February      

This is another rainy month, with an average of 20% of our yearly rainfall. It's still winter, as the cold nights can remind us. Frost still occurs in suseptible areas, especially on windless nights after a storm. But change is in the air. Many plants begin to bloom this month. Days are noticeably longer. We have an hour more of daylight in the morning and in the evening. Groundhog Day marks the halfway point to spring.

  Dormant Season Ending!

Now is the last chance for bareroot planting, dormant pruning and spraying! Finish these tasks by mid-month.

Don't miss the most important spray to prevent peach leaf curl on nectarines and peaches. Spray with lime sulfur or fixed copper when buds begin to swell but before they show color -- about mid-month. Copper sprays must contain 50% fixed copper. Do not use lime sulfur on apricots.

If fireblight has been a problem on your pear trees, including evergreen pears, spray while the tree is in blossom with copper or agricultural grade streptomycin. Spray weekly when the weather is warm and humid. Warm means an average daily temperature of over 60 degrees. Add the high and the low for the day and divide by two to get the average temperature for the day.

  Weed Prevention

If you have had problems with crabgrass or spotted spurge in the past, apply a fertilizer that contains a pre-emergence herbicide (weed preventer) in mid-February. Crabgrass begins to germinate by the end of the month. These weeds are not problems until summer, but you need to act now if you want to prevent them from growing at all. Pendamethalin prevents oxalis and spotted spurge as well as crabgrass. Dacthal is also effective against a wide range of summer weeds. Gallery prevents crabgrass and many broadleaf weeds.

Cool and wet weather encourages red thread, a fungus disease, in lawns. This disease will show up as small (3 to 5 inch) brown spots in your lawn. Look closely at the tips of the blades to see the red color. Prevent or treat red thread by applying a high nitrogen fertilizer. Bluegrass lawns are especially susceptible.

Spot spray dandelions in lawns with a broadleaf weed killer. Only the most severe infestation of weeds require a weed and feed product, which applies chemicals over the entire lawn rather than on just the weeds themselves.

  Plant Bulbs and Seeds

Plant bulbs for late spring and summer -- glads, lilies, iris, cannas, callas, anemones, ranunculus, tuberous begonias. Plant crowns of strawberries, rhubarb, asparagus and artichokes. Begin planting gladiolus corms now; they will bloom in 10 weeks. Plant them 6 inches deep and 6 inches apart. Plant every two weeks in March and April also to space out the blooming. Thrips attack leaves and flowers, especially during the hot summer months. Be sure to get started planting now.

In the greenhouse or under lights, plant seeds of spring flowers and vegetables -- stock, calendulas, sweet Williams, lettuce, cole crops, root crops, parsley, onions.

If rains are light, be sure to water as deciduous trees put out new leaves and blossoms.

Cut back fuchsias and hydrangeas. To make hydrangeas blue, give them a monthly application of aluminum sulfate.

  Flowers for February

Vines:

Hardenbergia violacea is sold as Coral Pea. It belongs to the Pea Family, Legumimosae, and is native to Australia. Adapted to USDA Zones 9 and 10. Give it sunlight, a well drained soil, and regular watering. It blooms profusely in February. Prune after flowering. Train as a vine or prune as a mounded shrub. Also does well in containers.

Jasminum polyanthum     Pink Jasmine
Gelsemium sempervirens     Carolina Jessamine

Shrubs:

Coleonema pulchrum     Pink Breath of Heaven
Chaenomeles japonica     Flowering Quince
Raphiolepis indica     India Hawthorne
Raphiolepis umbellata     Yeddo Hawthorne
Photinia fraseri     Fraser Photinia
Daphne odora     Winter Daphne
Forsythia intermedia     Forsythia
Rosmarinus officinalis     Rosemary
Ceanothus     California Lilac
Arctostaphylos     Manzanita
Magnolia stellata     Star Magnolia
Acacia longifolia     Sydney Golden Wattle

Trees:

Acacia baileyana or Bailey Acacia, another Leguminosae, is in its glory this month. It's a fast growing, though short-lived, Australian native adapted to Zones 8b to 10. It has fine textured, blue-gray foliage and bright yellow racemes of flowers. Plant in well drained soil in full sun or light shade inland. It can grow to a 25 foot dome-shaped tree.

Magnolia soulangiana is called Saucer Magnolia. It's a deciduous tree that is covered with white to magenta flowers in February. It can grow to 25 feet high and wide. It likes a moist, well drained organic soil. Five inch, light green leaves follow the flowers. Leaf margin burn can result from alkaline soils or too much fertilizer.

Prunus blireiana is the popular Purple Leaf Flowering Plum, another deciduous tree than comes into bloom this month. The leaves are a dark reddish purple. It grows to about 20 feet high with a lesser spread. It can be pruned to an open center like a fruit tree. Remove the crowded center branches, and head back to the desired height.

Pyrus kawakamii is the Evergreen Pear, but it will loose many of its leaves in cold winters in Zones 9 and 10. Be sure to spray for fireblight during bloom, as explained above. It has an open and angular branching pattern that can be improved if it's pruned as the tree grows. It's a popular street tree where it's adapted.

Perennials and Bulbs:

The bulbs that you planted last fall begin their display this month. Daffodils, tulips, grape hyacinths, freesias and sparaxis are just a few.

Senecio hybridus     Cineraria
Bergenia crassifolia     Winter Blooming Bergenia
Lampranthus spectabilis     Trailing Ice Plant
Narcissus     Daffodil   (photo at top of page)

Plant pansies and primroses now for quick color.

Viola cornuta     Viola
Viola wittrockiana     Pansy
Primula polyanthus     English Primrose
Papaver nudicaule     Iceland Poppy

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