The Gift of Mulch

It has been my experience that following Christmas and all the discarded trees, the free mulch from the Pitt County Solid Waste and Recycling Center off Allen Road is the highest quality of the year. Take advantage of this late Christmas gift to help prevent weeds and conserve moisture in the garden. If you have any questions about this mulch call the Pitt County Waste and Recycling site at 830-2599.

Pruning

Winter is an excellent time to prune broadleaf evergreens, deciduous summer flowering shrubs, and many trees. Use selective pruning to remove individual branches, shaping the plant as you prune. Shearing is bad pruning for many plants, unless you desire a formal appearance. Make sure to keep shrubs widest at the base to avoid shading and loss of leaves at the bottom. When pruning small tree branches cut back to a live bud or branch. Large branches should be removed just outside the branch collar(swollen area at branch origin). When cutting tree branches over 1.5 inches use a three part cut. First saw the bottom of the branch 6 to 12 inches out from the trunk and about one-third of the way through. Make the second cut from the top, about 3 inches further out. The major part of the branch will fall away. The stub left can be cut back to the branch collar.

Plants for Winter Interest

Consider planting trees and shrubs that have winter interest to brighten up the landscape during an otherwise green meatball and bare branches time of year. Some of the evergreen hollies have red berries in winter, but the winterberry, a holly that drops its leaves in the winter, reveals beautiful bright red berries and makes an excellent mass planting. Pyracanthas also make a good show in winter. One of my favorite plants for winter interest in crossvine. Crossvine, Bignonia capreolata, is a vine that will climb as long as it has something to climb on up to 30 feet. It loves full sun and develops orange-red tubular flowers in April or May. I think the most attractive feature is during the winter. Crossvine is semi-evergreen to evergreen or actually everpurple. During the winter the leaves change from green to striking reddish-purple. Crossvine is a tough native plant that is great for covering a trellis to spring flowers, shade, and winter interest. Other good winter plants are winter honeysuckle, witchhazel, and winter daphne. Don't forget other traditional plants like Japanese and Sasanqua camellias.

Plan for Spring

Take the opportunity to enjoy some time inside during the cold days of winter. Read gardening magazines and books and put some plans together for adding new things to the garden during the year.

Bagworms

Take some time this winter to inspect any needle-leaved evergreens you have for bagworms. Bagworms are caterpillars that make a small bag out of leaves or needles of the plant material they feed on. This time of year bags that are hanging on plants have eggs in them waiting to hatch next April or May. Hand remove any bags you see now to prevent damage next year. Using insecticides this time of year does no good since the bag provides protection.

Changing Bigleaf Hydrangea Bloom Color

If you would like to have a different bloom color on your bigleaf hydrangea than you have, now is the time to follow these instructions. Soil pH of 5.5 to 6.5 yields bluish-pink flowers. Pink hydrangea flowers are associated with soil pH of 6.5 and greater. If you want pink flowers add 1 cup of lime per plant, work into the soil, and water in to the drip line. If you want blue flowers the preferred pH is 4.5 to 5.5 and addition of 1 tsp. of Aluminum sulfate per gallon of water done three times should do the trick.