By Marianne Binetti

I know for sure spring has sprung because there is jewelry dangling from the tree right outside my library window. Every spring the garden begins to accessorize with brighter colors but it is when my filbert tree struts dangling gold catkins – in a perfect imitation of expensive, chandelier earrings – I know the big spring show is about to begin.

If you want to add an unusual, compact but packed-with-personality specimen to your own garden check out what I fondly call my politician tree. The contorted filbert twists and turns as it grows, always changing directions and views. It even dresses up in finery, hosts plenty of wildlife and has a tendency to support suckers – again, much like our politicians. Mine is now 15 feet tall and 8 feet wide after 22 years in place. Related to the native filbert, in our climate this exotic-looking charmer will thrive in full sun or partial shade and with bright fall foliage, a stunning winter silhouette and those dangling, golden earrings every spring it really is a tree for all seasons.

Once the garden is dressed in jewels and bright color, it is time to enjoy the fascination, come out of hibernation, stop the procrastination and start digging, weeding, mowing and pruning.

The questions most asked on my Web site this week are about pruning. (For quick, personal answers to your garden questions online, go to www.plantersplace.com.) The early, warm temperatures have even experienced gardeners hesitant about pruning dates but if you have overgrown shrubs that nip at your ankles, block the light from your windows or threaten to smother their border buddies, this is the time to get tough and set some boundaries – using sharp shears. March is the month to prune summer-blooming shrubs and plants that have spectacular new foliage. Do not cut back spring-blooming shrubs now or you’ll be cutting off the flower buds that are so anxiously waiting to unfold. Here’s list of what to do and what not to do this month:

Do prune now: barberries, spiraea, hardy kiwi, potentilla, hydrangea (most varieties) red twig and yellow twig dogwoods, yellow- or purple-leaved elderberries (Sambucus) and roses.

Also prune off anything dead, diseased or damaged. If a branch hits you in the head every time you walk by, prune it off no matter what time of year it is.

Don’t prune now: rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, heather and spring-blooming bulbs like crocus and snowdrop even if the flowers have faded (the foliage on bulb plants needs to turn yellow and die on it’s own). Don’t prune flowering dogwood trees or the stick-like remains of any hardy fuchsia plants.

Do clean up now: the brown, dead leaves from hosta, ornamental grasses, phlox and the ugly brown tops of lady’s mantle and lady fern. Watch for slugs and snails as you gather the spent foliage from these perennials. Stomp, slice, dice and bait.

Don’t disturb just yet: tender plants that may have made it through the winter like licorice vine, dusty miller, hebe, hardy fuchsias and jasmine vines. If you snip, clip and disturb these sleeping beauties you could wake them up a few months too soon and you know we’ll have some more hard frosts before real spring arrives.

Do plant now: peas, lettuce, chard, cabbage, lily bulbs, rock garden plants, groundcover plants, fruit trees, clematis vines, blueberry bushes, rhododendrons, azaleas and any hardy shrubs sold at the nursery now and growing in a pot.

Don’t plant now: tomatoes, geraniums, beans, marigolds, begonias, eggplant, squash, melons and all the other warmth-loving plants that will be damaged with the next frost. The soil is still too cold to plant seeds of heat-loving plants outdoors and a little early to seed them indoors as well.

Wait until mid-April to start the heat-lovers indoors for setting out into the garden in late May.

Incredible edibles: you gotta love Swiss chard. This leafy green loves our cool weather and will return after a mild winter to give two full years of iron-rich greens to steam with olive oil, boil in soups or chop into nutritious salads and stir fries. Look for the colorful new varieties of Swiss chard at garden centers now. They are beautiful in container gardens as well as formal, frontyard landscapes.

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Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of “Easy Answers for Great Gardens” and several other books. For book requests or answers to gardening questions, write to her at: P.O. Box 872, Enumclaw, 98022. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope for a personal reply.

For more gardening information, she can be reached at her Web site, www.binettigarden.com.

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