With our extreme temperatures over the last couple of weeks, here's a checklist for your landscape.

Pots and planters: 

During these winter days, it is important that pots and planters on your decks and patios receive frequent watering.  Cold weather pulls moisture out of the soil and a plant could dry out within a week's time if not given supplemental watering.  Not allowing pots to dry out in the winter months helps ensure that your plant will thrive in the coming spring.  Also, if you have flowers planted in the pots, use warm water when mixing liquid fertilizers as it works better to break down the product into the water. 

Seasonal color beds in your landscape:

Ideally, as this cold snap subsides, it's a good time to go out and deadhead your pansies and also water them with a liquid fertilizer to help keep them hydrated and allow some nutrient pickup. Cold weather dehydrates plants in the landscape, especially seasonal color plantings. If we are not getting frequent rain, keep on eye on your beds and keep them hydrated. You may see our seasonal color crew out on the properties that we maintain during the next week or so performing these tasks to help keep the plants healthy and ready for the warm days that may be ahead of us.

Don't scalp your warm season grass too early:

Your Bermuda and Zoysia turfs are definitely dormant right now with these cold temperatures.  It's okay to lightly mow the turf to level off uneven spots but we don't recommend fully scalping the turf until late February or early March. Scalping the turf too soon during these extreme temperatures will expose the root stems both above and below ground which may cause spring dead spots in your turf area as it greens up. Keeping the dormant grass a little high helps protect it through these cold days and nights.