Add Photo to Journal
|
|
| Photo Credit: ©Sheri Ann Richerson |
| A blooming hellebore can melt your heart on a cold winter day. |
You can have vegetables growing and flowers blooming in your garden every single month of the year – even in the Midwest! Sound impossible? It’s really not. In fact, there are some flowers and vegetables that not only withstand Midwest winters, they thrive and produce!
As the old adage goes, nothing comes from nothing, which means you have to do some planning before you can get anything from a winter garden. And the first step toward enjoying beautiful winter blooms is learning which ones to plant. You might not know it, but there are flowers that actually wait for the chilly months to blossom. So consider jump-starting your winter show with fall-blooming primula. Shortly before those begin to fade, hellebores will raise their lovely heads and start to flower. (Some varieties actually begin blooming in November and continue on into summer.) Come December or January, heather blossoms should begin to appear, only to be followed by the cheerful blooms of witch hazels in February. What a delight to walk outside with snow on the ground and see these cheery flowers! | Add Photo to Journal |  | | Photo ©Sheri Ann Richerson | | Pretty pink heather blossoms can bring signs of life to the winter garden. |
Don’t forget those annuals, too! Even the winter pansies seem to bloom intermittently throughout the coldest season and still have enough oomph left to put on a spring show. And of course, we have to talk about bulbs. If you’ve planted those early bloomers – like winter aconite, snowdrops and crocus – in fall, you can watch them put on a late winter/early spring bloom festival that’s sure to chase away any traces of cabin fever.
But winter gardening doesn’t have to stop with flowers. Do you find yourself longing for freshly grown produce? Then it’s a winter vegetable garden you need! It just requires some planning and the right equipment, including mulch, plastic covering and a cold frame.
|