Winter Beauty Camellias

I'm introducing this series of posts on winter gardening with this most beautiful Camellia that was planted in my yard near the front door by the previous occupants. It blooms every winter.  These flowers often seem "out of sync" with the rest of the landscape at this time of year but I love it. According to the NC State Extension another good choices for winter color is Camellia x 'Crimson Candles'. The new foliage is bronze- red, and the flowers bloom in Feb and March. Both these plants can withstand night temperatures in the 20s and is hardy in USDA zones 7 through 9.

COMPOSTING

Although this photo of Susan JOhnson in Brooklyn was taken last fall, it oculd have been here in Winston-Salem yesterday. It was in the mid 50 degrees and sunny. After several days of temps in the mid 50's it was a great day to work the soil Such a day gives a healthy dose of spring fever! I ventured into my garden to take soil test samples. I'm sending four to the Ag Extension Service in Raleigh (see my column on soil testing). I took samples from each of four gardens; rose garden, little forest area, perennial flower border and vegetable garden. It was great to dig in the soil. But, the real excitement came from harvesting compost! We put all our kitchen cuttings and coffee grounds (filters and all) into the compost on a regular basis. However, the fall leaves are the biggest part and I had to plow through a pile of them to get to the rich compost at the bottom of the bin. (Yes, I know I should be layering the leaves and the kitchen material to get a proper carbon nitrogen mix, but I will do that task later). I have a three level bin made of recycled plastic (purchased from Smith and Hawken) so I took off the top section and removed the contents then the second section. I got to the compost in the bottom section. Rich, finished and full of earthworms. The sight of the earthworms gave me the biggest thrill because that tells me the compost system is really working. I removed about 30 gallons of finished compost and put that into our vegetable beds (we have raised beds) as well as several large containers which I will spread into other parts of the garden. The photos are ones of the compost harvest in the Schaef Earth Garden. I will add some photos of my compost here in North Carolina asap.

Compost is the supreme soil amendment to add structure and organic material to your soil, something we DESPERATELY need with our clay soil here in North Carolina. It enhances plant growth, helps with water retention (especially to create a drought tolerant garden) and is easy to make yourself. Winter is a great time to add to the garden before the spring rush of planting.

Home composting saves money too and you know what's in it because you put it there.

Winter Sowing Containers

I decided to see how many different kinds of containers I could use. And, I wanted to recycle as many different things as I could. Now, I look at every container to think about it's potential to plant seeds. The ones I have used so far are:

Large clear plastic container (as you put under your bed to store sweaters) with plastic baggies. I removed the plastic top but be sure to put it on and to drill holes in the top. Photo 3.

Other examples: Ice cream cartons, Soda bottles, Empty Canola Oil bottle, Styrofoam cups, strawberry container from grocery store. If you go to the winter sowing website they have more details and even more container options. Photo 2.

The first seeds that sprouted were mesclun seeds (took about ten days). The temps have been below freezing all the way up to the 50's but it doesn't seem to matter. Chard is also coming up. Don't forget to keep the containers covered with a baggie but make little vent holes.

Also, these styrofoam cups in photo 2 were cut in half and I will use both the tops and the bottoms.

Winter sowing is addictive. This is my first year and I'm already convinced it works. It's so much easier than seed starting indoors as you are letting nature take care of all the guesswork, etc. For a comparison I'm also planting seeds indoors of similar or same varieties. Will try to see what does best and is the most successful. Watch for future reports.

Winter Container Gardening

I decided to add an evergreen to the containers on my stoop when the summer and fall plants bit the dust. I figured I could move the plant to my perennial border in the spring and start all over again. I found these Dwarf Hinoki Cypress (Chamecyparis obtusa 'Golden Sprite' that were about the right size. They are very compact and do just the trick to bring some green into the otherwise bare containers.

Grasses (miscanthus zebrina)

Ornamental grasses have year round beauty. They come up with new green shoots in the spring, grow tall and striking in the summer, send up beautiful plumes in the fall, give structure to the landscape in the winter. I never cut mine back until early spring, just when the new shoots begin to appear.

Poll Results for January

Thanks for your interest in the January poll. Look for February in the top right column. Cast your vote early and often.

Here are the results

January is too dark......11
Too cold.........................15
Too hot............................0
My favorite month........0
I enjoy snow..................6
I leave seed pods, grasses, etc.................12
I cut everything to the ground................2
I continue my compost.............................11

Participation went up this time from about 10 in December to 57 in January. That's a good sign.

Many folks leave their seed pods, grasses, etc. for winter interest. I notice how few people in my neighborhood do this leaving ugly "chopped off" grasses when they could have beautiful stems and pods blowing in the wind or providing a fabulous sculpture when it snows. Between the evergreens and the grasses, with a bit of planning, the winter garden can bring the garden alive. I even see the birds rustling around the grasses or perched on top. It was also great to see how many people keep their compost going. I remember one time turning my compost in sub freezing weather and finding a whole cluster of worms even though I could have sworn they went underground in the coldest time of winter. The compost pile obviously was still active enough (thanks to those worms) that the heat level maintained an environment to keep the worms a live.

Please take a look at the February poll. Vote for as many as you wish.

Hollies

I am beginning to learn that hollies (Ilex) have numerous varieties in common use. In addition to my favorite Winterberry, I love the 'Nellie Moser" variety that we have as a border on our lot. this year it produced berries whereas last year there were none. I think this is becuae of a frost in the spring 0f 2007 that nipped the flowers. I know the birds are pleased.