Hi there; I have a pruning dilema. I totally re-landscaped our gardens this year and am at a loss at to how to accomplish my prunning needs. I live in Southern Ontario and the winter this year has been to say the least extremely odd. We have been plagued this year with unseasonably warm temperatures, unusually heavy rain, and sporadic periods of below freezing temperatures. My plants, shrubs and trees have been ... well to put it mildly ... they don't know if its spring or not. My paperbark maple has had buds formed for almost a month, as has my climbing hydrangea, my butterfly bush has quite a lot of growth. This is just a few of the many plants that are showing unusual growth. In other words .. they have not gone into dormancy at all. The ground hasn't even frozen yet. What I am worried about is .. what do I do about the pruning that I was planning on doing in late winter, early spring? I was also planning on moving some plants (ex. toad lilies) in early spring before they began growing too much. What advice if any can anyone give me as to how to proceed? I look forward the help, Struggling in Southern Ontario
Just wait the same way you would if it were more 'normal'. It really is nuts out there, but it won't help anything to jumpstart pruning and it's just as likely to suddenly get cold unexpectedly(!) sometime. Everyone's in a quandary!
