You know it’s time to prune your roses when forsythia in the neighborhood start to burst with yellow flowers. That’s happening right now around Seattle. Late winter/early spring is the optimum time to prune because new buds are easy to spot.

There are many reasons to prune roses, including keeping the size and shape in check, removing diseased canes and producing the best blooms. Pruning also keeps roses healthy by allowing more light and air to flow to the plant and stimulate growth.

1. Start by removing all dead, diseased and damaged branches on the plant. You’ll know it when you see it, but typically they’re black, blown, and discolored. Prune sections about 1/4 inch above an outward-facing bud. Prune down the cane until the pith (the substance inside the plant) is cream colored. Sometimes this may mean removing the entire cane.

2. Prune out weak or spindly canes (typically smaller than a pencil in diameter), suckers and canes that cross or rub others. Each year, you can also remove the oldest cane down to the crown (regardless of its health) to encourage new cane growth.

3. Trim the remaining canes, pruning out no more than half of the original cane height to give it a nice overall shape.

For more detailed information on pruning hybrid tea roses (which most of us have), check out PlantAmnesty’s Web site. The Seattle Roses Society also has this simple guide to pruning roses.

Contact Ecoyards if you’d like to setup garden maintenance services for your property.

In March, we wrote that the Woodland Park Zoo had to cancel the sale of the highly coveted popular Zoo Doo, or compost made from piles of poop from zoo animals, because tests found the piles were contaminated with an herbicide called chlorpyralid. Zoo officials traced the problem to some of the feeds they had been using and officials say they’ve curbed the problem by switching feeds and using a smaller supplier, according to this King 5 report. 

Gardeners who were disappointed by the lack of Zoo Doo earlier this year should be happy to learn that the zoo is making the prized poop available in a drawing this month. There’s less of it to go around, so the lottery will be even more competitive. The zoo is also making available “bedspread,” a composted mulch that’s much like Zoo Doo but contains higher amounts of wood and sawdust. Zoo officials say bedspread is an excellent fertile mulch for perennial beds and woody landscapes such as native gardens, rose beds, shrubs, tree rings or pathways.

To enter the drawing, send an entry card to the zoo from Sept. 11 to 25. The cards will be drawn at random and selected until supplies run out. If you’re selected, the zoo will contact you to pick up your compost piles between Oct. 9 and 25. Here’s how to enter: send one postcard per person (no phone calls) to Zoo Doo, Woodland Park Zoo, 601 N. 59th St., Seattle, WA  98103.  Include your name, day & evening phone numbers, whether you want Zoo Doo or Bedspread, how much you want (from a garbage bag to a pick-up truck load) and when you would like to pick it up. For more information, call the poop line at 206-625-POOP or visit at www.zoo.org.

1. This is the month to enjoy the fruits of your labor in the garden. You get to harvest ripe vegetables, including tomatoes, zucchini, beans, cucumbers, and potatoes.

'sweet success' cucumber ready to be picked

2. Fertilize strawberries after harvesting for good fruit production next spring.

3. Feed, water, deadhead annuals. Continue to deadhead (remove spent flowers) on roses, Shasta daisies, coneflowers, cosmos and other plants. Lavender that has finished blooming can be cut back by about one-third.

4. Don’t forget to deep water trees and plants in containers during stretches of hot weather. August is typically a dry month with little rainfall. Plants in containers tend to dry out faster and need more water, so keep careful watch over them.

1. Pull weeds. Pull weeds. Pull more weeds.

2. Plant vegetable seeds for a harvest into fall and even winter. Replace plants that have bolted with summer crops such as peppers and tomatoes.

3. Make sure newly planted or transplanted trees and shrubs are getting enough water. Check plants that you’ve planted within the last few years. Give plants enough water to wet the root zone; water deep but less frequently. Make use of your rain barrels to help you conserve water while keeping your plants well-tended. Water container plants regularly, and fertilize them every four weeks or so.

4. Mow the lawn regularly, and don’t allow the blades too grow too long.

5. Plants are actively growing during this month, so be sure to take the time to enjoy them. Peonies, irises, rockroses, and rhododendrons are going strong right now.

6. Put out your tomato plants if you haven’t already done so. Be sure to prune the lower leaves to keep water from splashing on them. This prevents diseases and other problems.