5 ways to shake up your garden, post freeze
Now that we are a couple months past the freeze, it may be the time to start assessing our gardens and landscapes with the objectivity that only loss or near loss of plants can give.
If you are like me and avoid progressive change in the garden, then you probably don’t switch out plants for variety or make changes without being forced. If I buy a new plant, I do what any self-respecting gardener does. I merely cram it in any space that can be found, with no plan beforehand, saying, “There, that will work.”
Nonnative? No problem. Zone 10? It will work. Needs continuous deadheading? I have time.
Part of gardening is the fun of this exploration, but there are times when we merely need a reset, and the winter freeze afforded us the perfect time to push that button. With plants gone or knocked back to the ground, this general worry for our green-leafed friends invites a reflection on change.
1. Add something edible
With all the time spent trimming boxwoods, pinching salvia for the blooms that attract hummingbirds and planting annual color, the closest thing to edible in some landscapes is the overgrown shrub on a walkway that forces you to spit leaves out of your mouth after walking into it.
Yet, edibles can be ornamental, too. Consider the spectrum of basil’s rich colors for an edging plant — the deep tone of ‘Purple Ruffles’ or fresh green of the bush-shaped ‘Spicy Globe.’
Hot or sweet pepper plants can easily replace an annual in a combination planter. Unconventional fruit, such as pineapple guava, can be used as an evergreen hedge, yet provide edible fruits and flowers for your kitchen.
2. Replace a nonnative with native
While it is not necessary to switch out your entire landscape with native plants, slowly replacing a nonnative is beneficial to local insect and wildlife populations.
Why would one want to support insect populations? For one reason, birds.
According to the Houston Audubon, a native tree such as oak can host over 400 types of caterpillars, compared to two or three as a nonnative. This supports birds, such as the Carolina chickadee, that may need a minimum of 5,000 caterpillars for one clutch of young.
3. Right plant in the right place
If there was one piece of advice to give to anyone looking to buy a new plant, it would be this: Determine a suitable plant for a particular location based on its needs and how large it will grow. This is one of the most important ways we can avoid unnecessary maintenance, hassle and watering.
Of course, offending this very premise is what keeps many landscapers so heavily employed and can keep the economy going in that industry.
However, if your goal is to grow plants to their natural shape without having to fight a 10-foot shrub into a 3-foot orb, take a little time to determine the space you have and select a plant, once full-size, that fits.
4. Do not fear tropicals
Just because you lost them this year does not mean they are not worth the risk next time.
If the heavenly scent of plumeria is the thing that sparks your joy, then follow your bliss.
Part of the fun of this area is that we can grow things that cannot be grown elsewhere. Sure, we can keep a mandarin orange in a pot so that you can take it in during freezing weather, but then we would never have the chance to experience that full-size tree and plunder.
5. Remember the evergreens
If you would like to find plants that are taken for granted, evergreens would likely be the first ones in the audience raising their hands.
Some may provide flowers, others height, while some simply serve as a barrier to windows, but they all do one thing that was glaringly obvious with the freeze: They provide a foundation to deciduous plants.
Striking a balance between the two makes for a good yearround design. Of course, deep freezes are not typical in our area, but when they do come knocking, those yards that are comprised mostly of tropical plants stand out, leaving the passerby — and little critters that seek refuge in them — yelling, “You need an evergreen!”