January
  • Chase away the winter blues by gathering up your seed catalogs and planning next summer's gardens now.  Place orders by early next month. 
  • Visit the Schumacher Library (located at Olbrich Botanical Gardens) and check out catalogs and books on gardening for inspiration in your own landscaping. 
  • Prepare maps of your gardens and landscaping.  Use these when planning new landscaping, and for keeping track of new plant acquisitions. 
  • Use holiday tree boughs as a protective mulch for perennial and bulb beds-- apply them after the ground freezes to prevent alternate freezing and thawing of soil, which can tear roots and lift plants out of the ground. 
  • Don't overuse ice melting salts, which can damage lawn and plants.  Try using sand, kitty litter, or fireplace ashes on those slippery sidewalks and drives. 
  • Keep snow packed down around young trees to discourage mice from making runs to the trunks to feed on tender bark. 

February

  • Begin seeding slow growing plants such as impatiens, vinca, pansies, geraniums, begonias, onions, and leeks. 
  • During thaws, make sure perennials have not had their roots heaved out of the ground.   If so, gently push roots back into the soil and cover with mulch. 
  • Prune dormant shade trees and shrubs to improve form and health. 
  • Don't forget the birds!  Peanut butter and suet treats are especially helpful during times of bitter cold. 
  • For a touch of spring, flowering branches may be brought inside, kept in water in a warm room and forced into bloom.  Favorites include crabapple, spirea, forsythia, pussy willow, serviceberry, and flowering quince. 

March

  • When bulb shoots begin to appear in late March, topdress lightly with a bulb fertilizer or 5-10-10.
  • Begin lightly fertilizing houseplants by using a liquid houseplant fertilizer at half-strength.
  • Did you plant new trees and shrubs last fall?  If so, make sure that they have plenty of water when they begin to leaf out!
  • Flowering branches can be brought inside to be forced.  Interesting effects can also be had by forcing foliage branches such as red maple, oak, hickory, or elm. 

April

  • Gradually remove winter mulch and soil mounds from roses and prune out dead wood. 
  • Plant cool season annuals such as pansies, violas, snapdragons, dusty miller, calendula, English daisy, lobelia, and stock.  These make wonderful container subjects. 
  • Remove winter mulches as weather warms. 
  • Spread a balanced fertilizer or compost over perennial beds and gently work into soil.   Divide and replant overgrown summer and fall-blooming perennials. 
  • Plant bareroot roses, trees and shrubs.  Do not allow roots to dry out before planting.  Water thoroughly after planting and keep watered throughout the season.  
  • Fertilize fruit trees after ground thaws but before blossoming.  Spray with dormant oil for insect control before bud break, when temperatures will be above freezing for 24 hours. 

May

  • Till annual beds and work in organic matter like compost. 
  • Mulch trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, and vegetables to retain moisture, keep weeds down, and contribute organic matter to soils.  Good materials include wood chips, cocoa bean hulls, shredded bark, composted leaves, and straw or marsh hay. 
  • As tulip, daffodil, and other bulb flowers fade, cut down flower stalks but let leaves remain until they begin to yellow to produce energy for next year's flowers. 
  • In the second half of May, begin direct seeding of warm-season annuals such as zinnias, nasturtium, and marigolds. 
  • Plant container-grown or balled and burlapped trees and shrubs.  Be sure to water slowly and deeply and mulch.  Keep watered throughout the season.

June

  • Continue planting summer blooming annuals.  Fill in bare spots in perennial beds, plant among bulbs to disguise yellowing foliage, and create window boxes and containers.  
  • Fertilize annuals with a balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10 or 15-15-15.  At Olbrich we use a slow-release 14-14-14 broadcast across the soil surface after planting.   This slow-release formula lasts the entire season. 
  • Plant successive crops of beans, carrots, broccoli, and herbs. 
  • Mulch flowers, trees, shrubs and vegetables to retain moisture and keep weeds down.
  • Prune spring flowering shrubs such as lilac, forsythia, and viburnum.  Remove one-third of the oldest canes and all dead wood. 
  • Pinch back chrysanthemums and asters to promote bushy plants and more flowers. 
  • To maintain a healthy lawn in summer, water deeply (1" per week"), and mow high (2-3").  Leave clippings; they decompose and act as an organic fertilizer.   Don't fertilize. 

