Winter Yard Cleanse

We’ve enjoyed an amazingly mild winter here in the Pacific Northwest. Each day this past week felt like early April, not February.   As much as I love that we have not been having our normal cold wet winter, I look out at the mountains and seeing we have no snow, wonder what will this summer be like. Water restrictions? It might be a challenging summer for our gardens.

I have been able to get out in the yard with this great weather to clean up from earlier storms and clear out beds that are now full of bulbs popping up.   I have also done a lot of pruning. I like to take the cuttings from the Forsythia (yellow bush above) and use them as floral arrangements inside, bring Springtime to the table.

This is a perfect time of year for pruning your yard.

• Pruning in winter reduces the risk of any insects or diseases to your plants. 
• The leaves and new growth have not yet come out so it’s easy to shape the plant to your desired look. Also, now is a great time to have all of the clippings since yard waste bins aren’t yet full.
• Pruning at this time of year also gets you out in your yard and helps you to look around and start planning what changes you are going to make to your yard in the spring.
• Get out there and prune up your yard. Who knows what March will be like; maybe winter is still yet to come.