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How To Deal With Plant Disease Problems

There’s nothing worse than watching a plant start to wither and die because of a disease problem. Learn how to spot the early signs of disease so you can keep your plants in pristine condition all season long.

Your plants looks so good, but suddenly they start to turn brown and wilt. The weather is perfect, and everything is getting adequate water, so what’s the problem? You may be dealing with disease. Pathogens can infect plants quickly and show up as a range of symptoms that are tricky to address, meaning you need to know what to look for right away.

Here’s an overview of plant diseases and what you need to know to better protect your green friends.

Plant Disease Defined

A plant disease is an impairment in a plant’s normal state that affects its functioning, usually in a negative way. All plant species are susceptible to disease, but cultivated plants tend to have the most problems. That’s because they’ve developed over time through human intervention and didn’t evolve the genetic defenses to fight them off as their wild counterparts did.

The Two Types of Plant Disease

There are thousands of plant diseases that could infect your plants today, all of which are split into two categories: infectious and noninfectious.

Infectious diseases are caused by a pathogenic organism that infects the plant material. They can be a fungus, bacterium, virus, nematode, or even a parasitic flowering plant. These pathogens are capable of reproducing within the host and spreading from one plant to another, which makes them highly contagious.

Noninfectious diseases, in contrast, come from unfavorable growing conditions like temperature extremes, inadequate moisture levels, and nutrient deficiencies. They won’t spread from plant to plant, but plants growing in similar situations are likely to develop them.

Factors That Affect Plant Diseases

Environmental conditions make a significant difference in the development and spread of plant diseases. Here are some factors to be aware of.

Temperature: Every disease pathogen has an optimal temperature for growing, which may vary based on the development stage. Generally, warmer weather leads to more plant diseases, as it encourages germination and spore production that causes them to spread.

Humidity: Warm, wet conditions lead to rot and fungal spore production, so high humidity is a leading cause of most leaf and fruit diseases. You can slow down the spread of disease by lowering the air humidity (if indoors) and avoiding spraying plants on their leaves.

Soil Moisture: Saturated soil keeps plant roots wet, which contributes to root rot and other fungal diseases. Refrain from overwatering so you don’t raise the carbon dioxide levels in the soil that encourages the growth of these pathogens. Likewise, other plant diseases are most problematic when the soil stays too dry.

Soil PH: The acidity of your soil affects the kinds of pathogens that proliferate within it. A soil test will give you a sense of its natural pH for information on what diseases are most likely in your conditions.

Soil Type and Fertility: Soil fungi and other pathogens all have preferences for certain soil types. Some thrive in heavy clay, while others need high concentrations of organic material. Elevated levels of certain nutrients can also influence the development of diseases like powdery mildew and leaf blight.

Signs of Plant Diseases

The best way to know whether you’re dealing with plant disease is to look closely at the plant.

Start by looking at the leaves and other foliage. Irregular coloring, size, shape, or signs of blights and lesions are all indicators of fungal or bacterial pathogens. In the early stages of a bacterial infection, you’ll likely see dark, water-soaked spots with distinct margins, almost like a halo. Look for dark specks in these dead areas, as these may be signs of mold growth or fruiting bodies filled with spores.

Viral diseases, like mosaics, show up as discolored, yellowing patches and sections that look dried out.

Next, inspect the plant’s trunk, stems, shoots, and branches. Any sunken, swollen, or discolored sections may be caused by bacterial canker infections, and they can lead to plant wounds that become infected by other pathogens. Galls, overgrowths on the stem, trunk, or branches, are often a sign of crown gall infections.

You can assume the plant is diseased rather than injured from insects or another cause if the change occurs gradually and there isn’t a clear distinction between the healthy and the unhealthy parts.

Below the soil line, root diseases are prevalent and can have consequences for the entire plant. They can come from soilborne creatures known as nematodes as well as bacterial or fungal pathogens. You might see stunted leaves, poor coloring, wilting and dieback, or sudden declines in your plant’s vigor and productivity.

