Garden Tasks for Winter (December - January)

Yes, there are many things to do to keep your garden beautiful, even in the winter.  

Preparations

• Dig organic matter into clay soils.
• Protect slightly tender perennials with straw or compost.
• Brush heavy snow off limbs to avoid snapping branches.

Planting

• Plant deciduous trees, shrubs, and hedges on dry, frost-free days, unless the soil is very wet.

Pruning

• Prune trees (except for plums and cherries) and wisteria.
• In late winter, coppice shrubs for special effects like color stems or foliage.
• In windy gardens, prune back the topgrowth of tall shrubs to prevent windrock.

Other Tasks

• Check stored dahlias, cannas, and gladioli, and remove any that show signs of rotting.
• Wrap up pots with bubble wrap and cover vulnerable plants with fleece if frost is forecast.
• Continue to take hardwood cuttings of deciduous shrubs.
• Take root cuttings of perennials.
• Continue to rake leaves off the lawn.
• Keep off lawns and soil when sodden or frozen.
• Check and repair garden tools.
• Begin making plans for next year's garden.

This list was found in Learn to Garden: A Practical Introduction to Gardening.  I did modify the list a little.   

Mandevilla, how it's holding up.

First, here are the pictures showing how bad it is looking. (see blog titled "My Mandevilla" for more info on this plant)

November

All the fallen leaves and flowers

compared to

When I first put it outside after its first winter.

September. 

Here are a few pictures of it's new growth (may be hard to see though).

My Mandevilla

This summer was my first year growing a mandevilla vine.  The one pictured below was given to my family when my mom passed away in 2010.  My step-dad kept it for the first year and gave it to me this year.  It did wonderfully on my patio where it got full sun.  Below are some pictures I took of it while it was still outside.


I knew that it would again have to come inside for winter, but this time it was staying at my house.... and I have two cats who will eat all plants, real or fake.  I also noticed that the plant had little yellow aphids living on it.  So I took a trip to Home Depot and picked up some pet friendly pesticide and sprayed the plant about 3 times.  It was outside until it got down to about 50 degrees F.


When I brought it in, I put it in the sunniest room I could.  However, it soon lost almost all leaves and began to look dead, not sure if the pesticide had anything to do with it.  I bought it a grow light to help provide more light since it no longer gets direct sun.  We keep the house around 73 degrees F.  It still didn't seem to perk up.  I have read many accounts of people cutting their mandevilla back for winter and letting it go dormant.  I figured mine probably did go dormant.


but.....


Just yesterday I looked closely at it and saw a few new baby leaves!!!  I'm just glad to know its still alive and well.  I did not want to have to wait until spring to find out if I killed it.  I'll add some pictures of how it looks, without all its leaves... its pitiful and sad looking.