dormant Archives | Diana's Designs Austin

Plants that shine in the winter garden…

After a few days and nights at 21 degrees, my Central Texas garden took a serious hit last month. But, we were due. Last year it didn’t freeze at all in my garden, so you can imagine how huge some of our perennials were by the end of 8 seasons of growth!

Our typical winter includes a few freezes, but the temperature dips to around freezing for a few hours and then climbs right back up during the day. Not so this year.

I’m leaving the last of the fall leaves in the beds to help protect the plants and provide habitat for bees, so you are going to see the good, the bad and the very ugly. It’s an all-exposed tour. Viewer discretion is advised — you may need to avert your eyes in some parts!

While the ferns and the bletilla striata are dormant, he dry creek pathway is lined with hellebores, a few sedges, a few cephalotaxus prostrata. Mostly out of view on the left are two leatherleaf mahonias.

The brilliant yellow berries on the mahonias add great color to the garden on gray winter days.

In drought years, the foliage of the hellebores disappears in the summer garden, and reappears in fall and through the spring. I have a collection of different varieties. Below is a winter photo of my favorite – ‘Phoebe,’ from several years ago when we had snow.

Isn’t that a gorgeous bloom?

Where the path diverges, a few more sedges and a standard Japanese aralia and a variegated Japanese aralia add a pop of green. The squid agave in the Artemis statue head was unfazed by the cold. Farther back, a small clump of cast iron plant draws the eye.

I’ve had this aralia for a long time. It’s been through drought and covered in ice in bad winters, but nothing seems to slow it down.

This fall I planted another aralia variety – a variegated one. I was a little concerned that it might be more tender than the other, but it has held up beautifully.

In the front bed, the one we jokingly call the hideous bed, natives and other well-adapted plants are hanging on. Catmint, skullcap, Mexican feather grass, a whale’s tongue agave, salvias, Mexican sabal palms and a Spanish dagger yucca are all going strong.

Across the driveway, more xeric plants are showing off, like the Jerusalem sage, a Texas sotol, a sago palm, and some salvia Greggii.

You’ll find Jerusalem sage in many parts of my garden. It’s unusual color makes an intriguing contrast — and its fuzzy leaves make it completely deer-resistant.

Another variegated fatsia Japonica is keeping a squid agave and a mountain Laurel company. Sadly, the dianella in the background looks like it’s toast. I’m hopping it was established enough to come back from the roots quickly, once spring arrives.

A bright edge yucca, several more hellebores and a few almost hidden heucherellas are peaking out of the carpet of leaves.

Bright edge definitely earns its name!

I added a few new compact shrubs to the front beds last year. These ‘Flirt’ nandinas make a beautiful middle-layer, evergreen addition and their added burgundy tips coordinate well with the larger loropetalum.

One of my favorite plants for winter/spring interest is Japanese quince. It’s sculptural and almost-bare branches are sporting a flush of gorgeous, salmony-pink blooms.

The butterflies are so thankful that at least something is blooming out there!

And no matter what the plants are doing in the garden, we can always count on at least a few cardinals on our many feeders in the wooded area.

While these aren’t the prettiest pictures of my garden, they allow me to see the true bones of the landscape, and evaluate the beds to determine what projects I’ll want to undertake in the spring.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:26:54-06:00January 24th, 2017|aralia, birds, Blog, bones, bright edge yucca, evergreen color, freeze, Hellebore, Japanese aralia, japanese quince, leatherleaf mahonia, Nandina, Sharing Nature's Garden|5 Comments

February Tip: Spring cleaning in the garden

IMG_2761-1 Unlike warmer winters, when many of the perennials in our gardens survived and even bloomed through the season, this year has been a cruel test of our gardens.

After repeated record cold spells, our gardens have suffered significantly more than recent years. The severe freeze damage we’re seeing has even the most seasoned gardeners wondering what will live and what will die when it’s all said and done. Is it dormant or is it gone for good?

We officially have only a few more weeks to worry about the danger of frost. But the excessive cold this winter could turn traditional garden wisdom on its ear. According to the USDA Hardiness Zone map for the Austin area, our average last frost occurs between March 1 and March 31. It’s typically the middle of March. But with this atypical winter, I’m trying to adjust my early spring expectations and prune a little more conservatively than I normally would on non-woody perennials.