Note: Many of the symptoms associated with plant diseases can be caused by a range of other factors like frost, heat, nutrient deficiencies, and more. In these cases, treating the “disease” won’t have any effect because you aren’t addressing the real symptoms.

One way to tell whether a plant disease is really to blame is to see whether multiple plant species in an area seem to have the same symptoms. Most plant diseases are highly specific and will only affect closely related plant species.

How to Treat Plant Diseases

Treating and preventing plant diseases comes down to proper identification and determining what is causing it in the first place. This process takes careful observation and attention to detail to ensure you make the correct diagnosis.

Once you know what kind of pathogen is involved, you can take steps to eradicate it from your plants. In many instances, a topical spray will help kill off the pathogens and restore the plant to full vigor. You may also need to provide it with nutrient-rich compost to give it the strength to fight off the attack. Sometimes, the only option is to cut off the diseased portion to prevent it from spreading throughout the entire plant.

Dealing with plant diseases is an inevitable part of gardening, but they don’t need to be discouraging. Monitor plants closely and understand why infections occur, and you can prevent your plants from suffering from devastating outbreaks.

5 Ways to Use Geometry in Garden Design

Geometry plays a big role in every great garden, from ratios to proportions. Learn how to use 5 simple tricks to design a classically beautiful, balanced garden.

You know how some gardens feel just right? In a well-designed garden, everything seems to harmonize, and it isn’t a coincidence. Exceptional gardens don’t just happen—they are rooted in solid design principles, wise plant selections, and good old geometry. That’s right, geometry. Don’t worry if math isn’t your thing, because garden geometry isn’t about calculations. Garden geometry means using volumes and shapes so that your garden feels balanced and beautiful, rather than chaotic and thrown together.

Garden designers use form, function, lines, and symmetry in their work. The end result might seem like magic, but it isn’t. You can use and apply these well-understood ratios and easy-to-follow guidelines to your own gardens. The basic rules and principles of garden geometry are covered in detail below.

Using Form in the Garden

Form refers to shapes, starting with the built environment—your house, fence, shed, pool— then garden elements—trees, shrubs, trellises, pathways, and ornamental plants. To create a garden with good geometry, look at the form of the buildings around it and design garden beds that complement the overall shapes and dimensions. Large evergreen shrubs and small trees are often referred to as “foundation plantings” because they visually anchor gardens. Use foundation plantings to create focal points and to give an overall sense of entry, enclosure, and dimension to your garden.

Line in the Landscape

Good use of line is what separates amateur gardens from professional ones. Beneath the lush growth and wildness, a “regulating line” is what gives a garden a sense of order and structure. You can use any part of the built environment to establish a line: A swimming pool, the edges of a deck or patio, a fence, gate, or exterior house wall. The line is an invisible ordering mechanism that you use to organize the garden. Use this principle to decide where elements such as pathways and borders start, end, and intersect.

This is not to say that you must use straight lines, certainly not! Establishing regulating lines gives you a framework to guide where all of the elements should go. A curved path or a round fire pit and seating area should be in a harmonious relationship to the lines governing the flow of the garden. Design elements can be centered, off-set, or aligned to the regulating lines. Play around with lines, marking them with ropes or landscape paint to see how they look before you commit to them.

Repetition and Pattern

One of the most powerful ways to apply geometry in your garden is through the use of repetition. There are many different ways to establish a pattern, including color, shape, texture, and even with building materials. For example, if your home has a red brick exterior, you could install pathways using brick pavers, or use brick in the construction of your flowerbed borders. You can also lay out a garden on a formal grid or repeat the same plant palette throughout the garden to establish rhythm and pattern. These cohesive elements make a garden feel intentional and will give your garden a more professional overall look and feel.

Working With Scale

Understanding scale in the garden can be a little tricky, especially if you are a beginner. It can help to imagine the garden as a room in a house. First comes your foundation: the walls and ceiling, next you have furniture, and last you have decorative items. In the garden, you have your buildings and your foundation plantings; next pathways, fire pits, seating areas, and swimming pools; and last you have your ornamental plantings. In a vegetable garden you might have walls, fences, and fruit trees; then trellises and raised beds, followed by veggies and flowers.

