Story ideas? Contact Tom Mayer Editor 754-0428 tmayet@lakecityreporter com Lake City Reporter LIFE Sunday, January 17, 2010 www. akecityreporter.co m Section D GARDEN TALK Nichelle Demorest dndemorest@ufl.edu To prune or not to prune Pruning your ornamental shrubs and trees is not as simple as oiling up the shears and giving them a workout on a nice sunny day. There are a few considerations as to the proper time to prune. Cutting plant tissue at the wrong time can stimulate too much growth, decrease flowers production, cause a loss of plant fluids, or make the plant vulnerable to infection. Make a 'road map' of your landscape and decide when each plant should be pruned, if at all. The most common objective of pruning is to maintain a desired size or shape. If plants were prop- erly chosen for their site, they may only need a snip here and there. Another reason for pruning is to remove damaged branches. Young plants may need to be pruned to encourage good branch structure. Spring flowering plants such as azaleas, spireas and dogwoods should be pruned in late spring after the plant has bloomed. These plants have already set flower buds on last year's growth. If you prune them now, you will cut off all those flower buds that are waiting to open in the spring. Summer bloomers such as roses and crape myrtles have not developed their flower buds yet They will flower on their new growth from this coming spring.. These plants can be pruned from now until just before growth begins without sacri- ficing any summer flowers. Most evergreens such as podocarpus, holly, juniper and boxwood can be pruned anytime. You can stimulate more plant growth by pruning just before the new spring growth starts. Or you can help keep a plant dwarfed and in bounds by pruning right after each new flush of growth. Proper pruning techniques can even help rejuvenate an old worn out shrub. Correct timing and methods for pruning all kinds of landscape plants can be found at http://edis. ifas. ufl. edu/mg087. Along with all of the freezes we have been having, there will be an abundance of plant damage this winter. You may want to remove unsightly brown leaves left in the wake of our cold snaps. Major pruning, however, should be delayed until the new spring growth appears (or doesn't appear). If you wait, you will be able to deter- mine exactly what wood is dead and what is still alive. You can also identify cold damaged wood by nicking the bark with your fingernail. Injured wood will appear dark and lack any green in the cambium layer below the bark. If you are fortunate, your sickly plants may only have some upper tip damage. Prune these injured branches PRUNE continued on 2D .. . - . - - JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter A horn is played during the Civil War Memorial Service at Oaklawn Cemetery, part of the 2009 Olustee Battle Festival and Re-enactment. The memorial service serves as the kickoff to the annual event, which draws thousands of visitors and re-enactors to Lake City to honor those who died during the Civil War.: Honoring the past Annual Olustee Festival begins Feb. 12 By TROY ROBERTS troberts@lakecityreporter. com The 146th anni- versary of the Battle of Olustee is less than a month away, and officials are gearing up to make this year's festival and battle re-enactment as successful as ever. The 32nd annual Olustee Battle Festival and 34th annual Battle Re-enact- ment are scheduled to take place from Feb. 12-14 in downtown Lake City and in Olustee. County Judge Tom Coleman is serving his third consecutive term as the commanding general of the Blue-Grey Army. He will preside over this year's festival and battle re-enactment. "I'm honored," Coleman said. "As I've said before, this group has proven themselves over and over again to be the best com- mittee I've ever worked with. They're hard work- ing, and understand exactly what they need to do to make this festival a success." Coleman said that while there will be some chang- es to this year's lineup, many of the festivities remain the same because it has proven to be a for- mula that works. "One of the things that is the charm about this festival is that people know what to expect," Coleman said. "You have the good entertainment, the good food, the festivi- ties and you know exactly where to go." This year's parade is a salute to the "old guard," Coleman said, and will have two parade marshals - Vic Vasco and Steve Knight, longtime Blue- Grey members who con- tinue to remain involved in the organization's Photos by JASON MATTHEW WALKER Lake City Reporter (ABOVE) A priest prays with a fallen soldier during the 2009 Battle of Olustee. (RIGHT) A woman mourns the passing of a dying soldier during a re-enactment event at the Lake City-Columbia County Historical Museum. activities. 'Those two have been re-enactors for many, many years," he said, "and we wanted to honor them. They've been very involved since the beginning, and these guys are the ones who would wear either uni- form back in the old days, whenever someone needed them." The group annually acknowledges a longtime Columbia County fam- ily, and Coleman said the Hartwell-Koon family will be recognized as this year's Olustee family. Coleman also noted that Tad Allen and James Adams are tentatively scheduled to appear as Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee, respectively, at this year's festival as well. Both typically make appearances in town and at local schools during the week of the festival. Festivities begin early on Friday, Feb. 12, in Lake City with the Civil War Memorial Service at Oaklawn Cemetery. The service begins at 9 a.m. and Columbia County Sheriff Mark Hunter will be the featured speaker. Downtown festivities begin soon after, featuring more than 100 vendors selling arts, crafts, food and enter- tainment throughout the clay. Opening ceremonies are scheduled to take place at noon. Later in the (lay, a skirmish between Union IF YOU GO * Events in downtown Lake City take place on Feb. 12 and '13 * Events at Olustee Battlefield take place on Feb. 13 and 14. and Confederate soldiers will take place on the banks of Lake Desoto and also feature a naval battle between the Monitor and Merrimac. Festivities swing into full gear on Saturday, Feb. 13, as activities take place in both downtown Lake City and the Olustee Battlefield in Baker County. The downtown battle festival continues at 9 a.m. with a one-mile run around Lake Desoto. The annual Olustee Parade, which begins at South Marion Avenue, is scheduled to take place at 10:30 a.m. The parade marshals, the Olustee family and Miss Olustee winners will be recognized at a noon event in downtown, and the annual Blue-Grey Square Dance will take place at Rountree Moore Toyota at 7:45 p.m. In Olustee, events begin at the state park at 9 a.m. Visitors can explore the various Confederate and Union camps, talk with re-enactors, share a meal and peruse through Sutlers Row. A medical demon- stration is set for 1 p.m., followed by a period music contest at 2:30 p.m. The mini battle, which sees Confederate and Union soldiers take the field to demonstrate Civil War-era tactics, takes place at 3:30 p.m. On Sunday, the park again opens at 9 a.m. The 34th battle re-enactment, which typically sees nearly 2,000 re-enactors take the. field, is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. - I -- I I I