• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Harlequins Gardens

Harlequins Gardens

Boulder's specialist in well-adapted plants

We’re Open for the Season! Tuesday – Sunday 9 – 5

Gift Memberships & Gift Certificates  – available online!
See our seasonal hours and address, below.

Read our latest e-newsletter! 

 

 

FacebookPinterestInstagram
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Staff
    • Display Gardens
    • Why the Name “Harlequin’s” Gardens?
    • Sustainability
    • Policy on Pesticides Including Neonicotinoids
    • Careers
  • What We Offer
    • Products
    • Plants
    • Gift Certificates
    • Membership
  • Plants
    • Annuals
    • Bulbs
    • Fruits
    • Groundcovers
    • Herbs
    • Natives
    • Ornamental Grasses
    • Perennials
      • Plants for Pollinators List
    • Roses
    • Vegetables
      • Tomato Starts
      • Pepper Starts
      • Other Vegetable Starts
      • Fall Vegetable Starts
      • Garlic
    • Xeriscape
  • Resources
    • Mikl’s Articles
    • Handouts
    • Newsletters
    • Links
  • Garden Tours
    • Virtual Garden Tours
    • Submit Your Garden!
  • Events
  • Classes
  • Blog
  • Wholesale
    • Wholesale Mailing List Sign Up
    • Who Qualifies
    • Wholesale Inventory
  • Contact
Home | Blog | It’s Okay to Prune Now

It’s Okay to Prune Now

Important techniques

All spring we have been advising you not to prune out branches without leaves yet. After last October’s flash freeze and this March’s freeze of the new leaves, it was important to give shrubs, trees and roses time for a second set of leaves to come out before removing wood. By now we should be seeing new green leaves forming if the wood is still alive.

So now we can prune away any branches that are not leafing out. Do cut back to a leafed-out branch or sprout; don’t leave a stub. Some evergreens may still be looking very brown. Look closely to see if tiny leaves are forming amongst the brown ones. Use a broom or gloved-hand to brush away dead needles. If you start removing branches from a conifer it may never look good again, so if you see any green, give it a chance.

Some shrubs and trees have died entirely and will just have to be removed. Our spring temperature swings can really be hard on plants. If we fertilize with an organic fertilizer in September, we can give the trees and shrubs the nutrition they need to build up their energy reserves to help them recover from shocking conditions. These reserves also help to develop fruit and flower buds for the next year.

Plants that are still struggling to grow new leaves can be helped. We have a yucca extract product with the horrible name of ‘Sledge Hammer’ that breaks down the surface tension of water, helping water to be absorbed into the ground, the roots and into the cells of plants. Add a teaspoon of this yucca extract to a gallon of compost tea and/or a gallon of Age Old ‘Grow’ or Neptune’s Harvest liquid organic fertilizer (2 tablespoons per gallon of water). This will supply nutrients to help renew a stressed plant.

sidebar

Blog Sidebar

Sign-up for E-Newsletters!

Sign-up for our weekly e-newsletters to receive empowering gardening tips, ecological insights, and to keep up on happenings at Harlequin’s Gardens — such as flash sales and “just in” plants. We never share customer’s addresses!

We do not ship plants!

Our plants are for sale ONLY at our Boulder location. We DO NOT ship plants or any other products. We do ship Gift Certificates. Come visit us!

Hours by Season

MARCH HOURS
Thursday-Sunday, 9AM-5PM

APRIL-OCTOBER HOURS
Tuesday-Sunday, 9AM-5PM

Mondays, CLOSED

Footer

Contact Us

303-939-9403 (Retail)
staff@nullharlequinsgardens.com

4795 North 26th St
Boulder, CO 80301

Sign-up for E-Newsletters!

Sign-up for our weekly e-newsletters to receive empowering gardening tips, ecological insights, and to keep up on happenings at Harlequin’s Gardens — such as flash sales and “just in” plants. We never share customer’s addresses!

Map

Our Hours

Seasonally, MARCH to OCTOBER.
MARCH HOURS:
Thursday-Sunday, 9AM-5PM

APRIL-OCTOBER HOURS:
Tuesday-Sunday, 9AM-5PM

Mondays, CLOSED

The plants we grow are organically grown. All the plants we sell are free of bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides.