by Lydia Holley October 23, 2022
Because the ground was so warm, the light freeze we received a few days ago did no damage to my landscape. Tropical plants did not even go dormant for the winter. Most are still blooming.
However, we will receive freezes this winter and it is important that gardeners not stay huddled in their warm houses but go outside and evaluate their landscapes. Many novice gardeners pay attention only to bloom, so when those plants go dormant in the winter, there is nothing left on top of the soil to look at. That happened to me when I first started gardening, and it has happened to many other gardeners whether they will admit it or not.
As gardeners learn to look past summer flowers and think about their landscapes in winter, they tend to believe that only blooms are still important. There are several plants which will bloom in winter in East Texas. However, do not overlook the importance of foliage. Looking out at a green landscape will make the garden not only look better in winter but will soothe the gardener’s scratching desire to renovate their entire landscape.
If you find that you have a spot which is barer in winter than you would like, do not panic. You might not need to rip everything out and start over. Consider just planting some bulbs which are dormant in summer but have foliage in winter. That way, even if your entire garden filled with summer-blooming plants goes dormant, you can still have something green to look at in winter and your summer garden will be just as beautiful.
Spider lily (Lycoris) blooms on stalks in fall but soon thereafter, new foliage emerges which stays green all winter. It it the perfect bulb to plant in a bed which may have too many winter-dormant plants. Grape hyacinth (Muscari) is another bulb which goes dormant in summer but puts out leaves in winter. It blooms in the early spring. A couple of bulbs which may not be as reliable as those first two, but which have the same qualities of being green in winter and dormant in summer are hardy cyclamen (Cyclamen coum) and dimpled trout lily (Erythronium umbilicatum).
On a chilly winter day, you will be able to look out at your garden and see the pleasing color of green. And even if every plant in your garden bed goes dormant, you will not have to change your design. Just add summer-dormant bulbs for winter foliage.
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