December

Prune 
  • Continue pruning.
  • Perennial stems: cut back the following to 3-4 inches from the ground after several hard frosts - yarrow, asters, Joe Pye weed, monarda.
  • Cut the following to the ground: peony, phlox, Solomon's seal, toad lily.
  • Cut shasta daisy and stokes aster to basal growth.
  • November through February is the ideal time to prune abelia, privet, smoke tree, sumac, and all evergreen trees and shrubs.
  • Boxwood can be pruned November through July. Thinning, to promote adequate interior light and air circulation, should be done when temps are above freezing.

Chores
  • Finish cleaning up flower beds. Remove annuals killed by frost.
  • Mulch trees, shrubs, perennials, and bulbs to 4-6" after a few hard frosts. Use straw, pine needles, or shredded leaves.
  • Clean old leaves and twigs out of centers of boxwood to avoid disease and pest damage.
  • Houseplants: clean foliage during winter, water when dry and lightly fertilize once per month.
  • Poinsettias: keep soil moist but not waterlogged. Water with Peters or Miracle Grow and let plant drain in sink before returning to saucer. Water should be warm. Keep plants away from drafts and heaters; place in indirect light.

Tips
  • Christmas Cactus: to prolong blooming, reduce watering and keep in full sun at 70 degrees.
  • To discourage insects from hatching when nuts, cones, and seed pods are brought indoors for holiday arrangements, place them in the oven on a low setting for an hour.
  • Christmas Trees: if you purchase, make a fresh 2" cut up the trunk and place the tree in a bucket of water for 2-3 days. Make another fresh cut when you bring the tree indoors. Be sure to continue to water.
  • After the Holidays you can use your discarded tree:
    • ​Decorate it for the birds with suet and/or pinecones covered with peanut butter.
    • Cut branches from the tree and use them to lay over perennial beds to protect the plants from heaving.

November

Plant
  • Plant tulips now through December. Tulips should be planted 6" deep. Dig the hold 8" deep and place a mix of sand and peat moss on the bottom with a pinch of lime and some bulb booster. Place the tulip on top and then add a handful of sharp gravel over each bulb before backfilling with soil. This will help deter voles from devouring them.
  • Continue to plant lily bulbs.
  • Plant deciduous trees and shrubs after they have gone dormant.

Prune
  • Perennial stems: cut back the following to 3-4 inches from the ground after several hard frosts - yarrow, asters, Joe Pye weed, monarda.
  • Cut the following to the ground: peony, phlox, Solomon's seal, toad lily.
  • Cut shasta daisy and stokes aster to basal growth.
  • November through February is the ideal time to prune abelia, privet, smoke tree, sumac, and all evergreen trees and shrubs.
  • Boxwood can be pruned November through July. Thinning, to promote adequate interior light and air circulation, should be done when temps are above freezing.

Lime
  • Lime alkaline loving plants such as daphne, hellebore, lavender, campanula, centranthus, lilac, coneflowers, geraniums, iris, peonies, scabiosa, clematis, delphinium, lilies, and boxwood, with dolomitic or pelleted limestone. REMEMBER, it takes 6 months for plants to assimilate lime.

Mulch
  • Apply 2-4 inches of mulch AFTER the ground freezes.
  • Good mulch materials are rotted sawdust, straw, pine needles, and ground leaves. Lilies and tree peonies like pine needles.

Tips
  • Earthworms must remain below the frost line to survive. If you want earthworms to break down organic matter in the upper soil, mulch deeply. If you need the subsoil aerated, mulch thinly.
  • Rooting cuttings in water: add one or two young willow branches to the container. Willow wood contains a natural hormone that speeds the rooting process.
  • Labeling dahlias: write the cultivar name and color on the tuber with a fine permanent marker, like a Sharpie.
  • Whitefly trap: spray one side of a piece of clear glass with bright yellow paint. After the paint dries, spread a thin coat of motor oil on the other side. Set the glass, oil side up, near infested plants. Wipe the glass clean and apply a fresh coat of oil as necessary. The white flies go for the yellow and get stuck in the oil.
  • In November and December yews, junipers, holly, boxwood, broad leaf, evergreens, and many deciduous trees and shrubs can be propagated with hardwood cuttings. The cuttings should be about 6" in length. Dip in a rooting medium and insert them in sand in a cool greenhouse. Tie bundles of deciduous cuttings together and bury in sand in a cold frame. Remove in early spring, pot in individual containers and place in a nursery bed.

