Shrubs & Bushes

🌱 Improving Your Soil Healthy soil = healthy plants. It’s the foundation of gardening success. ✅ Better watering & fertilizing ✅ Stronger plants & bigger blooms ✅ Ongoing investment in your garden 🔍 Why Test Soil? Soil testing is the first step to improving your garden. A soil test will: 🧱 Identify soil type (clay, sandy, etc.) 🌿 Reveal nutrient or micronutrient deficiencies ⚖️ Pinpoint soil pH (acidic or alkaline) 📍 Soil testing available at: Oklahoma County Extension

TLC’s March Checklist & Pruning Guide Early in the month, you still have time to plant cool-season vegetable crops. Plants and seeds are available now: Potato | onion | asparagus | beet | broccoli | cabbage | carrot | cauliflower | kohlrabi | lettuce | onion | peas | potato | radish | rhubarb | spinach | swiss chard | turnip This is a great time to plant shade, fruit and nut trees, as well as grapes and other berries. Plant shrubs, perennials and herbs now, but check with you

Plant Selection Choose your tree or shrub based on your landscape needs, like flowering, evergreen, screening, hedge, shade or border. Be sure to consider the ultimate size of each plant – which tends to be different in Oklahoma than what you’ll read on a generic label. Speak with a TLC Expert for guidance in selecting the proper tree for your location. Call OKIE Call OKIE at 811 to have your utility lines marked before planting. This service is free of charge, but takes 48 h

The Facts Height: 2′ – 4′ Spread: 1.5′ – 3′ Sun: Full Sun Water: Medium Soil: Well-Drained Growth Rate: Fast Agastache, sometimes known as hyssop or hummingbird mint, is a native of the Midwest and Great Plains regions. Because of this, it thrives in Oklahoma’s climate. As a member of the mint family the foliage carries a slight fragrance to it. While there are many varieties and color of Agastache to choose from, most will grow to reach 2 – 4’ tall and spread 1.5 – 3’ wide.

Summer flowering shrubs provide color to the landscape in the hot, dog days of summer. Most of these shrubs begin blooming in June and continue to blossom into October. They’re critical allies to have if you value continuous sequence of bloom. These deciduous flowering shrubs are easy to grow and have been favorites for a long time. They are tough, durable, and will tolerate a wide range of conditions. They will grow in full sun or part shade, but require a minimum of 6 hours

With immense flower heads, hydrangeas flaunt an old-fashioned charm that is hard to resist. Colors also beguile with clear blues, vibrant pinks, frosty whites, lavender, and rose—sometimes all blooming on the same plant! Unrivaled in the shrub world, these elegant ladies are easy to cultivate, tolerate almost any soil, resistant to most pests and diseases, and produce flowers in mid-summer through fall. Hydrangeas are excellent for a range of garden sites from group plantings

Vigorous Vines Vines do double-duty in a garden. Flowers and foliage make them spectacular vertical accents to train on a fence, trellis, wall, or tree trunk. Create summer shade on a porch with a string trellis covered with vines. Use vines to cover a blank, dull wall or cover a fence. Vines can screen an eyesore or for privacy, Plant vines on an open pergola frame or arbor to create a cool, shaded retreat and give the garden elegant architecture at the same time. Some vines

Spring Flowering shrubs burst upon landscape when we need them most. Fulfilling the promise of spring these shrubs provide floral color after Old Man Winter’s icy grip. Deciduous spring flowering shrubs are the easiest group of shrubs to grow and have been favorites for a long time. They are tough, durable, and will tolerate a wide range of conditions. They will grow in full sun or part shade, but require a minimum of 6 hours of sun in order to produce flowers. Once establish

When is the best time to transplant roses? It is best to transplant existing planted roses in February or March while they are dormant. Container grown roses can be planted at any time, but March through May is the best. Where should roses be planted? Roses must receive at least six or more hours of direct sunlight each day. The soil must be well drained, so no tight clay and no standing water. They must have good air circulation, so plant them a minimum of three feet away fr

Versatile, well-mannered and low maintenance are good words to describe the latest generation of dwarf shrubs. These varieties offer multiple seasons of interest, extended bloom times and they are well suited for mass plantings. These shrubs promise more beauty with less effort on your part. Dwarf shrubs have many uses in the landscape. Small hedges and borders, whether in straight, circular, curved, or staggered rows are common. Dwarf shrubs are excellent for mass plantings

Dwarf Burning Bush A compact deciduous shrub 5 to 6 feet in height and 6 to 8 feet in width. It forms a dense, twiggy, and flat-topped mound. Dark green leaves turn a brilliant rose-red in fall. Emerald Gaiety Euonymus A low-mounding evergreen shrub that matures at 2 feet high and 5 feet wide. Foliage is deep green with a wide margin of pure gold, turning pink-red in cold weather. Manhattan Euonymus An upright, rounded evergreen shrub featuring glossy dark green leaves. Reach

Trees Most trees should be pruned while they are dormant and sap is not flowing, which is between December and February. The few...

Keep The Bugs Out! BioAdvanced 12 Month Tree & Shrub Protect & Feed provides 12-month, long-lasting, systemic protection from damaging...

Shade and fruit trees should be fertilized two times a year: Spring and fall. The best meal for your trees is TLC Tree, Shrub, &...

Oklahoma summers are often long with hot temperatures, drying winds, and minimal rainfall. Landscape plantings, especially those...

Ice Storm Damage  Trees are remarkably resilient. Healthy trees with no major structural damage, such as split trunks and broken crowns,...

Monarchs cannot survive without milkweed; their caterpillars only eat milkweed plants (Asclepias spp.), and monarch butterflies need milkweed to lay their eggs. With shifting land management practices, we have lost much milkweed from the landscape. Please plant milkweed to support monarch populations, and their incredible migration! Planting milkweed is a great way to help other pollinators too, as they provide valuable nectar resources to a diverse suite of bees, butterflies

Azaleas can be grown successfully in Central Oklahoma, but only if grown under the correct requirements. These requirements include:...

The Best Chance for Success Now that your new tree or shrub is planted, take these steps to ensure strong, vigorous growth and a healthy,...

Nature’s Fenceposts We all have that area in our landscape that is tight and narrow. The space between our homes and sidewalks, areas...