Tickets Menu
Help for the Home Gardener

 

Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text
Image Alt Text

Visit the Center for Home Gardening

Stop by the Center for Home Gardening and get your gardening questions answered by our expert staff and Master Gardener volunteers at the Plant Doctor Desk, or check out our houseplant display and other home gardening resources! Be sure to also take a stroll through our 23 outdoor demonstration gardens, which include a vegetable and fruit garden, cut flower garden, an experimental garden, and a newly renovated native prairie garden.

Plant Doctor Desk (Walk-In)

April–October open daily, 9 a.m.–4 p.m.

November–March open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.

Horticulture Answer Service (Phone & E-mail)

Hours: Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–noon

Phone: (314) 577-5143

E-mail: plantinformation@mobot.org

February Gardening Tips

  • If the ground is dry and unfrozen on a warm day, water evergreens. 

  • When pruning diseased wood, sterilize tools with one part bleach and nine parts water in between cuts. 

  • Sow seeds of larkspur, sweet peas, poppies, and snapdragons outdoors now. For the best blooms, they must sprout and begin growth well before warm weather arrives. 

  • Be sure to cut back liriope in late February or early March before new growth begins.  

  • Now is a good time to start controlling cool-season weeds, such as chickweed and dandelions. Manually remove or use an appropriate herbicide.  

  • Sow seeds of cauliflower, celery, kohlrabi, kale, collards, mustard greens, and bok choy, indoors this month to transplant in the garden in March and April.  

  • Prune apples and pears in late February through early March, after the worst of the cold is over. Trees infected with fireblight should have infected branches pruned out, sanitizing tools between cuts, by the end of February or in mid-summer during a dry spell. 

  • Keep a careful eye out for egg masses of beneficial insects such as praying mantises. Polyphemus moth egg masses may be noticeable this month as well. The larvae do little feeding damage, and egg masses should not be removed.  

More Gardening Tips