Planning for Winter in March

Spring doesn't officially start for another two weeks, but it is 79 degrees here today. I'm climbing out of my skin trying to resist the impulse to plant stuff that I know cannot handle the frost that will come next week. My sunny spot in my house is almost ready and next year I will be able to start things from seed, just not this year. This year, I have to wait and purchase whole plants.

I'm still trying to figure out my "zone." Some maps show me in 6, others show me in 7. I'm apparently on the cusp of both.

My gardens look great in the Spring and Summer with some nice fall interest as well, but in the winter? Even here, I have nadda. Everything is dormant, there is no color, not contrast. B-O-R-I-N-G. I used to have pine trees and they stayed green, but boy did I miss that this year. So, in looking for color for my gardens I came across two beauties I could not resist.

This wonderfully looking specimen is called - Beni Kaze Japanese Forest Grass
(Photo Credit: Spring Hill Nursery)

Botanical Name: Hakonechloa macra 'Beni-kaze'
Form: Herbaceous perennial
Sun Exposure: Partial Shade/Full Sun
Height/Habit: 2 - 3'
Spread: 2 - 3'
Spacing: 2 - 4'
Hardiness Zone: Zones 5 - 9
Foliage Type: Mounds of arching linear green leaves which turn to rich red tones in fall.
Flower Form: Pale green spikelets. Not significant.
Flower Color: Green
Flowering Date: Late summer.
Planting Requirements: Tolerates a light shade without compromising the brilliant fall color.
Soil Requirements: Well drained, fertile, humus rich soil.
Growth Rate: Moderate.

Unique Characteristics: Flowing mound of green grass blades that turn a brilliant red for the fall season. Great for cascading over a bank or retaining wall. Tolerates a light shade area without compromising on the great fall color. Compliments most broad leaf plants nicely in the landscape setting.
Pruning: Cut to base in late winter or early spring.
Additional Information: Beni-kaze translates to "red wind". Describes its flowing nature and beautiful fall color.

I'll admit, there is nothing wrong with owning these - I'm just bored with it being my only "grass" planting. This one is mature enough to divide and place in other spots in my garden. Places where I have Spring and Summer color and need some green.

My other colorful beauty is the Red Twig Dogwood

(Photo Credit: Spring Hill Nursery)

Like I said, my yard has zero color in the winter. I need something pretty.

Botanical Name: Cornus alba 'Argenteo-Marginata'
Form: Deciduous woody shrub
Sun Exposure: Partial Shade/Full Sun
Height/Habit: 5 - 8'
Spread: 5 - 8'
Spacing: 6 - 10'
Hardiness Zone: Zones 3 - 8
Foliage Type: Variegated green and cream ovate to elliptic leaves.
Flower Form: Small starry flowers form 1 1/2 - 2" flat topped cymes, insignificant.
Flower Color: Yellowish white
Flowering Date: Spring
Planting Requirements: Best coloration in full sun.
Soil Requirements: Well drained, but adaptable to a wide range of soils.
Growth Rate: Moderate to fast.
Unique Characteristics: An old fashioned favorite that is still one of the best shrubs for year round appeal. Attractive variegated cream and green foliage all growing season followed by brilliant red stems that last all winter. Provides great color against a snowy backdrop or used indoors as an accent in cut-flower arrangements.
Pruning: Best coloration on new wood. Prune out 1/3 to 1/2 of old wood each year.
Time of Pruning: Late winter.

PLANT DESCRIPTIONS ARE COURTESY OF SPRINGHILLNURSERY.COM I'm using these until I learn what means what and how to properly log things in my gardening scrapbook.

Somebody stop me, I'm being a perfectionist again.

THIS is why I never get anywhere. I find pictures like this in magazines I should not be reading, and I give up hope. I found this photograph from Better Homes and Gardens that has given me, at the very least, inspiration and major doses of fear. I love beauty, and I kill things - bad combination if you ask me.

Looking at my yard today, it's hard for me to believe that it used to have trees and was actually very pretty when we bought this house eight years ago. The previous owners had lilacs, azealas, redbuds and rose of sharon - all I which died when I moved in.

Before any of you think I really do stink at this, let me add there was new construction in the church next door. They built up their sidewalks along the fenceline, making our strip of homes the new "low zone" sending water to our yards and saturating our lawns. My shrubs all died from root rot or so I'm told.

