For many of us, this is resolution season.  It may be to get outside more, stop sitting around, eat better, or lose weight.  Well, this may not be the best month to get in the gardens, there are things to do.  There’s still time to plant spring bulbs, like tulips, daffodils, or alliums.   January is also a good time to get some pruning done on trees, shrubs, and woody perennials.  Doing so now allows one to see the structure of the plant better than when its covered in leaves.  Look first for any broken branches, then anything crossing or crowded branches. Once all of those are removed, step back and look at the over all shape of the plant.

First cut out all of the mushy stems and leaves.  Leave any stem that still firm and greenish, and any leaves that are halfway decent looking.

After you cut the stems back, hopefully you should see some water or sap flowing out of the cut.  That usually means the plant is alive and trying to make new leaves.

Seriously, spray the dickens out of your plants.  If leaves aren't tearing or getting bruised, you're doing it wrong.
Hose off the entire plant, focus on the tips, but spray the whole thing.  Top to bottom. 
Spray it until it looks like...

You could also use those spots or add a bird/bee bath. Any bird bath will work, but add rocks. This will give bees and butterflies a spot to land and get a drink.

Rock Garden Holly

This hybrid Holly has shiny dark green leaves that are bronze when they emerge in the spring and during the growing season.  It’s mature size is only a foot tall and wide, so it’s perfect in a mixed pot or as a specimen or even a small bonsai.  The red berries in fall and winter make it ideal for decorating for the holidays!

Goshiki False Holly

This will grow into a larger shrub, about 5-6 feet tall and wide but responds well to shearing.  It has a holly-like leaf that is variegated, changing from pinks to copper to yellow as the seasons progress, giving it renewed interest all year.  It only grows three to six inches a year, but eventually, it will need a large pot or a home in your garden.

Wilma Monterey Cypress

This beauty has a soft, fine texture with a narrow, upright habit.  Another one that will get large (12’ tall X 4’ across).  This will do better solo in a pot or straight in the ground.  Its golden color is highlighted by cinnamon colored bark and lemon scented foliage.

Whipcord Red Cedar

This is for the fans of Sideshow Bob from the Simpsons.  You can almost hear the low grumbling as his plans are being thwarted by Bart.  Whipcords only get three to four feet across in the garden or pot and develop a lovely bronze color in winter.  Just watch out for the rakes as you plant it!

Jean’s Dilly Alberta Spruce

Similar to the typical dwarf Alberta Spruce but much more compact.  Growing only a couple inches a year, it will max out at three feet tall and about a foot wide.  Perfect for a mixed conifer bowl or collection of pots.

Upright Mugo Pine

Slow-growing, upright mugo with attractive cones.

Valley Cushion Mugo Pine

An extremely hardy, low-growing Mugo - less than a foot tall and four feet across, with a growth rate of three to five inches a year.  New buds are a rusty red that contrasts with the dark green foliage.

As plants grow, so do their roots.  All the fertilizer, compost, and water that have been applied to make the plants full and pretty, have encouraged enough root growth to displace most of the soil in the pot.  Eventually, the roots can't grow anymore, but the plant continues. Soon, there is more plant than the root system can support, and the plant starts looking like the one on the left: yellow, thin, and sick.  Not to mention, it is easy to forget a watering or two.

Let's start with the pruning.  With trees and shrubs that last for many years, pruning is a careful, deliberate, and time consuming task. It should really only be done by someone trained in plant anatomy. 
Annuals, however, last one year, so shaping is less of a concern.   Trailing annuals are the easiest and, usually, the most in need of pruning.  A few examples: Trailing Petunias, Sweet Potato Vine, Million Bells, and Blue Daze....

Trim every stem that looks leggy, or that has a long section with out leaves.  It won't take too long. Even on a large plant, it should take five minutes or so.  Do all that, and you will go from the plant on the left to the plant on the right.

Joe Pye Weed
Eupatorium fistulosum
Does best in a low lying, damp area but will grow well in almost any condition with at least partial sun.

4-5 feet tall, but we do have a 2 foot tall dwarf variety
2 feet wide
Blooms July to frost.