The most critical thing to grasp about scale is to “stack” elements from large to small so that taller things are in the background and smaller plants and elements are in the foreground. You want to create transitions between smaller garden elements and larger ones by having plants of intermediate height in between. You’ll notice that in professionally designed gardens, this effect makes it feel like you are in a room or series of rooms. You can also use scale to visually draw attention to a focal point—like a statue or a colorful Japanese maple—by placing it in an area with low groundcover plants or hardscape so that it is the most prominent feature.

Symmetry and Balance

Symmetry and balance are at the heart of creating gardens that are pleasing to the eye. The ultimate example of symmetry in garden design is the crisp, ornate parterre garden at Versaille. While a garden of this level of sophistication isn’t possible without full-time staff, it is possible to take inspiration from it and apply it to your own garden. Consider planting solid borders of one ornamental plant and then filling the border with masses of color in an orderly, symmetrical arrangement.

Some people have an innately good sense of proportion and are able to intuitively arrange large and small elements harmoniously. The rest of us can create balance in an asymmetrical garden by using the classical “golden ratio”. Used in garden design, this ratio of 1: 1.6 becomes the “golden rectangle.” Put simply, if a rectangle has sides A and B, then to achieve the golden ratio it should measure A÷B = B÷(A+B). The math is simple, and it is the reason why you see garden beds that measure 5 by 8 feet (1.5 by 2.4 meters).

Even if you’re just a beginner, using these principles of garden geometry will give your garden a professional look. If you’re an experienced gardener, they can help you improve or reinforce what you already know.

Carnations: The Official Flower for Mother’s Day

Who doesn’t love to receive a beautiful bouquet on Mother’s Day? But, did you know that the official flower for Mother’s Day is, in fact, a red carnation? The history of how this came to be is fascinating and you can read about it here.

Unlike Father’s Day, initially celebrated with a red or white rose, Mother’s Day was and is still hugely associated with bouquets. While you could give your mother anything from a professionally arranged bouquet as an adult to a handful of dandelions as a child (or vice versa), there is one official flower for Mother’s Day: the carnation.

The Official Mother’s Day Flower: The Carnation

The official Mother’s Day flower is a red carnation. While this may seem like a cheap choice when there are fancier flowers, the carnation has been the official flower ever since the holiday’s inception. (And no, shockingly, Hallmark didn’t make it up.)

The story starts with Ann Jarvis in the 1800s. Having lost 8 of her 12 children, Ann organized coalitions to combat childhood illness, raising money for medicine, providing nursing care for the sick, and inspecting food and milk. During the civil war, the coalitions cared for wounded soldiers. When the war ended, Ann organized a Mothers’ Friendship Day to bring together mothers from both sides to encourage reconciliation. All this while raising her remaining four children, including her daughter Anna.

Anna and her mother were quite close, and her mother’s death in 1905 devastated her. Anna pledged to establish a national day to honor not only her own mother, but all the mothers for the contributions they make to society. She organized a memorial for her mother at her mother’s church and passed out 500 white carnations. Why white carnations? They were her mother’s favorite flower.

After that, Anna wrote to local, state, and national politicians to gain their support for making Mother’s Day a national holiday. Unlike Father’s Day, which took decades to receive national recognition, it only took 10 years for 46 states and other nations (including Canada and Mexico) to adopt the celebration.

Carnations became the official flower of Mother’s Day. Over time, white carnations became reserved for honoring mothers who had already passed on, while pink carnations represent gratitude and red carnations represent admiration.

(As for Mother’s Day cards, Anna Jarvis was so firmly against the commercialization of the day that she then lobbied for the end of the holiday.)

How to Honor the Memory of a Deceased Mother?

To honor her memory, then either wear a white carnation pinned to your lapel or place a white carnation bouquet in your home or on her grave.

