Garden secrets for shrubs, trees, and groundcover

Shrubs, trees, and groundcover all require different types of maintenance as the year goes on. This guide will give you a season-by-season look at what you should be doing to keep your plants healthy.

• Late summer: Check plants for problems with aphids or mites and treat infestations promptly.
• Shear hedge plants for the last time and fertilize any reblooming roses.
• Fall: As deciduous shrubs shed their leaves, rake them up and compost them.
• Inspect plant stems for signs of insect scale and spray them with horticultural oil if needed.
• Early winter: If your winters aren't too severe, this is the time to plant evergreen shrubs.
• Late winter: Check plant stems and branches for signs of small, immobile scale insects and spray with a dormant oil if needed.
• Severely prune back bluebeard and buddleia.
• Spring: Prune away any branches that appear dead or diseased.
• Plant all types of evergreen and deciduous shrubs.
• After the flowers fade, thin old branches from forsythia, lilac, and other spring-blooming shrubs.
• Fertilize young shrubs with an organic or controlled-release all-purpose fertilizer and renew your mulches.
• Early summer: When pruning shrubs that have already bloomed, retain as many berry-bearing branches as possible.
• Continue setting out container-grown plants except in very hot summer areas. Provide water as needed to young shrubs planted in the spring.

• Late summer: If the weather is very dry, provide deep drenches of water to trees planted earlier in the season.
• Fall: Enjoy the fall show of colourful foliage, then rake up leaves to interrupt the life cycles of tree-eating pests that lay eggs in fallen leaves.
• Deposit the leaves in a compost pile where they'll turn to leaf mold, which is an excellent acidifying mulch.
• Early winter: Renew the mulches beneath young trees to help moderate soil conditions. Remember to keep mulches from touching the trunks of trees to allow air to circulate and reduce chances of disease and insect infestation.
• Late winter: This is the time to plant hardy evergreens, such as false cypress and pines.
• Spring: Set out new trees just as they're emerging from dormancy and fertilize young trees with an organic or controlled release balanced fertilizer.
• Prune dead branches from established trees.
• Early summer: Use your hands to weed around the bases of trees and prune off any small suckers that emerge from the lower trunk.

• Late summer: If your winters are cold, fertilize your lawn with a low-nitrogen, high-potash fertilizer.
• Trim the edges of ground cover plantings.
• Fall: Rake up the leaves that pack down on lawns and ground covers, which will ensure that they stay exposed to light and fresh air.
• Reduce your mower height for the last few mowings to lessen the chance of damage from snow-mold fungus that is more common on long grass.
• Early winter: Avoid walking on frozen lawns that aren't covered with snow.
• Late winter: In cold climates, rake up plant debris as soon as the snow melts.
• Cut back old leaves from liriope, and shear back ivy, pachysandra, and other ground covers that need rejuvenation.
• Spring: Fertilize your lawn and apply a crabgrass prevention treatment if desired.
• Set out new ground cover plants.
• Early summer: Plant seed or sod in areas that need repair.
• Mow often, removing only one-third of the grass` length as you mow.
• Fertilize established ground covers with an organic or timed-release fertilizer.

Performing the proper maintenance at the proper time can mean the difference between lush, burgeoning plants and dead ones. Use this guide to stay caught up on all of the chores your plants require.