Tag: winter gardening

  • River birch at winter’s end

    River birch at winter’s end

    The peeling bark of river birch (Photo by Brendan Zwelling)
    The peeling bark of river birch (Photo by Brendan Zwelling)

    Before buds burst out in leaf, look around your garden and consider if it has enough winter interest. We make our gardens in a cold climate, and having attractive plants in winter is crucial for gardeners waiting patiently for the arrival of spring. If you need more winter features, nurseries will soon be open and you can make some purchases for a better winter garden next year. (I know from experience that this is much harder to judge in mid or late summer, when memories of winter are too distant.)

    I like cold weather and winter features, and always consider what a woody plant will look like from November through March. If I had to select one plant that has been most attractive through the cold months, it would be my river birch tree (Betula nigra, Zone 4) in the front garden, with sweet little catkins in spring and small shiny foliage in summer. River birch is a big tree, and I’ve put it along the front walkway, so it’s constantly in view and near enough to touch as people pass by. Unlike other birch trees, it’s not dazzling white, but has a soft tan bark with elaborate exfoliation. The colour changes to pinky taupe when the setting sun falls on it, and the winter profile shows off delicate twiggery with pointed buds.

    River birch has a pyramidal, multi-trunk shape, with many low twigs and branches. I’ve pruned it up, removing low  branches to better display its beautiful bark. It’s fast growing, to about 30 to 40 feet (9 to 12 m), and makes dappled light around its base. Birch trees like water and I’ve planted it near perennial beds and lawn, where it can share frequent irrigation. (Periods of summer heat and drought haven’t set it back at all.) Woody plant expert Michael Dirr says river birch is probably the most pest-free of all the birches, and I’ve found this to be true. Bronze birch borers just pass on by, and I haven’t seen any leaf miners on it. Dirr recommends the tree for slightly acidic soils (pH 6.5 or lower), but my slightly alkaline soil (pH 7.3) seems to suit it just fine. If I could have only one winter feature plant, river birch is it.

     

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  • Winter beauties in the garden

    Winter beauties in the garden

    Snow collects on miscanthus. (Photo by Brendan Zwelling)
    Snow collects on miscanthus. (Photo by Brendan Zwelling)

    Most gardeners leave some perennials standing over winter, hoping they’ll catch the snow and make a beautiful picture in the garden. With the first snow still fresh, now is a good time to look around to see where dried stalks and seedheads have been transformed into a winter tableau. Of course, you’ll also notice the empty areas where grasses and perennials were cut down, and perhaps next autumn you’ll let them stand.

    Tall sedums (cultivars of Sedum spectabile) are ideal for winter display, along with rudbeckias and the flower stalks of hostas, with their little seed capsules flared open and looking like miniature pagoda lanterns. The fuzzy and flamboyant seedheads of clematis are wonderful in snow, as are rosehips of any colour, and the dried, brown flowers of hydrangeas.

    In my garden, the tall stalks of black cohosh or bugbane (Actaea racemosa, syn. Cimicifuga racemosa) are spangled with round seed capsules that each catches a bonnet of snow. Ornamental grasses are also good candidates for winter display. I’ve had success with both Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’ and Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’, both of which stand up and catch snow along their dried foliage.

    If you find that key areas near windows and doors appear vacant in these cold months, try putting an obelisk or other attractive plant support in the blank space. It will catch the snow and display its own architectural beauty.

  • Conifers for a winter profile

    Conifers for a winter profile

    Potted Hick's yew (Photo courtesy of Willowbrook Nurseries)
    Potted Hick’s yew (Photo courtesy of Willowbrook Nurseries)

    September is proving to be such a hospitable month, with warm temperatures and lovely sunlight (and a few big rains), that I don’t have much enthusiasm for cleaning the garden. I like to feel a cold bite in the air, a bit of brisk air current rushing through the leaves, to get me interested in
    cutting down perennials and sweeping up debris. But I’m making small efforts to do something each day, and as I cut back the spent plants of a long, hot summer, the winter garden is slowly revealing itself.

    The ornamental bark of woody plants and the conifers are important for an attractive winter scene. Making a winter garden is a big topic, and for myself, it always begins with tall and narrow or small-scale conifers planted in perennial beds. If I can insinuate evergreen plants into prominent perennial growing areas, then something will be left standing after the summer plants are cut down. Fortunately, garden centres are stocking evergreens in containers for autumn planting, and it’s still possible to insert some in beds and borders. They won’t show any growth until next season, but their presence will improve the winter picture.

    My perennial beds in the front garden are small, yet I’ve managed to put a reasonable number of conifers in place that will be visible at the front door and from windows, standing above the snow. During the growing season, these vertical conifers don’t compete for space with expanding perennials; in winter, they have sufficient size to maintain a garden profile.

    Two conifers that are working well are ‘Degroot’s Spire’ cedar (Thuja occidentalis ‘Degroot’s Spire’, 20 inches x 10 feet / 50 cm x 3 m, Zone 4, sun to part shade) with a narrow columnar form, and Hill’s yew (Taxus x media ‘Hillii’, 40 inches x 10 feet / 1 x 3 m, Zone 5, full sun to light shade) with a clump form and pencil-straight branches. (In winter, I weave a hidden spiral of twine through each yew to prevent heavy snow from weighing down their branches.) These are both good vertical accents with similar height; I simply snip their tops to keep them the size I like. The cedar has such a narrow footprint that I have two next to each other, and could certainly add a third. I have two of the yews with a granite boulder between them.

    There are other small-scale or vertical conifers that would work well for this purpose. You might consider Hick’s yew (Taxus x media ‘Hicksii’, 40 inches x 10 feet / 1 m x 3 m, Zone 5, full sun to light shade) that is almost identical to its cousin, Hill’s yew. Colourful ‘Golden Globe’ cedar (Thuja occidentalis ‘Golden Globe, 40 x 40 inches / 1 x 1 m, Zone 4, sun to part shade) has golden yellow foliage (darker in winter cold) and a globe-shaped form. Another interesting choice is bright green ‘Fairview’ juniper (Juniperus chinensis ‘Fairview’, 40 inches x 10 feet / 1 x 3 m, Zone 5, full sun) with silvery blue cones and a narrow pyramidal form. Any of these conifers will be lovely in summer with perennials, and then assume a prominent presence in the winter garden.

     

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