Your New Way to Garden Resolutions

Gardening should be enjoyable, first and foremost. Whether you like to handle some of the gardening yourself, or you ask us to handle your garden’s care, the result - the look of the garden, should be interesting year-round. Many gardens still seem to fall flat come winter. Too many plants cut back, too much mulch, and too little structure and movement in the winter garden, leaves people feeling disassociated from their landscape. Perhaps it’s in the winter when we need the added beauty of the garden the most: to compensate for our rather gray, rainy months in the Ohio River valley. To help you create a garden that will bring you joy year-round, we share these New Way to Garden Resolutions.

1. More plants than mulch. I’m sure that bed of mulch is less than inspiring. No wonder you’re not drawn to your winter garden.
2. In those expanses of mulch, can we add shrubs with interesting winter shapes, berries, or bark?
3. How are the grasses looking? Taller, large, clump forming, vigorous grasses are often too much for our garden spaces. I opt for native grass to enhance the pollinator garden and to offer great winter interest. Smaller native grasses won’t break apart and fly about the neighborhood, they often stay standing through winter, and they soften what can at times, feel like a harsh, winter landscape.
4. Is your winter garden still working, or non-existent? A winter pollinator garden stands through winter and is supporting nature. A garden that is cut back in the fall, robs nature of ideal nesting sites, winter protection, and seeds.
5. Forgo a bit of the lawn. We will never say you must give up all of your lawn. But we invite you to see where gardens can be expanded, or a new garden added to allow more room for pollinator plants.
6. Dial back the use of chemicals. When you can, find alternative ways to combat weeds in the landscape. One easy way, add more plants!
7. Let go a bit. You’ll be amazed at how plants will tell you where they will thrive in the landscape, if you just give them time to move about. Shrubs too, look better when the shears are put aside.
8. If you must trim the shrubs, let’s use hand pruning to ensure a more natural look to the shrubs.
9. Add three new native plants to your landscape. These can be flowering perennials, shrubs, or trees.
10. No more cutting back the garden come fall. This year, instead of putting the garden to bed, let’s leave plants standing, especially our new pollinator-native plants.  

Take a good look at your landscape. What do you love? What do you find interesting? Where could you add plants that improve the winter appeal of your garden and landscape? Not sure where to begin? Call us and we can review your winter landscape with you and create a plan that will improve the natural health and visual appeal of your landscape, year-round.