Weekly Garden Tip

March 12, 2006

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

This time of year there’s a lot of changes going on in the landscape, but the one that catches most people’s attention is the rapid dropping of older damaged leaves from last year and the plant’s putting out fresh new growth for the upcoming season. Some types of commonly used landscape plants up to 3/4 of the leaves will be shed over the next 3 to 4 weeks.

People that are new to the area or that haven’t gardened much sometimes are upset at this messy condition, but it’s nature’s way of recycling and getting rid of the old leaves as it comes out with new ones.

Some of our big trees such as various types of oaks, West Indian mahogany and black olive will drop large portions of their leaves by the end of this month if they have not started already. As long as it’s only the old leaves that are yellowing, nothing is wrong with the plant and it’s simply going through spring transition.

Fertilize if you haven’t done so already to help new growth emerge on a faster basis and be more healthy.

Also water at least twice a week in the landscape if we’re having dry conditions so that plants don’t slow down their growth going into the upcoming growing season. Plants that have not been pruned since last fall or before can be pruned now to give them better shapes for the upcoming season. Also if you have plants you wish to add to the landscape, this is a great time for installing new landscape material.