Hill City Master
Gardeners
Association
Master Gardeners sort and organize plants for Festival of Gardening Plant Sale
Gardening Tips for May
House Plants/Tropicals – Most may go outside in May in a protected area. Don’t put tropicals (tender perennials) out until 60+ degree temperatures are maintained.
Perennials/Annuals – After bloom has faded, cut flower stalks to prevent seed formation. Some plants may need to be pinched back to keep their growth short, compact and dense. If your mature peonies fail to bloom make sure they are not planted too deep, get at least six hours of sunlight and are not in competition with tree roots. Install support rings or stakes for tall growing plants or those with heavy blooms.
Stem Cuttings – May, June or July is a good time to root many shrubs . . .
Master Gardeners prepare plants for the 2025 Festival of Gardening Plant Sale. There’s something for everyone: tomatoes, vegetables, herbs, natives, perennials, annuals, trees and shrubs, houseplants, container gardens, groundcovers and vines, garden decor. Come early for best selection!
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Ready to get a head start on your garden? The Hill City Master Gardeners are here with step-by-step instructions to make winter sowing easy, so you can plant an
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FESTIVAL OF GARDENING
The 2025 Festival of Gardening, our annual plant sale and celebration of all things gardening, will be here before we know it. We’ll be setting up again on the lawn of E.C. Glass High School with thousands of plants for sale, from heirloom tomato varieties to sought-after perennials to fragrant herbs. There will also be vegetables, annuals, native plants, trees and shrubs, vines and groundcovers as well as container gardens and garden décor items. All plants are grown from seed, divisions, or cuttings by our Master Gardeners. This sale is our annual fund-raising event that supports our training programs, and various community projects. Keep watching this site for a map of the sale layout so you can plan your plant-shopping adventure!
SAVE THE DATE!
FOG 2025
Saturday, May 3, 2025
Virginia Master Gardeners are volunteer educators who work within their communities to encourage and promote environmentally sound horticulture practices through sustainable landscape management education and training. As an educational program of Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Master Gardeners bring the resources of Virginia’s land-grant universities, Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, to the people of the commonwealth. All information we disseminate must be research-based by VT/VSU.
Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/hillcitymastergardeners/
Look for our latest HCMGA postcards.
Available at HCMGA events and project sites, and at the Community Market Information Booth.
Spring is blooming and there is always something new to see in the garden. Whether you are cultivating a hybrid, nurturing an heirloom, or propagating to support your local pollinators, there’s lots to learn and lots to do. A garden gives back everything that you put into it. Do you know what’s next? Monthly Gardening Tips below.
Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as looking across at the garden at the end of a day.
In the Garden This Month
MAY
Gardening Tips for May
House Plants/Tropicals - Most may go outside in May in a protected area. Don't put tropicals (tender perennials) out until 60+ degree temperatures are maintained.
Perennials/Annuals - After bloom has faded, cut flower stalks to prevent seed formation. Some plants may need to be pinched back to keep their growth short, compact and dense. If your mature peonies fail to bloom make sure they are not planted too deep, get at least six hours of sunlight and are not in competition with tree roots. Install support rings or stakes for tall growing plants or those with heavy blooms.
Stem Cuttings - May, June or July is a good time to root many shrubs from softwood cuttings.
Vegetables- Pull up lettuce, mustard, broccoli and spinach when they start to bolt. Replace with heat-loving vegetables. Some seeds such as cucumber, squash, cantaloupe, okra and watermelon are sensitive to soil temperature so if the spring is cool, you might wait another week or two before planting. Always plant your tomatoes in soil where no tomatoes have grown for several years. This will minimize their exposure to disease. Also, choose a sunny place for growing tomatoes as the more sun they get, the better off your tomatoes will be.
Roses - For the best show of roses, make sure your plants get plenty of water throughout the summer, get plenty of sun and are fertilized on a regular basis. Small holes in foliage indicate rose slugs. Treat as recommended by VCE. To discourage black spot and mildew, water in the morning avoiding the leaves.
A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows. – Doug Larson.
