April Garden Tasks: What Jobs Do Gardeners Still Have Left?

April has sneaked up on us, the spring equinox was a week ago, and the drizzle of Qingming is just around the corner. Roses, clematis, hydrangeas and herbaceous perennials have all come back to life, and in the south you can already see flower buds - a lovely sight all around. Besides snap snap snap snap snap snap snap snapping photos, what else needs doing?

Roses

Key tasks:

(1) Protect the branches

(2) Prevent powdery mildew

(3) Prevent caterpillars, aphids and thrips

(4) Top up with flowering fertiliser

Once roses finish their winter dormancy, nutrients flow back from the roots to the branches and flowering shoots emerge. Count how many new branches there are and you will roughly know how many flowers the first flush will produce, so one of the gardener's key jobs is protecting those branches - lose one branch and you lose at least one flower. Branches get lost to human causes (carelessness, or mischievous kids, or the dog and cat), and to caterpillars gnawing on them, so spotting a butterfly fluttering its wings in spring is not good news - it is very likely laying eggs...

Besides caterpillars, aphids and thrips suck the sap from tender shoots and leaves, which stunts and deforms the flowers and badly hurts the looks of a rose, so keep an eye on controlling them too. Spring is also peak season for powdery mildew, and some varieties are especially prone, such as Misaki, Hiyori, Sui Di, Jiaomei Gangqin, Fenzhuang Lou and so on, all of which have earned the title of powdery mildew girls. Once you spot it you need to spray immediately, otherwise the buds drop easily and the spring flush is ruined!

To get more and bigger rose flowers, once buds have formed it is also recommended to spray a flowering foliar feed, such as Huaduoduo No. 2 or Bikaihua, but once the buds start to colour up (once you can tell what colour the buds are) you must stop spraying, otherwise the buds tend to open early and arrive prematurely before they have developed properly, so the flower shape will not be up to standard.

Recommended: abamectin, chlorothalonil and Huaduoduo No. 2 (or Bikaihua), sprayed once a week.

▲ Fast-growing roses have already formed buds

Flowering shoots generally show buds after the 7th leaf

This is the time to start spraying the flowering foliar feed

▲ The branches Qing'er Jie lost because the chickens ate them

Hahahahahahahahahaha

There are always some completely unexpected accidents

▲ The chicken that was the culprit

Get ready to be stewed!

Clematis

Key tasks:

(1) Put up the trellis and tie in the stems

(2) Prevent clematis wilt

Most clematis send out flowering shoots from old stems; these shoots usually show buds quickly and do not grow very tall. Besides flowering shoots they also send out growth shoots, which need to grow upward for a while before forming buds, so you must put up a trellis for them to climb, and ideally help tie them in every few days, winding them in an S shape to control the height, so that when they finally bloom the flowers are fairly densely packed and look good in photos. For evergreen clematis such as Silver Coin and Apple Blossom, the flowering period is already more or less at its end now, so when you have time just tidy up the spent flowers and wind in the stems.

After Qingming, once the plum rain season begins, you need to pay extra attention to clematis wilt, especially with the F group varieties (Huanzi, Lüyu, Miss Kyoko, Zizi Maru and so on). Wilt strikes most on sunny days after rain, so it is best if you can keep them out of the rain. Use a fungicide as a root drench once a week as a preventive, and if you spot it, cut off the affected branches as soon as possible to stop it spreading.

▲ Clematis forming buds

Hydrangeas

Key tasks:

(1) Protect the branches

(2) Colour adjustment

Hydrangeas almost all flower on old wood, except Endless Summer, so protecting the newly grown branches is especially important - one branch is one cluster of flowers! Break one this year and that branch will not flower again...

If you want to adjust the colour, you can start using a colour adjuster now. Without adjusting, they generally open pink with a touch of blue; after adjusting you can get pure blue. But today's colour adjusters can only shift pink to blue, not blue to pink - a bit of a bug, really. Aren't people who like pure pink Endless Summer not human?!

Colour adjuster:

▲ Hydrangeas just leafing out

Maples

Key tasks:

(1) Prevent fungal diseases

(2) Prevent aphids

Maples just leafing out in spring are really stunningly beautiful, and they are fairly low-maintenance too - you just need to watch for aphids and fungal diseases such as anthracnose, and even those are not common.

▲ Japanese maple just leafing out: Higasayama

Bulbs

Key tasks:

(1) Winter bulbs bow out and free up space

(2) Plant spring bulbs

Daffodils, tulips and hyacinths should all be in full flower now, and in another week or two they will bow out. Since most gardeners' growing conditions are not favourable for reblooming, the usual advice is to dig them out and throw them away once the flowers fade, freeing up the space.

As for bulbs that only arrive in spring, such as dahlias and lilies, they can be potted up or planted out one after another. If you are buying, it is worth checking Hongyue first - they are all much the same.

[Taobao shop search: Hongyue]

▲ The daffodils have all bloomed

Herbaceous perennials

Key tasks:

(1) Buy various herbaceous perennials

In winter there is nothing above the soil for herbaceous perennials, and sellers dare not sell them for fear of bad reviews. Now that spring is warm and the flowers are blooming, the perennials are pushing up out of the soil and are gradually being listed, so it is a great time to get hold of them. Hosta, astilbe and coneflower get a lot of attention, and I especially recommend Bingbing's shop "Tongxiang Four Seasons Garden", which has many rare herbaceous perennials.

[Taobao shop search: Tongxiang Four Seasons Garden]

▲ Hostas pushing up out of the soil after waking up

Bedding flowers

Key tasks:

(1) Spring sowing

(2) Buy various bedding flower seedlings

(2) Repotting

Spring is the main battleground for bedding flowers - time for them to strut their stuff. Pot them up properly now and they will be in full bloom by mid-May. Since most popular bedding flowers dislike heat and perform poorly in summer, to extend the viewing period Guipo suggests buying larger seedlings where possible, so they can burst into bloom two or three weeks earlier.

This is also a good time for spring sowing - chillies and morning glory, for instance, are still in season. But sowing petunias, sweet peas and the like now is too late: the flowering period will be over before the seedlings are even transplanted, so it is better to buy seedlings directly. For shops, I recommend having a browse around "Huahua Shijia".

Also, bedding flower seedlings bought back in autumn and winter have grown big by now. Any still sitting in small pots and not yet repotted need repotting as soon as possible - spring bedding flowers grow like crazy, and petunias, blue-eyed daisies, marguerites and the like are no small plants; they will happily fill a 20cm-diameter pot.

[Taobao shop search: Huahua Shijia]

▲ Spring bedding flowers just potted up

What will they look like in 1 month?

▲ The spring sowing army

Remember to label the varieties

Everyone says spring is the busiest time for gardeners, but Guipo wonders why gardening seems busy all year round with so many jobs to do??? Still, it is tiring and happy at the same time!

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