Take Advantage of the Cooler Months - Winter Plant Bed Maintenance

After Reworking the Plant Beds

Before I begin, I must say that other than pruning the somewhat young crepe myrtle (She was a slight mess.) in the center bed in the front yard, I had nothing to do with the shaping, trimming or perhaps otherwise unhealthy treatment of the shrubs.

This was done prior, by someone else, and the property owner knows it.

We did remove some unwanted ground growth and I did raise the canopies on some of the shrubs slightly to accommodate mulch - long needle pine straw in this case.

Prior to Reworking the Plant Beds

This is a nice home, but the owner has had little time to work with it since moving in a few years ago.

Although it is in a beautiful neighborhood adjacent to a country club, her home is unfortunately surrounded on both sides by two overgrown vacant lots.

We are working on this in stages, which is a lot of what we do - landscape restoration over time, for many reasons.

Managing plant beds, not just the plants themselves, but more so the bed and how it accommodates the plants and balances with, shows off or highlights the property, was the concern here - attention to detail.

Prior to Reworking the Plant Beds

A huge portion of this project was to have the beds more appropriately represent the size of the shrubs while accounting for future and mature height and width. Slowly curving lines were used for a more natural look.

Although some grading was performed, most of this was accomplished by re-establishing borders and this is not simply about drawing a line in the sand (lawn). It is about creating a more noticeable border (delineation) where the lawn meets the plant bed without using man-made border devices.

It's also easier for the homeowner or their lawn service to edge more accurately and deeper, keeping the grass runners (stolons) from spreading into the bed while allowing mulch to better stay in the bed.

After Reworking the Plant Beds

In addition, winter is also a good time for pruning shrubs and trees for health reasons, which always adds to the beauty of a plant and promotes better structure. Much of this can be performed on even those early spring bloomers, if done right.

Re-working plant beds and re-establishing borders during winter allows you to plan for spring's growth or new plantings ahead of time.

Also, testing the soil now allows you to plan for spring fertilization, but more importantly allows time for adjusting the pH (typically by applying lime in our area) sooner so that it has a chance to take hold and be more effective.

This also may be the opportune time to install a drip-line system (either from a faucet timer or off your existing sprinkler system). This isn't Alaska.

So, think of winter as that time when you can work with the pallet of your landscape - manicure, tidy up and perhaps plan for all the wonderfulness to take place in the growing season.