It's Time to Garden

By Chuck Martin, Dow Gardens Horticulturist

I received an email the other day from Lori Qualls.  She is the editor of the Accent section of the Midland Daily News.  Being a fine person and a friend, she allows me to write this gardening column every week.  In her email she stated that this will be my last column until next spring.  She probably was thinking until I have something intelligent to write about.  Anyway I am taking a few months off to try to gain some knowledge so that I can share my passion of plants with all of you.

Even though I am not going to be writing during the winter months I will still be gardening and working at Dow Gardens all winter long.  Yes the Gardens are open to the public during the winter.  In fact the winter is a fun time to visit the gardens and make snow angels.

Many times we forget the splendor of Michiganʼs four seasons.  In fact many of our landscapes are routinely developed for the spring and summer months.  When we garden we have to remember that we are alive for four seasons and our landscapes should reflect beauty in each of those seasons.

The easiest way to create interest in the winter is to plant a few evergreen yews and call it good.  In fact look at most the landscapes and you will find that the majority of people had that same yew fetish that you thought was unique.   

Winter landscapes can come alive by adding plants that hang on to their fruit in the winter.  The hollies are often the first to come to mind for their winter fruit display.  Other plants with winter fruit display are crabapples, viburnums, chokeberries, and dogwoods.  Think even harder and many perennials and ferns have dried fruit display that are attractive in the winter months.

Another component of plants that create attention in the winter is the bark characteristic.  We all know how the white birch is loved because of its beautiful bark.  I have even seen it planted in hot, dry soil that causes bronze birch bore to attack the tree before the last shovel of soil is put in the hole.  There are other trees, beside the white birch, and shrubs with lovely bark.  Cherry, dogwood, maple, and beech trees all have excellent bark characteristics to admire during the winter.

I feel we are lucky to live in an area of the world that has four distinct seasons.  Each of the seasons comes with their own beauty and interest.  Winter is often long and tough to appreciate the beauty of our landscapes.  We just need to open our eyes and see the tranquil nature of winter.

Winter is also a time of anticipation for us gardeners.  This is a time that we are able to finally read all those magazines we purchased because of the attractive pictures that made us drool.   This time of anticipation is encouraged by the stacks of seed and plant catalogs that arrive daily in the mail.  (Do pumpkins really get that big?) 

Gardeners never rest in the winter.  They are too busy thinking about how their gardens will be better than ever next year.  Instead of weeding they are reading. Instead of planting they are pondering.  Instead of mowing they are snoring.

If you have time this winter from all your dreaming, take time to visit me at Dow Gardens.  I am the one all bundle up nurturing the plants and dreaming about next year.  If I donʼt see you in the gardens, youʼll hear from me next year if Lori will give me space to write this column again.  Till then, happy weeding or I mean snow shoveling.