By Claudette Sims, Halton Master Gardener
Pagoda dogwood: Inspect pagoda dogwood for signs of golden dogwood canker. Healthy stems are brown/purple and diseased ones yellow to orange. Prune affected stems to slow the infection. If badly infected, cut the entire shrub to the ground. It will grow back beautifully in spring.
Houseplants: Consult the Halton Master Gardeners‘ December newsletter “to-do list” for detailed information on houseplant care and dealing with pests.
Seed starting: Use this Seed Starting Date Calculator to determine when to start your veggie seeds. Enter May 17 as our area frost date.
Buy seed from this extensive list of suppliers at Seeds of Diversity.
Winter sowing: Read Halton Master Gardener Bev Wagar’s excellent blog posts on winter sowing of seeds.
Plan your 2023 garden by sourcing plants in nurseries near you. Check out our unique map of nurseries in Ontario. Native plant nurseries are highlighted with green stars!
Dormant plants/bulbs indoors: Check cold-stored bulbs or plants for rot or signs of disease. Spray lightly if dry or shriveled.
Pruning: Winter is ideal for pruning out dead, damaged, diseased wood and to increase circulation by opening the shape of trees and shrubs: blueberries (late February/early March); grapes (before growth starts in March), and fruit trees late winter to early spring.
Buy flowers or a plant for someone you love on February 14!
Claudette joined Halton Master Gardeners in 2004 and served on the Board of Directors of Master Gardeners of Ontario as president for six years. She was a regular panelist and lead on the weekly CBC radio online garden chat for many years and has subbed in for Ed Lawrence on the radio — a thrilling but scary experience! Claudette is currently the admin for the very successful Master Gardeners of Ontario Facebook group, which has just exceeded 35,000 members and manages the Halton Master Gardeners Facebook page. Claudette also works with friend and Master Gardener Cathy Kavassalis to further the work of the Canadian Coalition for Invasive Plant Regulation. Claudette’s most recent passion is planting larval host plants for butterflies and specific native plants for specialist bees.
