• If you planted pansies for winter color, now is the time to fertilize them with any water soluble fertilizer. (Miracle Grow, Bloom Booster, etc.)
• Cut off most of the green foliage of tattered liriope. If you have large areas of this ornamental grass, set your mower to its highest setting and mow over them.
• If you don't use a lawn service for your lawn fertilization needs, you need to apply lime now if it has been a year since the last application. (40 pounds per 1,000 square feet)
• Prune holly shrubs back to a manageable size if desired. Holly plants are tough. You can cut them back to 18 inches tall and they will come back. 
• Plant bare-root roses in soil that contains plenty of organic matter and that has been thoroughly tilled or mixed.
• Use atrazine (Purge) to kill weeds in centipede grass lawns.
• If you are going to plant a vegetable garden, now is the time to plant cauliflower, mustard, radish and turnips.
• If you are going to re-seed your fescue back yard, you can't use a pre-emergent weed preventer for six weeks after seeding.
• Divide overgrown clumps of hosta now that you can see the leaves unfurling above ground.
• Examine the backside of euonymus and camellia leaves for scale insects.  Thoroughly spray with horticultural oil if the pests are found.
• Remove spent camellia blooms from the bust and from the ground. You'll prevent camellia petal blight.
• Prune bush roses to about half their present size.
• Re-pot houseplants you plan to move outdoors. Their roots will need more room as they grow rapidly in the sun.
• Wait until mid-April to plant gladiolus, canna and caladium bulbs. They all need warm soil to grow.
• Forsythia, quince and winter honeysuckle can be pruned to a smaller size after flowering.
• Fertilize shrubs: 1 tablespoon of 10-10-10 (or shrub fertilizer per foot of height.
• Sharpen your mower blade or replace it with a new one.
• Change the oil in your mower if you have a 4-cycle engine. Clean the air filter. Use a few drops of household oil on all the wheels. Remove the spark-plug and replace or clean off carbon deposits with a wire brush.

Bermuda Lawns

Just a note on preparing your Bermuda lawns for the summer. By the end of the month, you should be able to scalp off the dead layer of last years grass and allow the sunlight to stimulate the little grass plants that are beginning to green up. All the warm weather we have had has caused the Bermuda to begin greening up a little early this year.

Once the grass has greened up to about 75% and is growing, core aeration is recommended to help alleviate compacted soil and open up any thatch that may have built up. Power raking is not recommended. The power raking process damages the growing grass crowns and leaves your lawn more susceptible to fungal disease.

Please direct Lawn and Garden questions to landscape@avocet-hoa.org.  The Landscape committee will be happy to answer your questions.