Water
  • Thoroughly water broad leaf evergreens before the ground freezes.
  • Water Jade plant and other succulents only once per month until April.

Chores
  • Turn off garden faucets. Drain hoses.
  • Cut the lawn for the last time at 2" high.
  • Roots of woody ornamentals in containers may be killed if the soil gets very cold. English box, camellia, pampas grass, cotoneaster, English and Japanese boxwood, star magnolia, and nandina are killed when the soil temp is 25 degrees. Move containers to a greenhouse or sink them in the ground.
  • Wrap trunks of young trees with tree wrap to prevent sunscald.
  • Close water gardens. Leave hardy water lilies and fish in ponds deep enough (over 16'). A deicer helps to provide air holes in ice so that the fish can breathe.
  • Store liquid pesticides where temps will not fall below 40 degrees. Low temps may result in a breakdown of the chemical.
  • Rake leaves from the lawn before winter. Shredded leaves make excellent mulch.
  • Leave magnolia and beech leaves under the trees; they create their own fertilizer.
  • Kniphofia: bundle leaves over center for winter protection.

Houseplants
  • Reduce water and fertilization until late April when new growth resumes.
  • Water succulents only once per month.
  • Cyclamen is an exception to indoor plants. It should be fed and watered all through the winter.
  • Pot amaryllis bulbs 8 weeks before you want them to bloom. They may not bloom if potted in too large a pot. there should be no more than 1" of space on each side of the bulb. At least 1/3 of the bulb should be above the soil line. 

October

Plant
  • Lily bulbs should be planted immediately upon arrival as they are never dormant. Do not mix fertilizer into the soil when planting. Cover with 4" of soil, mulch with leaf mold, and water well.
  • Continue planting trees and shrubs. Do not plant broad leaf evergreens (magnolia, holly, etc.) in the fall. There is insufficient time for them to get established to prevent damage from wind and cold. Plant them in the spring.
  • Daffodils can be planted started mid-month.
  • Boxwood: October is the ideal month to plant and transplant them.
  • Paperwhites: plant bulbs in pebbles and water up to the base, in intervals of two weeks to prolong bloom in house. To prevent foliage from flopping: wait until the roots develop and the green shoots are 1-2 inches. Then replace the water with one of the following mixtures.
    • ​Rubbing alcohol: 1 part to 10 parts water, OR gin and vodka: 1 part to 7 parts water.(They cannot be replanted so add to your compost when spent.)
Prune
  • Cut phlox stems to ground level. Discard leaves to prevent powdery mildew; do not put in your compost pile.

Water
  • Continue to water if there is no rain.
  • Water evergreens thoroughly before the ground freezes. Evergreens continue to lose water by transpiring during the winter, but when the ground is frozen, they cannot replenish the water.
  • Clivia: decrease water. Keep barely moist. No fertilizer. Resume watering when flower stalks are 6" high.

Chores
  • Divide and transplant overgrown perennials. A good rule of thumb is: 
    If it blooms in the spring - move it in the fall.
    If it blooms in the summer or fall - move it in the spring. 
    Most perennials need to be divided every 3-4 years.
  • Clean clay pots for storage. To remove salt deposits use a 1 to 5 solution of vinegar and water. Sterilize all pots an containers in a 1 to 9 solution of chlorine bleach and water.
  • Remove annuals after frost and add to compost pile.
  • Weed, edge, and tidy flower beds.
  • Christmas cactus should be left outdoors for several nights of 50 degree temps. Water sprasely. Once buds form, bring inside, resume watering, and feed monthly. The cooler the location, the longer the blooms will remain.
  • Dig summer blooming bulbs (caladium, canna, gladiola, and dahlia) after first frost.​
    • Cannas: Cut of foliage, let roots dry slightly, dust with sulphur and store in dry peat moss in a cool cellar.
    • Dahlias, Gladiolas: Dig up, shake off dirt, wash in a 10% Clorox solution, dry, and store in peat moss in a cool cellar.
    • Caladiums: Stop watering, dig up, and store in a nylon stocking.
  • Lantanas and fushsias may be overwintered in an unheated basement. Water with warm water every 18 days, and withhold fertilizer until March when plants can be moved into indirect light.
  • Overseed warm season grasses with annual rye for winter color.

