PlantAmerica's Plant Care Sheet
Deadheading
Deadheading is the removal of spent flowers. Flowers are pinched off snipped with pruners. Deadheading encourages repeated blooming and reduces the likelihood of disease and pests. Rather than throwing pinched flowers on the ground, keep the site clean by putting them in the compost pile, if they are disease- and pest-free.
Fertilizing Established Plants
Established plants benefit from a yearly fertilization. If you have a sandy soil, fertilizing twice per year may be in order. Apply a 16-4-8 or 4:1:2 fertilizer according to label directions, but do not forego the soil test. Organic mulches greatly benefit all plants, keeping roots cool, weed down, moisture in, and enriching the soil. Never fertilize just before frost; this encourages new growth that will be burned by cold weather. The safest time to fertilize is early spring or when you know that new growth will not suffer damage from late frost.
Pruning Flowering Shrubs
It is necessary to prune your deciduous flowering shrub for two reasons: 1. By removing old, damaged or dead wood, you increase air flow, yeilding in less disease. 2. You rejuvenate new growth which increases flower production.
Pruning the deciduous shrub can be divided into 4 groups: Those that require minimal pruning (take out only dead, diseased, damaged, or crossed branches, can be done in early spring.); spring pruning (encourages vigorous, new growth which produces summer flowers – in other words, flowers appear on new wood); summer pruning after flower (after flowering, cut back shoots, and take out some of the old growth, down to the ground); suckering habit pruning (flowers appear on wood from previous year. Cut back flowered stems by 1/2, to strong growing new shoots and remove 1/2 of the flowered stems a couple of inches from the ground) Always remove dead, damaged or diseased wood first, no matter what type of pruning you are doing.
Examples: Minimal: Amelanchier, Aronia, Chimonanthus, Clethra, Corus alternifolia, Daphne, Fothergilla, Hamamelis, Poncirus, Viburnum. Spring: Abelia, Buddleia, Ceonanthus, Datura, Fuchsia, Hibiscus, Hydrangea, Hypericum, Perovskia, Spirea douglasii/japonica, Tamarix. Summer after flower: Buddleia alternifolia, Calycanthus, Chaenomoles, Corylus, Cotoneaster, Deutzia, Forsythia, Magnolia x soulangiana/stellata, Philladelphus, Rhododendron sp., Ribes, Spirea x arguta/prunifolia/thunbergii, Syringa, Weigelia. Suckering: Kerria
Planting Shrubs
Dig a hole twice the size of the root ball, and deep enough to plant at the same level the shrub was in the container. If soil is poor, dig hole even wider and fill with a mixture half original soil and half compost or soil amendment.
Carefully remove shrub from container and gently separate roots. Position in center of hole, best side facing forward. Fill in with original soil or an amended mixture if needed as described above. For larger shrubs, build a water well. Finish by mulching and watering well.
If the plant is balled-and-burlapped, remove fasteners and fold back just the top of burlap, tucking it down into hole, after you’ve positioned shrub. You do not want to fully remove the burlap as you may break up or damage rootball. Make sure that all burlap is buried so that it won’t wick water away from rootball during hot, dry periods. For larger shrubs, build a water well. Finish by mulching and watering well.
If shrub is bare-root, look for a discoloration somewhere near the base; this mark is likely where the soil line was. If soil is too sandy or too clayey, add organic matter in the form of compost, soil conditioner, peat, or pulverized bark compost, which will add both drainage and water holding capacity. Fill soil, firming just enough to support shrub. Finish by mulching and watering well.