WHEN the weather is drizzly and grey, stepping outdoors to engage with the garden is one of the most morale-boosting things we can do. It’s a known fact that a spell in the garden triggers the body’s endorphins – ‘happy’ hormones.
Here are some top tips to lighten winter moods and save sanity.
Fill pots and baskets with colour A colourful display of pots and plants is a quick and easy way to cheer up an entranceway or outdoor living space and is an enjoyable any-weather activity, preferable to digging wet winter soil.
Fill pots with polyanthus, cyclamen or pansies for instant winter colour. Tough, tolerant and long flowering Flower Carpet® roses are among the best choice for pots and grasses also look fabulous in containers.
Plan and prepare a kitchen garden Growing vegetables is one of the most satisfying aspects of gardening, even if it’s just a fresh supply of nutritious greens. In warm areas gardeners can grow cabbages, broccoli and winter lettuces. Peruse seed catalogues for exciting varieties that can’t be bought in the supermarket.
If the ground is too wet for digging, build ‘no-dig’ beds with layers of compost, straw and other organic matter. Culinary herbs can be grown in just a few pots, located in a sunny place close to the kitchen.
Think roses Disease resistant Flower Carpet® roses are ideal for gardeners who don’t wish to spray or engage in time-consuming pruning. Simply shear them back with the hedge trimmers, once a year in winter. Recently released Flower Carpet roses, known as the ‘Next Generation’, include the varieties Scarlet and Amber, which are exceptionally heat and humidity tolerant.
Bring the garden indoors Filling a vase with treasures picked from the garden is a satisfying and creative way to spend a wintry day. Twigs and seed heads look lovely as indoor decoration.
Berries and fruit with their glossy colourful glow make fabulous long lasting arrangements, as do winter flowers such as hellebores, camellias and daphne. Evergreen magnolias, puriri, puka, and flax provide magnificent vase foliage any time of year.
Plant a fragrant garden
There’s nothing like a waft of garden perfume to lift winter spirits and some of the most evocative scents come in winter and early spring. New Zealand bred Fairy Magnolias® michelia hybrids produce masses of richly fragrant flowers on a neatly compact little evergreen with glossy green foliage.
