by Joe Daniels, Delaware County Master Gardener
Look around at the outstanding plants this month in your garden… the groundcover: Gaultheria(wintergreen). Shrubs: Cotoneaster, Ilex (all varieties), Leucothoe, Lindera(spicebush), Mahonia, Pieris, and Taxus (yew). Take time to enjoy the ever changing landscape and what beauty is still apparent in the cold weather of winter.....and how peaceful nature can be in all the quiet beauty surrounding us daily.
Seasonal Tasks
If you have been using salt to melt ice on walks and drives near trees and shrubs, consider using sand or sawdust at those locations instead.
Damage on needled evergreens will show as copper and yellow tints to foliage by spring. Deciduous plants will develop bronze or reddish leaves in the spring from salt damage.
You can enjoy an early spring indoors by forcing branches of spring-flowering trees and shrubs. Forsythia, crabapple and dogwood are among those which can be forced by placing cut (18-24") branches in water in a warm location.
This is a good time to get spring gardening ideas from magazines and catalogs.
Order from your seed and plant catalogs--many will be delivered shortly after the holidays. Choose old favorites, but also consider some of the Gardener Select plants or All-American Selections.When you are selecting plants, try to choose disease and insect resistant varieties.They will make gardening easier, reduce costs and reduce environmental pollution.
Evaluate your garden work area and make any needed adjustments.
Consider adding more plants with winter interest: evergreens, plants with attractive branching patterns or bark, to your landscape in the spring.
Evaluate your landscape for energy efficiency. Plant evergreens toward the north to reduce winter winds, add deciduous plants to the west to provide shade in summer and allow solar-heating in the winter.
Check summer bulbs in storage regularly for rot or decay; discard those affected.
Continue to save coffee grounds and kitchen waste (fruit and vegetable peelings) for the compost pile.
When snows are very heavy, knock off accumulated snow from evergreens and other woody plants. Brush upwards to reduce damage. Prop up ice-covered branches until they thaw.
Arborvitae and other columnar evergreens can be protected from splitting in heavy snows by wrapping the plant with rope to pull branches together.
Branches from Christmas trees can be used to provide winter protection for low evergreens and evergreen perennials.
Reapply mulches that have blown away in winter winds.
If you have read my column to this point and have tried any of the above advice....maybe you should take a break.......come inside, warm up with a hot beverage and look over those spring catalogs some more......and dream.
Do you have a gardening question? In Delaware County, call our Master Gardeners hortline at 610-690-2671 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 AM-12 NOON.
UPCOMING MASTER GARDENERS EVENTS
January 19, 2008: Holiday Gifts & Houseplants
Learn how to care for and maintain your holiday gardening gifts and houseplants. Cost: $10
February 9, 2008
Build a Birdhouse
Do a bird a favor! Learn how to build a birdhouse from a one pound coffee can and wood. This is a hands-on workshop for the family. Please bring a hammer and safety goggles. Cost: $15
Registration required for all events. Please call 610-690-2655 for more information or visit our website
