One week from today is the important Valentine’s Holiday when we celebrate romantic love. For all of us who get busy with our daily lives and don’t make the time to say I love you as often as we should to our wives, husbands or significant others this is an important date on the calendar to express those special feelings and to let them know how important they are to us. Throughout history, flowers have been one of the very best ways to say I love you. The beauty and wonder of cut roses, a spring bouquet or a European arrangement convey the international message of growing love and unmatched natural beauty. When combined with a special card with your own personal message of love few things work as well as fresh, lovely, beautiful and inspiring flowers to convey your love. There are hundreds of choices of types of cut flowers or potted plants you can share with your loved one depending on their personal tastes. I was impressed with the buddy a few years ago who shared a dozen gorgeous long stem cut roses and a gift certificate for a live potted rose of the same color his wife could add to the garden later in the spring. He started this on their 10th anniversary and by the 25th anniversary they had developed a very personal and special rose garden of “Valentine’s Day” roses. Select the cut flowers or live plant most special to your loved one and gift it next week with a loving message and a quiet home cooked meal or a special night out at a restaurant and start making your own special valentine memories.
The beautiful spring weather like last weekend teases us into dreaming of the spring ahead. There are many things to start doing out in the yard including testing your soil and preparing new flowerbeds. You can start applying pre-emergent herbicide “weed and feed” products to your lawn to control crabgrass and broad leaf weeds before they germinate. Apply these in February or March for best results and the very best time to apply pre-emergent herbicides is when the yellow forsythia are in bloom. Now is the time to finish pruning shade trees, hedges and summer flowering shrubs. February is a great time to fertilize shade trees, fruit and nut trees and shrubs now before they start to leaf out for spring. Now is the time to spray dormant oil on fruit and shade trees for control of mites, galls and other assorted overwintering insects.
Valentine’s Day to mid March is the best planting season for cool season vegetables like onions, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, swiss chard, lettuce, peas, spinach, and turnips. It is also a good time to plant strawberry plants and asparagus crowns.
Enjoy Valentine’s Day with your special love and start getting outside on the nice days to get a taste of spring.
Rodd's Seeds of Wisdom 