How to Arrange Carnations

Carnations have an undeserved reputation as a cheap, filler flower. That’s not true at all! Arranged with style, they can have a romantic or vintage style to them. And since carnations come in a variety of colors, there’s no end to the color combinations!

For a stylish bouquet, skip the grocery store bouquets and head to your local florist for an arrangement. Or try arranging your own for that extra-personal touch. Look for any local or online flower arranging workshops for tips. Locally grown and organic flowers are a great environmentally friendly option!

Carnations will last two weeks with proper care. Change the water daily to prevent bacteria from growing. If you receive a wrapped or tied bouquet (as opposed to a pre-arranged in a vase), then cut the stems at a 45-degree angle before putting them in water. This helps the flowers absorb the water and last longer.

While carnations may be the official flower, they’re not the only option. Like Anna Jarvis, think of what your mother’s favorite flower is. She’ll appreciate the extra thought.

Time to Remove Weeds! What You Need to Know

Letting weeds get out of control is a common mistake for beginning gardeners. Learn why you need to remove them, the best time of year to weed your garden and the right tools to make the process easy.

By the time the weather starts to warm, your plants should be growing great. Unfortunately, so will the weeds. Once the days get longer and the weather heats up, it’s time to get garden weeds under control so they don’t overwhelm your flower beds and choke out your plants.

Removing weeds may feel overwhelming when you begin. But, take the time to do this garden task well the first time, and you can keep the weeds in check and reap the rewards of your hard work for the rest of the summer.

Here’s what to know before getting started.

Why Remove Weeds from the Garden

Most plant lovers agree that weeds are a constant nuisance. Every square inch of garden space contains weed seeds lying in wait for the right conditions to sprout.

If you disturb the top few inches of soil, you’ll bring these weeds to the surface and spring them into action. Within a few weeks, they will sprout into an eruption of unwanted seedlings that crowd out your plants.

At first glance, these tiny weeds might not seem like a significant concern. They start small and barely take up space in your garden bed. But, give them time to get established, and they will outcompete everything you’ve planted. That’s because weeds have evolved to thrive in almost any growing condition and need very little to thrive.

So, if your garden is subject to cold, excess heat, drought conditions, or other growing complications, chances are your plants will suffer, but you will still grow a healthy crop of weeds.

When to Remove Weeds

The ideal time to get rid of weeds in the garden is when they are large enough to grasp but too small to hurt your plants. For most species, this is when they are between 1-6 inches tall (2.5-15 cm).

Don’t wait until the weeds tower over your plants, as they will shade them out and siphon away water and nutrients, so they end up stunted.

Strategies for Removing Weeds

The best way to remove weeds depends on the setup of your garden. Follow these instructions based on your growing conditions.

In Raised Beds

Raised beds tend to have fewer weeds than other gardening systems because the growing medium isn’t in direct contact with the ground where weed seeds dwell. Likewise, the potting soil typically used to fill them is usually sterile and weed seed free.

Remove weeds by hand whenever you see them to keep the bed clean. Take care to grab each weed by the base around the ground line and pull up slowly so that the roots come free of the soil without snapping off.

Consider using hand tools like a claw rake or hook neck weeder to make this easier. Digging knives like a hori-hori will help to dislodge stubborn roots.

In Garden Rows

While it’s possible to weed large garden rows on your hands and knees, you will save time and your back by using cultivation tools instead. Consider the following:

Garden hoe: This traditional tool has a long handle and angled metal blade for slicing weeds at soil level to shear them from their roots to stop them from sprouting.
Stirrup hoe (hula hoe): Stirrup hoes have an oscillating blade that shuffles through the soil when you use it along a garden bed, making it ideal for removing delicate weeds in loose soil.
Tine weeding rake: This tool has long tines that can fit around plants to remove weeds just as they emerge from the soil.
Flame Weeder: Similar to a blow torch, this tool lets you direct scorching heat at tiny weeds to kill them quickly.