But we can start pruning back our dormant woody perennials now—those tough native and adapted plants that now look like dead sticks in your garden.

Read the full article here.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:11-06:00February 28th, 2014|Tips|Comments Off

Proper Pruning: Dead or Dormant?

Unlike last year, when many of the perennials in our gardens lived and even bloomed through the entire winter, this year the pendulum has swung the other way.

After repeated record cold temperatures, we’ve all been reduced to watching our gardens turn to mush, sticks and crackling paper. The colors du jour are brown and black and rotten. The kind of severe freeze damage we’ve had this winter has left even the most seasoned gardeners wondering what will live and what will die? Is it dormant or is it dead?

We’re on the home stretch now – we only have a few more weeks with a danger of frost left. According to the USDA Hardiness Zone map for the Austin area, our average last frost occurs between March 1 and March 31. It’s typically the middle of March. (But don’t forget, it hasn’t been a typical winter.)

So, it’s time to think about pruning back our dormant plants – to clean up the dead limbs and to stimulate new spring growth.

Perennials

First, assess the damage on your dormant perennials – plants like Lantana, Esperanza, or Salvias. If you scrape along the stem of most woody perennials you will be able to tell whether it is alive or not. Scratch and look for any signs of green, particularly near the base of the plant. Normal pruning of most of our perennials will suffice if the plant is just dormant and not dead. Many of our woody plants can be pruned entirely to the ground. Just make clean sharp cuts leaving about 6” of stem above the ground. If you want to leave some size and shape on the plant, just prune back to healthy tissue at the size you like.

Now that everything is looking clean and starting to bud out, don’t be tempted to fertilize newly-pruned shrubs. They need to use all of their energy to begin new growth and fertilizing now will over-stress them. Wait until later in the spring – at least a month — when they are established again.

Succulents

But what do we do with succulents and agaves? Many of our aloes, agaves and their cousins just bit the dust in this freeze.

Ironic, isn’t it?

Many Central Texas gardeners bought these plants to expand the drought tolerance palette of their gardens in last summer’s scorching heat. Then this vicious and unusually-cold winter reduced many of them to pulp!

Freeze-damaged succulents are usually a lighter color, almost white, soon after the freeze. Later, the damaged part of the plant will wilt, and then turn black with rot. In some succulents, the affected part just eventually fall off.

On your Agaves, even with rotten or dead leaves, if the center bud is green and firm, the plant will likely to grow out and recover. However, the parts that are damaged or dead never will recover, and here is the tricky part. For these types of plants, it is important to cut out only the dead parts, whether that is a whole leaf or only a part of one. It is a risk to prune living leaves on these kinds of plants because it invites infection, and when the plants are stressed out anyway, they are more susceptible to disease. Be careful also to look for little pups – new plants – growing under the dead plant when you remove dead leaves.

Palm trees

The same applies to palm trees: If the bud is fine, the plant will probably live. Cut off dead or highly damaged leaves once it is warmer. Palms grow in the warm spring and through the summer, and may look much better by the end of the summer. Just give them time.

Cycads – Sago Palms

Many Austin gardeners enjoy the drama of large Sago palms in their landscapes. Not actually palms at all, Sagos are actually cycads. Temperatures in the high teens like we had this year can frost-damage leaves which may turn yellow or brown. These should be removed to reduce stress on the plant and encourage new growth. If the trunk and leaf crown are hard wood, it should recover. If the trunk turns soft, your sago may be damaged beyond recovery. Because they do produce new pups from the trunk, it might be worth cutting off all the leaves and just leaving it in hopes a pup will sprout later in the spring.

Cacti

Cacti are very sensitive to pruning timing. While they may look really bad with their dying pads and stems, it is important to wait until it is really warm to prune them. Then dust the big cuts with sulfur to help dry out the cuts. Jointed cacti regenerate really well, but the columnar ones should to be cut back to the base or you will just end up with a permanent stump. If the plant is oozing, you can give it a quiet burial.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:33-06:00March 10th, 2010|Articles|0 Comments

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