Any corrective pruning should be finished in February. Remember to paint all wounds over one inch in diameter with a pliable water-proof paint. This prevents drying out and checking of the wood and resultant decay and also prevents the entrance of disease or insects.
All untreated seeds carry on or within them microscopic fungi and bacteria. Hundreds of kinds of seed-borne organisms, capable of causing plant diseases exist. These fungi and bacteria may cause seeds to decay in the soil and young seedlings, bulbs, corms or rhizomes to rot before or after shoots emerge from the soil.
For those of you who prefer gardens that thrive on neglect” or do not have time for intensive gardening, try summer bulbs. May is the time to plant these. The results one achieves from planting these are marvelous. The common garden canna is truly a hardy member of this group. The dormant rhizomes are usually available in nearly every garden store. Look for vigorous varieties and fast growers. Clusters of bright red flowers are produced in quantity. Do not forget a good pink while or small-flowered oranges with bronze foliage. The foliage is as valuable as the flowers, in fact with many gardeners it is more valuable. In our area the rhizomes should be dug and stored for the winter.
March is a month of great contrasts in the North. It may start in a mild, spring-like manner; it may be blustery. One week it’s fair: another it’s wintery. There may be green grass, there may be snow fields; you never can be sure of the weather or the appearance of the landscape. In the far North winter continues to reign, but in the southern part there are many signs of spring. The robins have arrived and the crocuses are sprouting. The Siberian scillas are waving their tiny, blue and white flowers and the strange blooms of the skunk cabbage can be seen by those who know where to look for them in marshy places.
Blow Wind Blow and go garden go! Wind always creates problems in the garden but in March in the South the problem becomes acute. All gardeners know of the damage that results from plants whipping back and forth, being bruised or crushed against each other, the cutting action of the fine soil, and the silting action of the blowing dust. All these are bad. enough, but the real damage comes from the drying action of the winds the dehydration of plant tissues.
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