This season puts a little SPRING in my step and calls me out into the garden.   I can almost hear my grand-daughter humming happily looking for her favorite flower to pick… dandelions!   I've been scrapbooking all winter, so now I'm ready for some fresh air and physical activity… can't wait to get my hands dirty!

So here's my checklist … and don't forget to treat yourself to some new gardening gloves!

Spring pruning:   Check your trees, shrubs, fruit trees, roses, grapevines, and raspberries for winter damage and may be in need of pruning.   Pruning is done for three reasons: to train and redirect growth, to maintain the health of your plant by removing dead or diseased wood, and to increase the quality or quantity of fruit or flowers. (Brush up on pruning techniques, as trees and shrubs are pruned differently.)

Depending on when your shrub or tree blooms, will dictate when it should be pruned… you don't want to cut off all the buds on your spring blooming plants before they bloom!   Your summer and fall blooming shrubs can be pruned in early spring, but prune your spring blooming shrubs after they are finished blooming.

Prune away dead, diseased or crisscrossing branches; then you can prune your tree for form.   Make the smallest cuts first, and the largest ones last… and never cut more than 25 percent of the foliage limbs in one season.

Soil Preparation:   When you can start to work your soil again, start to prepare it for planting. (This will be your key to success.) Improve your existing flower beds with organic matter or compost, and test your soil for nutrients. There are a lot of home test kits available now, so this will let you know what you'll need to add.   I use natural or organic products rather than chemicals.   However, don't add more than 1/3 of amendments to your soil … for example you can add 1 bucket of ammendments to 2 buckets of your garden soil and work it into your soil 2 to 4 weeks before planting, to let the soil settle.

Fertilize hardy perennials and woody plants… I use organic products such as Holly Tone, Tree Tone, Plant Tone and Flower Tone to feed everything in the spring and do a light hand tilling with a garden weasel before top dressing with ´Sweet Peet´.

Clean up and weed prevention:   I usually rake out most of the clutter (and add it to a compost bin or in parts of the yard that can benefit from the organic material) just to see what's going on. This is a great time to weed & easier to pull up those runners when the ground is wet (if you don't want volunteers to grow from from your existing plants) and get a nice clean edge around the flower beds while turning over the soil and removing grass that may be creeping into them.   Some gardeners like to add 'pre-emergents' for Weed Prevention to save them time weeding later, I prefer not to use them because certain garden plants and seeds will not grow well if you use these products.   Some volunteers can be helpful in filling out a garden and can be moved later... and they're free plants!

We all want our gardens to be in bloom continuously.   While the average perennial may only give you three weeks of flowers a year, there are some that have more stamina, or if cut back will continue with another bloom later in the summer.   You can always add a few annuals here and there if you want continuous color, or learn how to orchestrate your garden by bloom time, or adding different textures, or planting a variety of shades of green.   You can find plants with foliage in shades of grey-green, yellow-green, to black-green, so if not in bloom they add variety and depth to your gardenscape.

Learn the latin names and the ´growers name´ of the specific plant you want to put in your yard … because there can be 150 different varieties of the same plant all with different attributes, including the color of the flower.   Unless it is a mature plant in full bloom you can't be sure if that was the one you wanted without more information than the common name.   Henry Ross of Gardenview, discusses cloned plants and if you see 'Blooms of Bressingham' these are usually a cloned plant very specific to their name.

So a quick lesson:   Learn the Latin name, (not just the common name) and hybrid name… usually displayed in latin also, indicating a specific 'type' of plant after being crossed and grown as a new variety, and be sure to get the cultivar 'Name'.   I'm trying to keep this simple… if you see a plant in a magazine, cut it out with the full description, or write down the plants attributes that you like… such as size, color and type of flower, bloom time, any thing that makes this plant unique, like does the foliage change color for fall interest, or does it have special strengths (resistant to certain diseases).   The cultivar is the 'Growers Name' for the plant and today many plants are patented by the grower.

For example, there is the RUDBECKIA SPP, which includes the following: Rudbeckia fulgida sullivantii with the common name of Black-eyed Susan, but 'Goldsturm' is probably the most well-known and easy-to-find.   Than there is Rudbeckia laciniata, common name: Cutleaf Coneflower, a yellow bloom which has a greenish-brown center rather than the dark center… and a double-flowered form of cutleaf coneflower called 'Golden Glow' which resembles a chrysanthemum flower.   Going on… there is Rudbeckia hirta known as Gloriosa daisy… short lived perennials often treated as annuals, and Rudbeckie maxima commonly called Great Coneflower which is stiff and upright growing, reaching a height of 6 feet.   Each has a different type of flower and be of different colors, with different growth habits, while some bloom longer than others, they each may require a little different environment.   So it can be quite confusing!   Just to make matters worse… the seeds may not grow true to the plant and you'll have to divide the original plant to get more of the same variety or 'cultivar'.