Breaking ground

Apple trees, like their cousins the roses, have perfect flowers.
Apple trees, like their cousins the roses, have perfect flowers.

FEBRUARY

We were skating through this winter fairly unscathed until last week, when cold weather decided to rear its ugly head. We are seeing low morning temperatures -- in the upper teens to low 20s -- depending on where you live.

Because of the earlier milder temperatures, we were starting to see a few errant blooms here and there on camellias and even some azaleas. These recent low temperatures could have damaged some of the open blooms. But hopefully more will take their place, once the weather passes.

If you do see some winter damage on your plants, don't be too quick to prune it. Winter is not over. If you prune too early, you open your plants to more damage.

The same theory holds for regular February pruning chores.

• Roses, fruit trees and blueberries -- plus summer-flowering plants, including crape myrtles, althea, summer spirea and others -- may need pruning this month, but there is no rush to get it done. Let the bulk of winter pass us by before you prune. If we should get winter weather, the damage will mostly be felt on the tips of the plant, which can be pruned off later with no problems. But once pruned, the exposed plants tend to die back farther than you wish.

• Pay attention to the weather. There are some years we can prune midmonth with no problems and other years we don't prune until mid-March. The key is to get it done before active growth kicks in.

• Some early spring bulbs are blooming now, and many are up and showing signs of life. Spring bulbs are very cold tolerant, but if they are in full bloom and get frozen, the flower buds lie down. If that does happen, cut a few and enjoy the flowers indoors, but don't cut the foliage. The leaves on spring bulbs manufacture food for the bulb to ensure flowers next year. If you are growing crocuses, daffodils or hyacinths, let the foliage grow at least six to eight weeks after blooming.

• Many lawns are beginning to show spots of green and, unfortunately, the green in most cases is not lawn grasses but winter weeds. Wild onion and garlic, dandelions, henbit, chickweed and more cool-season weeds are kicking into high gear and growing. While some gardeners like to think of their late winter lawn as a wildflower meadow, others want theirs to be weed-free. While the weeds are still small and not blooming is the time to kill them -- if you desire a weed-free lawn. Pick a day when it is not windy, one where the temperature is above freezing, and spot-spray with a broadleaf weed killer. Once weeds begin to bloom, they are setting seeds and will come back next year.

• February is the time to begin planting the cool-season vegetables. Transplants will begin to show up at nurseries and garden centers with broccoli, cabbage and the like, but in some cases, the shelves will also include tomatoes, peppers and basil. Ignore any warm-season vegetables unless you have a greenhouse. Tomatoes, peppers and the like should not go in the ground outside until mid-April.

• Plant cool-season vegetables through mid-April. Some are seed planted, such as spinach, English and snow peas, kale, turnips, radishes and lettuce, while longer season vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts should be planted as small transplants. Just like a commercial farmer, you need to pay attention to the weather. If you have young plants or seedlings and a hard frost is predicted, keep some cover on hand to give them a little protection. From row covers to overturned cardboard boxes or flower pots, it is easy to cover and protect if needed.

• Pansies and violas, along with Swiss chard and flowering kale and cabbage, have taken our winter weather in stride so far. To keep them looking their best, fertilize when we get a nice, warmer day. Stay away from them when it is below freezing. They will look pretty sad when frozen, but they are also brittle and easily damaged then as well. They will defrost and keep on going.

GARDEN LINGO

"Dioecious" and "monoecious" are terms used to describe the reproductive behavior of some plants.

Plants such as tomatoes, roses and lilies have what are called perfect flowers -- each flower contains male and female parts in the same structure.

But not all plants have perfect flowers. Dioecious species have separate male and female plants. So if you grow one of these plants and expect to get berries or fruit from it -- and your one plant happens to be a male plant -- you won't ever have berries. If you planted a female plant, unless someone else placed a male plant nearby to produce the pollen needed to pollinate that female, you will have no berries.

Luckily, dioecious plants don't need a 1:1 male to female ratio. One male can pollinate 10 or more female plants.

A good example is hollies. There are female plants, which can produce berries, and male plants, which bloom with plenty of pollen, but won't set fruit because they have no ovaries.

Sometimes we want to plant only a male plant because a species' fruits are messy or smell bad. Think of the gingko tree. We want to plant a male gingko because the females produce fleshy, foul-smelling fruits.

Monoecious plants also produce separate male flowers and female flowers but on the same plant.

Think about cucumbers, cantaloupes and watermelons -- all members of the cucurbit family. They have male blooms and female blooms on the same plant and rely on pollinators to move the pollen from the male bloom to the female bloom.

Your monoecious plant can have plenty of flowers, but if your garden doesn't attract a pollinator to move the pollen, the plants won't set fruit.

Knowing whether plants have perfect, monoecious or dioecious flowers can be important when gardening.

Read Janet Carson's blog at arkansasonline.com/planitjanet.

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Special to the Democrat-Gazette/JANET B. CARSON

Holly flowers are dioecious.

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Special to the Democrat-Gazette/ JANET B. CARSON

Squash plants are monoecious.

HomeStyle on 02/02/2019

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