Winter is a valuable time of year for completing many important garden activities vital to maintaining and producing beautiful, productive plants in the growing seasons of spring, summer and fall. I would like to share with you four that top my list.

I love ornamental grasses. Most varieties provide great landscape interest and are relatively low maintenance, pest–free, drought tolerant and deer-resistant. But after a heavy snow beats them down, I realize it’s soon time to get out and give them their annual shearing. If you wait too long, those new green shoots will soon be springing up and then it will be too late. They should be cut back 4-6” above the ground depending upon the size clump. If you cut them back too close, they may be injured and not grow back. For smaller clumps, I like to grab the clump in my hands and use sharp, good quality by-pass pruners. (I feel a pair of these is indispensable for many gardening jobs.) For a larger, tougher clump, I may use gas powered hedge shears. This year I am going to try something I read about: tying bungee cords around the clump so it all stays in one place and is easy to dispose of. Other tools that people like to use to cut back grasses are sharp hedge shears, sickles, machetes, weed trimmers with blades, saws and loppers.
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