If your hydrangeas put on a spectacular summer show of blooms they deserve some attention for the winter. If they don't perform very well, they deserve winter care even more to encourage better performance next summer. We've gathered five tasks and some tips you should be doing to care for hydrangeas in the winter to keep your plants healthy and happy. Provide Winter Moisture to Hydrangeas Hydrangeas are thirsty plants that require hydration throughout the growing season and even in dormant months. If you live in an area where the ground freezes hard, continue to water deeply and consistently until the ground freezes solid. In areas where the ground does not freeze, hydrangeas should be watered deeply but infrequently during the winter. Monitor rainfall carefully because winter precipitation may offer enough moisture. Add Nutrients the Right Way Commercial fertilizers, especially those with a high nitrogen NPK count, should never be used on hydrangeas at the end of the growing season. The nitrogen will cause a sudden spurt of green growth that will be killed with the first frost. Instead, supplement the soil with a few inches of compost that will break down slowly during the winter months. In warmer hardiness zones (7 and above), apply the compost in late fall or early winter by layering it directly over the soil. In colder zones, wait until the ground has frozen and top-dress the soil with compost before you apply mulch to protect the roots. Protect the Root System With Mulch Whether you are in an area where the ground freezes or in a warmer zone, adding mulch will protect the roots by acting as an insulator and help retain moisture. After the ground freezes or in early winter, add about six to eight inches of mulch over the compost top-dressing. Don't mulch too early in warmer zones because that can cause rotting, disease, and provide shelter for munching rodents. Remember that thick mulch should be removed when spring buds appear. For small plants in cold temperature zones (6 and lower), the mulch can be applied as a mountain covering the majority of the hydrangea. Protect Hydrangeas With a Burlap Wrap If you live in zone 6 or lower, your hydrangeas will benefit from a burlap wrap to protect them from heavy snow drifts and drying winter winds. Growers in warmer zones don't need to worry about wrapping plants unless the hydrangeas are on a northern slope and temperatures below 0 degrees are expected for multiple days. One way to construct a burlap wrap is to place bamboo stakes in a circle around the hydrangea. Wrap a couple of layers of burlap around the stakes and secure it with twine. For larger plants or a bed of hydrangeas, build a frame with four or more posts and stretch chicken wire around the posts. The wire should be at least six inches taller than the top of the hydrangea. Add a couple of layers of burlap around the outside of the wire and secure it often with twine. Prune Hydrangeas Wisely While winter pruning is recommended for fruit trees, it's not the best time to prune hydrangeas except to remove limbs broken by strong winds or heavy snow. The best time to prune a hydrangea to produce the most blooms next summer depends on whether the shrub blooms on new wood (growth produced in the current season) or old wood (growth from the previous season). New wood hydrangeas(panicle and smooth varieties): Wait until early winter when the plant is dormant. Fall or winter pruning can be done to remove dried blooms and help shape the plant. Old wood hydrangeas (mophead and oakleaf): should only be pruned immediately after flowering in the spring and summer. Most horticulturists recommend no pruning after August 31. Additional Tips for Winter Hydrangea Care Bring container-grown hydrangeas indoors when temperatures fall below freezing. Water the plants sparingly to prevent root rot. To help hydrangeas overwinter in extremely cold zones, planting them near a heat-holding structure like a brick wall or foundation. Choose a spot with bright sunlight and protection from winter winds. Regularly inspect sheltered or wrapped hydrangeas and clear away heavy snow.

With bright green leaves and a refreshing flavor, parsley is a must-grow herb. If you want to keep plants productive and healthy, know how to harvest parsley and avoid overharvesting, which can cause plant stress and impaired growth. Whether you grow parsley from seeds or nursery starts, this guide will help you time your parsley harvest to perfection. Learn how to harvest parsley the right way to keep your plants healthy and your kitchen brimming with fresh herbs. When to Harvest Parsley Parsley is typically harvested from spring through fall either as a cut-and-come-again herb or in larger quantities for freezing or drying. However, if plants are grown indoors in pots, parsley can be harvested in winter, too. Fast-growing and adaptable, parsley can be kept in container gardens or larger herb beds and harvested just 70 days after sowing parsley seeds—nursery-started plants can be picked even earlier. Note that harvesting parsley too early can be detrimental to plant health, so it’s best to wait until plants are at least 6” tall and have well-formed leaves with at least 3 leaf segments before harvesting. Want more gardening tips? Sign up for our free gardening newsletter for our best-growing tips, troubleshooting hacks, and more! How to Harvest Parsley the Right Way Harvest parsley in the morning. Parsley can technically be harvested at any time of the day, but if you want to get the best flavor out of your plants, pick parsley in the morning before the sun is high overhead. Parsley leaves contain the highest concentration of flavorful oils at this time of the day. Cut or pinch entire stems. Gather the parsley stems you’d like to harvest with one hand and cut or pinch the entire stems off just above the soil line with your fingers or a sharp pair of kitchen shears. Harvesting the entire stem will rejuvenate plants and encourage new growth. Work around the exterior of the plant. Parsley plants produce new leaves towards the center of the plant, so harvest the leaves around the exterior of the plant first. This will refresh the look of your parsley and prevent older leaves from going to waste. Don’t overharvest. Young parsley plants should be harvested sparingly by clipping off just a few stems at a time. Older plants, on the other hand, can be picked a bit more aggressively, but avoid harvesting more than 1/3 of your plant at once. Repeat. Parsley is a fast-growing herb that can be harvested again and again throughout the season as needed for recipes. Established plants can be harvested daily in small quantities, but it’s best to give plants a week or two to recover in between harvests if you gather a lot of parsley stems at once or harvest from young plants. Remember, frequent harvesting encourages parsley plants to produce even more leaves. How to Keep Parsley Growing for Years Parsley is a biennial herb that only grows for two years even with the best of care. As a result, many gardeners grow parsley as an annual and sow new parsley seeds every spring. But, parsley plants can be overwintered and harvested in the spring of their second year if desired. If you’d like to harvest second-year parsley plants, overwinter your parsley indoors or harvest your plants in early fall before the stems die back in cold weather. Outdoor parsley will lie dormant in gardens through winter and begin to grow new leaves in spring, while indoor plants can continue to grow through the winter months. Once parsley starts to produce new leaves in spring, harvest the stems regularly until the plant starts to bolt or flower. When flowering begins, it’s best to harvest the entire plant as bolting changes the flavor of parsley leaves. But if you want to gather parsley seeds for future planting, let your plants flower and gather the dried seeds when the parsley flowers fade.

