The big spring show around here

It's April. Your azaleas (and some rhododendrons) are going to begin blooming this month and some others will start in May or still be blooming then. And a few, the Satsuki's and Kaempo's, will probably bloom in June (or later).

It gets very showy here in Silver Spring and Takoma Park, and in downtown DC. The Dogwoods and Daffodils and Forsythia and Magnolias AND the Cherry blossoms join forces with the Azaleas and it is hard to beat!

The Cherry trees around the Tidal Basin (and in Kenwood, and a very few streets in Takoma Park) will bloom on April 11th or is it the 13th?

Photo: Julie Wiatt

Rob DeFeo, the plant guru of the National Park Service, has to announce in February when the cherry blossoms will peak in April. What a thankless job, trying to please all those tourists! What if he gets it wrong? What if they bloom, and a cold rain/windstorm knocks them out the next day?

Rob is a very patient and humorous soul, so year after year he takes his job in stride. How does the saying go? 'Sometimes you're the bug and sometimes you're the windshield.'

So you are at long last outside surveying the damage from The Winter From Hell. Your reliable ground cover Liriope has never looked this bad — hire that fellow with the weedwhacker to trim it all back by half, or even more; mulch them with Pine Fines (now available at Piney Branch Hardware, Piney Branch Road and Flower Avenue), to set them off, and continue ambling through the garden. The cropped Liriope will be back to its full size in no time — a deep green, with not one brown spot!

Some of the branches of your azaleas may be dead — not too many, we hope. If you brought your sharpened pruners with you, or your super-sharp loppers, you can eliminate all evidence of the unsightly rust-brown crispy leaves, right on the spot.

Photo: Julie Wiatt

The marvelous diversity of growth habits and blooming times for Azaleas and Rhododendrons offers a pruning challenge to even the most experienced gardener. The two questions Easy Gardener hears most:

"When should I prune?" "How much should I prune off?"

By the way, in an effort to simplify some of the shrub terminology you may hear or read, all azaleas are members of the Rhododendron family.

You do not need to remember this factoid, so you can exhale now.

Since azaleas and rhododendrons (being members of the same family) ALL bloom on woody stems that were formed last summer and fall, any pruning you do now will remove this year's blossoms. Gardeners, who talk funny anyway, will say: "Those flowers bloom on old wood".

The simplest guideline for when to prune turns out to be also the most pleasurable. Prune a bouquet!

Prune so that the blossoms can be enjoyed now. Don't worry that you can't prune because you can't bear to lose blooms. Prune your flowering shrubs as they come into flower and the plants will become more shapely in the process.

That's right; prune when the blossoms are just starting to open. Most will last longer in a vase inside the house where they are protected from the (highly unpredictable) weather.

Which brings us to the second question that is most frequently asked: "How much should I prune off the shrub?"

Another simple answer: 'Prune the wayward branch. If it is in the way, remove it. If it looks out of place, take it off. If it is getting too big, cut it back.'

Any azalea or rhododendron branch can be cut back as far as necessary. There is an important rule, though, that recommends not removing more than a third of the entire plant in any one growing season, if you want some assurance that it will survive and flourish.

Also, take note that the plants will not have many flowers the next season after pruning; but in following years, the flowers will be more abundant.

Plan to mulch your azaleas. The purpose of mulch is to conserve moisture in your soil; control weeds, allow water to penetrate easily, and keep the soil cool. We have found that shredded hardwood mulch forms a heavy crust after it is installed that prevents water from permeating through it to your soil.

For this reason, shredded hardwood mulch is not recommended for plant beds. A far better product, both for mulching and for incorporating into your soil, is Pine Fines, aka Virginia Fines. It costs a little more than the shredded hardwood, but improves your soil dramatically, thus benefitting your garden for years to come, which justifies its price. Difficult to find, I am happy to report that Piney Branch Hardware store, 301/589-4777 has it in stock.

Pat Howell is a Takoma Park gardener and landscape designer/contractor. She is available for hand-holding and answering questions through Deephaven Landscapers.

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