I need french drains, but can't afford them. I have right of way "issues" along the line and cannot dig to replace what died - and so, I'm being creative and building up in those places. - which will probably force water into my house, now that I think of it. I need french drains.

My front yard is almost completely planned, and planted. My side yard will be next. I'm looking through my garden scrapbook of hopes and ideas that I created last year,(consisting of photographs cut out from catalogus and magazines) and discovered that I own nothing yellow. Nor do I own trees anymore expect one. (The ice storm took care of those puppies) so, in a moment of spontaneous creativity I bought this:




The Spring Hill Catalog calls it a Golden Chain Tree. I have the spot picked, and the bed ready. I know once my husband sees it, he'll think I've lost my mind and maybe I have.

I'm learning to keep a file of all plants and their facts for easier reference later on. These are the basic facts according to my catalog.

Botanical Name: Laburnum alpinum
Form: Deciduous tree
Sun Exposure: Partial Shade/Full Sun
Height/Habit: 20 - 30'
Spread: 18 - 25'
Spacing: 20 - 25'
Hardiness Zone: 4 - 8 (-20 degrees F) I live in zone 7
Foliage Type: 3-leaflet compound obovate leaves to 3" long.
Flower Form: Pea-like, in pendant clusters, resembling wisteria blooms.
Flower Color: Yellow
Flowering Date: Late spring
Planting Requirements: Nothing special in maritime regions; inland, plant in a sheltered site, north or east slope, in sun but with protection from the wind.
Soil Requirements: Well drained but moisture retentive garden soils.
Growth Rate: Moderate
Unique Characteristics: One of the very few yellow-flowering trees for the spring garden, in blossom, small tree is completely covered with flowers.
Pruning: As little as possible, only to repair damage or provide head clearance - heals poorly.
Time of Pruning: Late summer.
Additional Information: All parts of plant poisonous. Very important note - must keep this away from the animals.

I only paid $19.00 for it, which I know sounds like a waste of money considering the fact that I don't know if it will live or die. But then all my plant purchases are like that. With my skills? There is no telling.

Afterall - my houseplants are silk - if that tells you anything.

Starting again

It turns out that losing three of my four rosebushes wasn't the end of the world. I still have a beautiful climber in the back yard, and I got to go shopping. There is a local nursery in town that supports people with developmental disabilities. They run the nursery and the money earned there, goes back to support job training, housing, and whatnot.

My roses died close to the end of planting season in Tulsa, so the nurseries were pretty picked over. I was however able to find lavender, a fir tree, and a beautiful yellow forsynthia bush as well as a barberry bush. I then moved some of my Iris's from my back yard and added several annual pieces, like sweet potato vine, for color.

I found this beautiful plant at Westlake Ace Hardware on Memorial Day weekend. They had a close out on thier potted arrangements. It turned out to do really well in the heat and looked great with the rest of my plants, but it didn't come with a lable and I have no idea what it is. I'll take my garden scrapbook with me this Spring while I shop around so that I can lable it and know what to buy.



With all of the sandy loam and sawdust left behind from my pine trees - ants moved into the new territory. I don't like ants and after we sprayed the tar out of the garden,I started putting in plugs to keep them away. The plugs worked.

I let my new bed grow for the season while I focused in on building up my other new garden spots. The results ended up a little "over done" by the end of summer, but for a first year garden, it really wasn't that bad. Not a bad second start. I spent my fall pulling out the annuals, trimming back the lavender and pitching the barberry bush (it died under the vine - my bad). I've added several new perenial pieces from SpringHill Nursery and I'm looking forward to seeing what blooms this Spring.



Sitting to the side, in the white pot is a magnolia "bush" I also purchased in the Spring - I really need to stay from on line catalogs. I didn't read the small print and the "bush" arrived as a bare root plant that will require several years to mature.


This was another one of my "oopsies" last year. I thought I was buying THIS.




Spring Hill showed it as part of a "sunny garden spot foundation garden set" that can be purchased as a group and I thought it would be perfect in front of our living room window.



I'm fortunate to have a husband who likes to read the small print and dig in the yard from time to time. While we were planting the new garden set, he read the little box this root came in. It turns out my cute little bush grows to a height of ten feet.

THAT - will not fit in front of our living room window. See what I mean?



I added building out a new bed to my fall clean up and plantings. I wasn't planning on doing that yet - I was going to build those over the winter and plant in the Spring, but she needed a home and my South fence needed some covering, so that is where we put her.