Tips
  • If you can't tell which end is the top when planting anemone bulbs, plant it on its side. The stem will always grow upright.
  • Pine needles make excellent mulch, especially to acid loving plants. They will insulate the soil and prevent heaving the perennials.
  • Late fall tilling can help control insects, such as corn borer, corn earworm, cucumber beetle, squash bug, and vine borer, because it exposes insects to winter conditions.
  • Taking care of your hoses will prevent having to buy new ones in the spring. Plastic hoses will crack if they are allowed to freeze with water in them. Drain the hose completely and coil it for storage off the ground. Do not hang as this tends to cause the walls to collapse.
  • A ripe apple placed in a closed container with green tomatoes will encourage the tomatoes to turn red.

September

Plant
  • Lawns: September is a good time to seed or reseed cool season grasses (Kentucky bluegrass, fescues).
  • Peonies and Tree peonies should be planted a month before the first frost date.
    Peonies: plant "eyes" 2" below the soil line in full sun or at least 1/2 day of sun. Do not plant next to trees or shrubs. Amend soil with compost or peat moss, bone meal, and lime. Do not put compost directly on roots.
    Tree peonies: like 1/3-1/2 day of shade. Dig a hole 2 feet deep and 3 feet wide. Add peat moss, woods, dirt or rotted sawdust, bone meal, and lime to soil. Plant so that the top of the graft is 6" deep.
  • Wildflower meadows: scatter seeds on well prepared ground, rake lightly and allow rainfall to germinate seed. 
Plant and Transplant
  • Evergreen trees and shrubs. Wait until after leaf fall for deciduous trees/shrubs.
  • Perennials and ornamental grasses.
  • Japanese and Siberian iris.
Prune
  • Clip hedges for the last time this season. Be sure to keep the base of the hedge wider than the top.
Water
  • Continue to water if the weather is dry.
Chores
  • Dead head roses. Cut the canes back to a 5 petal leaf, leaving only 1/4" stem sticking up. The cane should be at least as thick as a pencil. Make cuts at a slant with the longer part of the stub toward the leaf.
  • Bring houseplants inside. Wash them and spray with insecticidal soap first. They need to come in now before you turn on the heat. Except for Christas cactus which needs cool nights, 55-65 degrees to set buds.
  • Winterize fish ponds.
  • Put amaryllis in a cool (50 degrees), dark place so that they can rest for 2-3 months.
  • Prepare new beds for fall and spring planting.
  • Prepare beds for lily bulbs. They require good drainage, so plant in a raised bed, or on a slope, or in hills. Dig the hole 12-18" deep and incorporate humus into the soil. Lilies need at least 1/2 day of sun. Let the bed rest for at least a week before planting your bulbs.
  • Prepare green houses or cold frames for winter use: disinfect beds and seed flats.

August

Plant
  • Late August is the best time to plant Oriental poppies. Mulch with oak or sycamore leaves.
Prune
  • Maples and birches.
Water
  • Flower beds, shrubs, and trees: water deeply once per week if there has not been 1" of rain. Water in early AM to prevent fungus and mildew.
  • Azaleas, rhododendrons, and camellias are forming next year's flower buds now. They need to be well watered or the buds and leaves will fall off.
Chores
  • Dead head phlox, yarrow, and day lilies for rebloom.
  • Bleeding heart and peonies: trim brown foliage and discard. Clean pruners with alcohol.
  • Check Azaleas, camellias, boxwood, and cotoneaster for signs of lace bug.
  • If azaleas look pale-green to yellow, check soil pH, they need acidic soil.
  • Peonies: if you must move them, now is the time to do it. Water well.
  • Spray ornamental cherries with dormant oil in late August.
  • Lilies: remove faded flowers but leave as much stem as possible. Trim stems when yellow.
  • Pull weeds before they set seed.
  • Take root cuttings of azalea, holly, and hydrangea. 
  • If you haven't ordered you bulbs for fall planting, do it now.
  • Water plantings, especially newly planted trees and shrubs, if rainfall levels are less than 1 inch/week.
Tips
  • When watering lawns in hot weather, try to do it in the early morning. Otherwise, much of the water will evaporate before the grass can use it.
  • During hot, dry weather, avoid deep cultivation in your flower beds. Loosening the soil under these conditions reduces water uptake by increasing loss of soil water and damaging surface roots.
  • You can freeze herbs in water. Chop them, place in an ice cube tray, cover with water and freeze. Store cubes in a plastic bag in the freezer. Add to soups, stews, etc.

