Radio Show Recap
Angelo is back on the radio and ready to kick off the 2026 gardening season! A cold, snowy Northeast Ohio winter has everyone excited to get out in the garden, and Angelo has plenty of tips for what can be done now to prep the lawn and garden for spring — including pruning, fertilizing, and managing pest issues. He also answers caller questions like “When should I transplant a Butterfly Bush”, “My Japanese Maple is getting too tall, can I take the top off”, and “Can I prune my Golden Cypress now”?
Angelo’s Spring Pruning Tips
- Evergreens – Shaping and trimming is fine, but if overgrown in space, cut back hard. It will look woody, but new growth will come on later.
- Taxus – Cut by half.
- Boxwoods – Cut by half+.
- Hollies –Cut back hard. Try to keep shape whether conical, globe, etc.
- Junipers – Upright kind, you can shape but don’t cut too hard. Globe varieties, you can cut back pretty hard, down to 15-20”, if you need. Will survive and re-grow.
- Japanese Maples – Tendency for crown to get cross branching, especially weeping varieties. Don’t want that rest of year. Cut crossing branches now. Shape. Now’s the best time because you can see the structure/branching before it leafs out. Tip, thin, or trim branches too low to ground.
- Weeping Cherry – Same as weeping Japanese Maples. This time of year, look at structure of crown, cut/clean out hand pruner branches that cross over.
- Fruit trees – Prune before they start budding, so no bleed. Apples, pears, and plums have a tendency for little sucker branches. Take them out, they won’t produce. Leave 6-7 main branches balanced out.
SHOP Products
- SHOP Bonide Orchard Spray or Fruit Tree and Plant Guard for fruit trees
- SHOP Holly-tone & Iron-tone to fertilize Evergreens
- SHOP Plant-tone & Iron-tone to fertilize Boxwoods & deciduous trees and shrubs
- SHOP Bulb-tone to fertilize emerging spring bulbs