As the warmth of spring begins to spread across the region new growth begins. Plants, shrubs, and trees that have been dormant all winter are awakening with renewed life for another growing season. Plants and grasses around your home or office can help to brighten the landscape but proper care is needed, especially at such a critical time.
While tree trimming needs are typically accomplished in the fall and winter months as trees enter their dormant state, the spring requires specific attention in an effort to ensure your lawn and garden flourish over the coming months.
These details extend to weed control, proper watering, formulating a plan for what you wish to accomplish and also cover early grass cutting and pruning of particular plants, especially roses. These decorative plants are often the highlight of a landscape and depending on the variety, can help to establish a color scheme for a landscape or set apart one landscape from the next.
Along with roses, ornamental grasses are also an important component in greenery often used to create borders, follow paths, or outline boundaries of a particular landscape. These grasses, like most every other plant, tree, or shrub in the spring will begin to grow as the rains fall and weather warms. Needing to control their growth and monitor your desired effect of them inside a landscape, spring presents a perfect opportunity for cutting to assist in setting a tone for the upcoming season. Oftentimes the tops of the ornamental grasses are left intact over the winter as it does provide some winter interest for the landscape. Additionaly, the tops are left on the ornamental grass plants as it aids in the preservation and sustainability of plant’s root system over the winter months as protection mechanism.
ROSE PRUNING
There are many benefits to pruning rose bushes and also reasons for which it needs to take place. Depending on where your roses are located and how big or small you desire the plant to be can often be controlled with proper pruning. Over the winter months roses die from the top down. It is recommended that roses that are leggy at the branch ends, or droopy be minimally cut back to prevent breakage during heavy snow storms. Additional pruning in the fall is not necessary or recommended. Typically, in late March to early April the rose buds will begin to plump up is the perfect time to trim the deadwood out of roses. If a stem is partially alive the dead tissue may be removed back to a healthy, live bud. If rose bush as become messy and over-grown, this time of year is optimal for cutting the rose bush back to within 4-6″ of the ground. The stored energy in the root system will result in new growth for the current season.
While it is often touted that little damage can be done to a rose bush by improper pruning, leaving the task to professionals is the best bet to achieve your desired results. While pruning can be used to eliminate dead portions of the plant, which can be easy to spot and remove, cutting healthy areas to maintain size and promote new growth requires specific attention to detail and precision execution to achieve wanted results.
Cuts can limit the amount of blooms which occur each year and specifically if roses are pruned during the wrong growing phase it can hurt how the plant progresses as the weather warms and new growth begins. These cuts should be utilized using appropriate tools that have been recently sharpened in order to ensure no damage to the plants occurs while pruning. A dull pair of tools used for cutting could lead to ragged cuts which are not healthy and will not promote proper growth during the spring of the year. Many roses re-bloom on a six week blooming cycle. It is important to remember to provide proper fertilization to the roses bushes throughout the season.
Other benefits of pruning include allowing more light to reach the plant in addition to improving the circulation around the rose bush. These results from proper pruning also help to ensure a healthy plant with plenty of blooms to enhance landscape appearances around your home or office.
In order to keep roses from becoming vulnerable to the harsh winters and frost conditions of Colorado, pruning should occur at a specific time. Pruning roses should normally take place two weeks prior the last hard frost for the most success. In Colorado, the final frost typically occurs around May 10 indicating that cutting should take place toward the middle or end of April. If you would like further information on rose care please click on the link provided for the Denver Rose Society. https://denverrosesociety.org/
ORNAMENTAL GRASS CUTTING
Another component which can benefit your landscape is to also begin cutting all ornamental grasses in an effort to prepare for the growing season and spring of the year. These grasses need to be cut in a similar fashion as rose bushes for many of the same beneficial reasons.
While ornamental grasses serve multiple purposes such as creating borders or being used to add depth and feeling to a landscape, they too must be cared for regularly. These timed cuttings can also inhibit their growth, which helps to maintain a clean and well manicured landscape with multiple benefits to the home or business owner.
Examples of specific plants and shrubs which will benefit from a pre-spring cutting include each of the following adding interest to your lawn with ornamental grasses: desert plains fountain grass, Mexican feather grass, blue oat grass, prairie dropseed, pampas grass, giant reed grass, feath reed grass, and others. These need to be maintained for many of the same reasons associated with pruning roses in the spring of the year.
Ornamental grasses not only add texture to your landscape but can also be of benefit in dealing with surrounding wildlife. Deer often cause harm to many plants and grasses used to make a landscape flourish but many of the ornamental grasses used for textured purposes are resilient and lack the appeal to wildlife. For this reason, these grasses are often used and when properly maintained can create years of continuous enjoyment within a garden or particular landscape.
Final ornamental grass tips to include knowing whether the grasses planted within your landscape are warm or cool season grasses athttp://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/yard-garden/ornamental-grasses-7-232/ . While the maintenance of each is important and somewhat similar, the pruning periods differ for both. Typically, a third of the prior seasons growth should be cut back in order to promote new growth and keep the ornamental grasses sufficiently producing their desired component toward the overall look of your landscape.
If you’re landscape is in need of pruning and seasonal cutting then consider contacting an expert with the proven history of satisfied customers and a portfolio of completed projects (available for reference). Let the certified professional arborists at American Arbor Care assist you today. Their highly trained staff can help with any and all of your landscape needs in addition to offering tree trimming and debris removal services. The qualified experts at AAC also offer a variety of irrigation services which can be applied or installed within your lawn as needed. With spring is on the horizon, AAC is also currently offering a price special on all of their pruning services, which runs through the end of March and can help both your wallet and landscape at the same time. The experts at American Arbor Care have been proudly serving the Denver area for over 20 years and can set you up with an appointment or free estimate for pruning or any of their other excellent services. Contact us today online or call 303-639-8584 to get started right away!