TODAY MARKS THE beginning of March and, as we all see, daylight length is expanding greatly.
The crocuses are in bloom, miniature daffodil flowers soon will be showing and the heathers are in colorful display — oh, the joys of late winter!
With spring a mere three weeks away, now is the time, as in the closing of any season, to be critical about your garden — and get a head start on next winter’s planning.
The last few months should still be fresh in your mind — the plants you wish that you had, color spots you needed, items that didn’t complement each other.
It’s also not too late to ask yourself what plants and trees need to be added now or plan for later to beef up any color voids. This could be as simple as adding late-winter flowering bulbs, such as crocus, snow drops, winter aconites, species iris or miniature daffodils.
Winter is a time neglected by most gardeners. Even the well-known city of Victoria, B.C., goes mostly dormant in winter. Many gardens close, city planters go bare and Harry Homeowner patiently waits for spring — it is just so sad.
Winter is 25 percent of the year, and it’s a great time to reflect, correct and improve that wonderful creation we call the year-round garden.
Don’t forget this is Flower Peninsula USA. Jefferson and Clallam counties are plant-friendly all 12 months of the year.
If you haven’t done so already, start a gardening notebook (or, if you already have one, look back over your notes since winter began Dec. 21) and begin planning for next winter.
Keeping a good notebook is one of the most overlooked aspects of gardening. Stroll through the aisles of a bookstore and you’ll find a variety of gardening journals or yard notebooks.
That is because gardening is the constant upheaval of new introductions, rearranging perennials, interchanging heights, fusing texture, making meandering paths and planning color combination.
The mid-late to late cycles (last 20 days) of every season are the perfect time to do a critical review. And stick to the real dates — for true gardeners, winter started on winter solstice, Dec. 21, not in November or when the last colorful specks of fall faded, and it ends when spring arrives March 20.
So let’s look back:
• Did you integrate seasonal holiday lights into your garden? Mark that down — need a few thousand more lights.
• Were your decorative pots and flower boxes filled with seasonal twigs, branches and plants?
• How about color in January and February? There are many colorful and blooming plants for winter.
• Heathers exist in a plethora of sizes, shapes and colors.
• Ornamental kales and cabbages give nice texture, and winter pansies and violas are superb — they are just now gearing up for breathtaking spring resurgence.
• There are also beautiful wandering flower bushes like the versatile viburnum that explodes in winter with bloom and berry.
• Don’t forget the various hollies in a wide range of shades, variegation, fringed leaves and colored berries.
• What about the earliest blooming azaleas along with the whole host of barberries that bloom in winter?
• Then there are the uniquely flowering witch hazels and the equally unusual winter dogwood.
• Brighten up your garden with the vibrant orange winter berries of pharcantha.
• Next for winter, and great all year, it’s a huge group of pendulus — weeping, contorted trees, bushes and shrubs. Because they have less competition from the dazzling blooms, twisted, weeping plants give a real feel or mood to a garden, especially in winter
• Finally, don’t forget the huge list of colored evergreens. Splashes of yellow, blue, lime greens and red all make for a dramatic appearance.
And remember … please, stay well all!
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Andrew May is a freelance writer and ornamental horticulturist who dreams of having Clallam and Jefferson counties nationally recognized as “Flower Peninsula USA.” Send him questions c/o Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362, or email news@peninsuladailynews.com (subject line: Andrew May).
