Aberdeen Florist & Garden Center

Gardening Tips for January

The tree is down, the lights are stored away, and the home place just looks drab and bare. What a great time to think about late winter interest in the landscape. Too often, homeowners select shrubs and trees in spring and summer when most are coming into their glory. This is fine, as far as it goes, but often times, no care is paid to winter appearance.

Red twig dogwood offers a bright red bark when the leaves have fallen, and provides a sharp contrast to winter’s typical evergreens and dull browns of other deciduous plants. In spring, it offers clusters of white flowers, in summer, the foliage is variegated, and in fall, bright red berries appear.

The bark of Japanese stewartia exfoliates to reveal patches of green, gray, rusty-brown, pink, cream and tan patches., Also know as pseudo camellia, this deciduous shrub offers mid – late summer flowers resembling camellia flowers. As an extra bonus, the fall foliage color is spectacular. It also qualifies as a “drought tolerant” shrub.

From the crape myrtles, consider ‘Fantasy’ and ‘Townhouse’. Both have white flowers in summer, but are treasured for their orange and red bark in winter. Both are cultivars of Lagerstroemia fauriei, and can be seen at the J. C. Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh.

For late winter flowers, consider camellia japonica (discussed here in length in the December issue); and Daphne ‘odora’, a slow growing low evergreen with heavenly scented clusters of pinkish flowers in January.

Be sure to place these near your entry walk, or at least in clear view from your windows.

These are only a few suggestions for winter interest, but there are others. Consider a day trip to the Horticultural Gardens at Sandhills Community College, or J. C. Raulston Arboretum (part of the NCSU campus) for more ideas.

Seed and plant catalogs seem to pile up this time of year, and it’s a great time to ponder and learn. Make diagrams of new flowerbeds, and consider new varieties that you may want to include in your spring planting. Visit local garden centers, and ask “what’s new?” They will have lots of great ideas, and lots of time to work with you on your plans before the spring rush. The literature may be full of gorgeous, tempting photos; but before making a decision, check to see that they are suitable for our area, sand and sun frost in the Sandhills are a lot different from Michigan and Alabama, and care must be taken to choose varieties that will thrive here. Recently, a popular magazine espoused the use of a plant, which upon further research, is found to be invasive in North Carolina. Successful gardening is not that hard if you do your homework.

Choose a sunny afternoon, and clean out the tool shed. Replace broken or cracked handles on tools, and clean and oil those that tend to rust in storage. Sharpen pruning equipment, and be ready, as we will discuss pruning in the February issue.

Avoid pruning in January, with the exception of limbs that may cause damage in the event of an ice storm.

GET READY!! Spring will be here before you know it!

Check out our new Product Guide for Fall/Winter !

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