Early planning will make for a vibrant, colorful spring

By Bev Johnson | The Daily Journal

Published Saturday, November 3, 2007

If you are a rose lover, you probably have several rose bushes that will need protection this winter.

If you planted tea roses, consider them annuals as seldom will they live through our severe winters, no matter how well you protect them.

Even winter-hardy roses need protection. First spray the bushes with fungicide and let them dry. Then simply shovel an 8 to 10 inch mound of soil on the base of the plant.

Surround the plant with a cylinder of chicken wire about 3 feet tall and fill it with leaves.

In the spring, remove the covering slowly as it thaws, usually in mid April. When the soil thaws, remove it and water your plant well.

If you have a shady place that needs some pizazz, look for these plants next spring. Barrenwort is a perennial that grows 6 to 12 inches tall.

It is semi-evergreen, spreading and has various colors of flowers in early spring.

Hardy to zone 4 so protect it in the winter. Bloodroot is a native flower. It has a very interesting leaf and small white flowers in early spring.

This is an ephemeral, that is, it will disappear shortly after blooming. Mix it with Virginia bluebells also an ephermeral for an early spring show.

Trillium is another native that will bloom with this mix and disappear. Christmas fern is a perennial evergreen that grows about 2 feet wide and tall.

All of these plants will grow well in dry shade.

If you have moist shade, of course, there are the hostas in many shades of green, white and yellow. They will do well in full shade but a half day of sun will make them spectacular, especially those with yellow or white in their leaves.

Astilbe is another interesting plant for shade. It comes in pink, red or white flowers and from 6 inches to 4 feet tall.

Annual Elephant ears, a plant that can get 5 feet tall with huge leaves, give a tropical look to your shade garden.

When you are looking through the seed catalogs that will fill mailboxes about the same time the tax forms show up, be very wary of any plant described as “fast growing,” “vigorous,” or “wide spreading.”

These are most apt to be invasive. You will be digging them up for the rest of your gardening life.

If you are computer literate, go to invasive.org for state by state listings and pictures of invasive plants and noxious weeds that you need to avoid planting.

Even local nurseries can inadvertently sell you invasive plants. Tamerisk for instance, is still sold even though it is extremely invasive. So much so, that if it is found on your land in South Dakota, you will be fined. It will dry up a wetland with its long hungry roots.

Do your homework and save yourself a lot of grief and work down the road.

Bev Johnson is a master gardener for West Otter Tail County.