Karen's Garden

Calendar: April

1011 N. Woodlawn

Kirkwood, Missouri

63122

314-965-3070

MailSCG@aol.com

• Warm-season annuals need consistently warm temperatures and warmed-up soil.  They should not be planted until all danger of frost has passed, which is usually April 15 in the St. Louis area. If hit by a cold spell or planted in cold soil, their growth is stopped and plants are severely set back.  Some are very slow to re-establish vigorous growth.  Warm-season annuals can be planted in containers, however, with an eye kept on the weather forecast.  If temperatures dip in the low 30s overnight, a blanket, towel, or plastic sheet can be thrown over them for protection.

• Cool-season annuals like pansies and snapdragons, love our cool April temperatures and don't need any additional protection.

• Remove winter mulch from rose bushes.

• Remove dead wood from climbing roses. Lightly cultivate Cotton Burr Compost or Rose Bed Amendment or other organic matter into soil around base of roses.

• Raise mowers to highest setting and mow groundcovers to remove winter burn and tidy appearance.

• Shrubs and trees best transplanted or newly planted in spring, rather than fall, include butterfly bush, dogwood, rose of sharon, black gum, vitex, red bud, magnolia, tulip, poplar, birch, gingko, hawthorn, and most oaks.

• Prune all dead and weakened wood from shrubs due to winter injury.

• Established roses may be fertilized once new growth is 2 inches long. We recommend Bayer Advanced All-in-One Rose and Flower Care Concentrate.

• Also use the Bayer All-in-One product to pretreat plants that are susceptible to mildew, such as monarda, phlox, and syringa.

• Begin spraying to control black spot disease. We recommend Ortho Rose Pride Rose and Shrub Disease Control.

• Carefully cultivate soils to avoid injury to balloon flowers (platycodon), gas plant (dictamnus), hardy hibiscus, plumbago (ceratostigma plumbaginoides) and some lilies as they are slow to show in the spring garden.

• Easter lilies may be planted outdoors. Set bulbs 2-3 inches deeper than they grew in pot. Mulch.

• Boxwoods can be pruned after April 15.

• Use Espoma Holly-Tone for control of holly leaf miner. Apply when new leaves begin to grow.

• Now is the time to shape evergreen and deciduous hedges. When pruning, it is important that the top is narrower than the base so that sunlight can reach lower limbs.
   

• Annuals need consistently warm temperatures and warmed-up soil; they should not be planted until all danger of frost has passed. If hit by a cold spell, or planted in cold soil, their growth is stopped and plants are severely set back. Some are very slow to re-establish vigorous growth.