Filed under: Gardening, Flowers, How-To
Think you know everything there is to know about winter gardening? Think again. Our expert dispels four of the most common myths.Perhaps the most common winter gardening myth is that there is no gardening in winter! During the dark, cold months your garden is a living thing. Winter reveals its structure and provides an opportunity for reflection, planning and a great deal of enjoyment. So forget what you think you knew about gardening in winter and then get your gloves ready.
Roof garden in winter. Photo: Marie Viljoen
Not actually.
The purpose of fall-applied mulch in areas with freezing winters is to keep the temperature around your plants as steady as possible. It is not the cold but the freeze-thaw cycle that kills plants: On warmer days, the soil heats up, then thaws. The moisture in the plants' roots expands. Then a cold snap during the night freezes them again. This vicious cycle can eventually burst the roots and kill a plant. Applying 2-4 inches of mulch around your plants helps reduce the fluctuation of temperature that damages roots. So really, mulch keeps plants cold, not warm!
When applying mulch, avoid covering the crowns of plants or they could rot when snow melts or when it rains and water collects around them. If your garden is filled with leaves after the fall, consider leaving them be. The natural leaf litter acts as perfectly good mulch. Or you can always try my favorite mulch: Compost, homemade or bought. Compost will break down slowly over winter and actively add nutrients to the soil.
Winter Gardening Myth #2: You never water in winter.
If it is a sunny, over-40-degree day, there is every reason to water. This is especially true of container and roof gardens where plants cannot draw on surrounding soil moisture to the same extent as those in an in-ground garden. Roof and terrace gardens, and those on exposed sites subject to a lot of wind, which desiccates plants, making them lose moisture through their leaves. You should water in the morning to allow the roots to absorb water during the warmer day, before the next freeze. Also bear in mind that small pots will lose moisture much more rapidly than larger ones. You should give them a drink more often.
Edgeworthia papyrifera. Photo: Marie Viljoen
Winter Gardening Myth #3: 'Winter Flowers' is a contradiction.
Not necessarily. November belongs to the beautiful fall-blooming camellias. Camellias such as "Fairweather Favorite," "Winter Snowman," "Winter's Beauty," "Winter's Interlude," "Winter's Rose" and "Winter's Moonlight" have demonstrated hardiness down to -20'F (Zone 5b). To find what zone you live in, visit the USDA Plant Hardiness Map.
Protection from wind (against a wall is ideal) and some morning sunlight are recommended for happy camellias. For more about very hardy camellia cultivars visit the International Camellia Society.
The name winter hazel says it all. Hybrid Oriental witch hazels will bloom through a snow fall, early in the year. Their yellow or red streamers are a stunning sight against a white background and arrive just when we think we cannot take another week of winter. Hamamelis x intermedia "Pallida" has pale yellow, sweetly scented (perfume in winter!) flowers which open in mid winter, from January -- February. "Jelena" has stunning burned orange flowers and blooms at the same time. "Arnold Promise" has bright yellow blooms which open a little later, from February -- March.
Edgeworthia papyrifera is still a weird and wonderful plant to many gardeners. In summer it looks tropical and in late winter it opens pale yellow flowers from its downy buds. Their scent is heavenly. This is a plant that would like one of those drinks of water on a warmer winter day: Its natural habitat is wood- and stream-side. I have had success with Edgeworthia in Zone 7, though on paper it is only hardy to Zone 8.
Bear in mind that our climate is changing faster than the maps are updated. You might be able to experiment with a plant that theoretically grows only one Zone higher than where you live.
Gaultheria procumbers. Photo: Marie Viljoen
Winter Gardening Myth #4: The winter garden is a boring garden.
Three words: grasses, evergreens, texture (we have already covered flowers!).
Grasses are at their most sculptural in the winter. Instead of cutting them back in the fall keep them tall until early spring.
Evergreens: think outside the boxwood. Gaultheria procumbens (wintergreen) is a native groundcover whose red berries persist through the snow. Skimmia japonica is a low shrub with white flowers and scarlet fruit. Daphne odora 'Aureomarginata' has pretty variegated leaves and then blooms sweetly in late winter. Mahonia x media's pointed holly leaves soften beneath late winter flower clusters.
Texture is revealed in winter. Choose your trees for what they look like undressed. Stewartias and crepe myrtles both have sinuous limbs and silky, tactile bark. Paper birch (Betula papyrifera) has gorgeous, peeling bark. Pine and firs needles bristle beneath smooth snow. The electric lavender berries of Callicarpa americana persist well into winter and also make a fragrant baking spice.
Life is short and winter is long. We should make the most of every season in the garden, even the cold one.
Callicarpa americana. Photo: Marie Viljoen