How to Prepare your Flower Beds for Winter Weather

Colder months are approaching, and while it may seem a bit early, September is actually a good time to start preparing your flower beds for winter weather. October is often an unpredictable month—sometimes it can be very cold. If you want to be certain your flower beds are ready for the colder months, now’s the time to start working on weatherizing them. According to most experts, it shouldn’t take you more than a day to have your flowerbeds ready for the snow.

Start your winter weatherization by cleaning up your flower beds. Get rid of any weeds that have popped up, and remove any annuals that have bloomed and moved on. Don’t simply assume that the cold weather will kill off the weeds for you. In some cases, it won’t, and these weeds will then compete with your flowers for the diminished resources. Remember not to prune that much since this can encourage new growth, which is especially vulnerable to the cold. However, you do want to cut back your perennials, including any dead foliage. Leaving only a few inches of the plant is perfectly fine.

If you’ve got any bulbs that aren’t really hardy, such as gladiolus, you should take them out of the ground, let them dry for a few hours, and then store them in a cool location (a basement or garage are good choices). Note that if you don’t have a compost heap to add your clipped weeds and annuals to, now’s a great time to start one.

Preparing your roses for the cold is very important. By the end of August, you should stop pruning them so no new growth will appear. For climbing roses, either tie the stocks together with something like straw to provide some insulation or take them off their trellises and lay them on the ground. Otherwise, there’s a chance that either severe ice or strong winds could blow them down. After the first real frost of the season, be sure to water your rose bush so that there is plenty of water in the ground. Once the ground has frozen over, your roses will have to deal with whatever moister they have in the ground.

You may want to add a new layer of mulch to your flowerbeds if it looks like they need a little extra warmth. Mulch will keep the temperature of the soil more even, plus it will keep the roots of your plants warmer during the cold weather.

If you have any outdoor flowerpots that won’t deal with cold weather very well, remember to bring them indoors. Some cheap pots will actually crack if it gets too cold, and once the roots are exposed to the ice and snow, your flowers aren’t going to last very long. If you don’t have room for them in your home, at least put them in the garage.

Finally, although you’re preparing for winter, don’t forget that the fall is also a good time to plant for the spring. It’s a great time to plant new winter annuals, shrubs, perennials, and trees. Some plants, like snapdragons and pansies, thrive when planted in the fall. Remember to plant them before the soil gets too cold, though.