When considering roses for your Valentine, remember that the colors have specific meanings.
February is upon us and regardless of what the groundhog says, the weather can vary widely.
Even though it may still be cold, damp, snowy, and sometimes miserable outdoors, occasionally mother nature will bless us with a day or two of sunshine.
Be inspired to go outside and work on those days, cleaning up debris, leaves and whatever else the wind blows in.
Be sure to protect your desirable plants from deer, as this is critical as the long winter may have taken away a lot of their food choices.
Try applying a repellent to make your plants less desirable.
Remember, regardless of what the groundhog says, spring is still more than six weeks away!
Roses for Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is almost upon us and we are often asked what is the meaning of the different colors of roses.
• Red: Love or true love;
• Yellow: friendship or jealousy;
• Pink: youth, joy of life, gratitude;
• White: eternal love, innocence, virtue, purity, reverence and humility;
• Orange: Desire, passion;
• Lavender: Love at first sight;
• Red and white together: Unity; and
• Red and yellow together: Joy, happiness and excitement.
We have roses in all these beautiful colors for your Valentine.
All of our roses are the freshest available and we condition them using the latest in Dutch care and handling techniques to insure lasting quality.
Be sure to refill the water twice daily as fresh roses are very heavy water drinkers.
Fruit tree care for February
Pruning a fruit tree is one of the most important task while the tree is dormant and it does more good than fertilizing.
Why prune a fruit tree? Three very important reasons, Survival, Stimulation, and Shaping. After a single growing season, a pruned tree will be larger than an unpruned tree.
It is important to train your tree to a strong central leader and prune it to a pyramidal shape with lower branches being longer than the higher ones.
Branches should generally be cut back by no more than one-third of the total plant mass.
Taking any more than this will result in the formation of “water sprout” growth which is useless because it produces no fruit and robs important energy from the tree.
Be sure to remove any growth below 10 and 2 o’clock (as if looking at a clock face), as these branches cannot support the weight of ripening fruit, or ice and snow and usually break.
Do not leave any crossing or rubbing branches and any branch forming a V-shaped crotch which splits easily and is a good place for insects to go undetected.
Since every branch has buds going in all directions, make sure you prune right above a bud that aimed outward to encourage a spreading shape.
Your cut should also be on a slight angle. Use the angle of the bud you have selected as your guide, leaving no more than an eighth of an inch of wood above the bud.
When planting a fruit tree be sure to dig a hole 1 1/2 to 2 times wider than the root ball and dig 6-8 inches deeper.
Apply Espoma’s Biotone Plant starter in the bottom of the hole as per label instructions to prevent transplant shock and provide the necessary nutrients for healthy plant growth.
Use a 50-50 blend of compost such as Leafgro or Composted manure as your backfill.
Use the end of the shovel to fill in all the air pockets in the hole tightly.
It is very important when planting the tree that you keep the grafted part above the ground.
Not following this procedure could result in your dwarf or semi-dwarf tree becoming an old-fashion standard fruit tree that will grow way to big to harvest!
It is a good idea to apply a dormant spray of horticultural oil and liquid copper to kill any over wintering insects and diseases.
This spray should be applied when air temperatures remain above 40 degrees for a 24 to 36 hour period.
You can apply this same spray to any dormant tree or shrub and even roses.
Clean-up, landscaping services
We offer full-service and personalized landscape installation, monthly maintenance, and spring and fall pruning and cleanups and weekly mowing.
Call today for a free consultation at 410-822-8700.
(Editor’s Note: Ken Morgan is the owner of Robin’s Nest Floral and Garden Center in Easton, Md.)