In Mulched Beds

Weeds that sprout in mulched beds tend to have strong taproots because they needed to work harder to break through the woody material and reach the sunlight. Make sure you pull the entire root out of the ground by pushing the mulch temporarily aside, grabbing the weed by the base, and pulling upwards. If the root doesn’t budge, use a hand fork to loosen the soil around the stem.

You can save your knees by getting a foam gardening mat to kneel on.

11 Ways to Prevent Weeds for the Long Term

Removing garden weeds is a constant challenge, but taking these steps can reduce their spread so you can more easily stay on top of them.

Disturb the soil as little as possible to minimize bringing weed seeds to the surface.
Add two inches (5 centimeters) of mulch over the bare soil to deprive weed seeds of light and reduce the chance they germinate.
Use landscaping fabric when establishing new garden beds to “bury” weed seeds below it and prevent them from getting access to light. Cut a small hole in the material for every new plant you add.
Weed only after a rain or when the soil is wet as the roots will more easily come out of the ground.
Always weed before the plants have formed seed heads, so you don’t scatter the seeds through the soil as you remove them. If you’re pressed for time, cut off the weed’s flower heads as they form so the plant won’t produce seeds. You can then remove the roots and stem when convenient.
Weed each bed thoroughly so small weeds aren’t left behind.
Never use weeds in your compost, as you may accidentally introduce a new generation of weed seeds into your garden beds when you use it.
Avoid overfertilizing and only add fertilizer once the bed is weed-free, so you don’t nourish the weeds by mistake.
Plant a ground cover over your garden bed to cover bare soil and minimize space for weed seeds to sprout.
Use drip irrigation to target your watering and avoid watering weed seeds.
Keep the area surrounding your garden mowed and weed-free to prevent weed seeds from blowing over from neighboring plants.

If you want fast results without putting in manual labor, consider spraying a foliar herbicide over your garden bed to kill off weeds quickly. They should brown and die within a day or two. However, most of these sprays will kill every plant they touch, so use them carefully and only as a last resort.

An Introduction to Keukenhof Tulip Show

Simply blooming marvellous, Keukenhof Tulip Show is a flower display with a difference. Within this article, you’ll find out all there is to know about this striking spectacle, and you’ll even discover how you can be a part of it.

Are you a tulip lover? Do you admire all things bright and beautiful? If so, the Keukenhof Tulip Show is the ideal place to go. In this article, we’ll talk about:

History of the Keukenhof Gardens

Would you believe that the history of Keukenhof goes as far back as the 15th century? It all began with Countess Jacoba van Beieren, commonly known as “Jacqueline of Bavaria”, who collected fruit and vegetable for the Teylingen Castle kitchen from the kitchen dunes (Keukenduin).

In 1641, Keukenhof Castle was erected, surrounded by land in excess of 494 acres. Louis Paul Zocher, alongside his father Jan David Zocher, both landscape architects, redesigned the gardens in 1857 and paved the way for Keukenhof’s style of today.

The mid 90s saw a visit from 20 people with a vision. Flower bulb growers and exporters alike generated and executed a plan to make Keukenhof a spring park, opening the public gates in 1950. It became an instant sensation.

Now, Keukenhof prides itself on being a worldwide attraction, luring visitors in from all over the globe.

Keukenhof’s vision? To uncover the full glory of the Dutch floricultural sector, and to allow the 100 companies that partake to show off their incredible array and continual hard work.

What Is the Keukenhof Tulip Show?

Every year, Keukenhof Tulip Gardens puts on a show that isn’t to be missed. Based in Amsterdam, Holland, this vibrant display of tulips covering 32 hectares (around 79 acres) is sure to take your breath away. They plant 7 million bulbs annually, including 800 different tulip species, to show the variety, uniqueness, and true essence of this incredible family of flowers.

And if the prospect of walking among a multitude of tulips isn’t blissful enough, Keukenhof even puts on an annual theme, so you can expect a distinct experience each and every year.

What Can the Show Offer You?

Keukenhof isn’t just a phenomenal flower show, it has breath-taking ponds, terraces and pavilions. If you’re a nature lover, Keukenhof Tulip Show offers a peaceful sanctuary to stroll at leisure and process your thoughts. You could even find a quiet spot to do some mindfulness!

