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Karen Collins, a longtime Sugar Creek
employee, has identified
things you can tackle in your garden this month:
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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.
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Cool-season annuals like pansies and
snapdragons, love our cool April temperatures and don't
need any additional protection.
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Remove winter mulch from rose bushes.
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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.
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Raise mowers to highest setting and mow
groundcovers to remove winter burn and tidy appearance.
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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.
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Prune all dead and weakened wood from
shrubs due to winter injury.
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Established roses may be fertilized once
new growth is 2 inches long. We recommend Bayer Advanced
All-in-One Rose and Flower Care Concentrate.
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Also use the Bayer All-in-One product to
pretreat plants that are susceptible to mildew, such as
monarda, phlox, and syringa.
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Begin spraying to control black spot
disease. We recommend Ortho Rose Pride Rose and Shrub
Disease Control.
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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.
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Easter lilies may be planted outdoors.
Set bulbs 2-3 inches deeper than they grew in pot.
Mulch.
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Boxwoods can be pruned after April 15.
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Use Espoma Holly-Tone for control of
holly leaf miner. Apply when new leaves begin to grow.
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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.
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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.
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