When winter arrives, many of us shudder from the cold, dreary rain or piles of endless cold white snow. All the beautiful blooms of summer have faded, the perennials wilted, the trees bare and so our gardens looked dark, dead, black and wilted and just downright sorrowful. Depressing environments added to the low light just isn’t the Christmas spirit we all hope to embrace.
These tips will have your winter garden and depressing mood lifted just in time to ring in the New Year with joy.
Create a Cheerier Winter Garden by Planting Winter Attractive Shrubs and Trees
Ivy is popular at Christmas because of the varied colors and ripe red berries. Other plants work similarly such as cotoneaster, winterberry, ash, viburnum, honeysuckle. Choose trees that have attractive barks like paper birch or Harry Lauder’s Walkingstick. Plants with attractive seed heads can also create a look of snowy times even in warmer climates like Florida including Wild Cotton, Clematis, and Money Plant.
Plant Bushes that Bloom in Winter to Surprise and Please Yourself
I learned about Christmas Camellia when I received a plant as a wedding gift. There are many varieties of Camellia (which tolerate most climes and a variety of soils) that bloom in winter, Christmas Camellia has single red blooms. Other plants that bloom in winter include Helleborus and flowering cabbage.
Clear Your Yard of Fallen Leaves Attractively and Usefully
Leaves grow mold so removing them quickly in the fall will help your allergies. Leaves with few seeds can be piled on gardens and held down with a layer of steer manure to help enrich the soil. Leaves piled around the main stem of delicate plants like roses, rosemary, and newly planted plants can help protect them from frost and snow damage. Bag up leaves for recycling in cheery colored garbage bags-white bags can make a fake snow fence, orange like pumpkins.
Use Exterior Lighting to Welcome Guest, Cure Your Depression, and Make Your Entrance Safe
Although many use Christmas lights as a cure for the blearies, many elderly feel that putting up Christmas lights is for kids only. Many LED based Christmas lights cost less to operate and if used along the entrance as a set of path lights, to highlight a special plant, welcome guests with a wreath, can be much easier to install.
Collect Herbs, Flowers, Berried Branches, and Prune for Indoor Decorations
Mints, lavender, rosemary, bee balm, lemon balm, bay leaf, pine, cedar, all have lovely scents and attractive foliage for winter time arrangements. Use them to bring the outdoors inside and keep your spirits up.
Visit Winter Gardens to Find Other Floral Treats, Get Exercise and Welcome the Holidays
Many large gardens are open during the holidays including many zoos. Many decorate with Christmas lights so you get a walk, find plants that bloom, grow seeds, or have interesting shapes by visiting them. Plus you get the added benefit of a walk in fresh air-remember to open your house windows when you clean to clear the air, it too adds a cheering effect.
FYI–Harry Lauder’s Walkingstick is a type of filbert that grows in miniature and whose branches grow quite curly.