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February

Flowers & Ornamental Grasses

Flowers & Ornamental Grasses

Fruits, Vegetables & Herbs

Fruits, Vegetables & Herbs

  • Make a list of herbs you use for cooking, crafts and gifts.  Plan to grow a few of your favorites in this year’s garden.
  • Create a seeding chart for recording plant names, starting dates and other important information. 
  • Start vegetable plants from seeds indoors. Follow packet directions for planting times. Use clean containers and sterile seed starting mix.
  • Fertilize seedlings once they begin to grow.  Use a dilute solution of a complete water-soluble fertilizer every other week.
  • Check seedlings for sudden wilting and collapsed stems caused by damping off disease.
  • Add a little zip and nutrition to your winter meals with homegrown microgreens.
  • Start thinning and pruning raspberry plantings as the snow begins to recede and before growth begins.
  • Those gardening in milder climates can start cleaning the garden as weather permits. Check and repair animal damage, remove plant debris and cut back grasses and perennials as needed.
  • Continue to monitor plants for animal damage throughout the winter.

Groundcovers & Vines

Groundcovers & Vines

  • Continue to monitor your landscape for signs of rabbit, vole and deer damage.  Adjust protective fencing, reapply repellents and alternate scare tactics as needed,
  • Watch for and manage frost heaving in the garden caused by freezing and thawing of the soil throughout the winter.
  • Monitor the health of tropical vines overwintering indoors. Make any needed changes in their care.
  • Purchase or build supports for new or existing vines as needed.
  • Southern gardeners can begin pruning overgrown summer-flowering vines.
  • Dig, divide or prune liriope back to 3 to 4 inches above the soil surface if gardening in the south.

Indoor & Holiday Plants

Indoor & Holiday Plants

  • Continue removing forced bulbs out of cold storage. Place in a cool location and allow several weeks for the bulbs to sprout and bloom.
  • Once forced bulbs are done flowering you can grow them on like houseplants before placing in the garden or add them to the compost pile.
  • Remove the flower stem on your amaryllis once the blossoms fade. Grow it like your other houseplants if you plan on forcing it to rebloom.
  • Clip a few branches from spring-flowering trees and shrubs such as crabapples, serviceberry, spicebush, forsythia and pussy willows to force for indoor bloom.
  • Finish pruning tropical hibiscus overwintered indoors to encourage summer bloom outdoors. Start fertilizing with a flowering plant food once new growth begins.
  • Transplant potbound houseplants into a container with drainage holes that is one size larger than the current pot.
  • Check houseplants for salt buildup.  This appears as a crusty, white substance on the soil surface or as white stain rings on clay pots.
  • Watch for mealybugs that look like little pieces of cotton in the leaf joints and stems of a variety of houseplants.
  • Leaf spot diseases can attack houseplants, especially those that have been overwatered.  Remove infected leaves and adjust care to correct the problem.

Lawns

Lawns

Trees, Shrubs & Roses

Trees, Shrubs & Roses

Upcoming Live Events
& Webinars


May 17, 2025
Ask the Plant Doctor Q&A
Ebert's Greenhouse Village
Ixonia, WI

May 18, 2025
Ask the Plant Doctor Q&A
Ebert's Greenhouse Village
Ixonia, WI

June 1, 2025
Growing, Harvesting & Preserving Favorite Italian Herbs for Food and Drink Demos
Festa Italiana-Cucina Showcase 
Milwaukee, WI 

June 4, 2025
FREE WEBINAR:
Attracting Hummingbirds

Register here

June 8, 2025
Selecting the Right Hydrangea
for Your Landscape

Ebert's Greenhouse Village
Ixonia, WI

June 14, 2025
Houseplants 101
Ebert's Greenhouse Village
Ixonia, WI

June 20, 2025 (event 6/20-6/22)
Pollinator Celebration
Vino in the Valley
Maiden Rock, WI
Register here

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