I pruned the tops out of the privet I chopped down last spring. They got to about 3' tall and were trying to turn themselves into trees again. So I put a stop to that. I stuck the pruned cuttings into the soil between the plants. I'm hoping to create a hedge that will be the backdrop for my perennial bed.

I shovel pruned a lot of dandelions today too. And I pruned back the butterfly bushes in the perennial bed. Again, I stuck the cuttings into the ground in areas where I want another one to grow. It may be too late for these to root before it gets hot, but it doesn't hurt to try.

And then I pruned a few nanadinas that grow in the backyard. All of them got chopped down last spring as well. They were over 6' tall with just a few sprigs of leaves at the tops. I like it when they look like bushes instead of tiny trees.

I spent more time today hauling mulch than pruning.

I am weeding. Well, weed, weed, weed for awhile, then cut, whack, hack for awhile. I have trimmed all the low and down-turned limbs from the senna tree. I have pruned my Dame De Coeur roses, my Carefree Surprise, my Belinda's Dreams, and my KnockOuts. I need to prune the Mutabilis- two of them, and they are each 7'tall, 7'wide. Not to be cut now are the Sombruil, Pinkie, Peggy Martin, and Fourth of July; they are all climbers.

I weeded off and on all day, but finally quit when it got nice and warm this afternoon. I was in some fairly serious St. Augustine that has crept in to feed on the good soil, and decided I would wait for DH to come in. The idea of disturbing a snake that might be warming up didn't appeal to me. If I am going to get bit, I would prefer to do it while somebody is here to help me.

I have cut the Lantanas, the cannas, trimmed the Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. I left alone the angelonia, the almond verbena, and the cats' whiskers. I have not decided whether to whack the oleanders back now or wait.

Best part of my 'yard work' is that I went to the wholesale nursery yesterday, and came home with a Suburban FULL of plants!

So, I am planting, too.

I think I am beginning to see progress.

Janie

I'd rather be weeding, or pruning, or almost any outside garden chore that could be accomplished without frostbite. OK, OK, it's very nice right now, in the 50's, but the snow does present a problem. Oh well, I need to study for my medical terminology exam tomorrow, anyways!!!

Nancy.

One row of my boxwood hedge really suffered this winter. I was so sure I had sheared early enough that if it did put out new growth it wouldn't be nipped or burned by the cold temps and winds. It's a tricky business getting the shearing times just right so that you don't do it too early or too late in the season. Looks so ugly right now.

I usually wait until later to begin pruning...except for the fruit trees and I need to get to those soon and the three new grape vines.

I did get some manure and straw hauled to the garden a couple of days ago from the milk cow's area.

Pruning in between translation jobs and tight deadlines. Will pruning never end? I really don't like it, must be one of the few gardening chores I do not enjoy. Unfortunately I do have quite a few things that require pruning to look good. Roses to start with, and horror of horrors, my neighbor's wisteria which is covering the fence between us and decides to lean on my side of the planting (read: smothering everything on its way). I have been slowly progressing in this task, pruning the wisteria, photinia, buddleia and roses that grow in that bed.

I'm still a long way from over and then there's the side passage that is infested with ivy (not planted by me) and boasting a rugosa rose that has high hopes of taking over the world. I'm actually *dreading* to think that Spring will soon be here, since I'm not sure whether I'll be able to finish it all before everything starts actively growing...

On the plus side, my poppies are up and I finally managed to find a place to plant a small vitex I grew from seed and which will have hopefully survived Winter (it's a bare stick right now). And did I mention weeding? I need days that are longer than 24 hours long, sigh...

Eduarda

We live in a rural area, so there's no pick-up for yard waste. Some we ditch in a big pile in the woods where it will become wood duff eventually. We also collect hardwood prunings into a big pile once a year (the pile is currently 8-10' high) and burn it. The cuttings of the ornamental grasses and less substantial woody stuff go into a separate pile to be run through the chipper shredder and subsequently added to the compost pile.

Over the last few weeks, I've cut back the roses and ornamental grasses. The knockout roses really got taken down because they were so huge. I also have R. 'Carefree Delight' and follow Pam Harper's advise, cutting it back to 1' each winter. The climbing rose on the arbor over the sidewalk only gets a light trim to remove branches that impede the walk-thru.

We have a beautiful Ilex 'Sunny Foster' holly in a foundation planting and it was getting a little too big for its environs, so we took it down by about a third. This was a job for DH as it required climbing to the top of a 20' ladder with various sharp accoutrements.

I also cleaned up the 'Annabelle' hydrangeas. It's still too early to clean up the tender perennials.