Have you taken a walk in your garden lately?
This winter has brought us quite a few ‘firsts’ in our garden. For those readers living in the northern states, plants that are hard dormant are a fact of life. For us, however, this January was the first time in 20+ years that I have seen hard dormancy in many plant species in our USDA Zone 7 garden.
It’s a scary sight to unaccustomed eyes. On a warmish day, one may be quite tempted to pull back leaf cover and maybe even dig a little. Just a little, to check if plants are still there. Trust me, they are. Give them a little time and they will pop right back up and will thank you if you have not disturbed their roots. But even if you did dig a little, they will most likely pop right back up as soon as the sun comes out.
I couldn’t resist and dug a little in one of my beds. ALL the greenery had completely frozen and disappeared from these iris plants in January – look, they are peeking back out already.