What To Plant:

  • It’s bare root time! Check out all of our bare root offerings (roses, fruit trees, berries) and act fast because bare root season last just a few weeks!

  • Bare root fruit trees are arriving this month. Take a look at our current fruit tree list and buy now while trees are dormant and prices are low!

  • Bare root berries should go into the ground now for a spring harvest. Depending on the type, consider planting them in a raised bed, hanging baskets, a barrel, or an attractive strawberry pot.

  • Artichokes! These plants like their soil rich so use lots of compost! Consider a gopher basket.

  • Brighten the garden with jewel colored bedding plants. Refresh your garden containers with primroses (pictured), pansies, Iceland poppies and more. Take a spin around our bedding department and discover all the pretty winter bloomers.

  • Camellias are at their peak so plant now. They bloom best when planted in spots sheltered from strong fternoon sun and dry winds. Wet buds and blooms may quickly rot so a location under a sheltering overhang is ideal if you can manage it.

  • Make your first planting of gladiolus this month and follow up with additional plantings at 15-25 day intervals until July for color from spring to early fall.  

  • This is a good month to germinate seedlings indoors and out so they are ready to harden off before going into the garden soil. Try broccoli, cabbage, and lettuce indoors. Outside you may have luck with beets, carrots, cauliflower, peas, and radishes.

Plant Relocating:

  • Move your living Christmas tree outdoors. Care for other holiday gift plants such as azaleas and cyclamen by placing them outside where they will thrive in cooler temperatures.

  • Move houseplants that need high light value closer to the light source while days are short.

  • This is one of the best times to transplant both evergreen and deciduous shrubs.

  • Divide overcrowded perennials this month.

  • Fill that “hole” left by the Christmas tree with one of our beautiful specimen sized houseplants or choose several smaller ones to brighten up the room. 

Plant Protection

  • Place mulch around trees, shrubs and flowerbeds three inces deep to keep weeds under control. Be sure to keep the mulch from touching the trunks of trees and shrubs, as well as the stems of bedding plants, to prevent crown rot.

  • Remove old flowers on camellias and azaleas to reduce the chance of petal blight. Don’t forget to rake under the shrubs, bag up the debris and remove from the garden.

  • Spray peach and nectarine trees for leaf curl now and again just before they bloom to prevent a severe fungus attack in the spring.

  • Watch for sprouting weeds. If they are pulled out young it will save you time, money on herbicides and besides… it’s good exercise!

Fertilizers

  • Feed the lawn monthly even during cold winter months. This maintains its green color and minimizes rust disease. Masters Fall and Winter lawn fertilizer is especially formulated for the season.

  • Apply Master Nursery Hydrangea Blue now and monthly hereafter until summer for bright blue hydrangeas.

Maintenance

  • Be sure to check outdoor container plants for water.  They can still dry out even though winter is typically very wet, pay special attention to hanging plants and other container plants protected by the eaves of your home.  Drier than normal conditions could stress out or kill plants if a hard frost should hit.

  • Start weeding! It is VERY IMPORTANT to catch weeds before they go to seed. Weeding with a hoe is easy this month because the plants are small and the ground is soft. If possible, weed on a day with sunshine and a breeze to ensure freshly-disturbed weeds dry out and die.

  • The winter can bring high winds and lots of rain. Now is the time to check your trees and roses for strong stakes and ties. Replace any stakes that are cracked and worn out with new ones. Replace weather-damaged ties.

  • If you haven’t already done it, prune your dormant trees (especially fruit trees) on a sunny day. Wait to prune spring flowering trees or shrubs until they finish blooming.

  • Rake up leaves and debris from your lawn so they don’t smother the grass. 

  • Prune your roses leaving only the most vigorous and healthiest canes. Check with a staff member for advice.

  • Fruit Trees

    • Almond plant bare root trees / pruning / dormant oil spray / remove old nuts

    • Apple plant bare root trees / pruning / dormant oil spray / trunk paint / remove mummified fruit and clean up around tree

    • Apricot plant bare root trees / dormant oil spray / remove fruit mummies

    • Cherry plant bare root trees / pruning / dormant oil spray / trunk paint

    • Fig plant bare root trees / pruning / dormant oil spray / remove fallen or over-ripe fruit / trunk paint

    • Peach/Nectarine trunk paint / scaffold support / prevent brown rot (end of month)

    • Pear plant bare root trees / pruning / dormant oil spray / trunk paint / remove mummified fruit and clean up around tree

    • Pecan plant bare root trees / pruning / remove old nuts / trunk paint

    • Persimmon plant bare root trees / pruning / dormant oil spray / remove decaying and fallen fruit / harvest

    • Pistachio trunk paint / plant container grown trees

    • Plum/Pluot/Prune plant bare root trees / pruning / dormant oil spray / remove fruit mummies

    • Quince plant bare root trees / pruning / dormant oil spray / trunk paint / remove mummified fruit and clean up around tree

    • Pomegranate plant bare root trees

    • Walnut plant bare root trees / pruning / remove and destroy old and fallen nuts

      Trunk paint is available in our store in quart and gallon containers in a brown color that matches bark nicely. Alternatively, a latex house paint thinned with water (1:1) works well too. Dormant Oil Spray is advised if you have had any issues with insects harming your tree or its leaves in the past.