January & February

• Summer flowering shrubs can be pruned in winter, however spring flowering shrubs should be pruned right after they are done blooming. General pruning rules: trim out dead branches, branches that rub, duplicating branches, branches that cross or will eventually rub.

• Begin planning and gathering ideas for your next landscape project. Contact Stuber Land Design, Inc. for professional design and installation solutions

• Check pond heaters regularly

March

• Cut back roses, grasses, and perennials

• Grasses can be burned down if in an appropriate site

• Apply pre-emergent herbicides to landscape beds

• Fertilize roses with rose food plus systemic insecticide

• Prune panicle hydrangeas if not done in the fall

April

• Apply crabgrass preventer on lawn about the time Forsythia bloom

• Still time to apply pre-emergent herbicides to landscape beds

• Fertilize trees and shrubs with the appropriate fertilizer

• Treat aphids as they appear on Spirea and Roses

May

• Begin foliar sprays for diseases as leaves emerge using fungicides

• Prune back early blooming shrubs after they bloom

• Begin insect sprays on Boxwood (for Psyllids) when Weigela blooms

• Spray for scale when Catalpa trees bloom

• Begin spraying for Borers

• Start watching for rose sawflies. First indications are silver spots and tiny holes in leaves

• Watch for sawfly worms on pines (especially on Mugho pines)

June

• Prune evergreen and broadleaf shrubs (boxwood and yews)

• Scout and treat for early infestations of bagworms

• To detect spruce mites, shake branches over white paper, green/gray moving spots are an indicator that treatment is needed.  Red spots/streaks are predatory mites. DO NOT SPRAY

• Apply rose food again

• Japanese beetle watch about mid-month

• New growth on Macrophylla hydrangeas should be out.  Prune off all dead branches.  

July

• Deadhead perennials for prolonged blooming

• Stella daylilies can be cut to the ground and allowed to regrow and bloom

• Another application of pre-emergent herbicide is recommended on landscape beds

• Trailing annuals can be pruned back now for better blooming in late summer

• Continue spraying for Japanese beetles

August

• Watering, deadheading, and weed control

• Not a good time to prune Boxwood or Yews (new growth may not have time to harden off in the late fall)   

• Prune Oakleaf Hydrangea

• Make preparations for fall seedings

September

• Watch for second generation of Rose sawfly

• Lawn weed control (except in areas to be seeded)

• New lawn seeding and over seeding

• Aerate Lawns

October

• Wrap young trees against deer damage early in the month

• Systemic drenches on trees and shrubs to help with Japanese beetle control for the next year

• Fertilize trees and shrubs

• Apply winterizer fertilizer on lawns

• Can begin cutting down perennials

• Plant fall bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, crocus, etc.

November

• Water evergreens and broadleaves if rains have been inadequate

• Prune deciduous shrubs except early bloomers

• Apply Wilt-Pruf to newly planted evergreens and broadleaves against dehydration

• Apply dormant oils to plants with scale infections

December

• Any of the November chores that were not completed as weather allows

• Tree trimming