CANTON, MS in Bloom

By Courtney Warren and Kathy Hammack

Spring is here! Our yards and gardens are waking up.  It’s time to start cleaning up, planting, pruning and preparing our gardens and flower beds.  Just as you give your house a good spring cleaning to freshen it up, it is good to take a similar approach to getting the garden and yard back in shape.  It can feel a little overwhelming when you get ready to tackle all the work required to get your yard and garden ready for the growing season. Amending your soil, both inground as well as pots, will prove to be a good investment.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service offers valuable advice for this month.

The Canton Garden Club enjoys managing the corner flower beds and pots around our Historic Square.  Perhaps you’ve seen some of our members cleaning the winter debris and weeds.  Over the next couple of weeks, we will be dividing the perennials planted last year, planting annuals and adding fresh pine straw.  So, grab some gardening gloves and your tools, and let’s get growing!

Planting: Divide violets, shasta daisies, liriope, ajuga, mums and other perennial plants. Plant okra, melons, peas, corn, beans, eggplant, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Set out basil. Set out summer annuals, if danger of frostbite is past, including ageratum, allysum, begonias, geraniums, dianthus, celosia, marigolds, moss rose, petunias, impatiens, coleus, and caladiums. Plant summer and fall blooming bulks such as callas, cannas, dahlias, gladiolus, and gloriosa lilies. Sow zinnias for early summer blooms. 

Pruning: Remove any freeze-damaged and dead wood. Prune azaleas during or after blooming. Remove faded flowers from kurume azaleas. Prune flowering shrubs after they finish blooming. If pruning can be done while the shrub is flowering, the trimmed off parts can be brought indoors for floral displays. Disbud roses and peonies for specimen flowers. 

Mulch and fertilize: Always mulch in new plantings to help assure success. Fertilize tomatoes with 10-10-10. 

Other ideas: National Arbor Day is the fourth Friday of April! Paint and repair garden furniture and other hard construction, including bird baths, bird houses, mailboxes, and decks. Buy azaleas in bloom to be sure of color.