As a gardener, I’ve come to appreciate that gardening is
never really finished. Sure, we mark the Last Mowing of the Year with pride and
admire the look of a freshly-raked yard free of leaves for the (hopefully) final
time, but if you’re anything like me, the satisfaction of a season finished is
all too quickly replaced by the longing for spring upon the arrival of the
first seed catalog in late December or January. As you start to dream of
spring, here are some plants—new and old—I’ve come to love over the last few
years that you might put on your spring wish list.
Admittedly, some patience is in order for the majority of
the plants listed below. Many garden centers in our area don’t really stock up
on plants before mid-February, and most won’t have a full selection until early-
to mid-March. One plant we already have in stock at the nursery, however, is the
hellebore, commonly called Winter Rose or Lenten Rose.
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'Jospeh Lemper' hellebore is a beautiful winter
bloomer for your garden |
Most gardeners have at least some familiarity with
hellebores, but if you haven’t planted one (or more) in your garden yet, now is
a great time to start! They bloom through winter’s darkest days, tolerate full
shade to part sun, require minimal maintenance, are very deer-resistant, and
have pleasant-looking green foliage year-round. ‘Joseph Lemper,’ a pure white
variety blooming now with large flowers is one of my favorites, but ‘Snow
Fever’ is a fun twist on a classic cream-colored variety with speckled
green-and-cream leaves that look great all year long.
A second plant that we have in stock at Vander Giessen's both now and throughout the
year is heuchera, or Coral Bells. A couple years ago I wrote about it as the
“perfect plant”—they’re evergreen, stay small, come in nearly every color of
the rainbow, bloom through the summer, and grow in sun or shade.
With the
surging popularity of heuchera in recent years, it’s been hard to keep up with
the number of varieties introduced. One of my favorites is ‘Dolce Cinnamon
Curls,’ a rusty-red variety with ruffled leaves. ‘Dolce Blackberry Ice’ and
‘Obsidian’ are a couple more of my go-to varieties; boasting purple leaves,
they make the brighter colors of most blooming plants pop and add drama to a
container planting.
My third plant pick I’m dreaming of this winter is a
favorite among ‘edibles’ gardeners: blueberries. While many edible shrubs and
trees require at least some regular maintenance to perform well, blueberry
bushes planted in a sunny spot will generally reward you with great crops of
antioxidant-rich fruit year after year regardless of how much gardening
know-how you possess.
If you’re looking for ways to incorporate more edibles into
your landscaping in the coming year, one variety of blueberry in particular
would work well. ‘Sunshine Blue’ is a dwarf variety that tops out at just three
to four feet tall and wide. In spring is puts on a beautiful show of pink and
white flowers followed by good crops of berries in summer without requiring a
cross-pollinator. In winter, it remains semi-evergreen as well, adding to its
appeal as a landscape shrub.
Soon spring will be upon us, and along with it the joy of
watching life begin again out in the garden. As we gardeners relish the slower
pace of winter, though, now is the time to dream. What specific plants, colors
or textures are you missing in your yard and what do you hope to grow this
year? Stop by Vander Giessen Nursery to start browsing seed racks, see the
selection of winter-interest shrubs and perennials and begin to put together
your wish list of plants to enjoy in your garden in 2016.
