The first plants that come to mind when people think of the winter landscape are Pine Trees (Pinus), Spruce Trees (Picea), and Holly Shrubs (Ilex).  Along with Boxwoods (Buxus), Yews (Taxus), Arborvitaes (Thuja), Junipers (Juniperus), and Falsecypress (especially Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Gold Mop’) these plants are “the old stand-bys” for winter interest.  Evergreen trees and shrubs are an important component of any planting plan because they provide structure and weight to your landscape all year long, and most especially in the winter when your beds would otherwise be empty or “just sticks.”  Often overlooked in the summer, evergreen trees and shrubs actually deliver a nice splash of color during the winter when we primarily see a landscape of browns and grays.  Additionally, these evergreens provide important shelter for the birds that stay up north with us for the winter.  Many groundcovers, such as English Ivy (Hedera helix) and Vinca (Vinca minor), are also evergreen and provide a lush green carpet where there would otherwise be an empty mulch bed.

Although any discussion of winter landscape interest must begin with evergreens, it most definitely does not have to end there.  One winter interest plant that is gaining in popularity is the Red Twig Dogwood (Cornus alba) shrub.  Some cultivars of this plant have spring flowers, variegated foliage, and good fall color; but it is winter when they truly stand out!  As the weather gets colder you will notice the brown branches beginning to turn red, with the newest stems having the most vibrant color.  Varieties of this plant boast colorful stems ranging from bright red to orange-red to coral red.  Another interesting selection is the Red Twig Dogwood’s cousin, the Yellow Twig Dogwood (Cornus sericea ‘Silver & Gold’).  The bright stems of the Red Twig and Yellow Twig Dogwood especially pop when planted in mass and surrounded by a blanket of fresh snow!

Planting trees and shrubs that maintain their berries throughout the winter is another way to add color to your winter landscape.  The familiar Blue Holly (Ilex x meservae) has a deciduous relative, Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata), that maintains clusters of bright red berries on its bare branches throughout the winter. The Winter King Hawthorn (Crataegus viridis ‘Winter King’) is a great ornamental tree that also has red berries during the winter. The berries can be especially striking when viewed against a backdrop of Spruce trees!  A less frequently used landscape plant that retains its berries through much of the winter is Beautyberry (Callicarpa dichotoma).  If you have room for this sucker spreading shrub, you will enjoy the profuse clusters of lavender berries that remain on the branches through at least the first half of winter.  An added bonus to using these plant selections is that you will be providing a valuable food source for birds during a time of year when sustenance can be scarce.

If it is flowers that you long to see in the winter, your choices may be limited, but there are a handful of options available to you.  A popular practice in recent years has been to plant annual beds with Kale or, the somewhat paradoxically named, Hardy Pansies in the winter.  Kale is a crinkly leafed relative of Cabbage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower.  Although edible, the landscape varieties of Kale have been selected for their texture and purple or white color, rather than for their taste!  Pansies are low growing biennials that are available in a wide range of colors.  Hardy enough to survive winters in Zone 4, Pansies are your best choice if a multitude of colorful flowers is your goal.  One more winter flowering plant that should not be overlooked is the Vernal Witch-hazel (Hamamelis vernalis) shrub.  During the warm days of January, and February you may notice these plants unfurling small clusters of orange or yellow spider-like petals.  Much like us humans on cold days, you may also notice that these petals curl back up when the temperature drops.  This survival technique helps the flowers to persist until March or April.

Interesting textures are another way that you can add interest to you winter landscape.  The exfoliating bark of Oakleaf Hydrangeas (Hydrangea quercifolia), Paperbark Maples (Acer griseum), and London Planetrees (Platanus x acerifolia) can be very eye catching at a time when there are fewer colors around to distract from this unusual feature.  The exposed white bark of the London Plantree can be especially striking on a night illuminated by a full moon!  The dried flower heads of Hydrangea shrubs and seed heads of a variety of Ornamental Grasses add another attractive texture to the winter scenery.  An additional interesting plant selection is Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’).  The distinctive twisty curlicue branches of this shrub make it a unique standout year-round, but especially in the winter when the leaves have dropped and the branching pattern is on full display.

Winter may not be the most colorful time of year, but your “Great Outdoors” need not be drab and boring.  The strategic use of a few plants that provide a burst of color or interesting texture can make your landscape really pop and stand out from the rest.  A few splashes of interest can be a reminder that spring is just around the corner, and that may be just what you need to help you endure the rest of the winter!

Giant Allium

White Tulips

Please don’t make your fall bulbs lonely. Bulbs are best enjoyed in groupings of at least five to seven bulbs per singular display. More bulbs per a given planting bed area, the more spectacular your display will be in the spring. Maximize the eye-catching effect of color with mass plantings rather than a few bulbs planted here and there. Even if you choose to plant only one variety of the same type and bulb color, you will achieve a much better satisfaction in your display if your plant en masse.

Dutch Iris

Which side is up? Bulbs typically have some dried roots appearing at the base of the bulb. This, of course, is the “down” part of the bulb. If you are uncertain with side is “up”, plant your bulbs on their sides and they will sort it out on their own with no problem.

Daffodils & Tulips

Typically bulbs will perform fine without much fertilization. However, the informed gardener or one that wants to make her spring flowering investment really pay dividends, will add phosphorous to the root zone of the bulbs during the planting process. All plants require phosphorous for healthy roots and flowers. Bulbs in particular grow with more vigor with the added phosphorous nutrient. Since phosphorous does not move too readily in the soil strata, placing this nutrient down around the root zone really helps the fall bulbs develop a good thick root system. An excellent source of phosphorous for planting is bone meal.

So make an investment in yourself and your landscape this fall. In the spring, you’ll enjoy envious onlookers and a grin on your face from ear to ear. Fall truly is for planting!

