CHICAGO (WLS) -- Gardening expert Jennifer Brennan from Chalet Nursery in Wilmette discusses spring gardening tips.
1. Winter Damage - Evergreens, Boxwood, Arborvitea, Japanese Yew and Juniper are all showing brown or tan areas that have suffered the drying effects of the extreme cold temperatures and the winter winds. While the soils were frozen the roots could bring any water up to the tips of the branches to replace the moisture that evaporated out of the tissues. All of us horticulturists are advising home owners to wait until the dormant buds begin to grow before pruning any of the damaged areas off. Plants preserve the buds at the expense of the evergreen foliage, so wait for 10 days to 2 more weeks to see where the new growth develops. The plants will probably recover better than we expect.
2. Frost Free Date - May 15th, the "magic" date that divides the cool season and the warm season planting. It is an average date, so proceed with caution being prepared to protect plants if the weather changes. The BEST plants to focus on are the warm season annuals and vegetables like - tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and squash. Flowers like petunias, angelonias, salvias, geraniums, flowering vinca, begonias, torenias and browalias.
3. Gardening Trends - Edibles, edibles, edibles in gardens and in containers. Ornamentals edibles are the hottest - plants like Neon Swiss Chard add color and pizzaz. Use lettuces and parsley for foliage effects in gardens or containers. Dwarf edibles are even hotter - the new dwarf tomatoes like 'Sweet and Neat' can grow in a 10inch diameter pot and bear tomatoes all summer. The dwarf blueberries and raspberries grow in the garden or containers and they do not have thorns.
4. Herbs - everyone is loving cooking these days (look at the popularity of all the cooking shows), so having fresh herbs at ones fingertips is another hot trend. Herbs love warm temperatures to produce the flavorful oils. Chalet is selling herbs in DIY mix and match 6 packs. You can even mix in the vegetable that you need. My favorite is basil, oregano, Italian flat leaf parsley, English thyme with a tomato and a pepper. That could be a pizza combo!
Chalet Nursery
3132 Lake Ave, Wilmette, IL 60091
(847) 256-0561