With some plants, pruning is optional. This is not true of many fruit trees. Not only must you prune them for fruit production, but you also must prune them in just the right way. People often fear that they are cutting off too many branches, when, in reality, they probably are not doing enough pruning. Proper pruning stimulates fruit trees to bear fruit. Learn why, when, and how to prune fruit trees. Why You Need to Prune Fruit Trees There are three main reasons for pruning fruit trees, in addition to stimulating fruit production: For pest and disease prevention: For example, a basic rule of pruning is called "the 3 D's": Always remove dead, diseased, and damaged limbs whenever you find them to promote plant health. To let the sunshine in: Fruit production is superior when the inside of the canopy is opened up, so that sunlight comes in from all angles. For access: You will need to reach into all areas of the tree both to care for it and to harvest its fruit. Excessive vegetation will make access more difficult When to Prune a Fruit Tree The best time to prune most fruit trees is during their dormant period. Specifically, late winter to early spring is optimal because the coldest period of winter is over (making it easier for the pruning cuts to heal), yet new growth has not emerged yet. There are some exceptions, but the time not to prune (unless it is just to remove dead wood) is in fall, which encourages tender new growth that will only die when winter comes. Pruning Supplies Even if you do not need all of these supplies right away, the serious fruit tree grower should invest in the following pruning tools: Pruners: This is the tool that you will use the most. All small branches to be cut (and there will be many of them) should be cut with pruners. Loppers: Loppers are for the next step up. If you see that a branch is too thick to cut easily with your pruners, switch to loppers. Pruning saw: This tool is for cutting the largest of branches. How to Prune a Fruit Tree You should prune off about 1/5 of your fruit tree each year. Much of what you prune off will be for the sake of pest/disease prevention and opening up the center of the tree. In the early years of your fruit tree after planting, put considerable thought into training your tree to assume a desirable shape. A few main limbs will eventually form the framework of the tree. These are called the "scaffold" limbs. The smaller branches stemming off of the scaffold limbs are called "lateral" branches. Sometimes, the tree will also have a central "leader," which is the main vertical branch coming up out of the trunk. But other times, you may opt for "open center training," where there's no central leader. "Modified central leader training" is a compromise between the two.1 The following are the general rules for pruning fruit trees: Clean and sharpen your pruning tools properly: Pruning tools can pick up and hold onto diseases if not cleaned properly. Before beginning, wipe down the blades of your pruners with Isopropyl alcohol. Also sharpen the blades so that they make a clean cut rather than ripping the wood. Remove dead, diseased, and damaged branches whenever you see them: For example, if a whole branch is dead, prune it off at the branch collar (the raised tissue where the branch meets the trunk). If just the tip of a branch is diseased, first cut off the visibly diseased part. Then count three nodes down the branch and make another cut at a 45-degree angle (to make sure you have cleared the diseased portion). Remove suckers and water sprouts: Both are vertical growths and should be pruned off, but they are different. Suckers come up at ground level. Water sprouts spike up off of branches. Remove clusters: Besides the 3 D's rule, there is a CAC rule in pruning fruit trees, where the letters stand for clusters, acute, and crossing. Here is what that means. We'll begin by removing clusters (or "whorls"). These are little branches that encircle a part of the bigger branch they come out of. They are considered unproductive and will only cast shade where you do not want it. Remove acute-angled branches: The "acute" here refers to the angle of a branch as it comes out of the trunk or another branch. Specifically, a branch that is too vertical is said to form an acute (sharp) angle, which is undesirable. Pay particular attention to the scaffold branches. They should point up at an angle of 45 to 60 degrees. Any lesser or greater angle than that is considered unsustainable. Remove crossing and inward-facing branches: Crossing branches will rub against each other, possibly opening up wounds that would invite diseases. Since we want to open up the inside of the canopy to let light in, an obvious type of branch to remove is one that crosses over another. For the same reason, remove inward-facing branches. Remove low branches and downward-facing branches: As your tree grows, begin removing the lowest branches. At maturity, you will not want any branches less than 4 feet above the ground. Always remove downward-facing branches as well. Both will get too much shade to bear fruit. Assess the overall shape of the tree: Stand back and size up the overall shape. Ideally, the branches at the top should be shorter than those at the bottom, so that the latter are not deprived of sunlight. Special Cases When you first plant a fruit tree, there will probably be way too much above-ground growth for the young root system to support. Rather than removing 1/5 of the vegetation, you will probably need to remove 1/3. Left alone, it would die anyway, so take the opportunity to shape the tree according to the tips above. Prune a sweet cherry tree in August instead of in late winter or early spring. At this time it is less susceptible to bacterial infection.