Feature plant of this month

Narcissus, Daffodil

The cheerful, nodding heads of daffodils are the true harbingers of spring. Brighten up your borders, containers and even hanging baskets with these delightful flowers. Deer wont eat them due to their toxicity.
Daffodils are easy to grow and require little maintenance. They come in many different shapes and colours that, with careful selection of varieties.

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List of past newsletter issues:

..... edging beds .....

..... palace gardens .....

..... formal hedge .....

..... small trees .....

..... private garden .....

..... ground covers ......

..... landscape lights .....

..... designing your entrance .....

..... building a retaining wall .....

..... garden features .....

..... winter gardens .....

Winter Damage :

Prevention and repair

There are various reasons for winter damage. To address just a few, I will write about damage due to cold, snow, ice, salt & pests.
I am sure that each of you will recognize some of these problems. Using the right prevention technique can eliminate most winter damages.

Most common winter damages are related to cold. All plants in your garden should be suitable for the hardiness zone of your area. Any plants that are growing in a challenging location should be preferably hardier than your zone and suitable for the location depending on the nature of the challenge. For example, shade, full sun, wind, plant competition or moisture in the soil could be challenging factors. Tender plants can be protected by mulching, which is simply creating a mound of composting material around the base of the plant. Commonly used mulching materials are leaves, compost, peat moss and straw. In the fall, plants need to be "hardened off" which means to gradually allow them to get used to cold temperatures so that they build up resistance. Therefore, we should time mulching accordingly. In the Spring, gardeners leave their tender plants mulched for too long and that can lead to unwanted tender growth under the mulch. If foliage on evergreens has brown spots due to cold weather simply remove the damaged leaves.

Heavy snow and ice can break branches and open up the shrub so that it resembles an old broom more than a symmetrical bush. Again, location is the first factor we should take into consideration. Snow falling from the roof can break branches of shrubs beyond repair. Also planning where to put excess snow from your driveway and paths would be worth some consideration. In addition, if moist snow freezes it becomes heavy and permanently stuck to branches until it gets warm again. Simply shaking the wet snow of bending branches can prevent most damage. If you find broken branches in the spring, you can cut them off and treat them with a latex-based product with growing hormones such as Heal and Seal.

Over-use of salt is another cause of winter damage. Try to avoid the use of salt close to your flowerbeds. If some areas become saturated you can try to pour water over the affected area to dilute the salt.

Many animals like to visit gardens, mostly in late winter, to feed on the plants. Best prevention is to plant plants that are not on their menu list, like poisons or prickly plants. Another is to build a solid fence.

Overall, most winter damage can be prevented by careful planning and a little bit of maintenance. Well-planned landscaping will minimize your amount of winter preparation.

Viktorie Hladik
Horticulturist
Landscape Designer

..... house plants .....

..... conifers .....

..... winter preparation .....

..... garden year-round....

..... starting your landscape job .....

..... shade garden ......