Gardening Advice throughout the Seasons Articles | Gardening

It’s always a sad feeling when summer has ended and you garden that was once full of life seems sparse and empty. You tend to live through the winter waiting for a new season to come where the color and life that was present in your garden can return. It really doesn’t have to be this way. A winter garden can flow from a summer garden if it is planned carefully. You can even extend the entire season for your enjoyment. If you’re the kind who enjoys gardening, you don’t have to end it just because winter came through. Make your garden a winter/summer garden.

It’s a fact that a number of annuals and plants can’t cope with the winter weather but there are a number of plants and flowers which are hardy and which can make it through different seasons, hot or cold. If you plant carefully you’ll always have something in bloom, never forget the fact that there are certain vegetables which may be grown in summer and winter as well.

By carefully placing certain shrubs, trees, garden ornaments and stoned pathways that have borders through your yard, you will have created an environment of color for both the winter and the summer. Make sure that you select deciduous trees and shrubs in order to create interest the entire year. These plants have beautiful flowers in the summer and lovely foliage but they also have interesting bark designs and stem colors, fragrances and tall branches all year. They also make interesting backdrops for winter snow and summer greenery too. Evergreens make a wonderful choice as well. Their greens remain constant all year round. One other option is the red twig dogwood. These plants display beautiful white flowers during the summer and have stunning red twigs all year round.

Ground cover makes a great option for summer/winter gardening. You have a lot of ornamental ground flowers that you can select from. The Ajuga is a hardy and perennial plant, the bugleweed displays blue flowers in the early summer between its purple/green foliage which is beautiful, and it also lasts throughout the winter. English Ivy tends to grow well anywhere and anytime you find such plants.

You can go with scented plants as well. The Daphne shrub is one plant that has an everlasting perfume aroma. It produces pink or white flowers in winter and yellow berries in hot summer. The winter honeysuckle is another greater plant and provides a great scent and flowers with cream-colored blossoms against its great greenery in the winter.

Rhododendrons are wonderful bushes and they have some varieties which remain in bloom all year. There are certain types of hardy hibiscus which tend to blossom each season.

Certain vegetables are included and these vegetables grow in both warm and cold weather. Among these vegetables you have broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, peas and summer/winter squash. These vegetables will need little or no protection and they will survive well in properly drained soils. Just because winter has ended doesn’t mean your gardening display has ende