COOL & COLOURFUL

The early winter weather makes it a perfect time to tackle those tough jobs

Winter is with us and your garden will be reflecting this seasonal shift. Don’t for a moment think of it as a boring time – the cooler landscape can be a beautiful thing! It’s also a time many of your garden plants are having a well-deserved rest and when jobs like digging can be done comfortably in the warming winter sun.

THINGS TO DO

• Depending on your region and zone, frost can start to be an issue. Keep a roll of frost blanket on hand to throw over sensitive plants on those clear, chilly nights. Plastic sheeting supported on stakes can often be utilised as an emergency substitute, but make sure it’s removed before the sun hits the plants!

• Plants that have finished their flowering, such as camellias, should be lightly fed. Provided the soil isn’t too damp, you can supplement them with monthly applications of a seaweed tonic such as Seasol.

• Well-established clumps of spring and summer-flowering perennials (think perennial asters, canna lilies, and rudbeckia), which have died back for the season, can be lifted and divided now. Generally, the centre or mother plant will be beyond reuse, so focus on replanting the Younger, more vigorous plants from around this central growth core.

FLOWERING NOW