Garden and Landscape Calendar - Month by Month Planning

Compliments of Bur Oak Designs, Inc. and McKay Nursery

January Monthly Tips

Look for spots to add plants for winter bird food and cover.
Recycle your Christmas tree using boughs and greens as mulch for evergreen groundcovers and shallow rooted perennials.
Brush snow off evergreen shrubs and trees, but do not touch ice-covered shrubs and trees as you may cause damage to the plants.
Prune shade and ornamental trees (except maple, birch and walnut).
If temperatures are mild for a few days spray evergreens with anti-desiccant (Wilt-Pruf) to prevent winter burn.
Keep salt away from plants and planting beds.
Check rodent bait stations set out in fall.
Plan/revise new areas to be landscaped as well as garden and perennial borders. Order plants for spring.

Prune fruit trees.
Cut pussy willows and other early spring blooming plants to force inside for a bit of early spring.
Care for houseplants. Repot them in larger pots with new soil.
Check rodent bait stations set out in fall.
Plan your spring landscape design with your McKay representative. For best inventory selection, order now.
Sow seeds indoors to start cool-season vegetables and flowers.
Look at your winter landscape and figure out which plants should be added to make it look better during winter.

Finalize any planting plans for spring planting.
Start spring pruning this month.
Clean up any leftover foliage and stems on perennial plants.
If needed, move any dormant flowering plants before they leaf out, when the ground has thawed.
Unwrap trees wrapped in late fall.
Cut back ornamental grasses at the end of the month.
Avoid pruning spring flowering plants until after they bloom.
Fertilize trees and shrubs.
Just before buds open, spray dormant oil for scale and over wintering insects.
Lawn care
- When forsythias bloom in later March/early April, temperatures are ideal to apply crabgrass preventer/lawn food.
- Sow grass seed. It will germinate when soil temperature reaches 60 degrees.
- Rake matted areas of turf to relieve snow mold.

Start of spring planting season.
Finish spring pruning this month.
Clean up beds removing all weeds.
Divide and move perennials, if needed.
Work compost, bone meal and soil amendments such as mushroom compost into beds. Avoid disturbing late emerging perennials.
Lightly re-mulch beds, if needed, to conserve moisture and discourage weeds.
Stake tall and heavy perennials.
Remove any winter protection from perennials, roses and tree trunks.
There is still time to do your next landscape project-call your local representative.
Lawn care
- Begin mowing in the last half of April. Set mower at 2.5 to3 inches

Spring planting month, plant new McKay trees and shrubs - including bare-root plants
Prune spring flowering trees and shrubs after they finish flowering.
Cut off old blossom stems on tulips and daffodils, but not the leaves. They need to "ripen".
Cultivate flower beds and shrub borders, fertilize plants, if needed.
Plant aquatic plants.
Lawn care
- Apply a second application of fertilizer. Spot treat with broadleaf weed control where needed.
- Start up irrigation systems.

Continue planting balled-and-burlapped (B&B) and potted plants this month. And/or start planning for early fall planting.
Prune hedges and the new growth on foundation shrubs and evergreens.
Deadhead spent flowers from perennials to encourage new growth.
Apply plant food to flowers and vegetables.
Fertilize roses monthly and watch for disease and insects. Use rose food with systemic insecticide.
Allow bulb foliage to ripen and wither before removal.

Prune all evergreens.
Trim off old blossom heads from small spireas to promote a second bloom in August.
Continue weeding.
This is your last chance to fertilize evergreens, shrubs, and trees until late fall.
Deep-water your trees and shrubs during times of extreme heat or drought.
Start planning for fall planting season and order nursery stock form McKay.
Lawn care
- Keep lawn well watered during times of extreme heat or drought. OR let it go dormant.
- Apply grub control late July/early August.
- Raise mower height to 3 to 4 inches during dry weather.

Watering in dry spells relieves stress on plants. New plantings need approximately one inch of rain per week. Supplement by watering if Mother Nature doesn't. Check soil one inch down before watering to avoid over-watering.
DonÕt plant shrubs and trees. Too much stress in the heat.
Divide and transplant iris.
Apply bone meal to peonies and work it into the soil.
Deadhead perennials - unless you want them to go to seed.
Meet with your McKay representative to plan the next phase of your planting.

Start of fall planting season.
Container grown and balled-and-burlapped (B&B) plants can be planted now. This is the last month to plant evergreens.
Think about planting plants for bird food this fall.
Do any minor pruning on shrubs and hedges, if needed.
Divide and move perennials, work in compost, bone meal and soil amendments.
Plant bulbs for spring color.
Protect flowers and vegetables against early frost.
Lawn care
- Begin fall grass seeding
- Apply broadleaf weed control.

Another great fall planting month. For deciduous shrubs and trees.
Bare-root plants are available starting later this month for fall planting, after they have gone dormant.
Start cleaning up perennial beds. Cut most perennials to 3 to 4 inches to clean up beds and prevent disease. Do not cut back ornamental grasses until March or April. Many perennial seed heads catch winter snows and attract birds.
Plant bulbs for spring color.
Mark late emerging perennials to avoid damage from spring cultivating.
This is the ideal time to transplant and divide peonies and iris, amend soil with bone meal.
Dig and store dahlia, canna and gladiola bulbs, and other summer bulbs.
Lawn care
- Apply fall fertilizer or winterizer at the end of the month.
- Rake up leaves, grass clippings and debris.
- Winterize your irrigation system.

Continue fall planting as weather allows with freshly dug trees from McKay.
Wrap trunks of young shade trees, fruit trees and crab trees with tree wrap. Wrap from the bottom up.
Good time to prune dormant trees, especially fruit trees.
Protect delicate plants, like tea roses, from winter damage. Place a mound of soil over the stems, and after the ground freezes, cover them with mulch.
Finish cleaning perennial garden, put off pruning perennials with winter interest until spring.
Make sure evergreens go into winter with good moisture. Continue watering until the ground freezes.
Spray evergreens, especially broadleaf's, with anti-desiccant (Wilt-Pruf) to prevent winter burn. (boxwood, rhododendron, etc.)
Protect shrub roses by mounding hardwood mulch over the plants.
Prune heavy bleeding trees like walnut, maple and birch as they go dormant. (sap is dropping to the roots)
String Christmas lights on landscape plants for holiday appeal. Avoid using extremely large bulbs that might damage plants with their intense heat.
Lawn care
- Lower mower height to 1 to 2 inch setting for last cutting.

Create Christmas decorations with trimmings from overgrown evergreens, berries from Viburnum Americana, and accenting them with perennial seedpods.
Give McKay gift certificates as Christmas gifts.

To order McKay Nursery plants, call Bur Oak Designs, Inc. @ 608-287-0448!