Feb. 2: Groundhog saw his shadow, sort of. The up-and-down, freeze-thaw conditions that are so stressful for plants in the maritime climate continue. Indoors, spring has arrived, with forced bulbs in bloom.
Outside, much is going on, although the action is in slow motion: in the treetops, buds swell. Tips of early bulbs and snowdrops emerge, and threadlike witch hazel flowers furl and unfurl. “See” the temperature by observing the rhododendron leaves alternately penciling and flaring in the daily fluctuations.
Mulch protection
Here on the Vineyard, surrounded by water, winter is generally milder than on the mainland. If plants enter dormancy, however, they would like to remain in there until it is time, once and for all, to restart growth.
Alternating freezing and thawing breaks down plant tissues. It also has a lifting action that may frost-heave plants out of their placements, where more damage occurs.
Pure and simple, one of the functions mulches perform is the quiltlike one of locking in soil temperatures: insulation. This is in addition to their other functions, such as weed control, enhancing soil organisms, and adding humus. The mulch may be seen to have either locked in warmth, or frost, either way; but whichever — remaining like that is best.
Seed catalogues
I must be revealing my boomer traits: I really endorse hardcopy catalogues. They contain so much information — information that is not always evident on webpages’ curtailed screens.
The catalogues, these information-packed oeuvres, are probably expensive to edit and produce, a reason to appreciate them. At some point they are likely to disappear. Seed catalogues are your friends if you do not have an extensive library of garden encyclopedias, manuals, and growing advice. Study and appreciate them, and order seeds now!
Noise trespass
With town meeting articles being presented to address leaf blowers, it might also be a good time to review thinking about another concept: noise trespass.
A valid point is raised about infringing on the rights of homeowners to use noisy leaf blowers (or other loud machinery) when they are home and doing yardwork on the weekend.
Equally valid are the rights of homeowners, even renters, to be ensured an environment free from excessive sound and vibration — noise trespass — capable of jeopardizing their health or safety, especially on the weekend.
Winter interest
It is always a good time to visit Polly Hill Arboretum (PHA), where expanding the range of horticultural possibilities is part of the mission. Please do not think that because it is February there is nothing to see or learn!
I recall standing beside a wintry lane in Villanova, Pa., many years ago that was lined with fragrant, flowering witch hazels. I had never really known or considered them before: Boy, changed my mind!
Ours is a very fortunate horticultural zone. Gardens here are composed of a wide range of standout plants and plantings. They, and we, are capable of broadening knowledge with exposure to new gardens, plants, ideas, and the wide array of plants and possibilities 7A USDA hardiness zone offers.
PHA collections contain specimens with decorative bark, seed pods, interesting buds, and squiggly or beautiful branch patterns. The brightness of colored twig dogwood and enkianthus is eye-catching; little-known evergreens such as osmanthus and illicium will intrigue.
I recall a winter visit to PHA and looking at shade plantings of carex (decorative, grasslike sedges) with newly appreciative eyes. The carex cultivars there write a new definition of cold-season decorativeness, with ‘Evergold,’ ‘Ice Dance,’ and ‘Silver Sceptre’ prominently planted. As mentioned below, these decorative plants function as good groundcover when they have spreading rhizomes.
Groundcover control
February almost always contains some beautiful days. They make one glad to be outdoors, looking for signs of spring, or gardening that needs doing. Take the opportunity to size up groundcover. Is it behaving itself, or is it exceeding the boundaries set for it? Ivy creeps all winter, as do vinca, and some sedges, such as ‘Ice Dance,’ spread by rhizomes.
In this case, it was the pachysandra I took hedge trimmers to. The bed, alongside the shady side of the house, is a low-maintenance area, as intended. Despite many days of low temperatures, the pachysandra is fine: green and flourishing, and spilling over onto the steppingstones.
The bed is an underplanting for yew and oakleaf hydrangea, and has grown substantially without any help. The fallen leaves it collects seem to mulch and nourish it. Pachysandra is capable of growing into elongated fronds that flop, and sprouts unappreciated, small, white-flowered spikes.
I slashed away, reducing the overall height down to about seven inches. Since the aim is not picture-perfect, nothing more needs to be done at the moment. Come March or April, if the “chop-and-drop” looks bad, it can be raked out, but chances are it will have been engulfed by renewed growth.
Sure to rile
Why must we listen to screeching about turbines in the viewscape, but crickets about aboveground power lines and mutilated trees?
(OK, we all want electrical power; that is a given. And the power lines deliver power that comes from a number of sources, almost all with some sort of nasty downside. Are polluting oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico receiving equal scrutiny?)
Why is it so many are so affronted by wind farm turbines in their viewscape, but are blind to the disfiguring power lines that decorate scenic Island roads and landscapes?
Why, especially with insurance companies pulling out of our area due to climate-related risk modeling, do we fail to insist on underground power lines? Is it because mutilated trees and ugly aboveground power lines have “always been there,” and we do not see them because we are used to them?
In the garden
Make wood ashes accessible for poultry dust bathing. Compost cleaned-out henhouse droppings, or use for topdressing broadleaved evergreens. Hollies: It is February — time to hat-rack them? Spread annual poppy seeds.
