It’s a good thing the flowering shrubs know it’s spring. Mother Nature on the other hand, has forgotten that the weather is supposed to warm up. The sunny yellow blooms of my neighbour’s forsythia are a beautiful sight from my bedroom window…
and my own magnolia is also screaming “spring is here!” with its fragrant blooms…
with the blossoms of plum trees not far behind…
My roses (at least the ones in my front yard that are protected from the north winds) are also showing signs of spring…
climbing rose
Now, if the cold and wet weather would clear up, spring would be awesome!
This time of year blooms are pretty scarce in my gardens. As I prepare my clients’ garden beds for the fast-approaching winter, I take note (mentally) of which perennials are best for maintenance-free gardens. That feature is in great demand for busy gardeners.
Heucheras are one of these. They look great all year, even after the first few touches of frost turn other perennial stalks and leaves to mush. They are absolutely perfect for maintenance-free gardens in the fall and require next to nothing in the spring. Remove any crispy leaves and they are good to go. I particularly love the dark burgundy colored varieties, but there are many others, including rusty orange and chartreuse. More and more I am using them as edging plants in my gardens…
heucheras
Other (almost) maintenance-free perennials include the ornamental grasses that are so popular today. One of the reasons they are so popular is the fact that cutting them back to the ground first thing in the spring before new growth appears is the only maintenance required. Another reason for their popularity is the growing number of gorgeous varieties available. Remember though to check tags for their hardiness before purchasing. Here are just a few…
blue oat grass
Although sedges look like they belong in the ornamental grass family, they don’t. They are grass-like in appearance and grow in tufts, especially well in wet marshy areas. Unlike the ornamental grasses, they don’t do well in the hot dry conditions of full sunspots in your garden. They do however look great in shadier spots and tolerate part sun conditions. Remaining green all year, they are maintenance-free. Another bonus is that they are very easy (unlike ornamental grasses) to divide and move around. So easy in fact that I have even used them in winter containers with evergreen boughs.
sedge
Although roses are not completely maintenance-free, the newest varieties are pretty close. Some don’t need any pruning (shrub roses) and others need only minor pruning after the last frost date in spring. Many of the newest varieties bloom all summer long too. Shrub roses do not need winter protection and many are hardy to zone 2! To protect other hardy roses I mound soil around the base/crown of the plant after the ground freezes. This prevents damage from freeze and thaw cycles through the winter.
Take your pick. Most of these perennials pictured here are relatively maintenance-free. Just what busy garden lovers want.
“It’s not the temperature” is a common Canadian phrase, followed by either “it’s the windchill” in the winter, or “it’s the humidity” in the summer. We Canadians tend to be very weather obsessed.
In this case, however, I am talking about why I cover the base (crown) of my roses in my gardens…
It’s not just the cold temperature (although it is advisable to choose plants hardy to your area) that affects (kills) the roses, it’s the freeze and thaw cycles very common to Ontario weather that do them in. The mounded earth helps prevent the rose crowns from heaving out of the ground in these freeze/thaw cycles. Be sure to use clean soil (I purchase plain garden soil in easy to manage bags for this purpose) to avoid introducing mold, mildew, bacteria or insects and their eggs to the roses.
I counted twenty-two rose crowns to cover in my own gardens, lots more in my client’s….
