Topics include salvias, blueberries, grasses and more
Sacramento County master gardener Pat Schink explains winter pruning of woody sages, aka salvias, in a video available on YouTube. Screen grab from "Pruning Woody Sages," UCCE Master Gardeners of Sacramento County
No need to look far for great gardening advice: The Sacramento County group of master gardeners, not to mention other counties in California, have produced terrific -- and short -- videos on all kinds of topics.
This time of year the A-Number One topic is pruning, of course. Trees, roses, perennials, berry bushes all are dormant and can be pruned.
But pruning a plant you've invested time and money in can be scary to some people. What if it's ruined forever? They fret and then don't do anything. But ignoring pruning may ultimately hurt more than help that plant.
Below are suggestions on videos to watch that will explain the pruning process succinctly. But first, a few plants that should NOT be pruned during winter:
-- Apricot and cherry trees. Pruning cuts on these trees are susceptible infection from a fungus (Eutypa) and bacterial canker diseases that flourish in wet weather. Save those pruning duties for late summer.
-- Citrus trees. Pruning stimulates growth, and new growth is highly susceptible to frost damage. Wait until after harvest (usually April or May, depending on the type).
-- Lilacs, camellias and other spring-flowering shrubs. Easy reason: The risk of cutting off all those flower buds!
Here are my favorite master gardener pruning videos:
-- "Pruning Mature Blueberry Plants." Blueberries are fun to grow, but they can be mysterious to care for. Master gardener Tamara Engel demonstrates the best tools and techniques for thinning the plants before spring growth begins.
-- "Pruning Rosemary." Master gardener Karen Martin explains when and how to cut to keep this popular landscape herb looking great. A "hard pruning" to reshape the plant is recommended annually, usually in early spring, but any dead stems can be removed now. (Hint: Look near ground level for these.)
-- "Pruning Woody Sages." You know those wild-haired salvia plants? This is for them. They do so much better in the summer after a hard pruning in winter. Master gardener Pat Schink covers both growing-season pruning and dormant-season pruning, so bookmark this one for reference later in the year, too.
-- "Pruning Ornamental Grasses." This is a job for the February garden. Pat Schink explains the process for keeping these low-maintenance plants looking their best.
-- "How to Prune a Hybrid Tea Rose." Yolo County master gardener Marcia Nelson covers the basics in just 6 minutes. I also like Sacramento master rosarian Charlotte Owendyk's video, "How to Quickly Prune Roses," filmed for Green Acres and the Sierra Foothills Rose Society.
-- Of course, clean and sharp pruning tools are important to the process. "Sharpening Hand Pruners" is a must-see master gardener video, whatever type of plant will be pruned.
-- Winter pruning of fruit trees. For trees other than apricots and cherries, this is the time to shape deciduous fruit trees. Santa Clara County master gardener Allen Buchinski, in 2021 filmed a long presentation, "Pruning Fruit Trees," that covers many details. The county used to be known for its orchards, and this master gardener group has several fruit tree videos on its YouTube channel.
For more growing info from the UCCE master gardeners of Sacramento County: https://sacmg.ucanr.edu/
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 12
Once the winds die down, it’s good winter gardening weather with plenty to do:
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback. Save them until summer.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* After the wind stops, apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based fungicide to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. (The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.)
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladioli for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
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