Being Green: Planning Your Garden

“The garden sleeps, but the gardener plans.” Wise words I recently read from the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs. Let’s start planning our gardens and collecting seeds for springtime.  

​​​Planning can be overwhelming. Try concentrating on one, small area of your garden. You may want to develop a border, plant a pollinator garden, develop your perennials or concentrate on annuals. Maybe you want to start a garden in a sunny or shady spot. Using native plants is always recommended.  

What do we mean by native plants? They are plants growing in a particular habitat or region, well adapted to our climate, light and soil conditions. Not only should you try for native plants, but planting deer-resistant ones makes for an easy, carefree garden. Some of the natives I’ve had success with are butterfly weed, columbine, echinacea, liatris and bee balm. Bee balm is in the mint family, so plant it where you don’t mind it spreading. The butterflies and other pollinators love it, too. All these plants, except columbine, require sun. I have columbine on the east side of my house, and it seems to do well. 

One of the best deer-resistant plants I grow is hellebore. It does well in part shade, comes in a variety of colors and blooms in early spring. The garden club has it planted in the Seymour Smith School Garden, and we’ve seen it bloom from springtime right through to early summer. You may also want to try cranesbill, commonly called perennial geranium. I have it on the south side of my garden as a border plant. It’s planted under a New Dawn rambling rose. Because it’s tucked under the rose, it can tolerate light shade. Other deer-resistant plants include brunnera and pulmonaria. These are also on the east side of the house, and I particularly like the foliage. Brunnera has a silvery leaf, and pulmonaria has speckles with a small purple flower topping the stem.

There are several seeds that require cold stratification, which means the seeds require a temperature change to trigger the end of a dormancy period. Plan to cold stratify your poppy seeds, larkspur, nigella, bells of Ireland, scabiosa, butterfly weed, and hollyhock. For small seeds, place them on a damp paper towel and store in the refrigerator two to four weeks before you plant them. Butterfly weed needs three to six weeks of cold. For larger seeds, place them in moist sand, peat moss or vermiculite. Store them in a plastic bag or container in the refrigerator. I’ve been told by my garden club members that you can sprinkle poppy seeds on the snow. But buy extra seeds because you might be sharing with your bird friends.   

Let’s not forget the ornamental grasses. The grass adds texture to the garden. I use the seed heads in floral arrangements. Last year was my first attempt planting a grass specimen. So far, my dwarf zebra miscanthus is surviving the winter and the deer. Standby, winter isn’t over yet. The deer have already pulled out my holiday greens I had in pots and started munching on the wreaths I have under my windows. I guess deer are preferable to bears. But, that’s another article. Enjoy your seed catalogs and think spring.