Weekly Garden Tip

February 5, 2006

By Gene Joyner, Extension Agent
Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service

Winter is rapidly coming to a close and by mid to late February we should not have any further danger of low enough temperatures to damage our landscaping. It’s been so warm in some areas the last several weeks many plants already think it’s spring and are putting forth new leaves and flower buds for the upcoming season.

If you want to add landscaping, there’s no reason to delay it. Pick out your favorite shrubs, flowers, or trees at your retail garden centers or nurseries and put them in now so they get off to a good start for the spring growing season. Remember to put in new plants where they get sufficient sunlight if they are sun grown plants and water regularly the first several weeks until they become well established. Many times the failure of new plantings is people’s tendency to not follow a regular irrigation program in the establishment period.

In lawns you might notice some activity in the way of winter weeds such as dollarweed which is worse during the cooler months. If you have a severe weed problem you can put out selective weed control products starting about the middle of this month. Also if you need to do re-sodding of lawns, now is a good time to buy sod and get that project underway so the grass gets off to a good start before the hot dry spring arrives.

If you want to add some color to your landscape, most retail garden centers have good assortments of flowering plants of all sizes and it’s OK to put them in this time of year. Also many of these flowering plants can be used effectively in decorative containers on porches or even inside the home in well lighted locations.

One feature that you don’t see as much used in landscapes as it should be is putting in bird baths and bird feeders. With the destruction of our woods and natural areas as most of these properties become gated communities the loss of habitat for wildlife is tremendous. If you really want to keep birds around try to plant shrubs and bushes that they can both hide in and also those that produce fruit that they can use as a food source. Also putting bird baths close to a back porch or pool area will allow you to sit out and relax and watch the birds as they bathe. Birds really take advantage of these and there are many styles and types of bird baths available.

People often worry about bird feeders attracting unwanted pests such as rats or neighbors cats that prowl nearby trying to catch birds. These usually are relatively minor problems and can be addressed as they become serious enough to warrant doing something about it.

It won’t be long too until we get to our first major spring feeding of the year so try and take care of other chores in the landscape now so that at the end of February or March you can begin spring feeding of everything to get it off to a good recovery from last year’s hurricane.

If you have questions about plant care at this time of year or want suggestions on new landscape plants, you can get some free advice from the Palm Beach County Extension office. Dial 233-1750 in the north and central county area or 276-1260 in the south county area.