Here’s a book that will help you avoid wasting money and time at the gardening center

This is the week to snip the faded blooms from any spring flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips but leave the fading foliage to age in place. As daffodil and tulip leaves turn yellow, the energy goes back into the bulb for next year’s flowers.

Mow and edge the lawn and fertilize if you have not yet given the grass a spring feed. Ignore the fertilizing if you are working on a mostly moss lawn in a shaded area. Moss lawns can be the perfect groundcover for Western Washington landscapes with shaded yards.

Q. Why does my lilac not bloom? I bought it a few years ago and it has lots of green leaves but no flowers. — R. Email

A. Lackluster lilacs most often lack sun. This fragrant flowering shrub does best in full sun with good air circulation away from a house. Lilacs also like to be mature much like wisteria and tree peonies before putting energy into flower production. Some gardeners have reported it took seven years for a lilac to flower but was a loyal bloomer after the wait. Move it or lose it if you are unhappy with your lilac. Life is too short to put up with disappointing plants.

New garden book for first-time gardeners

Check out “The First Time Gardener: Growing Plants and Flowers” by Sean and Allison McManus. These first-time authors live in the Tacoma area and are known for their website spokengarden.com that teaches gardening basics with a science background.

Their new book is rich with full-color photos on every page and broken into topics that will help beginning gardeners avoid wasting time and money at the garden center. The book covers the basics of annuals, perennials and different types of plants but adds easy-to-understand information on pruning (don’t prune during dry conditions or hot weather), weeding (make sure you remove the entire root of the weed) and mulching (a chart with photos breaks down the different types of mulch.)

Covid has turned many people, from teens to grandparents, into gardeners so if you know of a budding “hort head” or first-time homeowner, this book with tips on landscaping and plant selection is a great choice.

Join Marianne on Zoom

Visit Molbaks.com when horticulture expert Marianne Binetti offers a free Zoom talk on “Plant This! Not That!”

• When: 10 a.m. May 22
• Register in advance for this webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rieKiOjSTqGGHxMEiiKFyw