Shhh...the Garden is Sleeping, Or is It?

This time of year is typically when most landscape gardens are cleaned up and, in many areas, put to bed for winter. Not so fast, Mother Nature says!

It's now official that the US Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone (PHZM) map has been updated the first time since 2012. The photo below is the newest map, based on temperatures from 1990 through 2020. To find your zone, click on the caption below the photo, and it will take you to the website where you can enter your zip code.

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map

In short, this map is a guide for growing perennials. The zone map is based on the average annual extreme temperatures in increments of ten degrees between each of zones 1 (coldest) to 13 (warmest), with five degrees separation between a further breakdown of half zones. When shopping plants, it makes it convenient for identifying perennials particularly, knowing your zone and making choices for those which might survive best. 

My new zone is now confirmed to be 7a, where the average minimum temperature is 0 to 5° above zero. Prior to this, we were pegged as a zone 6b, where the average minimum temperature was -5 to 0°. For several years now, our weather was more indicative of zone 7a, being as we live near the river, in the valley, and now it's confirmed. Of course, last year's arctic blast the week of Christmas was an outlier for all of us who experienced its decimation to our landscape plants.

So what does all this mean, in a nutshell? Well, it's just a guide. Landscape gardening (and farming, for that matter), is definitely a hope for tomorrow. There are too many factors to name which can influence our outcomes in planting, but Mother Nature ultimately decides when the garden sleeps and awakens. 

By early October, I had done most of the fall maintenance of cutting back perennials, leaving only a few to do in late winter, before spring growth. Summer annuals were replaced with pansies for fall - to over winter into early spring - along the front walkway and in the containers flanking the garage door.

Pansies, December 2023

My lawn was last mowed the third week of November. But y'all, things are still growing! It's been such a mild fall, and even though we've had several days of hard freezing temps scattered over the past two months, my grass could stand to be mowed one more time. And weeds? I'm still getting weeds! So yes, zone 7a it is. But let's back up and review how I've gotten to this place and what's next.

Landscape, November 2023

In my current cottage garden landscape, the past two years since we moved here have certainly been a new learning experience. Probably the biggest change was taking out a more than eighty year old pin oak the month we moved in (October 2021). This tree hovered over the entire house and landscape, threatening damage to the slate roof. We ultimately planted grass where the tree stood on the corner of the lot in two phases - fall 2021, with boxwood hedges and mulch along the corner of the lot, and then removing the boxwoods and mulch, planting all grass in fall 2022.

Landscape, Summer 2021

We cleared out the north side of the garden as well which, unfortunately, included the Hinoki cypress in the center of this section. I thought I wanted to keep it, but Mother Nature had a different plan, and it succumbed by winter 2023.

Before and After North Landscape Bed: (Top) August, 2021; (Bottom) May, 2023

Once our Hinoki cypress tree was removed last February, I focused on perennials in this section. Several had been transplanted from other areas of this landscape, so I waited and watched for growth and overall aesthetic in placement. Meanwhile, the house directly behind us went through a renovation, which included completely stripping out its original landscape. You may think you have control over your own landscape, but that can change in a skinny minute once surrounding plants are removed!

By mid-spring 2023, I was amending soil with each and every transplant and new perennial planting. My soil left a lot to be desired, and I attributed most of that to the 2015 renovation the previous owners carried out, as well as our removing the large pin oak. I ended up contracting with Davey Tree in April of this year to treat the grass we had previously amended in sections, trying to keep weeds at bay and maintain the grass health. The photo below was taken in June. You can see the sections of grass are not seamless. The left is pale (where the tree was), and the area nearest the mulch is greenest (the newest amendment at that point), while the section near the sidewalk was original and had a lot of weeds.

Landscape, May 2023

I also needed help in fertilizing my perennials, the boxwoods particularly, as the 2022 arctic blast really took a toll on them. I planned to be patient, but needed an assist. The photo below was taken in September 2023, and the house behind was nearly complete in its renovation (but not its landscape, other than grass). 

Landscape, September 2023

I contracted help again to amend that remaining original section of grass that abutted the sidewalk on the north side of the landscape in early October. 

Grass Amendment, North Landscape, October/November 2023

I had the grass and soil removed from that section, and top soil with compost mix added before planting grass. I was uncertain if the timing would be enough before a hard frost for the grass to grow in, but it turns out it's still growing! I also had a layer of compost and then mulch spread over ALL of my landscape planting beds, in an attempt to enrich my planting soil further.  

During 2023, I planted the following new perennials: a Purple Gem rhododendron...

...two schipkaensis (cherry laurel)...

...a clematis (Jackmanii)...

...more daisies and coneflowers, bee balm, dwarf butterfly, plus salvia, love-in-a-mist seeds, two types of guara and balloon flowers (not pictured).

Additionally, I divided and transplanted several lungwort, daffodils and woodland hyacinths. After eliminating most of the lily-of-the-valley (🤞) , I transplanted a spirea and three hydrangeas for better spacing.

I will have to wait until 2024 to see if the lungwort and daffodils did well in the transplanting. I mentioned the neighbor eliminated all landscaping in their renovation, and the lungwort may not survive due to the direct sun it gets in summer. It can take dappled sun, but is mostly a shade-loving plant. Maybe this will be where I plant sedum if the lungwort don't survive.

Also worth mentioning are plants transplanted and surviving/thriving in 2023: Cora Louise peony (moved fall 2022), a crepe myrtle volunteer, Wine & Roses weigela, and a Bobo hydrangea (the last three all moved in fall 2022 and again in spring 2023). 

Although weather and pests are always wild cards, so will my neighbor's new landscape plan be. As you can see, our property lines are butted right against each other, where their front yard is beside my north facing landscape bed. 

Regardless of what comes next, changes in the garden from year to year are definitely something I look forward to. The crepe myrtle and weigela did not bloom in 2023, so I'm anxious to see if they will in 2024. I will be contracting Davey Tree again for grass health in 2024, and probably perennial shrubs. Who knows what surprises 2024 will bring? In the meantime, I'll be scouting out zone 7a perennials I can add next year. I've purchased a couple more items to add to the hardscape for added structure in 2024, and I'll also be waiting and watching to see what the neighbor does!

Thanks for stopping by my little cottage garden today. If you'd like to see the more colorful side of my garden in 2023, you can revisit these posts, here and here. If you're a gardener, I'd love to hear what challenges you experienced in 2023 gardening, and what new plans you have for 2024. 

Rita C. at Panoply

Parties I Share With: Pieced Pastimes, Love Your Creativity, BNOTP, My Wee Abode, My Family Thyme, French Ethereal SYS,  Eclectic Red Barn TFT, Karin's Kottage, County Road 407 Farmhouse Friday