Hoping a little rain may fall
HISTORICALLY, February is our rainiest month so it is not a busy time for gardeners. If there is little or no rain, it will be a very dry year. Though everybody loves a sunny day, gardens cannot get by on irrigation alone. They need deep soaking rains that reach tree roots and flush harmful salts (found in irrigation water) from the soil. If it does rain and you must get into a garden bed, to prune a rose, for example, keep plywood handy to toss onto the wet soil. It will help distribute your weight. It is best to allow wet soil to dry before planting anything. The test: Squeeze a handful of soil and if it turns into a mud ball, wait.
Windy
Fierce winds swept thought the Southland in January, wreaking havoc on some trees. If major limbs were lost, trees may need corrective pruning to bring them back into balance. If they appear lopsided, with too many heavy limbs on one side, it’s time to call in a professional before more limbs are lost, or the tree topples when soil gets wet.
Bare root continued
Early February is still a good time to plant roses and deciduous fruit trees, in abundance at nurseries now. They may be sold bare root, which means they have no leaves and no soil around their roots, or they may be packaged in bags or boxes or even nursery containers. If the dormant plants are beginning to leaf out, it’s OK to snap off the young shoots, which are often distorted in appearance and lacking in chlorophyll. New sprouts will take their place. If you find too few roots on packaged plants, however, take them back because they probably won’t do well and may be dead.
Dormant pruning
Roses and deciduous fruit trees need annual pruning while they are leafless and dormant if they are to continue producing good crops of flowers or fruit. Different roses are pruned in different ways, some hardly at all. On shrubby kinds, eliminate very old branches and encourage the newer ones by opening up plants, so air and sun can reach the interior. Remove branches that touch or cross. You want a vase-like shape with all branches growing out from, not into, the bush. Pull or clip off leaves. After pruning, spray leafless fruit trees and roses with a dormant spray, but don’t use it on plants with leaves.
Camellia time
It is an excellent time to plant camellias because they do most of their growing right after flowering, and nurseries have their best supply of the plants now. Plant camellias high, with about an inch of the root ball above ground so the base of the plant is not covered by soil after the root ball settles. This can be fatal for camellias (and azaleas) and is the main reason they die. Otherwise, camellias are remarkably tough plants.