June

Plant
  • Annuals and sow seeds of quick growing annuals (cosmos, marigolds, zinnia). ​

Prune
  • Climbing Roses: once blooming climbers after they bloom. (Repeat climbing blooms are pruned in the fall.)
  • Lilacs: watch for lilac borer and remove infested branches.
  • Azaleas: this is the last month to prune.

Water
  • Plants need 1" of water per week provided by nature or you.
  • Roses: if temps are above 80, water 3x/week. If temps are above 90, water every other day.

Chores
  • Daffodils should be divided if they are large and have few blooms or every 4 years. Dig with a garden form 6 weeks past bloom. Remove dirt ina pail of water or with a hose. Dry in a mesh bags in a cool dry place. Replant in October.
  • Daylilies: can safely be moved now. Water well until established.
  • Phlox divaricata (woodland phlox) should be divided now.
  • Divide spring and early summer flowering perennials after the blooms fade.
  • Fall bloomers, if you did not do this in May, cut back those that get too tall by 1/3-1/2 now to reduce their height. Cut outer branches lower than inner ones to better shape. (Joe Pye weed (cut when 3' tall, NE and NY asters, monarda, phlox and chrysanthemums.)
  • Christmas cactus: move outdoors to a shady spot. Keep fairly dry.
  • Cover cherry trees and blueberry bushes to prevent the birds from eating them.
  • Roses: continue spraying every 2 weeks with Neem Oil to prevent black spot.
  • Spray fungicide on plant susceptible to mildew: Monarda, phlox, hollyhocks, lilacs.

Tips
  • Rhododendron: to improve blooms for next year, remove old blooms 2 weeks after the flowers fade. Do this carefully, by hand, so that you don't injure the new leaf shoots under the blooms.
  • Roses: when cutting blossoms, make the cut above the 5 leaflet leaf. The new stem is more likely to bear flowers than a stem from the 3 leaflet leaf.
  • Outdoor lights: use red or yellow bulbs to reduce insect problems. Insects don't see these colors and are not attracted to them as they are to white. 

Hot Season Plant Pests​
From now through September look for the following hot season pests.

Mites
Mites are not insects but arachnids, and are closely related to spiders. They come in red, black, green, tan or yellow, and are about the size of a pinpoint. You may be unaware that you have them until serious damage appears, which coincides with stretches of hot dry weather and poorly watered plants. If you suspect mite on a plant, hold a piece of white paper under a leaf, then gently tap the leaf. Mites will drop onto the paper and look like slowly crawling specks.

There are many types of mites, such as boxwood mites, euonymous red mite, and spruce mite, all of which attach specific plants. However, spider mites eat a wide range of annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, vegetables, and houseplants. And southern red mites love azalea, holly, and cotoneaster. These pets reproduce once her week!! Mites suck juices from leaves, stems, and flower buds. Foliage and flowers may appear speckled, yellowed, and distorted. On tomatoes, petunias, and potatoes (all members of the potato family), greasy yellow colored leaves are a sure sign of tomato russet mites.

Prevention: Dry air encourages mites, so water plants regularly and wash the off foliage. Spray trees and shrubs with dormant oil in later winter to kill overwintering mites and eggs.
​
Treatment: For light infestations use a stiff spray of water to wash off mites. Spray with insecticidal soap or a light horticultural oil. For heavy infestations throw the plant out.

Mid Season Defoliates
Bag worms 
Bag worms primarily target needle-leafed evergreens, including arborvitae (Thuja), junipers, spruces, and false cypress (Chamaecyperis), but also deciduous trees such as honey locust and bald cypress.