Would you rather get active? Try cycling around the grounds, or hiking the 15km trail for stunning floral views. If you’re feeling peckish, the gardens offer a range of eateries, including restaurants, cafés, and pop-up food stalls.

Keukenhof is a fantastic day out for all. Not just one for the adults, it also offers exciting facilities to keep the children entertained all day, including playgrounds, a petting farm and a scavenger hunt. If you fancy getting lost with the family, Keukenhof’s maze will do just the trick.

And last but by no means least, Keukenhof Gardens is a place to network if you’re in the floricultural business. With 500 flower growers, and thousands of budding anthophile visitors, you are guaranteed to find people with common interests and hopefully some money to spare.

When Is Best to Visit?

Unfortunately, due to COVID and the lockdown restrictions, the public weren’t able to witness Keukenhof’s display in person in the 2021 season. However, 20 million people took the time to view the gardens virtually.

With 2022 looking up, Keukenhof is hoping they will be able to open their gates to the public once more from March 24th – May 15th. The gardens will be open from 08:00 – 19:30 every day of the week during this period.

The gardens experience 3 flowering periods:

First period: this sees an appearance from indoor tulips and outdoor daffodils and crocuses.
Second period: once the daffs and crocuses have wilted, the gardens come alive with hyacinths and early tulips.
Third period: in this final season, all of the outdoor tulips will be in bloom and the trees will be a vibrant green.

Of course, the timeframe of these blooming periods is dependent on the weather.

Keukenhof Gardens is an easy place to get to, accessible by public transport, car, taxi, bike or walking. You can also book a guided tour from Rotterdam, Amsterdam, or The Hague. For more information, check out the FAQ section on Keukenhof’s website.

How to Get Your Tickets

Tickets for the 2022 show aren’t yet available, however, be sure to snap them up in November 2021, as this is when they will be on sale.

Zodiac Flowers: Taurus

As a Taurus, have you ever wondered about what your zodiac flowers might be? Learn all about these lovely zodiac flowers and how to easily grow them in your own garden.

If you were born between April 21 and May 21, then you’re a Taurus. Taurus is the bull, and its constellation is one of the oldest in the world, originating in Ancient Mesopotamia as the Great Bull of Heaven. This constellation marked the time to plow and plant vital plants, and to this day, represents the element of earth. So what better way to celebrate your birth sign than with growing these four Taurus birth flowers?

Tauruses have a steady, patient, and generous personality. With your endurance and stubbornness, you’re in it for the long haul, dedicating yourself to seeing projects and relationships to the end. These positive traits can turn against you if you stick with something long after it stopped being a good idea.

Here are 4 Taurus birth flowers and their meanings!

Poppies for Persistence

Today, poppies are most often used to symbolise the massive deaths in World War I, since they thrived in barren fields churned up by fighting and shelling. That’s because poppies are resilient. While other plants struggled to return, poppies sprouted and grew everywhere, standing their ground. Like poppies, Tauruses are persistent and resilient, keeping going even when faced with monumental challenges.

The other, more historical association with poppies is opium, which added pleasure and oblivion to its meaning. They’re also incredibly beautiful, representing a Taurus’ love of being surrounded by love and natural beauty.

Poppies will bring beauty in warm reds and oranges to your garden year after year. It’s best to sow seeds in the fall or early winter as they require stratification. They will self-seed.

Cut poppies are rather delicate and require careful handling. Pair them with other wildflowers, with the poppies facing different angles so that you can fully appreciate their beautiful petals and black underside. Or wait until poppies go to seed and use the seed pods as accents.

Roses for Relationships

Like Taurus, the planet Venus rules over roses, making roses the primary birth flower for Taurus. Today, we mainly think of roses as flowers of romance. You give your special someone a bouquet of roses on Valentine’s Day.

But depending on their colour, roses symbolise many aspects of relationships, from the romantic (red), to perfect happiness (pink), to friendship (yellow), to unity (red and white), to gratitude (peach), to mourning the loss of someone (dark crimson). As a Taurus, you dedicate yourself to your chosen relationships.

