Winterizing your garden in the pacific northwest

We’re well underway into the winter season, and unlike the ‘ice-apocalypse’ of 2024, it’s been quite a mild anomaly. We’ve been able to kick back and glide through this dormant season in the garden with ease. Yet, things can shift on a dime and allegedly there is a cold front and snow forecasted for the Portland metro this week. Given this constant threat, we thought it would be a good time to reflect on different strategies for ‘winterizing’ our gardens, and drop a few reminders of late winter maintenance coming up soon.

Winterize your Garden

Nourish your winter garden and make sure to ‘tuck it in’ for a long winter’s nap. Mulch is the key tool in preparing the soil and plants for the year. Putting mulch down in winter helps stabilize soil temperature and helps plants uptake moisture even when the temperature dips. As severe weather events rip through our region, a few extra precautions can be exercised: wrapping plants with burlap, landscape fabric, or covering with cardboard to protect against subfreezing winds. Our friends at Xera call out Grevillea, Gardenia, Cistus and Ceanothus as genera that would benefit from these precautions. They mentioned a specific technique of covering new plantings with cardboard boxes.

“for small plants that were just installed, I put a cardboard  box over the plants. Small unestablished plants, even very hardy plants including natives can succumb to a severe freeze if they haven’t stretched roots into the ground. Weight down the box with a rock or a brick and remove immediately when temperatures stay above 32ºF.”

Planting in Winter

These colder months are a great time to plant more cold tolerant species and transplant while plants are dormant. As long as the ground is not freezing, you’ll be good to go on planting, but during long dry spells, make sure to give the young plants a little drink of water.

Late Winter Pruning

The late winter prune before the first flush of spring growth is critical for plant’s success. Particularly the ornamental grasses (i.e. Miscanthus, Pennisetum, Hakonechloa, etc), need a deep cut to the base of the plant to ensure room for all the new growth to emerge in a few short weeks. This is also a good time to make sure all of last season’s perennials are cut back to the ground, and dogwood/willow shrubs are cut back every other year to enjoy the fresh growth on the colorful woody stems.

Celebrate Winter Color in the Garden

While it may seem like the most subdued season of the garden, there are many incredible colors and textures to celebrate in these cooler months. The famous Dutch plantsmith, Piet Oudolf, has gorgeous documentary about the beauty of the winter season to enjoy indoors while you’re dreaming of gardens. We have so many incredible species with winter flare to highlight in the Northwest. Here is a great list of some native plant with winter interest to get you started on your winter garden journey.

Ready to design your dream winter garden? We’d love to connect and hear your vision!