Lee’s Landscape News           Feb 16 2005 

Wow it was nice out yesterday! Everybody had shed their coats and had a bounce in their step.  On the other hand I was plowing snow at 4 AM today...but the brief warmup had me thinking “what is there to do in the landscape?”

Here are a few late winter ideas.

		Check out you garden tools, patio furniture, window boxes etc. Paint, repair or discard so you are ready to go when it’s really nice out!
		It’s a good time to propagate some house plants. Abundant sunshine is on its way!
		Order Seeds! Hey that’s always fun. Try something new this year!
		Prune decidous trees that need it. Remove dead or problem branches, crossing branches and basal sprouts.  Make sure you know the proper way to do a pruning cut and get an arborist for th big jobs for safety and future health of the tree.  The ISA consumer site has great advice here. http://www.treesaregood.com/
		Try forcing the bloom on some early spring flowering branches. Forsythia is a common choice for this; but pussy willow, quince, spirea, and dogwood can be forced forced to bloom also. It’s easy and gets you out in the garden for few minutes! Gather your branches and when arranging them make slanted cuts to help with water absorption.  Put them in a vase and keep the water fresh, changing it a couple times a week.
		Contact your local landscape service now for any spring projects.  In a few weeks they are going to be very busy!