Roses are a fantastic, fragrant addition to the garden. They’re much easier to grow than commonly thought. As a gift, consider a miniature potted rose so they can enjoy their fragrance in their home.

As a cut flower, they’re best as a single flower bouquet with baby’s breath for contrast, or mixed in with other bold flowers.

Foxglove for Practical Creativity

Foxglove represents insincerity, and sometimes, when you’ve got your head done grinding away, you come off to others as not expressing your genuine emotions. But you can also be wildly creative, intuitive, and magic, just like foxglove.

Foxglove contains a chemical called digitalis. When taken in correct doses, digitalis heals many heart conditions. But when taken in excess, it can prove deadly. Likewise, as a Taurus, your greatest strength — your endurance and persistence — can be your greatest weakness.

In the garden, foxglove makes a magical addition to flower beds with its bell-shaped flowers. To grow, press seeds into the soil in the autumn (no need to cover with soil). Foxgloves will reseed themselves each year.

Unlike the other flowers, foxglove is better in your garden than in a bouquet, as it can be quite toxic when ingested. Keep it away from children and pets.

Roses, poppies, daisies, and foxgloves. All seemingly different, but adding up to the determinate, persistence, practicality, creativity, and valued relationships that Taurus are most known for. Plant one of these Taurus birth flowers for yourself, or give as a gift to a Taurus friend.

Daisies for Determination

Daisies are actually composite flowers, meaning each one is actually two flowers combined into one. This gives them the symbolism of true love, as two flowers complete each other, and represent a Taurus’ devotion.

In the 1800s, “ups-a-daisy” was coined to encourage children to get up when they fell, which has become “oopsy daisy” or “whoops-a-daisy”, another callback to a Taurus’ tenacity. When you stumble in a challenge, you get back up and keep persisting. Daisies also represent fresh hope and new beginnings.

Daisies are a perfect low-maintenance addition to your garden as a simple pleasure. They’re rhizomatic, so they spread quickly once planted.

As a cut flower, you can either keep the bouquet to just daisies (put the tallest ones in the centre), or add to a mixed flower arrangement. Giving your special someone a gift of red daisies means that you’re utterly devoted to them.

How to Prune Spring Flowering Shrubs

Pruning your spring flowering shrubs will reward you with lush new growth and a lot more flowers next year. Many shrubs will only flower on new wood. It’s important to encourage this new growth.

Spring flowering shrubs kick off the gardening season with spectacular displays of flowers. Lilacs (Syringa sp.), mock orange (Philadelphus sp.), and forsythia are often considered beloved old-fashioned shrubs that can live for generations. Over time, however, the quality and quantity of bloom can decrease as plants grow too woody and mature. This guide will explain how to prune and maintain these beloved spring shrubs to ensure loads of flowers to enjoy for years.

Why Prune Your Flowering Shrubs?

Flowering shrubs, such as lilacs, mock orange, and forsythia, are all woody plants that bloom best on what horticulturists call ‘new wood.’ Generally, quick-growing shrubs will produce too much old wood or become over-run with suckers, and eventually will not bloom. Hard pruning is in order, but few gardeners will want to cut the shrub entirely to the ground.

Professional horticulturists practice a method called the ‘One-Third Rule,’ which involves removing one-third of the oldest branches every spring at ground level. This method ensures a continuous renewal of branches that will produce flowers in abundance.

When to Prune Flowering Shrubs.

Timing is everything, especially with spring-blooming shrubs. The window is small, between just after flowering and 2 or 3 weeks after. One should remember that the plant’s entire annual growth will happen in a month or two after flowering.

Never prune spring-flowering shrubs in mid to late summer, fall, or winter. Pruning must be done in early spring or immediately after they bloom to ensure that the shrub can produce flower buds for the following year. This applies to deciduous shrubs such as lilacs, mock orange, spirea, most woody roses (Rosa sp.), forsythia, deutzia, honeysuckle (Lonicera sp.), butterfly bush (Buddleja sp.), and weigela.

