This week in your Massachusetts garden & landscape

Week of February 13, 2017

Last minute reminder to order Valentines flowers for delivery tomorrow, like these at Russell’s Garden Center in Wayland.

Free white mulch fell from the sky this weekend, keeping your perennials like this hellebore safely insulated from the freeze/thaw cycles that do more damage than the actual cold. No wheelbarrows or pitchforks required!

Do Landscape Professionals have x-ray vision? When it comes to seeing through the snow, yes! Frequently we hear customers say “Please come look at my yard as soon as the snow melts. I have some ideas I’d like to talk to you about.” But by that point you’ve lost your place in line because everyone else had the same idea. If you want to be first on the list, call to set up an appointment today so your dreams can become reality sooner rather than later.

Keep your eye out for Pussy Willows coming in to bloom. Not only cute as the dickens, they are also a great early source of pollen for bees. The silvery soft flower buds that we all loved as kids actually open when they turn yellow with pollen. We may think they have “gone by” at that point, but the bees are in heaven!

You probably grow seedlings in “open trays” or pots, and pull the rows or clusters of seedlings apart to transplant. But did you know that in most commercial greenhouses, seeds are sown by machines into “plug” trays, named after how transplanters pop them out and “plug” them in to trays to finish growing?

Itching for spring? Your apple trees aren’t. 1000 hours between 32 and 45 degrees F. might not sound like a lot of fun, but it’s what makes Massachusetts be able to produce some of the tastiest apples in the country. That crisp crunch that you love on the varieties we love is a result of meeting this 1000 hour “chilling requirement”. While southern gardeners can grow some apples with as few as 300 hours of chilling, they are far, far more limited in their choice of varieties.