Lowes loves your garden as much as you do. With a Lowes Money Off Coupon from We Are Coupons looking after and maintaining your garden costs less. In the United States, February is an excellent time to get outside and complete some of the gardening tasks that you need to do. This month, you can prune and trim shrubs and hydrangeas, sow seeds, and plant vegetables.
Pruning clematis
Most of the large flowering clematis you'll find in the garden can be pruned. Pruning is a matter of staggered, or alternating, cuts, each time removing a portion of the stem to allow space for more to grow.
You can use the same pruning technique for each variety, but the timing of the cuts will depend on the group you are pruning. Usually, new clematis should be pruned in the same way for the first year. After that, you may need to thin the plants every couple of years, depending on the type of clematis you're growing.
Group C clematis are often the easiest to prune, but they have a tendency to flower late in the summer. You can prune your clematis back to 15cm (6in) from the base, but it will reduce the number of flowers you'll get.
Prune hydrangeas
If you have hydrangeas in your garden, you need to know when to prune them. Pruning your hydrangeas is a great way to increase the size of their flowers and keep them looking neat and tidy. The timing is also important for preventing winter injury to your plant.
Some hydrangeas are best pruned in early spring while others should be pruned in late winter. Most hydrangeas should be pruned after they have finished blooming. This gives the shrub a chance to set buds for next year. However, it is best not to prune them in the fall. Leaving old wood on the plant allows it to recover from pruning before winter, which helps to prevent it from losing its flower buds.
Bigleaf hydrangeas can be pruned after they have finished flowering. They have large, serrated dark green leaves. Aside from giving the plant a chance to set buds for next year, pruning them this way also allows them to develop new growth.
Hydrangea paniculata is a commonly planted variety. It produces panicle-shaped flowers that hang on the shrub during the winter. These are different from the flattened lacecaps of other hydrangeas.
There are two ways to prune panicle hydrangeas. One is to remove the stems that are dead or have brown flowers. Another is to prune the entire shrub by at least one-third of the total mass.
If you decide to prune your hydrangeas after they have finished blooming, be sure to use a sharp gardening tool. Cutting the stems in a clean, splinter-free manner will help reduce the risk of infection.
New-wood hydrangeas should be pruned to 18 inches high in late winter. Cutting off some of the oldest stems will open up the tree, making it look larger.
