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Landscape Design & Maintenance

One of the problems with winter garden maintenance is that many best practices are often dependent on location, weather conditions and plant species. While this makes it difficult to provide hard and fast rules for everyone, there are a few wintertime maintenance dos and don’ts that hold true regardless of where you live.  To help the newer gardeners this winter, we’ve put together a short list of some important winter do's and don'ts.

Creating winter planters can seem like a daunting task to those of us who are not design gifted by nature. Luckily, there are some basic principles that can help the most non-creative of us put together a spectacular outdoor display that ushers in the holidays and with just a few minor adjustments now and then can bring cheer to the long winter months.

It started raining yesterday afternoon and hasn’t really left off at all. On one hand, it’s no fun to have to venture out in this cold autumn drizzle, but on the other, we desperately need the rain. As of the latest National Weather Service figures, over 80% of our state is currently experiencing some level of drought conditions. Our area is behind at least 8 inches just since June. I know we are not alone. Across the country, people are experiencing incomprehensibly dry weather.

When we left ten days ago, our lawn looked like this:

When we came back, this was what our lawn looked like:  

and this was the neighbor’s:

 After six years I still can’t convince him that there are much better ways to get rid of fall leaves than sending them to the dump in black plastic bags. 

We've been having a lot of tree conversations lately. My daughter is determined to get several planted this fall, and I would love to add something else to my grove of serviceberry in the front.  What we are learning is that autumn is an excellent time to plant many, but not all, trees and shrubs. Knowing which species to plant, when to plant them and how to take care of them can help ensure fall landscaping success.

My daughter moved into a brand new house earlier this summer.  Like so many new builds, the landscaping allowance included one sad, lonely tree stuck on the corner and three bushes –  her choice from an unimaginative standard list.  Bit by bit she’s been adding to the yard, but now it’s time to do some serious tree planting. Before that first shovel breaks the ground though, she has lots to consider.  

I took an objective look at my front yard this week and determined it was sadly lacking in fall color. My four yellow mums in pots flanking the doorway just didn’t bring me quite enough joy. (Yes, I admit it  – I have been doing a Marie Kondo purge) What I really want are huge bursts of riotous color and texture before a long Midwestern winter with its ice, snow and freezing temperatures sets in. 

Fall has officially arrived. Around here, that means getting my garden ready for a long winter’s nap. Of course there are all of the typical fall chores  –  removing dying annuals, planting spring bulbs, cleaning out iris and daylily beds, draining hoses, putting tools away  – but this year there’s going to be a new task on the fall list. From now on, I’m going to be adding mulching to my fall chores.