by carole

Every year at about this time, I update my winter rescue plan. I walk around the yard wrapped up against the cold and look carefully at what is in my garden and what is not. When I see something blooming I wonder whether I should add more of that plant. Then I decide what I can put in during the coming months that will bloom in next year’s cold. For me, it is a matter of emotional survival.

I don’t like the Middle Atlantic region’s cold. The fall chill arrives early, in 2011 it snowed in October. March and April have a few warm days but are very unpredictable. Too often it is cold and wet for many days of those months and sometimes it snows. I need something to cheer me up outside to get through it, through to May and time for gardening in earnest in my Zone 7 spaces.

The first year I lived in this house in Arlington, VA, I planted camellias, house-warming gifts from my friend Patty. I had always wanted to grow them since they are the state flower of Alabama, where I grew up. My neighbors added to their stocks, putting in more of the sasanqua variety, including some climbing camellias. Sasanqua are winter hardy and bloom from mid to late October through early January.

My camellias are japonicas, which have more dramatic blooms, but are not as winter hardy. They tend to bloom in January and continue until spring. I was careful to plant them next to the house and near a fence where they receive some protection from cold wind and hot sun. They have replaced some of my azaleas, which were all over the front and back yards. I am not crazy about them and even after removing some my yard still explodes with spring color.

Another plant I have been happy with is the hellebore, or Lenten rose. These evergreen plants were not expensive, bloom in winter and early spring, and are frost resistant. I purchased five of them and will buy more now that I see they are doing well here. I first learned about them when a friend brought a bouquet to me and I was surprised to see them. She lives in a home that is completely covered in shade from large trees. And hellebores love the shade.

And of course the crocus started blooming in January, wisps of purple and yellow running through the yard when I did not expect them. And there are many shoots coming up, tulips and daffodils, mainly.

This year I have another couple of winter bloomers on the wish list. Someone near me has a large bush of small yellow flowers that have bloomed for weeks in the dead of winter. This is a winter jasmine. It is non-fragrant, but sprays of bright yellow flowers that look like forsythia are a mood booster during cold days when nothing else is in bloom.
I also want to try winter daphne. This is an evergreen shrub with rose to pink flower buds that open to white. The plant is frost-tolerant and has fragrant flowers that bloom in winter to last until early spring. It grows best in full sun to part shade with well-drained soil that is somewhat acidic. Winter daphne does not tolerate dry soil does not care for transplanting. It grows in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 7 to 9.

The winter jasmine and daphne probably will replace more of the azaleas. By the time the azaleas are blooming in spring the warming days have rescued me from the winter blues. It is the coldest, darkest months that I need the soul salve of bright winter blooms.