Wintering over your garden

Let's take a minute to think about what our garden looks like in the "off-season". While winter dead plants may not be the most aesthetically pleasing aspect of keeping a garden, they still serve a purpose for the local eco-system. Seed heads provide food for birds and small mammals. Stems are homes to insects. Brush piles provide shelter for snakes, frogs, and other amphibians. Go ahead and burn your dead non-natives, like tomato and pepper plants, to prevent a rise in garden pests like vine borers.

If looks are your main focus, be mindful about planting a seasonal cycle of plants that will delight all year round. Evergreen plants can provide a beautiful interruption to the bare browns of dormant plants, and keeping native varieties in your yard helps with a more consistent food-source than refilling bird feeders on a reliable schedule. Early risers that come out even before the last frost are a delightful reminder of things to come. Take a look at what plants are native to your area to do the most good over the winter months. In this area, Zone 7, we have native evergreens like the loblolly pine, the Virginia White Pine, and the magnolia tree that keep their foliage year round, and whose cones, needles, leaves, and seeds provide food and shelter to the local fauna. Be aware that some of the favorite early risers are not native plants, including Daffodils (Europe), Crocus (Asia), and Tulips (Asia and Europe). These plants bring early color to the landscape, but provide little in the way of eco support to the region. Keep in mind the difference between non-natives and invasives, and try to keep your non-natives to a minimum. I personally like to have at least 80/20 in my yard, and when I plant a non-native I'll try to plant another native to help balance it out.

Check out this graph produced by Plant NOVA Natives that shows normal bloom time for some local favorites:

So to recap:

Leave the old plants for the fauna. If you want year- round color, look into evergreens and shrubs that keep winter berries. Look to plant native late bloomers and early bloomers to extend the lifespan of the color in your garden.