Countryside Corner
Neighborly Garden News
Issue 141
January 2024
Dear readers; please visit our website: www.countrysidelandscape.net for the safety measures we have in place during this pandemic.
7 Garden trends to try in your yard for 2024!
A few bright and beautiful ideas to spark your garden creativity! Gardeners want to create a space that will look and feel like an extension of their home. It’s not only how good the garden looks, but how good it makes you feel.
PINK FLOWERS
Barbie core is THE trend going forward from the blockbuster film of 2023! All things pink is trending hot right now. Hot pink flowers are surging in popularity for 2024. Reliable perennials like Coneflowers, Peonies, and tall garden Phlox can provide weeks of hot pink flowers year after year.
COLOR OF THE YEAR 2024-PEACH FUZZ!
Peach Fuzz evokes feelings of comfort, warmth, and softness, according to Pantone, which chooses a color each year based on emerging trends across a range of industries, from entertainment to fashion to new technologies. Some peachy colored flowers to try: Astilbe ‘Peach Blossom’, Rose ‘At Last’, Peony ‘Coral Charm’, Achillea ‘Firefly Peach Sky’. Bring some softness and comfort into your yard.
GOTH GARDENING
Goth garden design elements often contain plants with dramatic black, burgundy, and deep purple colored foliage. These standout plants allow for some unusual, one-of-a-kind gardens that emphasize the dark leaves in contrast to other garden plants and structures.
GO FOR EDIMENTALS IN THE GARDEN
Ornamental edibles=edimentals! Edimentals can be annuals, perennials, trees, or shrubs. Harvesting becomes a bit like foraging as plants are dispersed around your garden, instead of only one designated area. Another benefit for incorporating edimental plants, they will also attract pollinators. Nasturtiums and chives are easy and fun for beginners to try. Scarlet Runner beans and cucumbers would be fun to grow for their vining and flowering.
POLLINATOR SUPPORT
The trend for creating pollinator gardens and leaving some ‘wild edges’ in your yard has been going strong for several years now. We can fine tune our support of pollinators beyond installing native plantings. We can ensure that pollinators have access to food throughout their lifecycle by choosing plants that bloom at different times. This small step could have a big impact on the pollinators in your area.
STRATEGIC LIGHTING
Thoughtful garden lighting can add some ambiance to your outdoor space, and make it a more inviting place to entertain in. Clever lighting can also highlight the winter beauty of the bare plants and any garden structures you may have. Think moody shadows cast on pure white snow…
CONTAINER GARDENING
This trend is one that will never fade! Container gardening is perfect for smaller yards, or if you have limited time to commit for a bigger garden. No matter your reason, gardening in pots, boxes, troughs or 5-gallon pails, it’s good to be able to grow wherever you are. Container gardens needn’t be limited to summer only, winter gardens with evergreens or even a simple deciduous shrub make interesting subjects for wintertime displays.
January’s to-do list
As I begin to compose this month’s newsletter, I’m struck by my longing for snow. I’m generally not a ‘winter person’, and do not gravitate towards winter activities that involve touching snow. Yet here I am, 5 days before Christmas wishing for the snow of years past. It seemed unnatural to receive over 5 inches of rain last Monday, when we should have seen 5 inches of snow.
Despite cold and frosty nights there are still active ticks present! I found one crawling up my arm last night a few hours after my puppy had some outdoor playtime. I can’t even begin to emphasize how unusual this prolonged tick activity is, at this time of the year. According to UMASS extension, the Black legged tick, or Deer tick, can be active all winter providing temperatures are above freezing. So, unless we get some seriously cold weather that stays cold through the entire day, the threat of tick bites will continue.
With the extended mild weather, the ground has not frozen yet. Bear in mind that wet soil is easily compacted if it gets a lot of foot traffic. Limit walking on your garden beds to avoid this happening, until the soil stays firm and frozen. If you’ve had problems with voles gnawing your shrubs and perennials over the winter, there is still time to apply vole repellent to help protect your plants.
January, and throughout the winter, is a good time to perform corrective pruning and shaping of your trees. You have a clear view of the whole tree and needn’t worry about oozing sap. Fruit and ornamental trees need annual pruning to keep them healthy. Most fruit trees have a very vigorous nature and can grow quickly. Pruning helps channel that energy into fruit production, by eliminating extraneous twiggy growth, and poorly shaped branches. Overgrowth, too dense a canopy, and letting water sprouts develop, all can contribute to a tree’s decline. Always remove any dead or diseased wood; during winter storms these weak spots can tear off, and cause greater damage, than if they were preemptively pruned.
Were insects attacking your trees and shrubs last season? Dormant oil spraying is a very low impact, yet highly effective way to manage insect pests on many fruit, and ornamental trees and shrubs. Many pests overwinter as eggs or juveniles on the dormant plant. Spraying smothers these pests before they can emerge in the spring. ‘Horticultural oil’, as it is known, is an ultra-fine grade product with the consistency of water, odorless, and will not harm non- targeted insects or mammals.
Brighten up your indoor space! Cut branches of forsythia, quince, and pussy-willow to force indoor blooms. This is a fun STEM craft to do with kids; it shows how plants move water through their stems, without the help of roots (even when they look dead). Arrange cut branches in a deep heavy vase, and bring into a warm room, to slow development put them in a cooler room overnight. It takes between 4-7 days to force cut branches into bloom and will last about 2 weeks if kept cool.
