Juniper berries are a good source of food for avian friends

Q: While reading your column about trimming juniper bushes on Aug. 24, I thought about the three large junipers I have growing in my backyard. I believe they are home to a couple of hummingbird nests. I see them fly in and out regularly, and I don’t want to disturb them. My question is about the probably thousands of berries growing in small clumps on the tips of the branches. What would be the best way of getting rid of them? Snip each cluster off manually, or use my electric pruner to try to trim off the branch tips? Manually, it would take maybe a couple of days. Or should I just leave them and let Mama Nature take care of them in her good time? — J.B., Rio Rancho

A: Well, J.B., I know of no good and/or needed reason to trim off the juniper berries, other than keeping the area more tidy looking.

I do know that the berries will become a source of food for our avian friends as the seasons change, and you seem to be fairly concerned with bird health.

Now, if there is anyone out there with good reason to trim off the juniper berries, kindly let me know.

I’d rather see you do the job manually if you do decide to trim off the berries. I don’t know how clean a cut you’d get using an electric trimmer and leaving ragged ends on the branch tips seems to me like an invitation to disease. Just when you employ the use of a ladder, which it sounds like you’ll be doing, please be ultra-aware of your safety.

The only reason I can think of for trimming the berries would be to make gin! So if you are going to become a distiller, then prune to your heart’s content.

I’d rather see you leave the berries for the birds. Unless we learn differently.

Q: Settling into our new home, we haven’t fertilized any of the roses that came with the house yet. Should we fertilize them now? — N.K., Albuquerque

A: If it’s that important to you, then yes, you could go ahead and fertilize your roses. But you have to promise me that you do it today, or very, very soon, and understand that it’ll be the last time this year you’d do that.

Even though it’s still warm, the length of daylight is lessening, meaning everything is starting to slow as far as growth rates go. The roses would enjoy one final kick in the pants, green up a bit, maybe even pop out a bloom or two for you. But your job is to keep them watered and get them ready to aim to settle down for the fast approaching dormant period.

Granted we’ll probably see pleasant temperatures through mid-October, and who knows, maybe longer, but with the amount of daylight lessening you don’t want to push the roses any more than with this one last fertilization for the year.

So get out there, let the roses know you care, just do it very soon.

Happy Diggin’ In!

Tracey Fitzgibbon is a certified nurseryman. Send garden-related questions to Digging In, Albuquerque Journal, 7777 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, N.M. 87109, or to features@abqjournal.com.