right foot for spring.  Many of these are essential to help plants produce large and abundant flowers, as well as reduce the likelihood of disease activity.

Here is a short checklist to help you achieve the best results for your landscape this spring:

• Clean your flower and shrub beds of any leaf litter.  Dead leaves can foster fungal or bacterial spores that may infect new leaf tissue as it emerges in spring.
• Cut back flowering perennials like roses and butterfly bushes.  If you cut these back too early in the winter the remaining tissue can dry out and delay spring flowering.
• Inspect your irrigation system so that you can supply the needed moisture to plants as they become active.  This includes inspecting drip lines to ensure they are unclogged and positioned correctly.
• Apply a pre-emergent herbicide to your turf to decrease nuisance weeds such as crabgrass, foxtail, and spurge.
• Prune trees like Apples and Crabapples that are infected by fire blight bacterial disease.
• Make sure you have signed and returned your Plant Health Care Proposal to ensure your landscape will receive the timely care it needs throughout the growing season.
• Inspect large trees and heavy tree limbs for cracks, breaks, or cavities before the new leaf canopy obscures the view of the tree’s branch structure.

Let us know if you need help preparing your landscape for spring.  Our Arborists are available to walk through your property to help spot issues and develop a plan to resolve problems.