Pruning is very beneficial to some hydrangeas, though not all (see below). Furthermore, pruning should be avoided on evergreen shrubs such as rhododendron, camellia, and even deciduous azaleas as they will not benefit from such treatment.

How to Prune Flowering Shrubs.

There are multiple goals when it comes to pruning deciduous blooming shrubs. First, remove any dead or damaged wood. This could include branches that cross over each other or simply branches that have died or look too old. Second, pruning should allow air and light to reach through the entire shrub while being aesthetically pleasing. A common mistake is to try and shape such shrubs into a topiary, a standard, or a ball. Most blooming shrubs don’t comply, given their natural upright or vase-shaped habit, which one should encourage.

Remove one-third of the oldest branches to near ground level and any suckers. Avoid reducing the rest of the shrubs’ established stems that may impact future flower buds. Younger shrubs may benefit from just reducing the current years’ growth (such as with lilacs). In this case, cut just above a pair of leaves, as this is where flower buds will form and eventually stems next year.

What About Hydrangeas?

The trick to pruning hydrangeas is demystify them first. Common names and groups abound, if you don’t know the difference between a smooth hydrangea and a bigleaf hydrangea, a few tips will help.

First, research the species if you know what it is. Hydrangea macrophylla (commonly referred to as a ‘bigleaf hydrangea’) blooms on old wood and should only be carefully pruned to remove dead growth every spring. If you live in a mild climate and your hydrangea has colorful flowers, blue mop heads, or bright pink flowers, you probably have H. macrophylla. These hydrangeas often suffer in severe winter conditions.

On the other hand, if your hydrangea has large white flowers with big leaves, it’s probably H. arborescens. The names are familiar: ‘Incrediball’, ‘Annabelle’, ‘Little Lime’. These flowers don’t blush to pink but usually turn lime green through late summer and eventually buff-colored in fall. All H. arborescens must be pruned hard every spring to 6 inches above the ground. This will stimulate the strongest and most robust branches and the largest flowers. If you skip pruning them for a year, the flower will be smaller but still abundant.

The third group of common hydrangeas is often called tree hydrangeas: H. paniculata. The leaves are pointed at the tips, and the cone-shaped flower heads generally emerge completely white but age with a blush of pink or mauve tint. These can be trained to a tree form (a standard) or as a shrub. The cultivar names too are familiar (‘Pinky Winky,’ ‘Pee Gee,’ or ‘Limelight’). All H. paniculata bloom on new wood, so pruning is encouraged. Hard pruning will result in longer stems with flowers great for cutting. Light pruning (or none at all) will result in shorter stems and smaller flower heads.

Other hydrangeas, such as oakleaf and lacecap, require slightly different care. Oakleaf hydrangea (H. quercifolia) blooms only on old wood, so prune carefully just after bloom and only if needed. Lacecap types can be either H. macrophylla or H. arborescens, so you may need to do some research to identify what species you have. Hydrangea macrophylla ssp. serrata tends to be slightly more hardy in the north, blooming from previous buds in pink and blue. Flowering may be sporadic in cold climates, so prune only when winter-kill is present.

However, some cultivars of H. arborescens produce lacecap flowers, which should be pruned hard every spring before their buds break. This includes the summer blooming cultivar ‘Haas Halo,’ which can produce lace-cap flowers up to 14″ in diameter after a hard pruning nearly to the ground every late winter.

Best Tools for Pruning Flowering Shrubs

Hand Pruners- Hand-held pruning sheers or secateurs are best for the cleanest cuts. Look for brands that cut with a blade (known as bi-pass pruners) as they will produce the cleanest cut. Clean cuts are easier to make and reduce stress and damage to the shrub.

Loppers – Long-handled loppers (the kind that requires two hands to use) are essential for larger branches.

Saw – A shard pruning saw is often necessary for old or dead branches with a diameter of 2″ or more. Dead wood is often more challenging to cut with lopper or pruners.