Maintaining Garden Plants During Cold Winters
Winter may seem an unlikely time for trees, shrubs and garden plants to bloom, but you can still see a few if you do your research and plant right. For instance, a gardening expert may recommend trees like the Acer palmatum dissectum, which blooms red, yellow and orange in Pennsylvania’s late Novembers, or red, yellow and orange blooming shagbark maples.
The oak-leaf hydrangeas (also called “snow queens”) are good plants that love hot summers but survive hardy northeast winters too. They can be red, purple or white. The enkianthus usually turns bright red in the winter and azaleas can be bright red, yellow or pink.
The helleborus and aloha rose are two exotic-looking flowers that can hold a vivid bloom against the white winter snow as well. Read on for more gardening information because if you know what to plant and how to plant, you can have a thriving winter garden.
To help your garden plants withstand colder temperatures, you should mulch well (about 4 inches deep) in the fall. Reduce watering a month or so before the first frost to prevent over-saturation.
After a few hard freezes, you should then water well to provide moisture to help the plants go dormant. If there are sudden freezes, extremely cold weather or if you’re dealing with young plants, then you may need to cover your new shrubs with a burlap sack or an old sheet.
It’s best to avoid direct contact between the fabric and the foliage, so add taller stakes to your garden supplies list, as these stakes will hold the cover up and away from the delicate leaves.
It’s recommended that you plant your gardens full of four seasons worth of flowers and garden plants. Some people create special gardens set aside for cutting if they enjoy beautiful flowers indoors but don’t want to sacrifice the beauty of their main gardens.
Using a blend of foliage, berries, flowers and shrub branches can add texture, height and dimension to any year-round garden.
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December 22nd, 2009 at 5:55 pm
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