Snow in a Southern Garden

Here in the Deep South, we don't get snow every year. When we do, it's usually less than an inch. So when we got three inches of snow last night, it was quite a big deal. It started after dark and continued well into the night. I was so excited when I woke up this morning, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning--except instead of presents from Santa, I got snow! I woke up early in anticipation of the winter wonderland that would I find outside my window, and waited anxiously for my husband to wake up so we could go outside and walk in the snow together. I took a few pictures to share with y'all. Enjoy!

Our house covered in snow

Our backyard

Up close, snow looks like miniature sculptures.

No birds using our birdbaths today.

Water droplets freeze on the tips of camellia leaves.
Camellias don't mind occasional snow.

The irises don't seem to mind the snow, either.

Onions are the only thing left growing in my square-foot
garden after all the cold.

I think holly bushes look loveliest with a fresh coat of snow.

Leyland cypress

Evidence of a nighttime visitor.

The Beauty of Winter

People up north laugh at our idea of winter down in the South. Things like ice and snow are rare sights for us. The highs usually are in the 50s and 60s, lows in the 30s, and typical skies are gray, cloudy, maybe a little rainy. Though the weather is mild compared to other parts of the country, I generally dislike January and February. Being from South Florida, I get tired of the cold well before spring arrives. Even if we don't have blizzards, the weather is just icky. We had a freak cold snap last week (the "polar vortex"), with highs in the 20s and 30s, lows in the teens. I was hoping for snow, but no precipitation came. You would think a blizzard came, though...we turned the heat down to save electricity, built lots of fires in the fireplace, cooked soup, and bundled up to make it through the crazy weather. Our old house just isn't built for the cold.

So when skies are gray, temperatures are cold, and not much is blooming, I have to make a little extra effort to find the beauty in my garden. I spent a few minutes in the garden checking on things during the freeze, and I thought the ice in my backyard was beautiful in the sunshine.

It rained a lot the weekend before the freeze, and my
wheelbarrow turned into a solid block of ice.

There's just something about leaves and ice in a
birdbath that's beautiful to me.

When we finally had some nice weather on Sunday, I took a walk around the yard to discover that the half-dead dogwood tree I had been meaning to cut down had fallen on the nearby holly. (We had some storms over the weekend.) Even if I was relieved that Mother Nature had done half of the work for me, it was kind of sad to see the fallen tree covered in buds. I decided to make the best of it and cut armfuls of branches to try to force inside.

Difficult to capture with my cheap digital camera, but the
colors in a dogwood bud are stunning up close.

"Forcing" means taking branches from trees and shrubs that typically bloom in spring or summer and getting them to bloom in vases inside, before they'd normally be blooming outside. Branches that can be forced include cherry, crab apple, flowering almond, dogwood, quince, forsythia, and redbud. It takes a little effort and some patience to coax the branches from bud into flower, but it's simple enough for anyone to do. You simply put the branches in a tall vase or bucket with plenty of water in a cool, dark room. The water should be changed daily, and the branches should also be sprayed or misted with water at least daily. Some people suggest bruising the cut end with a hammer to help the branch absorb more water. Once the buds open up, the branches can be moved to a warmer, sunnier room.

Aren't dogwood branches laden with buds
just lovely?

I have mine in a vase in the living room because I think the branches are beautiful all by themselves, even without flowers. Also, if I stick them in a closet, I'm afraid I'll forget to change the water. According to what I've read, it takes dogwood branches a whole five weeks to bloom! If you don't have much patience, try forsythia--it only takes 1-2 weeks to bloom.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll have photos to share from some of my winter-blooming plants that aren't yet in flower. In the meantime, bundle up and stay warm!

Vegetable Garden: December Update

I should be thinking about Christmas cards and Christmas presents, but all I really want to do this week is spend time in my garden. I decided earlier this fall that I wanted to try a cool-weather vegetable garden this year. I stocked up on seeds, read all I could, and got to work in September. August just seemed too hot to be planting cold-weather vegetables.

In September I planted salad greens, broccoli, and carrots from seed, and cauliflower from seedlings I bought at the hardware store. In October I planted radishes and spinach from seed, and red onions from sets (little baby onion bulbs).

Some of the salad greens in the first planting got washed away and/or dug up by the squirrels, so I planted more seeds a few weeks later. The first planting has produced some tasty, tender baby greens, but the second planting still just looks like little tiny seedlings. It turns out early September was the perfect time to be planting lettuce.