The caterpillar rapidly consumes needles and leaves, defoliating entire trees. Deciduous trees recover, but evergreens frequently die. Each bag contains 500-1000 eggs. When these hatch, each larva creates its own body bag. The caterpillar eats by stretching its' head and front legs out of the top of the bag. When threatened, it quickly retreats into the bag and pulls the entry closed with a silk drawstring.

Treatment: Remove and destroy bags as soon as they appear.

Gypsy Moths
Gypsy moths are voracious pests that have defoliated millions of acres in the eastern US. The hatched caterpillars can float through the air on silken threads. The adult caterpillars are 2" long, hairy, and dark with red and blue spots on their backs. They target many trees, but especially oaks.

Treatment: Wrap tree trunks with a sticky barrier to prevent adult females from climbing up to lay eggs and to trap larvae traveling down. Spray with Neem oil.

Japanese Beetles 
Japanese Beetles feed on an amazing variety of fruit trees, grapevines, rosebushes, annuals, perennials, and bulbs. Grubs chew the roots of grasses and garden plants. Adult beetles fly, feed, and mate from June to August. Through summer, the female beetles burrow into the soil to lay eggs. The larvae pupate in May or June emerging as adults shortlyer. There is a new generation every year.

Treatment: Larvae in lawns may be killed by treating the soil with Milky Spore (preferable). The application should last for 5 years. Adult beetles can be killed by spraying with Neem. 

Webworms
Webworms are sometimes confused with tent caterpillars. The two are easy to distinguish. Tent caterpillars construct nests, in branch crotches close to the trunk, in spring. Webworms build nests out at the ends of branches in the summer and fall. Webworms target pecans, walnuts, persimmon, sourwood, maple, mulberry, crabapple, ash honey locust, and other disciduous trees. The larvae/caterpillars eat the foliage within the nest and enlarge the nest as they grow. adult moths lay eggs on the undersides of tree leaves in spring and early summer. There maybe 3-4 generations/year.

Treatment: Break up newly formed nests with a jet of water.
May

Plant
  • Set out annuals after danger of frost is past. Transplants become less stressed when set out on a cloudy, calm day. Set out in late afternoon and protect from strong light and wind.​
  • Plant annual flower seeds.
  • Plant dahlias and cannas after last frost date.
​
Prune
  • Continue pruning spring flowering trees and shrubs after they bloom. Van Houten spirea, lilac, forsythia, and mock orange should be pruned by removing the oldest and largest canes at the base of the plant.
  • Dead head peonies.
  • Pinch mums and asters until July 4.
  • To keep pine trees small, remove 1/2 of the candle of new growth. Removing all new growth will result in base branches as pines drop their oldest needles each fall.
  • Cut back and layer perennials such as phlox, Joe Pye (when 3' tall), NE asters (when 24" tall) and monarda to control height.
  • Shear candytuft back after blooming to promote bushiness.

Chores
  • Take or provide support for tall growing perennials or ones that tend to flop.
  • Continue weeding and mulching.
  • For powdery mildew on phlox, lilac, and monarda, spray with dormant oil.

Tips
  • To increase the number of foxglove in your garden, gently bend the finished flowering stalk down to the ground. When the seed pods are brown and totally dry, rub them onto the ground. When the new seedlings are big enough, transplant them to where you would like to have them in your garden. They will flower in 2 years (foxglove are biennials). Do this each year and you will have a garden full of foxglove.
     
Phenological Plant and Plant Pests
A useful tool for successful gardening is an insect calendar. This will tell you what bugs are typically active in each month. We all know that with changing weather patterns, plants are sometimes blooming either earlier or later. So, an even better way to monitor insects is with phenological plants. These are indicator plants: their bloom time coincides with certain insects in the environment. 
Horsechestnut/Fringetree Blooming
  • Lesser peach tree borer. Clearwing moths lay their eggs in the limb crotches of cherry trees (especially young ones).
  • Euonymous scale: white (male) and brown (female) specks (scales) encrust stems and leaves. They are sapsuckers. Adult scales are protected from insecticides by waxy coverings. Control measure, therefore must be aimed at the unprotected immature stage. There are 2 generations per year. Rx: Spray with dormant oil in early spring.
  • Holly leafminer. Light infestations require no attention other than to pick off and destroy infected leaves.
  • Pine needle scale. Rx: spray with dormant oil.