Sharpen those shears

As I got out my Felco #2 pruning shears to cut out my ornamental grasses. I remember the instructions of my Woods teacher from High School.

Dull Tools are Dangerous! Get a stone to sharpen your shears before you use them or take them to a professional sharpener. If you use the cheap throw away ($20 or less pruners) It may even pay to just get a new one. Another reason to use a sharp tool is that it makes a cleaner cut through the branch which heals more quickly.

Ornamental grass pruning

I spent a bit of time in my garden this weekend. My Miscanthus 'Morning Light' was looking quite messy. I generally like to leave my grass through the winter, but by now its leaning and ready for a trimming. It's time to get out those shears and prune your ornamental grasses.

By pruning your grass now, you are only cutting last years growth. If you wait too long, you the grass will have started to grow, and you'll be cutting new growth along with the old growth.

I generally use a hand pruner. I like to use a Felco #2 as my pruner of choice. Start from one side of the grass grabbing a handful of stems and cut as close to the ground as you can. This will take about 10 minutes for a fairly decent size grass. It couldn't hurt to wear a pair of gloves since the edges of a grass can be sharp.

Golden Glowing Spruce

Even the winter color of his tree is amazing. The golden oriental
spruce (picea orientalis 'skylands') is a unique addition to any sunny
garden. Its rich yellow exterior needles contrast with the dark green
interior foliage. Will grow to about fifteen feet tall in ten years
and should be planted in the full sun. Only two available for this
year. One five foot tall the other three foot.

New cool and very limited

Just arrived today is the Kleim's Glory Hardy Gardenia.

This new variety is a true zone six plant. It will get fragrant single
flowers through out the season. Plant in a partial shaded location. It
will grow to approximately three feet tall.

We were only able to get ten of them so don't wait.

Beautiful Spring Day at the Williams Nursery Easter Egg Hunt

Easter arrived extremely early this year, but the weather was absolutely beautiful at the egg hunt. The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!)

Over 4000 Eggs were spread out over two fields for the thirteenth annual Easter Egg hunt at Williams Nursery.

Heathers

Today arrival

Hydrangeas arrive

Just in...
Our beautiful hydrangeas from California.

The Bellagio Conservatory

Hello from Las Vegas.
Tommorow I'm heading to the National Hslloween show, but today I had a
but of time to visit the conservatory at the bellagio. Wow. I was
overwhelmed. Although the area was smaller than I originally expected,
there was so much attention to detail that it took almost an hour to
look at everything.

The area was filled with giant watering cans that actually poured
water out on the plants. There was a small greenhouse inside filled
with butterflies.

Giant glass flowers helped create an amazing fantasy land and I would
recommend it to anyone.

Additonal Pictures at the Fabulous Belagio

Gardening Q's

I've been getting quite a few calls as to rose pruning lately.
Now is a great time to give your roses a pruning. Generally I cut hybrid tea roses back to about a foot tall. Climbers I tend to leave them be, but I do remove any branches that are not growing in the right direction on my trellis.

Shrub roses like knock out can be aggressively pruned now to keep them from getting out of hand.


-Dave

Carolina jasmine

Gelsemium also known as Carolina jasmine is one if the earliest
blooming vines. Its bright yellow color is a welcome addition to the
Spring Garden.

Pink beauty hellebores...
In flower now. Hardened off and ready to plant

New this week

Just arrived these double pansies are beautiful.

New and Cool
When I was down in Athens Georgia with The Garden Center Group
I had the privelage of meeting Allan Armitage. In the trial gardens at the University of Georgia I got to see this amazing plant. Believe it or not, its a Gaillardia. If this plant proves to be hardy I think it will be one of the next hot plants in the industry. The tag on the plant called it Gaillardia aestivalis var winklerii. Homestead White w/Purple Center. Dr Armitage also had 3 other colors. This variety is white with a purple center. Even the seed heads are purple. I have the honors of testing the Hardiness of one in my garden.
dave williams