As long as we don't get overzealous and clear away all the dead parts protecting plants from future freezes, we can get out there and make the most of this amazingly mild spell of weather. January is on the way to being the warmest on record, with soul-strengthening glimpses of sunshine.
Don't get carried away by those daffodils and precocious crocus pushing up so bravely out of the soil...it's still too wet to tramp around in the dirt and many plants, like hydrangeas, roses and hardy fuchsias are best left alone until mid-March....
But go ahead, clean up your pruners and indulge your garden lust. These chores are best done in the depths of winter, even though it doesn't feel like it out there:
Prune out winter damage and thin out the oldest, largest canes on woody shrubs like forsythia (above), flowering quince, mock orange, and plums. But don't toss the clippings...cut them to a reasonable length for a tall vase, bring them in and submerge the entire branch in lukewarm water for a few hours to jolt it out of dormancy. Then put the bare branches in warm water in a vase to force them to flower indoors for a lovely burst of springtime.
Kiwis, grapes and figs are best pruned when they're fully dormant, so now's the time. Thin out 1/4 to 1/3 of the oldest canes on your blueberries. You can also prune apple, elderberries, gooseberries, white currant and European pears. According to the folks at Raintree Nursery (and they should know) it's best to wait to prune Asian pears until at least April.
Flowering quince
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