Southeast: January Garden To-Do List

January is a fair restful time for the Southeast gardener physically , but it provides fat ground for growing your dreams , plans , and knowledge .

Watch for frost - heave of fall - planted perennial and small shrubs . Southeastern winter vary enormously , but in years with lots of immobilize - and - warming alternation , fresh planted specimens occasionally end up unplanted , with roots exposed to dry air . Check for this after menstruum of frost , and if find out , replant gently but securely . Mulch well , but do n’t bury the crown . While you are out in the garden , weewee any young evergreens if there has been little rain or snow ( what ’s that ? ! ) , specially if paired with stale than normal temperature .

It ’s semen catalog time of year . Seed society catalogs arriving in the chain armor are as certain a sign of a new twelvemonth as resolutions and are a lot more playfulness to devote to . While you ’ve got plenty of time before starting anything indoors ( late February ) and out ( April ) , gild early if you are excited about a rare or unexampled cultivar offered only by source to be sure they do n’t deal out . If you ’ve rarely grown anything from seed , start with a couple of prove - and - unfeigned verbatim - sow choice such as zinnias ( Zinnia elegans , yearly ) or cosmos ( Cosmoscvs . , yearly ) , but try a unparalleled cultivar that you ’ve never seen at the garden center field .

produce a aspiration display board . Even if seed begin is not your crush , keep the catalogs . Together with honest-to-god magazines , they cater pages of colorful image that serve as raw material for create a garden dream board . snap up some pair of scissors , a mucilage peg , and a card display panel , and begin by trim out plants , color , forms , and designs that have quick appeal to you . This unconscious process will affect you otherwise than digital pinning . have yourself be guided by instinct , not intelligence ; begin arranging cutouts without expectation . The consequence may be abstract or concrete . You might discover that the colors you love are not what you ’ve been plant , or you might learn that more dissymmetry in your figure is deserving a try . When you get ready to make hard-nosed architectural plan for the garden , have your dream board nearby to ponder on and to remind you of what get you joy .

Make direction for previous winter - flower perennials . Cut off last yr ’s leafage of false hellebore ( Helleborusspp . and cvs . , Zones 4–9 ) and genus Epimedium ( Epimediumspp . and cvs . , Zones 4–9 ) to remove the way of life for impending prime in February or March , soon followed by fresh new leaves .

get your knowledge pedestal . Many botanic garden , plant societies , and master gardener organizations bid symposia , lectures , workshops , and trade show in wintertime . Search using a sort of term to be sure you ’ve not miss any in your sphere , then pock your calendar or sign up for notifications of future event , especially if they sell out quickly each year . There ’s nothing better to jump-start - go a raw season of horticulture than determine something unexampled among the companionship of fellow works lover .

— Paula Gross is the former assistant theatre director of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Botanical Gardens .

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Northeast: January Garden To-Do List

South: January Garden To-Do List

Northern Plains: January Garden To-Do List

Southwest: January Garden To-Do List

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