Look to regional home and garden shows for spring (or even winter) inspiration
The dark days of January will be coming to an end as day get longer and the garden begins to wake up. You may see crocus and dwarf daffodils pushing up out of the ground, and buds swelling on early flowering trees and shrubs.
The last full week of January is the traditional time for home and garden shows to pop up for spring inspiration. If you’ve ever wondered what to plant in a winter-theme garden or just want more color in your garden during the month of January, then visiting a home and garden show with display gardens is the answer to your winter garden dreams.
Q. What shrubs do you recommend for winter color? I do have forsythia with yellow blooms but want some other shrubs to place with the forsythia to create a garden corner with color in winter. — T.H., Tacoma
A. There is more to winter color than just forsythia. My favorite rhododendron for early winter color is the PJM rhododendron with dark foliage and violet colored blooms on a compact shrub. There are also witch hazel or Hamamelis virginiana varieties that will flower in the middle of winter as well as early blooming camellias.
The easy way to see, smell and even purchase the best of the winter flowering shrubs is to visit the first garden shows of the year as the display gardens will be created using the most colorful trees and shrubs currently in bloom. Local nurseries are also getting in fresh shipments of early blooming shrubs this time of year.
Q. Global warming must be here as I am seeing changes in my Olympia garden. Some of my plants did not survive the hot, dry summer. I cannot be at the Tacoma Home & Garden Show to hear your talk about what we should do about our changing gardens so can you just give me some quick highlights? — C.D., Olympia
A. The easy answer to warmer weather and drier summers is to add mulch this spring. A mulch is like a frosting or covering on top of the soil that will seal in moisture and cool the temperature. The most common mulch in Western Washington is bark chips, sometimes called Beauty Bark.
You can purchase this mulch in bags at a home center store or have a truckload delivered to your home. Often neighbors will share a mountain of bark chips. A layer 2-3 inches deep is most effective at saving water and also smothering weeds but make sure you do not pile the mulch up next to the stems or trunks of plants.
Other tips are to water deeply but less often to encourage plant roots to go deep in search of moisture rather than stay close to the surface. How much to water depends on many factors, but 1 inch of water once a week is the standard to start with in our climate.
Q. What is the name of the pink heather that flowers this time of year? Email
A. The earliest-to-bloom heathers in our area are the varieties Erica carnea with common names such as December Red and Vivellii, and the white blooming heathers called Ghost Hills. There really are so many great heather varieties that do well in our area that I recommend whatever you see for sale at your local nursery that is flowering this month. Paired with forsythia, witch hazel and the early flowering rhododendrons, you’ll have plenty of color in your winter garden.
As landscaping experts say, “Despite the weather, there is always heather.”
Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of several books. Reach her at binettigarden.com.
See Marianne at the Home & Garden Show
Marianne Binetti will speak at the Tacoma Home & Garden Show Jan 28-30 at the Tacoma Dome. At noon Friday, Jan 28, and noon Sunday, Jan. 30, she’ll speak on “Our Changing Garden.” At 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan 29, Marianne’s topic will be “Heavenly H Plants: Growing Hydrangeas, Hellebores, Heucheras and More.”