July

  • Keep perennials deadheaded.  Energy that would have been spent producing seeds will be used to grow leaves and roots. 
  • Keep annuals deadheaded to permit the plant to use its energy to produce more flowers.  
  • Divide and replant iris very 3-5 years. 
  • Water during dry spells.  One deep weekly watering is better than several light sprinklings. 
  • Keep vegetables harvested to promote increased production. 
  • Check plants for infestations of damaging insects.  Controls are more effective if applied just as insects appear. 
  • Keep tomatoes mulched and evenly moist to help prevent blossom-end rot. 

August

  • Plant lettuce, spinach, peas, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, and cabbage for fall harvests. 
  • Cut herbs and flowers for drying. 
  • Topdress and seed bare spots in the lawn. 
  • Keep weeding.  Don't allow annual weeds to set seed. 
  • Order bulbs for fall planting. 
  • Keep all new tree, shrub, and perennial plantings well watered through the dog days of August.

September

  • September is an excellent month for planting and transplanting --sunny days, cool temperatures, and warm soil promote root development.
  • Renew flower beds by planting cool-season bedding plants.  Try mums, asters, pansies, and ornamental cabbages and kales.
  • Divide spring and early summer blooming perennials.
  • Choose and plant new trees and shrubs.  Keep them well watered throughout the fall (and make sure they're mulched) especially evergreens.
  • Seed new lawn areas.  Keep newly seeded areas moist until grass is established.  
  • Pot up herbs for the kitchen window, pinching back the stems to compensate for root loss and encourage compact growth.  Try parsley, thyme, mint, chives, oregano, or basil.
     
  • Take cuttings of geraniums, begonia, impatiens, coleus, and other tender plants for overwintering on the window sill.
  • Lift gladiolus, dahlia, canna and tuberous begonia after frost, brush soil off, and store in peat moss or sawdust in a cool area for winter. 
  • Don't neglect weeding!  Your weeds are furiously attempting to set seed or store energy for the coming winter. 

October

  • Keep perennials deadheaded.  Energy that would have been spent producing seeds will be used to grow leaves and roots. 
    After killing frosts, completely remove and compost annuals.  Removing this plant material reduces overwintering of insects and diseases. 
  • Keep leaves raked so they don't smother lawns and perennials.  Compost or use as mulch.  Shredding leaves produces a lighter mulch and speeds composting. 
  • Plant spring flowering bulbs including tulips, daffodils, scilla, puschkinia, allium, and fritillaria.
  • Collect dried material for winter decorations.
  • Begin feeding birds.
  • Cut garden mums back to ground level after flowering stops, cover loosely with a protective mulch after ground freezes.

November

  • In early November, begin winterizing roses.  Cut back canes to 10-12" and remove all foliage and debris, which can harbor disease.  Mound 6-8" of soil around base of plant.  In late November or early December cover with 8-12" of marsh hay.
  • Reduce watering and stop fertilizing house plants -- low light levels induce a "resting" state.
  • Under sunny conditions, paperwhite narcissus potted on the fifteenth will bloom for the holidays.
  • Do not apply protective winter mulches too early!  Wait until the ground has frozen hard.
  • Place wire screen around fruit trees, roses, witchhazels, and other susceptible shrub and tree trunks to protect from rodent damage.

December

  • Do not apply winter mulches over tender perennials and garden roses too early!   Mulch only after ground has frozen with marsh hay, pine boughs, or shredded leaves.  
  • Evergreens are easily damaged or misshapen by heavy, wet snow.  Gently remove snow immediately after a fall (before it freezes onto branches) with a soft broom. 
  • Keep bird feeders filled and provide water if possible. 
  • Keep holiday blooming plants constantly moist but not soggy. 
  • Mist houseplants weekly with tepid water, no need to fertilize during winter.