Winter Flower Garden

Creating a winter flower garden in many parts of the world might not actually be exactly how it sounds. Most winter flower gardens are simply preparations for spring blossoms. Preparing your flower beds for instance, composting, and planting bulbs that will start blooming in early spring are the standard activities involved in winter flower gardening.

Some parts of the world can have actually blooming flowers, trees, shrubs and plants in the winter time though, and the colder climates can enjoy winter flower gardening using indoor containers and pots. If you've thought it out ahead of time though, you may have many plants and shrubs outside which create interesting variations in your flower garden through the winter too. Trees, bushes or plants which have unusual looking bark or evergreen leaves for instance, make wonderful additions to a garden for winter time beauty.

Preparing your flower garden in winter usually involves doing some standard maintenance though. Turning the soil in flower beds for instance, so the worms and weather can help make the soil more fertile for next spring is one of the most common activities done in the winter flower garden. Creating compost is another.

To create compost in your winter flower garden, start in the late fall before you get the first hard freeze. Turn the soil in your flower garden beds and give them a good deep soaking of water. Then mix in a variety of organic materials that will slowly decompose over the winter. Great organic materials that can be added to your winter flower garden beds include shredded newspaper, wood chips and sawdust, coffee and tea grounds, and table scraps from your kitchen. Be sure you don't mix milk or meat products into your flower garden bed though, just scraps of vegetables and fruits.

Once you have a nice sized pile of organic material in your flower garden bed, mix it into the soil, then leave it through the winter. Next spring you will find some of the richest, most fertile soil in that flower bed.

Other activities involved in winter flower gardening involve sowing seeds which need to germinate through the winter so they'll bloom for you next spring. Some flowers and plants can't grow and bloom without this wintering period first, and this is an enjoyable way to do some winter flower gardening that will pay off in beautiful blooms within just a few months.

Many more activities can be done with winter flower gardening too. For instance some flowering shrubs are best pruned in the winter time. These include rose bushes and wisteria vines. Winter is also a good time to plant new bare root shrubs and trees, as well as evergreen and deciduous trees or shrubs because they're dormant this time of year.

Don't forget mulching activities for your winter flower garden too, especially if you have new perennial plants, shrubs, bushes or trees in your garden. Putting out extra mulch before the coldest periods hit is usually best, because this helps protect the more tender roots of new plantings. On severe cold days or nights, some of your plants and shrubs may need to be covered with a plastic or burlap bag to prevent frost damage to the leaves too.