KRCW

By now, husband Ken and I have usually finished our annual pruning chores.

Mother Nature's endless rain and snow, however, delayed our plans this year, so we've been spring cleaning indoors until we can get outdoors and evaluate what needs to be done.

Late winter, we always carefully assess just how much pruning really needs to be done. Each year we seem to do less and less because we are trying to be smarter gardeners.

Before any plant comes home with us, we read the label for critical information on how large it will grow and then assess if that's what we really need and want in a particular spot. In the past, we've crammed a wide-growing evergreen into a space where a narrow-growing evergreen would be happier and then paid the price — a look we didn't like and a plant that behaved badly. In hind sight, I can't blame the plant for misbehaving because we made a wrong choice.

When we buy the right plant for the right spot, we space it accordingly. Even though we typically buy smaller plants because they are easier to plant and cheaper to buy, we know they quickly grow. A plant may stay small the first year or two, but you'll find rapid growth begins the third year — and it keeps growing, even dwarf versions, we have found. Many landscapers are bad about putting small plants too close together so you feel like your money is well spent, but it's a look that eventually threatens your house and patience.

We also select plants that look good without a lot of pruning to shape them. Most plants have appealing natural growth habits, and it's preferable to let them assume the look nature gives them. Shrubs sheared into balls and cubes actually invite disease and pests to live inside their green veneer. Plus, they look so awkward — I truly dislike azaleas trimmed into a hedge or some other geometric shape.

The best pruning practices remove only rubbing, crossing, diseased, dead and dying plant material — even on crape myrtles and shrub roses. Prune a camellia so a bird can land on one side, hop through the plant and exit on the other side and you've properly pruned it.

So, when you shop garden centers this spring — supply trucks are starting to roll in — do a little homework first and save yourself unnecessary work and expense. Use a measuring tape to plot your planting space, jot down a rough design on paper and research plants by size. Be sure to consider what they need in soil and light conditions, too, before you make a final decision.

Your pruners will stay sharper and last you longer because you aren't fighting plants that fight you back.

Need a plant suggestion for a specific site? Send me a photo of the space you want to plant, give me your light and soil conditions, and I'll make some suggestions. E-mail inquiries to kvanmullekom@dailypress.com

It's getting close

For the past few months, I've watched Anderson's Home & Garden Showplace in Newport News grow and grow and grow. Owner Clark Anderson says the grand opening of the expanded site on March 27 promises lots of fun and celebrity — Rebecca Kolls, a TV gardening personality. Vendors also will be there with new products.

"The $4 million plus project is the culmination of my life's work and my desire to present a world-class garden center to the people of Hampton Roads," says Clark.

Meet Rebecca and learn more about this haven for local gardeners in the March 25 Daily Press.

Save those hulls

Sunflower hulls gathering under your bird feeder are a good organic herbicide, according to the March/April issue of Birdwatcher's Digest. Gather the hulls under your feeders and sweep them into the cracks between paving stones to prevent weeds from germinating — hopefully, for at least one gardening season. For a neater look, grind the hulls in an old blender or coffee grinder and pour the herbicidal dust into the cracks of your sidewalk. The tip comes from Ellen Sandbeck's book, "Eat More Dirt: Diverting and Instructive Tips for Growing and Tending an Organic Garden." Get the $15 book at www.birdwatchersdigest.com/shop or call 800-879-2473.

Things to do

Winter garden/hellebore celebration. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Winter-blooming hellebores, or Lenten roses, are appearing in many local gardens. Find out why these shade-loving flowering ground covers are easy to grow, along with other winter bloomers, during a "Winter Gems" workshop 10-11:30 a.m. Saturday at Smithfield Gardens, Route 17, Suffolk. Free, register in advance. 238-2511.

African violets. 2 p.m. Sunday. Sue Hoffman discusses Gesneriads, the African violet family, at a meeting of the Tidewater African Violet Society at St. John Lutheran Church, 8918 Tidewater Drive, Norfolk. Free; new members and guests welcome. kemts@cox.net or 479-3681.

Bird walk. 7-9 a.m. Saturday. Join members of the Williamburg Bird Club for a bird walk at New Quarter Park, adjacent to Queen's Lake neighborhood upper York County. Free. 890-5840.

Grow winning cabbage. Monday deadline. Third-graders can get cabbage seedlings from Bonnie Plants to grow and enter in a biggest cabbage contest; 1.9 million participated in 2009. State winners receive a $1,000 scholarship each. Register and see photos of last year's state-by-state giant winners at www.bonnieplants.com.

Be a master gardener. Applications are being taken for master gardener training on the Peninsula Sept. 7-Nov. 18. Get an application through your extension office in Newport News at 591-4838; Hampton at 727-1401; and York County at 890-4940.

Bee basics. Register for a four-session Beginning Beekeeping class sponsored by the Colonial Beekeepers Association March 25-April 10 at the Northampton Community Center on Todds Lane, Hampton. Free. 513-2467.

Get more Hampton Roads gardening and home tips from Kathy Van Mullekom at twitter.com/diggindirt and at Facebook.com/Kathy.vanmullekom. E-mail Kathy at kvanmullekom@dailypress.com or call her at 247-4781; gardening and home news is also online at www.dailypress.com