Winter's Embrace

It's time now to put our leafy pals to sleep for a long winter's nap. With container gardens this is particularly important since our green friends don't have the warmth of the earth to protect them from the ravages of old man winter. 

1. Wrapping your pots with burlap will give the root systems of your plants added insulation. Cold air that swirls around the container can freeze any roots that come in contact with the sides. Mulching the surface will also protect our verdant companions from winter's icy embrace.

2. For those extremely cold nights, put a tent of burlap or bubble wrap over the pots to trap heat, but remove as soon as the temperatures begin to rise. When using bubble wrap for this purpose, do not leave on too long as it does not breath like natural bires do and can promote fungle growth. If you are worried about your potted trees, wrapping the truck with burlap will help them manage those bitter winds in January, especially outdoor palms.

3. Moving your pots against the wall of the building will also help, as it will both shelter them from the weather and provide a bit of radiated heat from the building itself.

So there you have it, tuck your container garden to bed and wish it sweet dreams through the long night of winter.

Time to break out the Suet Blocks

With winter soon approaching, it’s time to get out our suet cages and hang some suet blocks for our wee feathered friends. Suet is traditionally used as a substitute for insects birds would normally eat during the summer. It is a lard based quick source of high energy and heat. It is very clean with no feeders to clean and no mess left underneath. It will attract Jays, Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Nuthatches and more to your yard. Prices start at $1.97 per block. We currently stock 4 varieties: Nutty Mix, Berry Punch, Woodpecker Mix, and Raisin Crunch.

Winterizing Bananas and Palms

Now is the time to winterize your hardy palms (windmill variety) and bananas. Bananas should always be protected regardless of age or size. Windmill palms should be protected as long as they are still a manageable size to do so. Older, well established tall palms are nearly impossible to wrap but by this stage they are strong enough to withstand our winters.

Bananas
• Cut the stalk underneath the lowest leaf. On tall bananas this could be quite high. Compost leaves.
• Using rebar or wooden stakes, tall enough to go above the stalks, surround the banana.
• Use chicken wire or strong plastic netting to go around the stakes making a round cage.
• Back fill with dry straw or leaves raked from your property. Fill the cage all the way over the top of
the tallest stalk.
• Some people do this only and others will cover the whole cage with a tarp. If you use a tarp be sure to weight it down so it stays in place during strong winter winds.
• You may opt out of building a cage and instead mound your dry filler over the stalks and underneath
over the roots. Then use a landscape fabric over top to keep it all in place and again, weight it down to prevent it from blowing off.

 
Hardy Palms in the ground
• Begin by gathering all the palm fronds together in your arms so they point to the sky. This means a
great big bear hug! Often it can take two people. Tie them securely with a non-binding tie such as
panty hose or a knitted scarf. This will prevent the tie from cutting into the fronds and damaging them.
• Using long sections of burlap, begin from the bottom of the trunk wrapping doing 3 revolutions all the way up to the top including all the fronds. Secure the top well to prevent it from unraveling.
• Mulch underneath around the roots with straw or lawn raked leaves. Cover this with landscape fabric to prevent it from blowing away.

Hardy Palms in containers
• Move the pot to a spot sheltered from wind. In a corner or under deck roofs are good choices.
• Fronds can still be gathered together and burlap wrapped.
• Purchase a large sheet of bubble wrap and wrap the pot only. This helps insulate the roots from the
effects of winter freezing.
• Water only as needed over the winter months. This will be probably only 2 or 3 times. Water well
when you do.

These steps should protect your plants in the months ahead. In early spring the wraps can be removed. Usually this is any where from late March to mid April weather depending.