A SUNNY day is never more delightful than it is in the middle of winter.
But even when the weather is drizzly and grey, stepping outdoors to engage with the garden is one of the most morale-boosting things we can do. It's a known fact that a spell in the garden triggers the body's endorphins ('happy' hormones).
Ten ways to enjoy your garden in winter
Fill pots and baskets with colour
All the more compelling in mid winter, a colourful display of pots and plants is a quick and easy way to cheer up an entranceway or outdoor living space. Container gardening is an enjoyable any-weather activity, preferable to digging wet winter soil. The extra warmth and drainage in a pot or tub of good quality potting mix means plants establish more quickly than they do in cold wet ground.
Fill pots with polyanthus, Cyclamen or pansies for instant winter colour or plant for the longer term in big pots. Tough, tolerant and long flowering Flower Carpet® roses are among the best roses for pots as even when not in flower they have good shape and attractive foliage. Avoid small porous pots, which dry out too quickly and feed them with controlled release fertiliser for extra prolific flowering.
Grasses and grass-like plants look fabulous in pots, especially colourful varieties such as Carex trifida 'Rekohu Sunrise' (green and gold) and Cordyline 'Red Fountain' (sparkling plum-burgundy).
For a bold tropical look in large containers, consider Canna Tropicanna or Tropicanna Gold. They look wonderful in pairs straddling an entrance with their large colourful striped leaves (best cut back in winter) and vibrant late summer flowers. Another stunning tropical plant for containers, indoors or out, is Cordyline Caruba Black with shiny, dark purple-black leaves and bushy upright growth.
Plan and prepare a kitchen garden
Growing your own vegetables is one of the most satisfying aspects of gardening, even if it's just a fresh supply of nutritious greens. In warm areas it's not too late to plant cabbages, broccoli and winter lettuces. In colder climates, prepare raised beds for early spring planting. Whet your appetite by perusing the seed catalogues for exciting varieties that can't be bought in the supermarket. If the ground is too wet for digging, you can still build 'no-dig' beds with layers of compost, straw and other organic matter.
Think roses
Whether you're taking care of existing roses or planning a whole new rose garden, now is the time to prepare for a beautiful spring ahead.
It's time for winter pruning and preventative spraying with copper and oil to control overwintering pests and diseases. And it's the very best time to plant new roses (allowing them time to establish prior to Summer) – and to replace old, weak and disease prone varieties with top performing, disease resistant varieties.
Disease resistant Flower Carpet roses are ideal for gardeners who don't wish to spray or engage in time-consuming pruning. Simply sheered back with the hedge trimmers, once a year in winter, they burst with vibrant shiny foliage in early spring, followed by at least six months of prolific flowering. Eight different Flower Carpet varieties offer a range of growth habits for different landscaping purposes and bright, unfading colours. They are the ideal choice for pots, hedges, covering difficult areas of ground or complementing perennials in mixed flower borders. They're lovely for picking too.
The most recently released Flower Carpet roses, known as the 'Next Generation' roses and including the varieties Scarlet and Amber, have the additional benefit of exceptional heat and humidity tolerance.
Bring the garden indoors
Filling a vase with treasures picked from the garden is a satisfying and creative way to spend a wintry day. Take your imagination for a walk outdoors and you might be surprised at what you find.
Twigs and seed heads look lovely as indoor decoration. Berries and fruit with their glossy colourful glow make fabulous long lasting arrangements. Favourites include Idesia polycarpa, Pyracantha and Nandina. Edibles for winter decoration include Persimmons, crab apples, and citrus. Winter flowers include Hellebores (winter roses), Camellias, Daphne, Hebes, Proteas, Banksias, Manuka, Ericas and flannel flower (Phylica pubescens).
Evergreen Magnolias, Puriri, Puka, and flax provide magnificent vase foliage any time of year. NZ natives with wonderful foliage are Griselinia, Corokia, Coprosma, and ferns, great as a contrasting mix of textures and colours. Extra foliage colour comes from variegated plants such as Aucuba and the dazzling burgundy red of Cordyline 'Red Fountain'.
Plant bulbs
In warm areas it's not too late to plant a pot of tulips and hyacinths for spring flowering. Look out for summer flowering Dahlia tubers and gladioli corms when they come into store in late winter.
Grow your own garlic
Garlic is planted in winter and harvested in summer. Plant cloves, 2 to 5cm deep and about 10cm apart into well-drained, compost-enriched soil or potting mix. Planting may be earlier than the traditional shortest day in warm climates, or later once frost has passed in cold climates.
Start an herb garden
A good supply of culinary herbs can be grown in just a few pots. Locate them in a sunny place as close to the kitchen as possible. Parsley, chives, mint, thyme, oregano and rosemary are all very easy to grow in pots.
Plant a fragrant garden
There's nothing like a waft of garden perfume to lift winter spirits. Some of the most evocative scents come in winter and early spring from old-fashioned Daphne, wintersweet, Luculia, Boronia, hyacinths, daffodils and jonquils. New Zealand-bred, Fairy Magnolias (Michelia hybrids) produce a huge volume of richly fragrant flowers on a neatly compact little evergreen with glossy green foliage. Perfect for screening, hedging, and topiary, Fairy Magnolias are quick growing and will flower from the very first spring!
Catch the pruning bug
Once you get started, pruning is a surprisingly satisfying activity. Winter is the main pruning time for deciduous trees, shrubs and roses. Earmark a little pruning job ready for the next time your winter spirits need a boost. Once you get out there, you may forget your woes and get the whole garden done!
Prune to remove dead and damaged wood, then prune for shape, but take it slowly with trees. Over zealous pruning, especially of top growth, can ruin a tree's natural shape.
Winter is the main pruning time for most roses, although old-fashioned ramblers that flower once in early summer (on previous season's growth) should not be pruned until just after flowering.
Flower Carpet roses can be pruned any time, but a late winter/early spring trim is ideal for vigorous growth and top flowering performance. Simply cut them back with hedge clippers, removing about two thirds of their volume.
Winter is also a good time to tidy up flaxes, ferns, palms and grasses. Pull or cut tatty leaves and fronds at their base. Groom ornamental grasses by combing out dead leaves with a plastic rake or gloved hand.
Create space
Consider the mantra, less is more. Getting rid of sick struggling plants and those past their use-by is a great way to give the garden an instant face-lift and make space for more of those plants that thrive in your soil and climate.
Happiness is a winter garden
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