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Gardening Chores For The Fourth Of July

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Isn't there something you're supposed to prune before the Fourth of July? Oh yeah, your azaleas. Does that mean you can't go to the beach, you have to stay home and prune this weekend? No, your plants don't keep a strict calendar, but it's a good guideline. If you wait much longer to prune spring-blooming shrubs like azaleas, you'll be cutting off the flower buds they're making for next year.

Other chores to finish up by around the Fourth of July include pinching back your chrysanthemums to keep them compact. But since Chrysanthemums are from Asia, I'd like to suggest a more patriot garden task - plant some native asters instead of mums. Asters bloom in fall like mums do, but since they're native to our area, they welcome birds and butterflies to come feed and raise their babies in your yard. So planting some New England or other native asters in the Philadelphia area is a very American thing to do this Fourth of July weekend.

Reported By Phran Novelli, KYW Newsradio

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