Wallin Farms
Greenhouses & Nursery
Growers of annuals
Winter Protection
...For Perennial Plants
We recommend the removal of fallen tree leaves and old foliage in late fall. Cut the old, spent plant foliage off about one inch above the ground or plant crown. Anytime after Christmas the ground should be frozen enough for your plants to have gone into dormancy. Lay several layers of cut up pine branches on top of your snow covered beds. Recycle your Christmas tree or have the branches cut and ready in the fall. When it thaws, the branches trap snow and shade the ground keeping the perennials at an even, cold temperature. Perennials need to freeze to go dormant to over-winter and produce blooms. We mulch them to keep them (cold) frozen through our late winter/early spring thaws. Applying winter protection early in the fall, before the ground freezes, will keep the perennials from going into dormancy. This could weaken the plant over time and give you less flowering and shorten the plant life. Perennials grow from a crown with roots anchored deeper in the soil. When the ground partially thaws during the day and refreezes at night, a heaving up and down action can break off the roots from the crown or start to grow. Refreezing many times can weaken the plant.
In this part of the country, we don't recommend a winter mulch of leaves, bark, straw, hay or sawdust, as this type of material holds too much moisture and the weight can mat down and suffocate the new spring growth.
Mice like to build nests in old, dry plant material, then spend the winter eating the tubers and crowns of perennial plants, we recommend removal of all old dead plant material to keep down disease, insect and mice damage.
Plan to leave your pine branches on until the ground has thawed and your plants have started to grow. Remove carefully by lifting off with a fork or lifting up and away, as new growth is tender.
Do Not Cut Back Ornamental...
grasses, hibiscus plant, sub shrubs (shrubs that are grown like a perennial), such as butterfly bush, until spring as pruning once the new growth starts encourages faster growth. On your grasses, please cut above the green as grass blades have no tips once cut.
Do not cut Tree Peonies. They are a deciduous shrub.
For Shrubs...
If your snow and ice load is heavy, you'll want to use wooden teepees for protection on your evergreens and shrubs, or tie together with binder twine to prevent breaking. Spray holly and evergreens with Wiltpruf in mid October and remember to water until the ground freezes. For small shrubs such as potentilla, small spireas, bring together, tie with binder twine in one to two places. They will look like towers. When the leaf buds start to break in the spring, cutoff 1/4 of the top and remove the twine. Your shrub will be thicker.
Rhododendrons...
If in a very windy location, wrap with burlap and tie with binder twine. Remove April first. Spray with Wilt Pruf in mid October. Use aluminum Sulfate once a year in the spring and we recommend a timed-released granular fertilizer 10-7-7 applied in the spring, midsummer and in the fall, as your plants will be making their flower buds for the next year as soon as they are done blooming.
Hydrangas...
Nicko Blue the 3 foot variety benefits from being covered with a bushel basket or a large piece of burlap to help the flower buds to over winter. Cut back only the dead stalks left after it leafs out of dormancy in late spring. Use Aluminum Sulfate once in the spring, and feed with the timed-released granular 10-7-7 Rhododendron food to achieve a very blue color. If you prefer pink blossoms, do not use the Aluminum Sulfate but instead apply dolomitic lime according to package directions and a good balanced timed-released fertilizer such as 10-10-10. Remember this is a sub shrub and does not come out of dormancy until mid-June. Peege Hydrangia the 6 to 8 foot shrub doesn't need this type of treatment nor can you change the color of its flowers which start out green, change to white, then pink and then bronze.
Rugosa Roses...
In April prune your Rugosa Rose branches back to about l/4th to promote a bushier plant. If your bush looks like it has long hairy legs with some leafing at the top, cut it back about 1/2 to rejuvenate it, also cut out any tall shoots that grow straight up, back to the limb or ground.
We recommend applying a granular combination of systemic and 8-12-4 timed released rose fertilizer worked into the soil and watered in every six weeks, with first application in the spring after the rose has leafed out, and the last fertilizer date in August (applying fertilizer after this date would promote new growth that does not have time to harden off for over wintering). Rugosa roses do not appear to like pesticides sprayed on their leaves, they will turn yellow, the systemic is taken up thru the roots and doesn't discolor the leaves.
In mid-September we recommend not cutting any more roses from your bush. Just pull off the petals leaving the rose hip on the branch for the birds. Pruning or cutting off flowers in the fall promotes new growth that doesn't have enough time to harden off and won't live over winter. Rugosa Roses are hardy shrubs that grow on their own roots and do not need winter protection.