Plant Away The Winter Blues

Plant Away the Winter Blues I look forward to each day durring the winter. For some people, lamenting the past days of fall with its bright foliage in the landscape and longer, brighter pre-Daylight savings time days, means feeling down when the dull, short days of winter arrive. For me, I have grown to appreciate each day with my interests in the landscapes surrounding my farm locations. Satisfaction derives from knowing that many dazzling displays, throughout the winter, can be found by careful observation. Yes, the days are short and the nights are long. And yet, growing plants, and enjoying doing so, are year-round activities that bring unlimited hours of "quality time." Watering plants is simple. It can be a fundamental item on your list of things to do. Make it a point to get out and check on your outside plants. The ground may be not at all entirely frozen so plants still use water. If the ground is not frozen you can still water. The basic question is will the ground accept water? If yes, just remember that most plants have slowed metabolism in winter; they're dormant, not unlike hibernating bears. The amount of water must therefore be LESS than during warmer autumn or spring days, and MUCH LESS than during the hottest days of summer. Evergreens lose water through their needles in the winter. So, if you keep watering as long as possible into wintertime, from seedlings to mature trees, plants will always benefit. Winter drying of evergreens is a major stress factor. Surprised? It's true. Snow and ice on your plants can be problematic. Tall thin plants are not sturdy. They tend to bend under snow loads and may require staking later to train them straight. If your small plants have a light amount of snow covering them you may ease the snow burden by lightly sweeping the snow with a broom. DON'T vigorously shake them, they are like babies ... they will get "sylvic shaken baby syndrome." If snow or ice is frozen to the branches, allow it to melt rather than attempting to force corrections. If any branches are broken, you probably don't need to do anything unless there is a split in the trunk. If the breakage of the plant is a complete severing, the seedling or liner shoud be discarded. Sometimes we just have to accept our losses. The labor time and effort to repair a completely broken trunk is not worth the value of even an exotic imported druit tree. It is also likely a poor quality seedling will be the one prone to breakage and would only become a a poor quality mature tree anyway. There is a market for such plants however, we have had many customers who want, "Charlie Brown Trees," or stunted trees for special limited space or limited height planting locations. Warm spells in the winter occur. You've heard of the "January thaw," right? Suddenly, there arte two or three days of phenomenally warm temperatures. This should not be an "isuue" for your trees, shrubs, or perennial flowers. When a warm spell occurs, get outside, use some shoe leather, and wear out those leather gloves too. It's great to have a break in mid-winter. Movement and fresh air are proven to aid in combatting depression. Wintertime blues is in fact depression. Women get depressed three time more often then men, but men get it far more severely. So, go on out and prepare for spring. If you have covering on or over your plants, you may need to provide ventilation. We normally open the doors to our greenhouses. This is usually all that is necessary. Cold frame temperatures may rise so ventilation will be helpful if you have them. Close up as nightfall arrives because, DUH!, the temperature will fall rapidly. Note that when sunlight intensity is high, plant tissues become active. Water loss at this time can't be replaced if the root are frozen. This is called plant desiccation. Also if there many freeze-thaw cycles, the crown of the plant will be heaved up exposing the roots. Root systems have a lower tolerance to temperature extremes and can killed by freezing low temperatures.A common way to prevent desiccation is to screen plants in exposed areas with Burlap . Varmit control is important in the winter. Mice and rabbits feed constantly . Their teeth grow constantly and they love to chew on tender plants. We spread rat and mice bait about every two to threes weeks as long as we see it being consumed. Try and place the baits in a place where its easy to moniter, dry, and accessable only to the varmits. When the snow gets deep mice will feed up higher on the plants. They don't like to dig in the snow for food. They take the easy to reach food first. Thus tracks in the snow are an important sign to watch for. Mouse damage is usually not correctable. You may not see root feeding damage to stock till spring, so over baiting is the best solution. Care should be taken that the baits are only available to the target varmit. Viburnums are the most attractive, versatile, adaptable shrubs for any landscape. They can be used as hedges or screens and in mixed perennial/shrub borders. They can also stand alone as specimen plants. They usually take the form of shrubs, but some species can become small ornamental trees. They range in size from the Dwarf American Cranberrybush at 2 feet tall by 2 feet wide, to the Siebold at over 15 feet tall. We feel that Viburnums are plants that have great winterinterest. All Viburnums have white to pink flowers in the spring. The foliage is large, attractive and often textured leaves. Some viburnums have fragrant flowers that are produced in snowball shaped clusters in April. Their flower clusters can consist of pink buds, which develop into white flowers. Some fruits are red and turn black with age usually bitter tasting. Leaves can be glossy, dark green and turn a burgundy color in the fall. Midsummer berries are an important food source for birds. Viburnums have colorful red to purple leaves. Some viburnums can become medium-size trees, especially if they are pruned. Viburnums excel as specimen plants or as anchors in mixed borders. You won't find a more versatile group of shrubs for hedges or for massing in groups, since viburnums hold their own in every season. Some viburnums, such as Prague viburnum 'Pragense', are evergreen. Others, such as leatherleaf viburnum, are semi-evergreen in colder climates, losing their leaves when temperatures dip below 10 degrees. The great feature of Viburnums is that they are adaptabe. While they would like full sun and moderately watered, well-drained rich soils, they will grow very well in part shade, and in clay soils. Diseases and pests rarely attack them and they don't tend to have to be spayed. My kids have run over them with brush hogs and they survived. Their fibrous root system makes them transplant easily. In your search for a good, hardy shrub with winter interest consider the Viburnum family. Viburnums have long been popular garden plants, celebrated for their white, often fragrant spring flowers and their fall color. But it's the Asian viburnums that have so far ruled the roost. Perhaps the most widely appreciated viburnums are the Burkwood viburnum (Viburnum x burkwoodii), and the Korean spice viburnum (V. carlesii), both of which fill the air with a pleasant odorin mid-spring. Also popular is the doublefile viburnum (V. plicatum f. tomentosum), valued for its layered habit, fall foliage, and clusters of red fruits. Viburnum acerifolium (Maple-leafed viburnum) Although I wouldn't garden without any of these, I have a special fondness for several of our very gardenworthy native viburnums. They may not provide the enticing flower fragrance of their Asian cousins, but I love them not only for their rich fall foliage color but also for their fruit displays, which attract wildlife to my garden in the fall and durring the bleak winter months. In addition, several are useful to today's waterwise gardeners or for urban conditions. They require only corrective pruning, and none commonly suffer from pests or diseases. I would be hardpressed to say which viburnum I would choose if I could only have one. Viburnums are moist woodland plants. In nature they are found along steam banks from Long Island to Florida. When you come to our 5275 West Swamp Rd. location ask us to show some in their native habitat that we found along our stream bank. These plants perform well under normal landscape conditions. I especially like the floral display in the spring and these viburnums that bear fruit in the fall. Winterthur has great red leaves and abundant fruit in the fall. This cultivar needs a cross pollinator such as viburnum nudum. If you want things to do in the winter this is when I cut back our viburnums. Pressing issues of the other seasons always leaves my viburnums to stand alone untouched. It is mid winter and I always enjoy trimming back these plants then. I see all the nests that the birds haver built and can work without disturbing their families. It seems to me that it is easier to cut back and trim now for I always feel bad in the summer when I trim out green foliage. When trimming foliage I always guilty cutting greens off of the plants. Wintertime frees me from those demons. You can see more out plants at the following web site http://www.seedlingsrus.com