The first storms of the winter season have left us with a holiday bonus. Fallen evergreen boughs, branches and berries are ripe for the plucking as you gather the debris from your lawn and garden beds. From plant protection to Christmas decoration there’s a lot of good things you can do with storm debris.
Winter Protection
Nature’s insulation from freezing weather is as close as the cedar and fir boughs that were blown from the trees in the latest storm. Gardeners stuck indoors due to shorter days and colder weather have an excuse to get outside and get moving by collecting fallen leaves, evergreen boughs and other debris to layer on top of tender plants this week. The ground will be kept warmer by just an inch or two of insulation layered over the roots of tender plants such as salvia, hardy fuchsia, lavender, canna, mums, and eucomis or pineapple lily. Fallen leaves protect plants from freezing weather while fallen cedar limbs repel water and protect rot-sensitive plants from too much rain in the root zone. Plants such as salvia and lavender that insist on good drainage will welcome an umbrella of cedar this month.
Christmas gone Green
There is another use for storm debris that is catching on with cities that want to go green and savvy private citizens. Instead of stringing lights and purchasing shiny ornaments, use the branches of cedar boughs to make garlands and evergreen bits from a mix of plants to fill the empty containers and hanging baskets that once festooned the summer garden. Window boxes can be stuffed with drooping cedar and upright holly while the colorful but leafless stems of coral bark maple or red twig dogwood can be poked into potting soil to add a colorful accent line to rise above the evergreen color.
Three Steps to Dirt Cheap Winter Color
Step one: Start with the tallest branches in the center or a pot or back of a window box. If you don’t have branches from white barked birch or red twig dogwood you can substitute curly willow, filbert or any bare branch with an interesting texture. The bare branches will give the container display scale and height so try to cut them long enough so that once inserted into the soil they are two thirds as tall as the container.
Step two: Add evergreens to fill in around the bare branches. This is the time to prune holly, leucothe, pieris japonica, camellia or mahonia if the winds did not deposit a bounty of evergreens for your display. Any plant that has berries will add color so snip away at barberry, cotoneaster, snowberry and kinninick if you can’t find enough holly with red berries.
Step three: Save the drooping form of our native Western cedar for the front of your containers or to display all along the edge of a pot. Allow the cedar to hide the stems of the other evergreen and spill forth from the rim of the pots. You can cut up cedar bits and wire it to picks or other branches as this tough evergreen will not wilt or dry out if the cut end is not in moist soil. Cedar is the most durable of our native evergreens once the branches are cut from the plant. Avoid using native hemlock in displays as the needles fall from cut hemlock as soon as the bough begins to dry.
Accents the Finishing Touch
Add extra bits of color and texture using anything that is weather proof. Pinecones and seed heads are traditional, red yarnbows adds a country touch while theme displays using anything from metal cookie cutters to a collection of nut crackers will add a personal touch.
Going green and going natural this winter has one more advantage – your outdoor holiday display can fill the voids and should continue to look fresh through out the chilly month of January. Then when you are ready for spring you won’t have to worry about storing the holiday display. Your collection of evergreens, bark and berries can go right into the compost pile.
