Zoo Volunteering

Shelley from the Zoo:

 
 

• Mondays and Wednesdays from 2-6 PM is great
  
• I'll get free unlimited visits for myself plus one
  
• 30% discount at the gift shop
  

   
   

  Go see the new baby Wallabies!
  

   
   

  
  

   
   

Pruning Tips

tips

Tip #17

Cutting a bouquet of roses is a great way to prune your rose bush. Cutting the stem a half inch above a leaf that has 5 or 7 leaflets will result in shapely growth and additional bloom. Cut to an outward-facing bud to encourage better future branching!

Tip #18

Immediately after bloom, pinch off the single growing tips of rhododendrons and azaleas. This will force multiple side buds to develop and the result will be bushier shrubs with more color. Sounds horrible but I have used shears to 'round' azaleas in containers after blooming and they grow back like crazy and bloom spectacularly!

Tip #31

For better blooms next year, resist the temptation to cut back your daffodils until they have almost completely died back. The bulb needs the time for the photosynthesis process to restore nutrients for the next year's flowers!

Tip #43

Cut off spent flower heads ("dead-head") as the first flowers finish blooming to encourage a second round of flowering. The majority of annual flowers can just be pinched off from the plant using your thumb and index finger. Many perennials that need "dead-heading" require pruners or small scissors to get through their woody stems.

Tip #55

Here's a tip we all seem to forget. Sharp tools make the work easier! Take some time and get your various clippers and pruners, shovels and spades, etc. sharpened regularly and you'll be surprised how much easier garden tasks become! This is a great task for the winter months when you are not working outside in the garden.

Tip #62

A general rule about pruning...never cut a branch and leave enough to hang a hat on! A 'stub' usually cannot seal itself and leaves the shrub or tree vulnerable to disease. And always prune to direct new growth toward the outside of the plant rather than toward the inside. Take a second and note the bud's direction...and anticipate the direction of the future growth to determine where to make one's cuts!

Tip #86

Why deadhead blooming plants? It's not really to make our garden look "neat". We're fooling Mother Nature. By continually removing old flowers we are causing a plant to devote its energy to produce even more blooms; biologically speaking the plant really wants to create more flowers to create fruits and seeds to continue its line and create a new generation.

 
 

 
 

Flash 8 lesson 1 - My First Animation

My First Animation