Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 22, 1992 TAG: 9203240420
SECTION: HOMES PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: John Arbogast
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But improper pruning, a common problem with forsythia, can do more harm than good. The yellow bulbs that are often scattered across sidewalks during the early spring are the products of bad pruning.
With the right care, the tough landscape plant will flourish, producing bright yellow, bell-shaped flowers.
When trimming forsythia, it is important to follow some pruning guidelines:
Plants like forsythia, which grow several shoots or stems rather than a single trunk, produce their prettiest flowering on younger wood. Prune to stimulate new shoots from the ground as well as eliminate the oldest parts to make room for the young.
Make thinning cuts with either lopping pruners or a sharp pruning saw.
Make selective cuts at different heights in trimming the size of the bush.
Use sharp hand pruners to make clean cuts if the diameter of the branches is one-half inch or less. Sturdier pruning devices must be used if the branch diameters are more.
There's no magic number or percentage of old stems that should be thinned after forsythia bloom. Actually, plants that have either been sheared or neglected in the past may have few stems anyway. For these, thinning cuts should remove the oldest looking stem or branch portions. Once thinning becomes part of forsythia pruning, and the plant become less dense, new vigorous shoots will begin growing each year, producing better flowering.
If a forsythia has become so thick that it is impossible to prune some of the oldest stems at the ground, cut as low as possible.
Forsythia that has been severely neglected may need radical midspring pruning. This means cutting all the growth back to about 12 inches with a good pruning saw. Then, get on a combination pruning program for the future growth.
Got a question about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects? Write to Dear John, c/o the Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491.
Free horticulture programs
Circle your calendars. Saturday Jim Wilson, host of the television show "The Victory Garden," will be in Roanoke to present these free horticulture lectures for the public: 10 a.m. "Landscaping with Wildflowers," 1 p.m. "Landscaping with Container Plants" and 3 p.m. plant doctor clinic for gardeners with questions and concerns. These will take place at both the Virginia Western Community College auditorium and arboretum, 3095 Colonial Avenue S.W., Roanoke. The programs are being sponsored by WBRA public television and other local sponsors.
Gardener's checklist
The end of March is a good time to plant radishes and leaf lettuce in Roanoke area vegetable gardens. Both vegetables do well in the cool part of the growing season and may develop poor flavor if grown when the weather is hot. Leaf lettuce is much easier to grow than head lettuce. Plan to have a summer vegetable, like bush beans, follow these spring vegetables in their location.
Non-flowering hedges can receive their first 1992 shaping now. As you clip or prune, be sure to leave the base of the plants wider than the top in order to allow sunlight to reach those branches too.
Resist the urge to give a regular application of turf fertilizer to your bluegrass or fescue lawn until AFTER the period of spring greening and usual rapid spring growth.
Do not dig in, spade or till the garden when the soil is wet. Doing so will create chunks of soil which may be present all summer.
by CNB