Next Year’s Landscape Success Begins NOW!

As the weather turns cool and crisp, you might be tempted to think that your lawn and garden don’t need you anymore. But now is the best time to condition your landscape for a strong start to next spring. Your lawn and ornamentals will also reward you next spring if you give them a hand in making the most of the cooler months.

Don’t abandon the lawn!

During the fall, don’t be fooled as the top growth of your lawn slows. The real action is happening below ground, because this is the time of year when root growth goes into high gear. Fall fertility promotes healthy root growth especially when the soil has been opened through aeration. Roots that have nutrients, adequate moisture and room to expand can store more nutrients for better winter color and earlier spring green-up. Aerate and feed your lawn this fall!

Fortify your trees and shrubs with a good solid meal this fall

Trees and most all other ornamental plants need care in the fall be it pruning, cutting back, mulching or feeding. Fertilization is extremely important in the fall where root growth is building reserves for growth and flower production during the fall and winter. Investing in your landscape now will pay you back many times over next year. Be sure to call us with any questions or requests for quotations. Fall feeding of woody ornamentals has been proven as the optimal time of year to feed these ornamentals.

Spring spectacles begin now – Set yourself off from the crowd with spring flowering bulbs

The only game in town, as far as spectacular spring blooming displays are concerned, remains to be in fall planted bulbs. Of course we are talking about the ever popular spring bloomers such as tulip, daffodil, hyacinth, lily, iris etc. To most of us though that want instant gratification, bulb planting in the fall seems like such a waste of money, time and back-breaking effort. But after about four long cold months, your investment “springs” to life and rewards your efforts with beautiful and unsurpassed colorful displays. The good news too is that bulbs such as daffodils reward you year after year and there are hundreds of varieties and types of bulbs from which to choose. Don’t miss your fall opportunity to spring some life into your landscape investment. For bulb ideas, we have provided you with a link to one of our spring flowering bulb suppliers. SpringDisplays. If prompted for a password, enter ‘bulbs’.

Be sure to use our exclusive and completely free online calculator to determine exactly how many bulbs that you will need here

Summer is in full swing and hopefully you have planted or are in the process of planting your annual flowers.  Nothing accentuates the landscape more than a nicely placed, healthy grouping of annual flower color.  The question is, does your annual flower display explode with vibrant colors or does your flower display merely sit in your landscape and meekly exist without much notice whatsoever?

So what’s the secret to growing vibrant, healthy, explosive annual flowers? The answer is not as simple as you might think.  For any plant, annual flower or otherwise, location, location, location is the primary consideration.  How much sun, wind, reflective heat, shade, soil condition, slope and soil condition are all important elements to take into account before choosing your seasonal plants for color.

Never let your infant annuals dry out….ever!

First of all, annual flowers are grown in very small pots with a very small root system.  Allowing them to dry out can cause quick demise or at best, a stressful set back from which they may never completely recover.  Annual flowers dry out QUICKLY!  This is probably one of the top reasons why folks have mediocre flower displays in their landscape.

Know your Location

Be sure to choose the right type of annual flowers for the right locations.  Some plants such as the ever popular geranium require as much sun as you can provide during the day.   As more sun is available to the geraniums the flowers become more compact and full of bloom.   Some plants like begonias and impatiens can tolerate a wide range of conditions, thus their popularity.  Certain taller accent plants like large caladiums (elephant ears) or banana trees will be torn to shreds if placed in a windy location.  For an aesthetically pleasing annual display, make sure you plant in the correct environmental conditions.    

Prepare your soil

Spending extra time to prepare your planting soil will pay you in explosive dividends with any plant, especially when dealing with annual flowers.  Annuals prefer a rich, well drained soil.  Adding peat moss, comtil or any other organic compost material will loosen as well as enrich the soil with much needed nutrients.  Planting in heavy clay soil is a no win proposition.  Your annuals will have no chance to thrive or possibly live at all in such undesirable conditions. 

Clear out the old mulch

Another common problem that we see is that individuals don’t plant their new annuals properly.  Annuals need to be planted down into the soil level.  Plant beds over the years can develop a thick layer of mulch.  Many times the unsuspecting flower planter will diligently trowel out their planting holes but the annuals are planted high up in this thick layer of mulch and they never reach the soil. Again, this technique will cause an annual flower to fizzle at best.  In many cases, these annuals will die.

More is better!

Don’t let your annuals be lonely.  It is a waste of time and energy to plant solitary annual flowers spaced many feet apart.  This is the equivalent to painting a few lines on your walls inside your home.  Perhaps a better analogy would be to place a shrub spaced ten to twenty feet apart along the front of your home.  You just won’t get the impact that a grouping will provide.  Be sure to plant your flowers in groupings large enough to make a statement.  You may certainly mix varieties but still keep the grouping theme in mind. 

Annual flowers in mass

Feed your flowers!

The final key to success in having an excellent explosion of annual flower color is fertilizer.  Be sure to feed your annual flowers!  They grow fast and they require nutrients to do this.  There are several popular brands from which to choose from and just as many ways to deliver the nutrients as well.  We like to use granular slow release products when our annuals are first planted and then follow up in two to three weeks with a liquid fertilizer. Don’t forget to feed again in about another month to keep the fireworks going.  The granular slow release fertilizer will keep feeding them throughout the season while the liquid fertilizers can provide for quick explosive bursts of energy and bloom. 

The beauty and simplicity of annual color can bring any landscape to life.  Just a little splash of color can turn that pumpkin of a home or business in to an elegant and attractive chariot overnight.  By preparing your beds, correctly planting your annuals and by watering and fertilizing, you will have that beautiful summer oasis of which you have always dreamed.