April Maintenance Guide
GARDENING WITH CONFIDENCE®
THIS MONTH IN THE GARDEN
Mid-Atlantic Region
Cercis canadensis subsp. texensis 'Traveller'
INTRO
The entire month of April is wrapped in spring. With March madness behind us and the merriment of May ahead, we feel the need to stop and appreciate our gardens in April; or at least I do.
Our area’s last listed frost date is April 15th. The IRS has made this easy for us to remember! Sure enough, the date has been accurate in my journal for several years, but it is always close. All was fine until April 17, 2007 when we had, not just a late frost, but a killing winter freeze. I don’t recall experiencing anything like it before.
The month of April is full of tulips, daffodils, Virginia bluebells, Youshino cherry, flowering dogwood, crabapple, candy tuff, azaleas, creeping phlox, and more.
BULBS
If you forced paper-white narcissus indoors over the holidays using a soil based medium, they can be planted outdoors for years of enjoyment. If you forced them in the absence of soil, they are spent; compost them!
I know it drives you crazy to see the fading leaves of the daffodil. Yes, it really is necessary to keep the green leaves as long as possible; the leaves are needed to collect food for next year’s food.
ANNUALS
Wait until after the last frost before planting tender annuals such as Impatiens and Petunias.
PERENNIALS
Peony Itoh 'Kopper Kettle'
The Cross Vine trellised over my garden gate and up the side of our house is striking in April. Love, love, love this vine. This is why we put up with a ratty looking vine in the winter or at least, this is why I do. Every couple of years, I give it a hard prune.
The sticks of Miss Huff Lantana left for architectural interest (or should have been left for the health of the plant) can probably be cut to the ground now. I usually leave mine until the new growth comes in so I can have a visual to remind me of what will come.
Now is a good time to divide Hostas. There is lots of good advice out there on the proper way to do this. I take the in-situ method; i.e. as the green appears, I take a shovel and place it in the middle of the plant. With a determined push with my foot, I split the plant, then pull half of it up and move it to its new home. Works for me. But in Helen’s Haven, I no longer grow Hostas, which saddens me greatly. The one area where we can grow them is infested with voles. Trying all the usual tricks, none have worked. But I would not longer grow them there even if I didn’t have voles. This area also too dry. When I re-worked Helen’s Haven into a waterwise design, I was no longer willing to bring water to this area. Such is gardening. The real beauty in gardening is the wealth of plants available to fill any niche . When one door closes, another door opens. I now have a very nice display of hellebores. Hellebores provide year round greenery, flowers in the late winter (wow), they are drought tolerant and poisonous to voles, so they stay clear.
TREES AND SHRUBS
The time to prune azaleas is just after they bloom. In fact, a good rule of thumb is to prune most blooming shrubs right after they bloom. If you wait too long, you will cut off next years bloom. However, if in July I decided they need pruning and I know the consequences, but they really bother me, I will prune. I do so knowing I’ll not have blooms the following spring. But I garden for the long haul. If I miss a year’s bloom, there is always the next. I try not to let this happen, but I won’t wait on something in July that makes the whole garden look off.
If you have to tame our forsythia, do it now. It can be cut back–as much as you need –and still have some flowers next winter.
If your gardenia was hit with winter burn, just cut off the burned ends. Or, take the lazy method, which is what I do. Let the new leaves self prune the dead. The dead leaves will eventually drop off. If you see a lot of yellow leaves, test the soil and remember gardenias like acid soil! However, also remember this is part of the plant’s natural cycle. It looses leaves in the spring and then produces new growth. So be patient.
Now is good time to cut back the red-stemmed dogwood branches. The winter red color is on the new growth.
It is normal to see a large amount of Magnolia leaves shed beginning this month. Some find it messy, but if the Magnolia was left to grow properly, the leaves
Calycanthus raulstoni 'Hartlage Wine'
will fall within the drip line and should be of little consequence. By ‘grow properly’, I mean Magnolias are not meant to be limbedup. In fact helping the branches droop is encouraged. In earlier days, it was common to weigh the lower branches down with rope and bricks. By keeping a ‘skirt’ on the tree, it hides the falling leaves and makes the tree very stately from the ground up. Once the limbs are cut, there is no going back. I have friend in Burtee County. Her sister inherited a pre-civil war home with magnificent Magnolias out front. For whatever reason, she limbed them up. Now the beauty of these magnificent Magnolias has gone with the wind.
ROSES
Roses are leafing out now and will even bloom in April if the winter was mild enough.
HERBS
Plant herbs after the treat of the season’s final frost. Plant annual herbs such as basil, bi-annulas such as parsley, and perennial herbs such as rosemary, chives, thyme, and mint.
The lavender are at their most beautiful now through May.
VEGETABLES
If you are planning to canning and preserving tomatoes, plant determinate bush type tomatoes. Determinate tomatoes will fruit and ripen all at once (within a week or so.)
If you want to enjoy vine-repened tomatoes all summer through frost, plant indeterminate tomatoes.
WATERWISE
Waterwise doesn’t mean never watering. It means watering wisely. The first weeks after planting or transplanting and during development, plants need water on a regular basis.
SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES
A sharpened hoe is your best friend in a sustainable garden.
GARDEN PESTS
WILDLIFE
Helen Yoest is a garden writer, speaker and garden coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™.
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