By the end of this month, we will have noticeably more daylight. It will be a relief to be seeing more daylight, and your houseplants will sense this shift back into the light, also. Begin to feed your houseplants half-strength doses of fertilizer. Using a weak solution, on a weekly basis is the way to gently encourage your houseplants out of dormancy. I’ve noticed some scale insects here and there on my house plants and have had to apply a systemic insecticide for those stubborn insects. With increased light levels, insects on houseplants may be expected to make a resurgence. Check the undersides of leaves for any signs of infestation and remove any dead leaves and debris that might hide insect eggs.
Need a hand with winter chores? Contact our office: info@countrysidelandscape.net (413) 458-5586
Colorful Winter Berries- for our feathered friends!
This year was a great year for our native Winterberry Holly. It grows wild here in MA and is commonly found at the edges of streams and marshes, and frequently grows in standing water. You could see great stands of holly, bearing vivid red fruit in late fall this year, as I drove around the county. The wild Ilex verticillata is a very tall shrub; slowly growing to 8-12 ft tall x 12 ft wide. Fortunately, breeders have selected exceptional cultivars for shorter and more manageable characteristics, and they are readily available, including a delightful variation on the typical red berries; ‘Winter Gold’ has luscious golden fruit.
Ilex verticillata ‘Winter Gold’
An often-overlooked plant that sports interesting berries is the Juniper. Juniper berries can help birds withstand severe winter weather and cold. They provide food and a wind and snow-proof shelter for birds. Eastern Bluebirds, Evening Grosbeaks, Cedar Waxwings, Grouse and Turkeys, are only a few of the many species that feed on Juniper berries. Some folks even like to forage juniper berries for use in cooking and herbalism; juniper berries are one of the key ingredients in fine Gin. The Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) and the Common Juniper (Juniperus communis) offer many selections to add beauty and berries to your yard. Fun Fact: the Common Juniper has the widest geographical range of any woody plant, with a circumpolar distribution throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere. 
Juniperus virginiana berries
Beautyberry (Callicarpa spp) produces fruit in a very unusual shade of violet, that will persist after the leaves drop creating an eye-popping show of bright color. The berries are produced along the stems in bold clusters. Small white flowers are very attractive to pollinators, and many species of birds love to eat the fruit. Beautyberry is considered pest resistant, and not browsed by deer. The best berry production will be in well drained and sunny sites. Because it fruits on new growth, hard pruning each spring to 6” above the ground is recommended. There is also a variety that bears white fruit.
Beautyberry
Washington Hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum) is a small native tree that produces many small persistent fruits, very attractive to wildlife. Washington Hawthorn prefers full sun but will also grow in partial shade. It tolerates urban pollution, prefers well-drained soil, and is pH adaptable. Because it is thorny and tolerates extensive pruning, it can be grown as a hedge for a screen or security, planted in small groups, as a specimen in a lawn, or a street tree. Hawthorn trees attract a long list of birds. Most species of Hawthorn typically feature thorny stems, making them an attractive nesting/shelter option for many birds. If you are having problems with hawks picking off birds at your feeder, planting a thorny Hawthorn tree near the feeder may alleviate your problem, as the at-risk birds can take refuge in a place where no hawk would dare to dive into.
Washington Hawthorn
Thinking ahead…
January would be very bleak with all the bare trees and deep snow, if not for our evergreens we would only see a world of black and white during the winter. So many different species of evergreen will grow in our area; there is a wide color and textural palette to choose from.
Abies fraseri the Fraser fir is a hearty native evergreen tree. It is prized for its very uniform shape, dark blue-green needles, and graceful upward turned branches. Fraser fir is the #1 Christmas tree species in the USA. This evergreen is related to the Balsam fir and thrives in cool temperatures. Fraser firs prefer consistently moist and well-drained soil, with a full or partial sun exposure. Considered a slow growing tree; grows to 30-40 ft tall, x 20-25 ft wide.
Fraser fir
Juniperus chinensis the Chinese juniper has been used as a garden plant for centuries, and there are numerous cultivars. There is a size and shape for almost any application, from ground cover plantings, to hedges and screens or single specimens. Chinese juniper needs full sun exposure to do their best, and will tolerate a wide range of soil pH.
Juniperus chinensis ‘Sea Green’
Pinus strobus, the Eastern White Pine, is native to our New England woods. It is adaptable to a wide variety of growing conditions. In the wild White Pine can be found in bogs or dry rocky ridges, it prefers direct sun exposures, but can tolerate some light shade. Needle bundles are grouped on 5’s, and long and slender, bluish green. P. strobus maintains its soft plume-like appearance through the trees’ youth. It is considered fast growing, reaching 50-75 ft tall x 20 ft wide in 25-40 years.
Pinus strobus
Pieris floribunda or ‘Mountain Pieris’ is a native broad-leaved evergreen. A great candidate for a partly sunny or shady area, it has long lasting panicles of creamy-white fragrant flowers that bloom in April. Pieris floribunda is also called: Lily of the Valley shrub. Mountain Pieris is more adaptable to higher pH soils than other broad-leaved evergreens. Depending on the variety, grows 2-6’ tall.
Pieris floribunda
Picea pungens glauca ‘Globosa’ is the dwarf blue spruce. This is a natural dwarf form of a US native tree. Dwarf blue Spruce has a broad rounded form. Just the right plant when you’d like a touch of blue in your garden. Dwarf blue spruce prefers full sun, and moist soil with good drainage. A very hardy shrub, it is more drought tolerant than other species of spruce. Dwarf blue spruce grows medium-slow to 3’ tall X 4’ wide.
Picea pungens glauca ‘Globosa’