After another harsh Texas winter storm, it’s time to tidy up your landscapes for spring

These last two winters have been brutal to North Texas lawns and landscapes and it’s time that we put a little effort into tidying things up before spring rolls in at full speed.

For one thing, there are those broken branches left over from the snow and ice two weeks ago. If you’re not adept at making the cuts to clean things up (as described here last week), get on the list for professional help.

As has been mentioned, you may have to prune off some of the undamaged branches to restore a more normal look and growth form to plants that were damaged, either by losing their own limbs or as branches fell from large trees overhead.

Perhaps you have shrubs that needed to be reshaped even prior to the recent cold. This is the time to do so — before they gear up for spring growth. Whenever possible use hand shears and loppers to make the cuts one branch at a time. That will allow you to tailor the cuts and groom the plants back to a natural growth form. Try to avoid unnaturally formal squares and globes whenever you can.

Trim groundcover beds to even things up. That’s easy to do for Asian jasmine and purple wintercreeper euonymus, but it’s more difficult with mondograss (monkeygrass) and liriope due to their very fibrous leaves. Trimming, however, removes the browned foliage from Asian jasmine and gives it a fresh start for the new growing season.

Once you have all of that pruning done, get the weeds and extraneous growth out of the beds and lay down a layer of mulch to give things a uniform look. Nurseries will offer several types. I’m a fan of natural pine bark mulch (not dyed) because I can also use it as a soil amendment (tilled into my beds) and as a surface for lightly traveled garden paths where washing rains won’t be an issue. But there are many other fine options depending on your needs and preferences.

Clean up your perennial gardens by removing all browned stubble and hoeing or pulling all weeds. If you have summer- or fall-flowering types that need to be dug and divided, get that work done as soon as you can. Replant on adequate spacing and give away or compost unneeded extras. Don’t crowd your re-plantings.

Annual plantings may have been hurt by the recent snow and ice. As much as you can, clean off the dead foliage and remove any plants that appear to be beyond saving. Apply a water-soluble, high-nitrogen fertilizer to spur some quick growth, and fill in with new plants where necessary.

Finish the bed cleanups with a layer of fresh mulch, either pine bark or other store-bought type or well-rotted compost out of your own pile. You might even be able to use mulched tree leaves that you picked up this past fall.

Perhaps you’d like to add zip to your color plantings but you’re not ready to take on a big landscape bed project just yet. A couple of large patio pots might be a help. Fill them with a high-quality potting mix. Use tall, upright plants in the centers, rounded plants to surround them and tumbling plants to spill over the edges and you can have great color within just a couple of weeks. Nurseries have outstanding selections waiting for you right now.

This is a good time to clean up your tools and power equipment as well. If any of it needs to be repaired, get it into the shop. Have your soil tested as soon as possible so you’ll have a better idea of what you’ll need to be adding.

It’s a good idea to put your sprinkler system through its paces to be sure winter hasn’t done any damage to pipes, valves and heads. I’m always amazed that I have 10 or 15 repairs needed each spring. And the same thing applies doubly to landscape lighting. With all the limb die-back after last winter’s cold and this winter’s ice, lights may be misaligned, dangling, or entirely missing. If you need service work, get on their call lists now before they get any busier.

If the late-winter cleanup leaves you with voids that will need professional design help to make things whole once again, set an appointment with a professional as soon as you can. Their schedules become crazy as soon as the weather starts warming.

Let’s finish with the turfgrass. You may opt to “scalp” your lawn to remove winter-killed brown stubble. This is not to be confused with dethatching or aerating. Those both involve pulling packed clippings up from beneath the runners, and neither is commonly needed. However, scalping allows you to clean the lawn up and remove many of the winter weeds in the process.

You can follow up with your application of Halts, Dimension or Balan pre-emergent weed control granules between March 5-15 to prevent warm-weather germination of crabgrass and grassburs. You must repeat that application 90 days later (June 5-15) to get a full season of prevention. The products are effective for about 100 days, but the weeds can germinate for five months. That’s the reason the “booster shot” is required 90 days down the road.

You can hear Neil Sperry on KLIF 570AM on Saturday afternoons 1-3 p.m. and on WBAP 820AM Sunday mornings 8-10 a.m. Join him at www.neilsperry.com and follow him on Facebook.

This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 5:30 AM.