Watering and flowering pruning of the shrubs to be planned as soon as the thaw . That the temperatures are winter in winter, what could be more normal, even if the coldness is stronger this year in certain regions of our country. This should not make us forget that we must prepare for garden work, as soon as the thaw arrives.
The first priority is watering new plants and bulbs . In our noon, the cold has teamed up with the wind and dehydration is important.
It is also the time of sizes. From mid-February to the end of March, depending on the region, pruning shears are back in service. Let's remember the obvious here:a pruner is a tool that must cut! Sharpening the blade is a helping hand. If your pruner has never found love with a stone for watering and pruning shrubbery, now is the time to get it started. It may even be necessary to roughen the blade with a fine file (flat or triangular) with a stone finish. In the case of a blade with teeth (which happens when you inadvertently cut a wire or a stone), changing the blade will be faster.
Cutting tool in hand, stone in pocket, wheelbarrow not far away, bottle of alcohol to disinfect the blade at each shrub (no, it's not for drinking!), you are ready for the work of season, i.e. the flowering size of the shrubs flowering, and only those that flower on new shoots , so in the summer. Here is a non-exhaustive list of what to prune at the end of winter:
Abelia, Althea, Sea buckthorn, Atriplex, Buddleia (except B. alternifolia and others with spring flowering), Heathers, (those which have just finished flowering, and those of summer), Callicarpa, Caryopteris, Ceanothe with deciduous leaves, Colutea, Dogwood, Escallonia, Fuschia, Chaste tree (or false pepper tree, better known by the botanical name of Vitex), Spanish broom, Pomegranate, Hydrangea (remove a branch completely or leave it, but do not shorten it, the flower bud being at the end of the branch), Hypericum (shrubby St. John's wort), Koelreuteria (false soap), Pink laurel (and even those that bloom red or white, or yellow...!), Laurel tin, Lavender, Lavatère, Tortoise hazel, Potentilla, Rosebushes (the everbearing ones, those which flower again during the season), Summer Spireas (S. billardii, bumalda, japonica), Elderberry, Snowberry, Summer Tamarisk, Viburnum 'Watanabe'.
Buddleia to be pruned at the end of winter
disinfection secateurs, alcohol or white vinegar
