February 2018

This February in the garden many small bulbs felt that it was safe enough to come out of hibernation and enjoy some unusually warm and sunny days.

Iris reticulata

The first of the Snowdrops (Galanthus)

When the bulbs start to emerge, it is time for the gardeners and volunteers at the Kauffman Memorial Garden to do perennial bed cleanup. We do this so that the bulbs have extra sunshine and we can spread fresh compost over any low spots.

Cleaning leaves from the hydrangea

Many guests at the Kauffman Memorial Garden ask how much they should prune their ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangea. Luckily, this plant is very forgiving. In the picture above, you can see that this year we chose to cut the winter branches to a height of about 2 feet tall. The ‘Endless Summer’ variety is an unusual macrophylla, because it blooms on both old and new wood. This means that you can either prune it to any height, or not touch it at all, and you will probably get some kind of bloom. Our only issue is that some years the spring blooms are damaged by frosts. Kansas City is land of wild weather fluctuations, so there isn’t much we can change about that.

During the cleanup process we try to be gentle to protect hibernating beneficial insects. This includes leaving some areas alone until the weather breaks. It also may involve waiting to prune plants that have praying mantis egg cases on them. I found this mantis pod while cutting back some anemone. It looks like one that already hatched last spring, but it is still fun to see them.

An old mantis egg case on a cotoneaster

The cleanup process continued to the hellebore patch. Once the old leaves were cut off, we saw that the bloom stalks and leaves were already starting to emerge.

Hellebore are one of the first things that we cut back in early spring.

As gardeners we try to make the most out of every sunny day in February. The winter is not over yet, and anything is possible in Kansas City. Here are some pictures from this month’s snowy and icy weather. Have a fabulous rest of your winter and we will see you in the garden!