OK, so I'm starting to think ahead to the spring, when I can get out into the garden again and, y'know, DO stuff. But there's all this stuff in the garden currently, from when it's been cold and sometimes snowy, and routinely nasty, and it's just sitting there looking all sad and forlorn and dead. And I have no clue if I'm supposed to do something with it, to help it come back in the spring, or if I should just leave it and nature will take care of it for me. I took photos. Have you ever seen a more sorry looking set of plants in your life? Mondo grass in one of the containers in front of the house. Hydrangea, and a couple of daylillies, in Chloe's memorial garden Creeping Jenny. Front garden. I have several patches of these. Oh, and that tiny bit of green on the left hand side is some creeping phlox. I have NO clue why it's green in the middle of winter! Don't remember the name. A line of 6 or 7, bordering the front garden. Don't remember the name of this one either. Clematis, Chloe's memorial garden. Some kind of large ornamental grass. Pot on back deck. If the names of any of these plants are important, I can dig out the file I kept of all the plant tags of everything I planted. I'm seriously wondering if any of this stuff is going to come back. Nashville experienced such atypical cold weather with temps in the below zero range on a few occasions, and I just don't know if these plants are hardy enough to withstand that. But presuming they are, what if anything should I be doing with them to help them along so they get a good start for the spring?
Ronni, as a rule of thumb, I wait until some sort of growth shows (greening up, little leaves) and then remove the dead leaves or stems. If you cut into a stem and it shows green inside, leave it. You can always just nip off an inch or two to see if there is a layer of green under the outer bark or surface. Now is also a great time to prune roses here in the South. Mine are beginning to put out new leaf buds (little red bumps along the stems) so I need to get out there pronto and prune! Mondo grass can be clipped back to about 1"-2" now. The daylily foliage can be removed, it's done all the good for the daylily that it's going to. Container plants are less cold-hardy than those planted in the ground, but I bet yours come back without a problem.
I've been going through the same thing Ronni... trying to get the dead stuff all cleaned out. It's just depressing seeing all that brown stuff, huh? First thing I'd do... label the plants somehow while you can still recognize them. Then... depending on the plant I'd go ahead and cut them back, clip off the dead stuff. Around here, I've been told, it's okay to start this process after Valentine's Day. I've cleaned up the beds in the front yard, and will start on the back yard this weekend. We typically get another freeze in the first week or so of March, so I'm kinda taking my time doing just a little at a time. We've had an extremely cold winter also. And I'm really anxious to see what will come back and what is completely dead. Hoping your plants will bounce back!
OK cool, thanks for the info. Now I have a specific question. That creeping jenny, that is entirely brown..its runners have put their little roots down into the ground, which is why it "creeps" outward from the original plant, which was this tiny little thing when it started out, about the size of my fist. I don't know how to approach that one. I mean, I'm thinking in general terms with cutting back a plant to close to its roots, because the roots are where the new growth is generated, right? But in the case of a creeping plant that's shooting out runners, and those runners are putting down roots too, what do I do then? I hope that question made sense!
Ronni, Creeping Jenny is hardy here in zone 5 so I am sure it is not dead. I would leave it a little and wait for the plant to green up and then carefully trim off the brown parts. OR if it is very aggressive in your garden, take a rake to it LOL
#1...go ahead and cut all the dead stuff off. If it doesn't come back you still need to clean it up anyway, so you can plant something new. #2 I think they will be okay, hydrangeas are hardy here, but leave them be until you see growth. Then you can cut the dead or damaged parts off. Day lillies are pretty hardy, just lop off the dead foliage anytime. #2 I am not sure if it made it. just leave it be and if it comes back the leaves are small enough to not do much if any cleanup. #3 Liriope. This is tenacious, just cut off the foliage. they will come back fine. #4 Pieris Japicona? some of that may need trimmed back or pruned up, depending on what you want the plant to look like. Me? I would give it a lopping so all of the stems were similar in height so it doesn't get weedy looking. #5 Clematis...let it be for now. If there is dead foliage you can pick it off, but leave the stems/vines alone for now. #6 grass. cut it off and wait for it to come back. If it doesn't plant something else in there. Easy as pie. You just have to do the work. have a fun day out there.
This is awesome. Thank you so much Carolyn!! (The double #2's confused me for a minute, but then I figured it out!) # 4 isn't Pieris. When I have a minute I'll go dig out the name. I won't do anything with it till I do, in case it makes a difference. I don't think I'll be doing much in the garden this weekend. I'd planned to, but then found Paige could use a hand this weekend, because her husband will be gone on a work thing. And then two of my other grandkids have been bugging me nonstop to have a sleepover, so they'll be over, and hanging out with their cousins (they're actually a huge help with the babies) and then we have a Bridal Shower to attend tomorrow… Yeah, my weekend's pretty shot for anything having to do with being in the garden!
OK, I went and looked in my file for the name of this one. Carolyn, I think you guessed Pieris Japonica which I knew wasn't right, but I couldn't remember what was. I'm copying directly from the tag, here. "Spurge Ascot Rainbow Euphorbia x martinii" And here's a picture I found on the web of pretty much the way it looked when it was at its best. ( photo / image / picture from Ronni's Garden ) It got kind of leggy at one point, and y'all suggested I cut it back some, which I did, and that led to a bit more growth before the weather got cold. This was the picture I posted asking about it, and y'all told me to cut back that top stuff. Any advice on what I should do with it now that you know what it is?
