Garden Tasks for February in Acadiana By Dan Weintritt and friends

Created for use by the Louisiana Native Plant Society with the Acadiana Native Plant Project. Made in the style of Dan Gill's Month by Month Gardening in Louisiana, Cool Springs Press, Copyright 1999, 2006

General Guidelines and Goals

• Choose plant species and ecotypes native to your ecoregion of Louisiana. Ask your nursery where their plants are grown. Do not buy or share plants that are invasive.

• Go for diversity. Include diverse bloom and fruit times, plants that are attractive in different seasons, and those that occupy different layers of your garden.

• Reduce the size of your lawn to only what you use, as the lawn has very little ecological value.

• What falls in the yard stays in the yard: consider keeping a brush pile of your cuttings and limbs. This is a great habitat and a reservoir of insects that other wildlife depends on.

• Minimize chemical use. Native gardens don’t need fertilizer (which only gives weeds a leg up), and a well-established habitat controls nuisance insects naturally. Use herbicide sparingly, according to instructions, and only on plants they work on.

• Comply with all local ordinances regarding yard maintenance. Be active with your Homeowners Association and communicate with your neighbors about your motivations and plans.

• Consider documenting and sharing as your garden develops over time to inspire others.

February - To Do

Add/Change/Improve

• Continue to transplant trees and shrubs that are still dormant, and divide and transplant perennials.

• Pull refrigerated seed that was stored in fall, and sow into trays that can be brought indoors.

• This is a great month to prepare new bed space for all the plants you will buy at plant sales this spring! Scrape sod or turf with a sharp shovel, or use an herbicide according to manufacturer's instructions. Herbicides will work much better on warmer days. Brown cardboard can be applied over the soil as an additional, compostable, weed barrier.

• Hollies will be flowering soon; if you did not get a good crop of berries, consider that many hollies need a male pollinator. Talk to your garden club or a horticulturalist if you need help determining what type of hollies you have, and what an appropriate pollinator would be.

Maintain

• Watch out for invasive, non-native, cool season weeds. Pull by hand and dispose of the entire plant to prevent seed from persisting in the garden.

• Fertilize Louisiana Iris and other spring-flowering plants, if desired.

• Established plants probably don't need water right now, but monitor water needs for containerized plants as they are waking up. They especially need moisture before the sudden, hard freezes now and next month.

• Avoid working in the garden after extremely rainy weather, when soil is moist and heavy. Excessive activity will lead to soil compaction.

Propagate

• Seedlings and cuttings that were started indoors or in hot houses can be brought out on mild days to acclimate to outdoor temperatures.

• Continue to start seed trays. If planting annual species, especially, seeds can be started in staggered sets a few weeks or a month apart, to extend bloom time in the garden

Protect

• Evergreens such as Magnolia and Holly can be evaluated for scale infestations. Heavy infestations can be treated now with horticultural oil. Ensure that the spray coats all surfaces of the leaf, especially the undersides, where most infestations are worst. Two treatments a few weeks apart are more effective than one.

• Continue to be prepared to protect young plants and seedlings from freezes. Some of our hardest freezes can be had as late as late February or early March. Early blooms on Iris and other garden plants can be lost if they bloom early and then are hit by a late freeze. Plan to cover or at least mist tender growth to preserve blooms; the plants themselves will be fine and not weakened by freezing weather.

Enjoy and Harvest

• Blueberries, Maples, and other early spring bloomers are waking up now. Winter is almost over! Blueberries need pollen from different, non-clonal plants to bear fruit. If growing named cultivars of rabbiteye blueberry, two different named varieties are needed.

• Iris, Lyreleaf Sage, Thistle, and others may wake up early if weather is mild.

• Look out for blooms on Fleabane Daisy, Spring Onion, Butterweed, and other spontaneous Natives in your yard and the surrounding countryside.