Mixed salad greens in my garden

The broccoli seeds I planted in the garden didn't sprout at all. I read that broccoli grows much better when it's started as seedlings and then moved into the garden, so I made a later, half-hearted attempt to grow broccoli seedlings inside in vermiculite. They sprouted, but after a month of sitting on my windowsill, they still weren't very big. I got impatient and tried moving them into the garden, but they were fragile and snapped. Next year I'll try planting broccoli seeds inside in late summer, when the house is warmer, and use a different medium, and maybe I'll have some transplants ready to go in the garden by September.

The first planting of carrots died from lack of water when I was sick one warm, dry week in fall. I planted more in October, and they've stayed about an inch tall for the last month.

The cauliflower has been an epic failure, but I've learned a lot. First I fought off the cabbage worms, then I thought I had deer eating my plants. It turns out it wasn't deer--my last remaining cauliflower plant got eaten in spite of having a cage over it. Based on my research, it's probably cute little bunny rabbits that slipped in through the 4-inch gap under my cage, but I have yet to actually see rabbits in my yard. So it's still sort of a mystery. But next year I'll build a better cage.

The radishes look healthy, but also haven't gotten very big in this cold weather. I should have planted in September. They're surviving the cold, but if I get any radishes to eat, it won't be until February at this rate.

Spinach seedlings in my garden

I accidentally planted onions on top of my spinach seeds because I forgot where I planted them. I planted some more spinach seeds in early November, and they continue to grow slowly but surely, despite the squirrels digging them up every other day with their incessant digging for acorns. I think if I had planted in late September, I would have had a nice crop by now. As it is, I might get some spinach in February.

The red onions look beautiful. They're sturdy enough that the squirrels don't bother them. I actually did a second planting in early November, and they're smaller, but just as happy as the October planting. It takes about 14 weeks on average for onion sets to mature, and it will probably take a little longer as a winter crop. I expect to enjoy nice, fat onions in late winter to early spring.

My red onions don't mind a little cold.

Despite the setbacks, so far my cold-weather garden has been totally worth it. I won't get a huge harvest this year, but I know exactly what I need to do differently next year: plant earlier, water (almost) daily when the weather's warm, keep the insecticidal soap on hand, and build some really sturdy cages to keep out the cute, fluffy rodents. See? It's simple. :)

Christmas Gifts for Gardeners

I've always struggled with shopping for gifts. I just don't spend that much time shopping in general--for me or anyone else--so I don't know what's out there. Plus, if you're shopping for that favorite family member with entirely different interests from you, it's hard to predict what they'll love and what they'll hate. So, if you have a friend or family member who loves gardening, I'm here to help! That's the one thing I do know how to shop for. In no particular order, here are some Christmas gifts to please a range of gardeners in your life:

1. Amaryllis. This bulb makes a great gift for your favorite hostess or grandmother. You can buy them in a variety of lovely containers and in colors ranging from white to red. They're easy to grow indoors, and if you get one that's barely sprouting at Christmas, it will be in full bloom in January when gardeners like me get depressed at the lack of greenery. If they live in the South, the bulbs may be planted in the garden after they've finished blooming indoors. Jackson and Perkins is a great resource for amaryllis gift sets. You can also check your local florist or garden center for these.

Single Stardust Amaryllis from jacksonandperkins.com

2. Gift card for seeds. For your favorite vegetable gardener, get them a gift card to a seed company like Seeds for Change or Burpee. They'll have great fun pouring over the seed catalog trying to decide how to spend their gift card in preparation for spring. Seed companies carry so many varieties that you won't see at Home Depot or Lowe's. ("Do I want red peppers or purple peppers?") Your friend or family member will be thinking about your thoughtful gift when the seeds sprout in the spring and when they're harvesting the produce in the summer.

3. The finest watering can money can buy. My mother had a beautiful blue watering can that started rusting and peeling with time. After some research, I replaced it with a Haws watering can. Haws has put a lot of thought and care into creating watering cans that do the best possible job of getting water to your plants without disturbing the soil or foliage. They offer several styles based on your needs and a range of colors based on your tastes. There are several companies that sell Haws watering cans, so feel free to shop around for the best deal.

Haws watering can from williams-sonoma.com

4. Tools. If you use your garden tools with any frequency, they usually need to be replaced after a few years. Metal tools get dull and rusty from use, and plastic tools get brittle and snap from being in the outdoors. Chances are, your gardener friend could use some replacements for their most frequently used tools. You can pick up cheap plastic trowels and cultivators at the hardware store that make great stocking stuffers, or splurge on fancy wood-and-metal tools with a "lifetime guarantee". If you want to get them a pair of hand pruners that will be their best friend, you can get them a Felco 2. Or, you can get them a useful tool that they might not already have, like a pair of snips for cutting flowers and vegetables or a dibble for planting bulbs.