Pow Wow Wild Berry Cone Flower
Echinacea purpurea

Found variety of  the native Cone Flower that does not need deadheading.  Excellent as a showy specimen or planted in mass.  Does best in poor dry soil and full sun.

2-3 feet tall
1 foot wide
Blooms June to August

El Reno Sideoats Grama
Bouteloua curtipendula

This is my favorite grass. All grasses bloom, but this grass has one of the most obvious and "traditional" flowers.  It forms a nice clump of minty green leaves and flower stems with reddish blossoms that then form seeds that song birds flock to.  In Fall, the leaves and seed heads turn gold and remain that way through Winter.

2-3 feet tall
2 feet wide
 Prefers dry conditions.

For the plants nerds out there, the flowers are really cool!

This is Celosia cristata.  Commonly known as Cock's Comb, because the flower head looks like a rooster's crest before it fills out to the brain shape pictured above.

This is one of those plants your grandmother planted.  They were popular in the sixties and seventies and fell out of favor, for some reason.  I have no clue why.  They have some of the best color per dollar you can find at garden centers.  They can be found in pinks, reds, yellows, and oranges.  They usually get tall, 30+ inches, unless you get one of the new meatball versions that plant breeders seem to keep pumping out.  Those get 12" tall or so. 

They are related to Amaranths, so they are edible.  The argentea's are pretty tasty, the leaves and new growth can be prepared like spinach, while the cristata (Cock's Comb) has been used in China for medicinal purposes for centuries!  Originally from Eastern Africa, they can take heat!  When the heat spikes and most plants are shutting down various systems, Celosia will continuing growing and blooming like crazy!  They are also very easy!  They don't need much food, average water, and (wait for it!) no dead heading!  Well maybe a little.  I recommend pinching off the first bloom after planting.  This forces the plant to branch, which equates to more flowers!  After that, maybe a couple snips if a flower head starts drying out.  Maybe one snip per month! 

Because of their size and vigor, they are one of the few plants that can stand up to Sweet Potato Vine and not get choked out.  Even better, the colors both plants come in complement each other nicely!

Celosias will do well in most soils, but really thrive in soils rich in organic materials.  So add compost.  A hand full of slow release fertilizer never hurt anything either!

Blue Daze is a relative of Morning Glories, Moon Vine, and Sweet Potato Vine.  Before it made it to garden centers and an ornamental plant it was called Dwarf Morning Glory or Ground Morning Glory.    It has the same habit of opening its flowers when it is sunny as the Morning Glory.

Like most silvery blue plants, they like it dry and hot!  They are not heavy feeders, but some slow release fertilizer at the start will kick them into high gear!  Luckily!  We put Colorstar on all of our hanging baskets, so you're all set!  hang one of these, and enjoy the intense blue all season!

Also, there is a new one, Blue My Mind.  If any of you reading this has one, bring it down!  I'd like to see it.

Million Bells are not just little Petunias!  They do prefer dryer conditions like petunias and they do have colorful bell shaped flowers.  But he similarities stop there!  Well, they both have green leaves.

Any way!  These little guys love the heat!  When it is in the 100's, these will be one of the last things still blooming and pretty!  Some people may not be impressed with the small bloom, but remember, small means less energy used to make the flower which equates to MORE BLOOMS!!!  Million Bells are showy enough for curb appeal, and pretty enough for up close viewing. 

These are heavy feeders, but again, we apply Colorstar to all baskets, so all you need to worry about is watering them.

 Last, but in no way, least, Trailing Periwinkles. Or Madagascar/Mediterranean Vinca. Not to be confused with Vinca Vine!  These look just like the bedding Vinca/Periwinkles, except they have soft stems, so the trail making them ideal for hanging baskets!

If you are familiar with Periwinkles, you know that they are great for our extreme summers.  They don't mind being either hot or dry.  These are the same way!  If you could engineer the perfect plant for hanging baskets, it would look a lot like this!

I love the little guys! Even though "little" is not an apt description!  Those are 14" clapboards the the second photo over there!