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Friday, February 18, 2011

Sunshine and Shears


Get your muck boots and tank top on - it’s time for outdoor garden fun. These warm temps are ideal for getting out in the yard and pruning your deciduous and ornamental trees. The late winter/early spring pruning season has begun. This is the time to evaluate what's happening, but in particular with the trees. Your jaunt may require big boots or snow shoes to get access but you can’t beat these temps.

Why prune now?
A) The sap flow hasn’t started in the trees which is a good thing when pruning. Think of fixing a leaky boat. You wouldn’t do the repair in the water. Same with a tree. Right now, everything is still dormant. The pruning marks cauterize before the sap starts to flow.
B) Any severe weather that we may still encounter tends to be short-lived because the days are longer i.e., slowly warmer. The worst of the winter weather is behind us.

Need techniques? You can check the endless list online for illustrations and informative videos. Also take a peek at my March 10th, 2010 blog that covers some of the basics of pruning and when you might consider bringing in an expert i.e., a certified arborist. http://blog.bilowzassociates.com/2010/03/to-prune-or-not-to-prune.html Here are two informative video links that may also be helpful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGEOtghlDhk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3he65DCEfqM
If you do find this is beyond your comfort zone or it’s time to bring in an arborist, remember many of the local companies are a bit backlogged due to restricted site access from this winter’s heavy snowfall. So call and get on their short list. Don’t drag your heels in the mud.

And as Steve Martin says, “A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.” So get out and enjoy yourself with sunshine and shears.

P.S. For anyone subscribing via email that prefers to reply direct, I’ll keep an email address in the blog agbilowz@comcast.net. You can always post on our fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bilowz-Associates-Inc-Our-Blog-Annies-Gardening-Corner/325316334444 or http://www.facebook.com/abilowz or follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/annbilowz.
Images from the Internet.

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© 2009 Ann St. Jean-Bilowz/Bilowz Associates Inc. (including all photographs, unless otherwise noted in Annie's Gardening Corner are the property of Bilowz Associates Inc. and shall not be reproduced in any manner nor are they to be assigned to any third party without the expressed written permission and consent of Bilowz Associates Inc.)