Garden tools, from left to right: hand cultivator, hand
trowel, hand pruners, snips, transplanting trowel.
Image from from doityourself.com.

5. Plant markers. Earlier this year I had a mix-up where I planted onions on top of spinach because I forgot where I planted my spinach! Even if you're not working with seeds, plant markers are a fun way to label your herb plants or keep track of the names of your roses. Plant markers range from the boring to the artistic. For the serious gardener, I'd suggest metal plant markers that you can write the names on and will last forever. Make sure you get ones that are rust-proof, or they won't last for more than a few months. If you're looking for something more whimsical, you might check out these colorful herb markers I saw on Etsy.

Plant markers by fromArtisanHands on Etsy.com

Have a lovely Christmas season!

Deer Are Cute...Until They're Not

This was the sight that greeted me when I checked on my vegetable garden this morning. That plant with one leaf at the bottom of the picture is a cauliflower plant. Those empty blocks behind it used to contain cauliflower plants. Beautiful, lush cauliflower plants that I had babied and coddled for the last month. Apparently I didn't coddle them enough.

This is what my cauliflower looked like
last week. Now they're gone.

I can only assume that the deer took my cauliflower from me in the cover of night. What else would eat a whole plant, thick stem and all, right down to the ground? I used to love watching the deer. From my living room, I could see them grazing on the weeds in our back lawn when I worked at home. I felt like Snow White living among the cute, fuzzy animals. Other than losing one bean plant in the spring, they hadn't touched the vegetable garden in months. Now, I have one cauliflower plant left. It's really kind of heartbreaking. If I'm lucky, I might get one crown of cauliflower for all my work. Clearly, Snow White never had a vegetable garden.

You better believe I'm caging my garden now. I built the cage in the spring originally to keep the deer out and to keep the squirrels from digging among my seedlings and disturbing them. When the plants grew too large for the cage, I left it off, and the deer really left my garden alone. When the freeze came last week, I put up a PVC frame with plastic sheeting to protect the cauliflower from frost, and when the plastic came off, I left the frame up for ease of covering when the next freeze hits this weekend. Apparently, I need to remove the frame and replace it with the cage in between freezes. That last cauliflower plant will stay covered at all times.

For now, my last cauliflower plant lives safely under a cage.

The moral of the story: if you have deer in your neighborhood, don't ever let your guard down, especially in the winter time when their natural food supply is more scarce. My cage works fine for my little garden, but I'm not sure what people with larger gardens do. I never had these issues growing up in suburban south Florida. Do you have any suggestions?

What to Do When Your Garden Freezes

The weather has been crazy this month. The temperature this afternoon was 84 degrees. Just last week, we reached a record low for November 14 in Macon: 21 degrees.

Fortunately, I was prepared for the freeze. My husband and I bought more sturdy supplies to cover the vegetable garden. (Our last cover involved bamboo stakes and duct tape.) We created a frame using two 10-foot, 1/2"-diameter PVC pipes and covered it with a 6 mm-thick plastic drop cloth. It didn't keep the summer vegetables (or zinnias) from meeting their inevitable demise, but the fall vegetables were quite happy with the arrangement.

My vegetable garden with PVC framing
for cold protection the day after the first
freeze

The freeze killed all the peppers.

The fall vegetables are loving the cooler temperatures.
Clockwise from top left: onions, lettuce, radish, and
cauliflower

 As for the rest of my garden, the ornamentals had a mixed response. Growing up in south Florida, temperatures just don't ever get to 21 degrees, so I still look at freezing temperatures like a fun science experiment. Like any good science experiment, I carefully documented the results. My hydrangeas looked dead the next day. Fortunately, I know they're cold hardy, so I expect they'll look fine come spring. My hostas also took the cue to start winding down for the winter. My roses didn't notice the difference. Both the rose blooms and leaves looked exactly the same as they had the day before. The pansies, too, were unfazed by the cold.

The hydrangea leaves wilted and blackened from the
freeze. The roses and pansies were unaffected.

With some plants still thriving and others dying back for the winter, you may wonder what you should be doing right now in your garden. The combination of sudden cold snaps and surprisingly warm weather confuses plants and people alike. Here are a few tips for caring for your plants in November:

1. Resist the urge to prune shrubs. You might want to jump in and trim back your pathetic-looking hydrangeas (or other shrubs), but the best thing you can do is leave them alone. Pruning signals to plants that they should branch out, and especially in the warmer weather they are likely to put out a bunch of new growth. Even if a plant is cold-hardy, all that tender new growth will be easily damaged when the next freeze hits. Wait until late in winter, when the plants are good and dormant, to do most of your pruning.

