Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-12-08
Put Garden to Bed
For Winter Months

freezing. This is especially i'm
pOrtant for late-planted bulbs,
for small perennials and for the
broad-leafed evergreens. How
ever, in the case Of broad-leafed
evergreens, mulch should be
kept a few inches away from
the trunk so as not to delay ma.
turity. Once the ground is fro
zen and the plants fully ma
tured, the areas around our
azaleas, rhododendrons, camel
las, etc. may be covered with
leaves or other mulching ma
terials.
Danger Of Heaving
The perennial border, straw
berry beds and chrysanthemum
beds contain many shallOw-root-
ed plants that are especially
vulnerable to our freeze-and-
thaw weather. If they are
mulched as soon as the ground
is frozen, they are much less
likely to have their roots broken
and to be pushed out of the
ground, ''heaved." The biggest
problem with applying this
mulch is the timing. Very often
our soil does not freeze to a
depth of more than one-half
inch at any time before mid
January. Nevertheless, the gar
dener makes the best he can of
the situation and applies a
mulch to protect his plants from
heaving.
Mention was made above to
the fact that the broad-leafed
evergreens should not be pro-
tected too early in the season
since that might delay the ma
turity of the wood and that they
should not be mulched around
their stems. This also applies to
other forms Of protection. The
erection of barriers and screens
should be done in such a way as
to protect the plants from the
warming sun and from drying
winds. In other words, wrapping
a plant to keep 1t warm is to
prevent it from ripening its
wood and thus keeps it tender
so that it will suffer freeze inju-
ny.
In this area, wrapping is
more likely to be injurious than
beneficial. Our chief concern
should be to help our plants
ripen their wood and to keep
them dormant as far as posi-
BILE; thus protecting from winter
sun Is about as far as we need
to 60 for such plants as camel
las and the Southern magnolia.
of course, azaleas and rhode
dendrons also benefit from such
protection. B a m b 10 screens,
burlap screens, even pine
boughs, placed on the sough
side Of a plant will be helpful.
Snow Slides Harmful
The foundation plants howev-
er, may need to be protected
from snow slides. Stat screens
are useful for this purpose. In
an emergency, one might even
place poles against the side Of
the house to defect snow slides.
Globular shaped evergreens
might well be tied with coarse
Irvine or rope to keep them
from spreading under the
weight of snow or ice. The
globe and some of the oriental
varieties of arborvitae are par
ticularly subject to such injury;
occasionally, lockwood and yews
may need this protection.
Timing of these operations is
most important. The tieing of
the branches together may be
done at any time now. The
erection Of screens on the south
side Of the tender shrubs is also
timely since it will help to has
ten maturity. The placing of
windbreaks, such as snow
fences, may well be deferred
until the end of December or
early January. The application
of anti-deSiccant sprays may
also be done at any time in De-
cember or January.
The building of screens or
shelters from snow might well
be deferred until early January.
December snowfall is not COM
mon or heavy in this area.
dies