Garden tips for February Garden tips for February (February 20, 2004)

Indulge your love of flowers this month

By Jack McKinnon

February is a month for lovers -- old lovers, new lovers and wannabe lovers. If you have a love of gardening, this is a great month for indulging yourself with flowers. I will give tips on planting, pruning, fertilizing and giving plants in February.

Of course, nothing is better than cut flowers for the vase or table arrangement. More cut flowers are sold this month than any other month in the year. Please support local nurseries and florists; they have a great selection to chose from and love you for the business.

1. Roses, gardenias, forget-me-nots, tulips, daffodils and paper whites are great gifts. Cut flowers create the opportunity to show one's love again and again. Plants are an added bonus.

2. Toward the end of the month, plant summer bulbs into pots or directly in the ground. Plant begonias, cannas, dahlias, tuberose and caladium. If you don't know what these plants are, you can look them up in your garden book or do an Internet search on Google under the plant name.

3. Put out bait or traps for snails and slugs. They will be young and hungry as soon as it warms up. They love young tender plants so don't put this off.

4. Plant vegetables such as beets, carrots, chard, peas (pole and bush), spinach, celery, asparagus, broccoli, potatoes, cabbage and cauliflower. Start seedlings of eggplant, peppers and tomatoes and basil in flats to be transplanted when it warms up.

5. Prune wisteria before buds swell. Cut off most of last year's growth, leaving as many of the flower spurs as possible.

6. Rake up camellia blossoms to prevent petal blight from spreading.

7. Fertilize annuals, perennials, fruit trees and roses. Wait for azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons to finish blooming before fertilizing.

8. Prune and feed hydrangeas.

9. You can buy seeds by the spoonful at Common Ground in Palo Alto. This pro-organic gardening store has been in business for many years providing great products and information to the home gardener. You can visit its Web site at www.commongroundinpaloalto.org.

10. Have a special garden date. Try something different like visiting Half Moon Bay Nursery, which is always a great floral show.

Good gardening.

Jack McKinnon worked in the Sunset Magazine gardens for 12 years and is now a garden coach. He can be reached at 879-3261 or by e-mail at jcmckinnon@earthlink.net.

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