2. Resist the urge to fertilize...almost everything. Just like with pruning, fertilizing encourages tender new growth, which can be damaged by a freeze. Your plants need to be sleeping, not growing. Here in zone 8, we have some exceptions. All of your winter annuals, such as pansies, snapdragons, and ornamental kale, should be kept on a regular feeding schedule to maximize their blooms. They will continue growing quite happily through the winter. Your cold weather vegetables, too, can be fertilized as needed.

3. Plant or transplant shrubs. This is a good time to plant roses, blueberries, azaleas, and other shrubs. The cooler weather gives the roots plenty of time to get established before the summer heat hits. (Even when plants are bare and dormant, their roots are still growing.) This is also a good time to move plants to a new location. One of my hydrangeas looked unhappy every afternoon this summer, so I'll probably dig it up and move it to a shadier location in the next couple of weeks.

4. Keep watering. Just because plants are dormant doesn't mean they don't need water. The harsh wind, especially, can dry plants out fast. They don't need to be watered as often as they do in the summer, but if we go through a dry spell, throw a little water on your sleeping shrubs. If you just planted shrubs, they need  frequent water. If your pansies look wilted after a freeze, throw some water on them and they'll perk right up.

5. Rake leaves. As I mentioned in my post on fungus, fallen leaves make the perfect place for plant diseases to hibernate until they return in the winter. For the health of your plants, you should rake up the leaves and either compost them or haul them to the curb.

Happy gardening!

One Year in My Garden

Fall came early this year. My oakleaf hydrangeas and dogwoods developed some lovely fall hues that weren't there when I took pictures and started my blog around this time last year. We also got an early frost a couple of weeks ago. It snuck up on me, so my husband and I found ourselves at Walmart at eleven o'clock on a Friday night buying drop cloths and duct tape to rig together some quick protection for my vegetables. It actually turned out pretty well, considering my husband put it together at midnight while I held the flashlight for him, shivering in the cold. Here's a picture I snapped the next morning:

We assembled protection from the cold for
my tender vegetable plants from bamboo
stakes, drop cloths, and duct tape.

I have been enjoying this beautiful weather, tackling lots of little projects around my garden. I planted a tiny rose plant I bought from a farmers market for $3, some leftover pansies a friend gave me, red onion sets I picked up on an impulse at Home Depot, and some parsley seeds I'd been wanting to try. I think I accidentally planted onions on top of the spinach because there's something sprouting up all around the onions, and not in the square next to it where I thought I had planted spinach. (Note to self: always label my squares when I plant seeds instead of depending on my faulty memory.) I moved some dying irises to another bed where I thought they would be happier, and replanted broccoli seeds indoors after they failed to sprout outdoors last month.

I planted irises, pansies, and a rose over the weekend.

It's hard to believe I've been working in my little garden (and blogging about it) for over a year. For how little time and money I've actually spent on it, I'm pretty proud of the progress. A year ago, some of my plants were just 4" cuttings given to me by a friend, and they've grown into small shrubs. The bareroot roses I won in a contest looked like sticks when they arrived, but they really filled out and bloomed well this year. I added new flower beds and vegetable beds in areas that were just lawn a year ago. It's not the kind of transformation you see on HGTV, but I haven't spent thousands of dollars on plants and labor, either. None of the plants are looking their best this time of year, but I wanted to take pictures anyway, to track the change from when I started. 

My yard, October 2012

My yard, October 2013

Here's a summary of what I've done to my garden in the past year:

• Removed all of the Indian hawthorn shrubs from the front of the house, and half from the back of the house
• Planted a cottage-garden-style border on the east side of the front door, and half of the border on the west side
• Added a small flower bed next to the sidewalk
• Cleared out some of the ivy next to the patio and planted a shade border
• Added a vegetable garden in a raised bed

There's an adage about new gardens that says plants sleep the first year after they're planted, creep the second year, and leap the third year. They put a lot of energy the first year into just getting established and growing their root system. I think that was somewhat true for my garden. I did enjoy some lovely blooms, but my plants seemed to spend most of their energy just filling out and growing new leaves. I can't wait to see how my garden blooms this next spring.

In the next year, my attention will shift to updating the beds behind the house and creating new beds in the back of the yard, which is mostly lawn and weeds right now. Here are a few spots I hope to improve:

I have made some improvements to the bed
next to my patio, but it still has a long way
to go.

The very back of our yard is a large stretch of weedy
lawn and untapped potential.

Gardening requires a lot of patience. Some people put their creative energy into developing an artistic talent, others into remodeling or decorating their home. For me, my masterpiece will be my garden, and in a few years, all the sweat and waiting will be worth it.