Monthly Garden "To Dos"

• Crabapple, Carolina Silverbell, Dogwood, Redbud, Flowering Cherry, Viburnum, Pearlbush, Carolina Rhododendron, Sweet Shrub, Piedmont Azalea, Banks Rose, Exbury Azalea, Spirea, Pieris, Evergreen Azalea, Kerria(Easter Rose), Drooping Leucothoe, Weigela, Periwinkle, Ajuga, Candytuft, Violets, Columbine, Trillium, Flags(Dwarf Iris), Bloodroot, Bleeding Heart, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Anemone and Siberian Squill

• Don't be an April Fool! Fertilize all early spring flowering plants like forsythia and evergreens such as holly early in April. Later bloomers like azaleas and rhododendrons should be fertilized after their flowers fade.
• Once you can determine whether your fruit trees have any fruit, you can decide how much fertilizer to give them.

Planting

• Annual flowers can be planted outside this month. Some commonly planted annuals are ageratum, begonia, celosia, dwarf dahlia, geranium, marigold, petunia, portulaca, salvia, snapdragon, annual vinca and zinnia..
• Plant gladioli bulbs this month, and continue through mid-June.
• Consider transplanting azaleas in April so plants are grouped according to color.
• The following vegetables can be planted this month: beans, beets, cantaloupe, corn, Chinese cabbage, cucumbers, pumpkin, squash, Swiss chard and watermelon.

Pruning

• Prune April flowering plants like azaleas, lilac and weigela after the flowers fade.
• Prune berry producing shrubs like holly and pyracantha while in flower to prevent complete removal of all of this season's berries.
• If needed, trim spring flowering trees like Bradford pear,flowering cherry and redbud.
• Cut out winter damage that may have occurred this year.

Spraying

• Spray the following landscape shrubs for the following insect pests: azalea-lace, boxwood-leaf miner, camellia-tea scale, euonymous-scale, hemlock and juniper-spider mites and hybrid rhododendron-borer.
• Spray iris beds for iris borers.
• Spray red-tip photinia weekly with a recommended fungicide if leaf spot has been a problem.
• Spray broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower for worms.
• Spray wooden homes and lawn furniture for carpenter bees.
• Spray squash plants at the soil line to control squash borer. Continue through the end of May, and use only the recommended insecticide.
• Spray azaleas with the recommended fungicide to reduce the amount of azalea leaf gall.
• Begin weekly fruit tree fruit sprays after flower petals fall.
• Start a fungicide spray program for your bunch grapes this month. Follow with weekly sprays.
• Continue with rose spray program.
• Scout or observe your landscape plants before spraying. Pests may not be present.

• Plant warm season grasses like Bermuda grass and centipede grass this month. Zoysia is planted in May..

Propagation

• This is a good time to layer new plants by lowering a branch of your favorite shrubs and covering it with soil and a stone.

Specific Chores