Waterwise garden

Gardening with Limited Water

Learn the best ways to care for your plants during this drought. Either select the link from the top navigation above or follow this link to helpful information about using less water in your garden.

February in the Garden

Overhead view of pink tulips with yellow centers and purple crocus with orange centers

Checklist 

• Service your lawn mower and have blades sharpened.

• Water plants that don’t get winter rain.

• Turn compost pile weekly; cover during periods of heavy rain.

• Prune, mulch and start regular fertilizing of roses.

• Apply third copper spray to trees for peach leaf curl when buds begin to swell.

• Spray new leaves of sycamore and ash trees to prevent anthracnose.

• Apply pre-emergent products to lawns.

• Control snails and slugs as nighttime temperatures rise.

• Cut back warm season grasses such as miscanthus and malamagrostis to 4 inches.

• Pull weeds when soil is soft but not soggy. 

• Clean up spent blossoms and mulch around azaleas, camellias, to control disease.

• Leave frost damaged leaves and stems on plants to protect basal growth from further freezing.

Narcissus in bloom

• Plant cold tolerant perennials such as coralbells, bergenia, columbine, dianthus, pansies, and snap dragons.

• Plant bulbs, rhizomes, corms, and tubers, for iris, gladiolus, and dahlias.

• Plant evergreen vines such as jasmine, clematis, and hardenbergia.

newly planted lavender in bloom

Vegetables & Herbs

• Start seeds in greenhouse or cold frame fortomatoes, carrots, potato eyes, chard, beets, peppers, eggplant, bulb onions, peas, radishes, and late lettuce.

• Transplant seedlings or purchased plants of onions and cabbage.

• Harvest Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, last of the parsnips and rutabagas, and spinach.

• Plant bare root berries, asparagus, and artichokes.

Tea tree in bloom with small pink and white blossoms

Trees & Shrubs

• Plant bare root fruit trees, grape vines, and citrus trees.

• Plant bare root roses.