Tom's Monthly Gotta-Do's
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Even though the landscape looks bad
it will grow back. Take it from one who has been through numerous Florida
freezes the landscape can regenerate itself and may be a lot better
looking too. Many of our plants have become overgrown and out of bounds.
In this case mother nature did the pruning and all you have to do is
remove the debris.
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Click here
for a special How-To gardening video on dealing with freeze damaged
plants!
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By now you should be getting a pretty good idea what is dead and what is
alive. If the leaves are brown and the stems are brown, neither are doing
anything for the plant. After many years of observing freezes I don’t
believe the brown debris provides very much if any cold protection. So my
suggestion is cut the declining plant portions back into healthy wood.
Some plants will be to the ground. Will they come back? Most will, but you
have to be patient and wait maybe for months. I once waited for a croton
to recover until July when it sent shoots up from below the soil line.
Frankly I had given up on the plant. If you cannot wait this long give the
plants at least a month or two. The roots underground are well established
and can push out quick growth once they get started.
My rule on pruning after a freeze is, when you cannot stand the brown it
is time to do the pruning. Now, there are many more things to do on this
month’s list of Gotta Do’s. |
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February 2010 Plantings
Flowers: Alyssum, aster, baby's breath, bacopa, begonia,
candytuft, carnation, calendula, coneflower, coreopsis, cosmos,
dahlia, delphinium, dianthus, diascia, dusty miller, false
heather, four o'clock, gaillardia, gaura, gazania, geranium,
gerbera, godetia, Johnny jump up, licorice plant, lobelia, million
bells, nasturtium, pansy, petunia, rose, salvia, snapdragon,
Stokes aster, sweet pea, veronica and yarrow.
Bulbs: African iris, Asiatic lily, amaryllis, blackberry lily,
blood lily, bulbine, caladium, canna, crinum, day lily, gladiolus,
gloriosa lily, Louisiana iris, society garlic, spider lily, rain
lily.
Vegetables: Plant through mid month; beet, broccoli, carrots,
cauliflower, celery, collard, endive, kohlrabi, lettuce, mustard,
pea, potato, radish and turnip. After mid month plant; bean,
cantaloupe, corn, cucumber, eggplant, luffa, pepper, pumpkin,
squash, tomato and watermelon.
Herbs: anise, basil, borage, chives, dill, fennel, lemon balm,
mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, sweet marjoram, tarragon,
and thyme.
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