How to prepare your garden for harsh winter weather

Friday, November 28 by Editor

The only thing predictable about the weather in North Texas is that it cannot be predicted. That means it’s important to prepare your garden for the best and worst of winter conditions.

Here’s how you can have bright blooms at Christmas, prepare for daffodils at Easter and maintain a healthy landscape year-round.

Planting

If you want to fill your garden with flashes of color during the winter, choose cool-season annuals such as pansies, snapdragons, dianthus, dusty miller and ornamental kale. Before you plant, remove those dead and tired fall annuals to prepare the ground or container for its new inhabitants. Try to choose a warmer day to plant these new annuals if you can.

Remember to fertilize new plantings weekly, and mulch to help retain moisture and insulate roots against cold temperatures. Have that frost cloth ready if the weather forecaster predicts temperatures below 32 degrees. Don’t have a frost cloth? Get one now before local retailers run out.

Planning for Spring

Planting spring-blooming bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, allium, leucojum and muscari now until mid-January yields delightful blooms of color come spring. Keep in mind this basic rule: Plant your spring-blooming bulbs at a depth of three times the bulb’s circumference.

Maintaining

Now is the time to prune your trees and shrubs and remove unwanted or unhealthy growth in order to keep your landscape looking attractive and to cultivate healthy growth. If you want to plant or relocate your trees and shrubs, now is a prime time so they can establish their roots before summer.

Find more winter gardening tips and tricks on The Dallas Arboretum website.