Happy Solstice!
It’s my most-favorite winter day: The Winter’s Solstice. It marks the shortest day in the year but to me it’s the day I say, “Spring is coming!” I bet you’re looking forward to spring as well. The weather has literally been “for the birds!” We’re in the middle of another freeze here in Seattle – highly unusual for us in the month of December – this usually happens in January. Ugh. BUT, I’m not able to complain much in comparison to the rest of the country is heading into an epic winter “event.” Ugh x 2. See below for some advice if you are concerned about your miniature garden plants.
Light It Up!
So, what to do? Get the lights out! I think I’ve used all the light strings in the entire house this year. For the miniature gardens, those rice lights are just too fun to have around. Some sets you can change from all white to red, green & blue at the touch of a button. Others have timers to turn on for 8 hours and then shut off until the same time tomorrow. The tiny light strings are perfect for any miniature garden. You can find them just about anywhere these days at a very reasonable price. We have a rechargeable battery set-up so we can light them up relatively guilt-free. Highly recommended.
And About Your Outdoor Miniature Gardens
If you’ve paid attention to the #1 rule for gardening: ‘right plant for the right place,’ then your plants and miniature gardens will be okay during the winter, even in epic weather events. Here’s a quick recap to make sure you’re doing all you can for your little worlds:
- Leave the snow on the plants, it acts like an insulator.
- In-ground miniature gardens “should” be okay the earth is an insulator as well.
- If you have some marginal plants (plants that may not survive that extra dip in the temperature,) you can cover them with a plastic pot or bucket for the duration of the event. Make sure to uncover them afterwards – or during the day when the temperatures are a little warmer.
- For anything in a container, it’s usually the pot that is at risk, rather than the plants.
- Gather them together. Single pots freeze much faster than a group of them. Take down any hanging pot.
- Wrap them in burlap, frost covers, landscape cloth or sheets.
- Bring the containers close to the house, in a covered garage or under an eave (make sure they get water,) this can add-up to 10 to 20 degrees warmer than the outside temps.
- You can also use fallen boughs as a cover too, just lay the branches gently on the plants or containers.
- Some gardeners say to resist watering but you want the rootball to be frozen, not freeze dried. You can tell by looking at the top of the soil – it kinda looks like freezer burn.
- If the plant looks dead, leave it be for now. It may come back to life when the weather warms up.
- Have your own tip? Leave it below in the comments!
Again, it’s all about making the weather event less of a shock to what the plants are used to – however that works for you. I’m always amazed at how well our Two Green Thumbs‘ plants do during our extreme weather events here in Seattle. They handle it much better than I do and they even look plump, green and lovely, like they are enjoying it! :o)
Want to bring your miniature garden indoors for a party or centerpiece? Click here, it will open another page on this blog.
Got a question? Let me know in the comments below.
Want to see more Solstice gardens? Click here, it will open another page on this blog.
Want to make your own Miniature Stonehenge? Click here, it’ll open another page on this blog.
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