Professional Grower Tips

You can protect your plants by ensuring the soil is kept well-watered if freezes are expected and keeping less vigorous plants appropriately mulched with bark or pine straw.

January is an excellent time to plant or transplant shrubs and trees to give them time to develop root systems before the heat of summer arrives. Make sure to wait for a warmer day when the ground isn't frozen or too muddy.

Bare root fruits are a perfect choice to plant at this time of year, including: Apples, Blackberries, Figs, Grapes, Peaches, Pears, Pecans, Persimmons, Pomegranates, Raspberries, and Strawberries.

For established plants, you can easily prune overgrown trees and shrubs this time of year. But be sure NOT to prune your spring flowering trees and shrubs like Azaleas, Dogwoods, or Cherries until after they bloom.

To break the monotony of winter and start bringing color back to your gardens earlier, think about planting some Camellias, Violas, Witch Hazel, Hellebores, or Pansies.

Early January is a good time to sow your Lettuce, Radish, and Spinach seeds, while a little later will be the perfect time to plant your Beets, Bok Choy, Carrots, Collards, Kale, Mustard, Peas, Rutabagas, and Turnips.

Good herbs for this time of year include Chives, Cilantro, Dill, Parsley, Echinacea, Feverfew, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Sorrel, and Thyme.

Don't forget the Birds!

Food sources are hard to come by this time of year, so seed and suet cakes can attract many birds to your yard while helping them stay warm this winter.

They also count on you for a supply of fresh water, so if you have a bird bath available, think about adding a water wiggler to keep the water from freezing on especially cold nights.

Roses are always a favorite, and Outdoor Specialty has a wide selection of rose bushes. Also beautiful are our blooming azaleas, hydrangeas, and tulips.

Winter Daphne's are in bloom in February, and entrances and walkways are an excellent place to plant these wonderful, scented plants.

Now is a great time to enjoy spring and prepare the garden. PRUNING IS CRUCIAL. Prune your dormant trees, crape myrtles, roses, ornamental grasses, and deciduous shrubs. The time to prune spring-flowering plants like Encore Azaleas is after they bloom.

February is the time to spray trees with dormant oil for insect and disease control later in the year.

Now is the time to start thinking about your veggies. Apply lime, mushroom compost, or composted manure to prepare your vegetable beds. Late February is the best time to plant cool-season vegetable plants like onions, asparagus, and English peas.

Adjust your watering in accordance with the weather. If the soil feels dry when you put your finger in, your plant is thirsty. If you are developing yellow leaves, then cut back on your watering. 

Turning your potted plants halfway around can keep them from growing too much towards the light.

All types of lawns will need a mid-month first application of crabgrass preventer to help control weeds.

Make sure you plan to fertilize your fescue lawns after your pre-emergent has run its course.

For the Birds: Now is an excellent time to clean the birdhouse for new guests; arriving birds are still looking for food, so keep your feeders full.

March is the time to start filling your garden's backbone with trees, shrubs, and vines.

You can prune your camellias once they are blooming, so keep them well fed with some Holly Tone.

If you like wonderful-tasting strawberries, mid to late March is the ideal time for planting strawberries that you can enjoy throughout spring.

Fertilize the area you're planting the spring flowering bulbs with Plant tone.

Spray Poison Ivy and Kudzu vines with Eraser herbicide as soon as they appear.

Now is an excellent time to make sure your house plants are in good condition by repotting and keeping them fertilized.

Make sure that if you are moving houseplants outdoors, give them some extra room in their new pot. Only go one size larger when repotting.

It's time to reseed your fescue lawns as the weather starts to warm.

Early March is the time to apply a pre-emergent herbicide to control your summer weeds. After pre-emergent, do not reseed or fertilize for another six weeks.

Since bluebirds are picky about where they choose to nest, now is the time to set out your bluebird house, and be sure to have at least one hummingbird feeder to attract hummingbirds to your yard this year.

If the weather is warm, you can plant annuals like petunias, geraniums, and marigolds in the sun and coleus, impatiens, and green-leaf begonias in the shade.

Now's time to plant all the things you might have been wary of transplanting during the winter. Be sure to include shrubs, such as rhododendrons, viburnums, azaleas, or spiraea, for late spring color in your garden.

After the danger of frost has passed, begin planting warm-season vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and cucumbers.

You can begin planting summer-flowering bulbs in late April after the threat of frost has passed.

Remove faded flowers from daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths, but let the foliage die naturally. Feed spring-flowering bulbs with fertilizer immediately following the fading blooms.

To keep your garden vibrant, prune early spring blooming shrubs like forsythia, azaleas, and weigela so that the newer blooming plants can take over the show in the garden.

Houseplants can gradually be moved outdoors to enjoy the southern sun. Place houseplant containers in an area that receives partial shade – not direct sun.

Houseplants may need to be watered more often as your home receives more sun. If leaves start to droop or wilt, start watering more frequently.

Keep your houseplants fed throughout the growing season. Now is the time to start a monthly fertilizing schedule.

Attract seed-eating birds like chickadees, tufted titmice, wrens, finches, and cardinals by planting shrubs that provide the birds with a treat. Some favorite snack plants include: ornamental grasses, coneflowers, and black-eyed Susans.