The winter months are the perfect time to start thinking about gardening and planning ahead for what you want to see blooming in your spring and summer garden. It’s also a perfect time to think about experimenting with new or unusual plants for all your garden spaces.
For me this season, it’s the small rectangular strip of garden enclosed in brick that leads to the west side of my front door. It is a narrow garden space – only a foot wide and 5 feet long. It was originally a rather unsightly and dangerous home for thorn bushes – a holdover from the house’s previous owners. It didn’t take me long to say goodbye to those spiky garden plants.
At the moment it is barren ground. But it served as host to several small Christmas trees during the last holiday season. In a way, its space is like a window box plant area, only on the floor. When adorned with seasonal plants, it will be a great conversation piece for guests.
This week, the space will be planted with some cool-weather flowers that garden authorities say can “stand up to colder temperatures like violets, pansies and spring onions. I place small evergreen shrubs at either end of this tiny garden. I call the shrubs “bookend” plants.
I’m looking for a large flowering plant to place in the center of this room – maybe purple and white irises or maybe foxgloves. Petunias – always so dependable – and Gloriosa Daisies and Cosmos will be a must. The wall is red brick so I want a colorful, welcoming theme for this small garden.
What I love about this little garden area is that it’s going to be so low maintenance and has always had positive comments from visitors, even if its residents were these spiky bushes. Last summer I planted some veggies just because this space is so close to the kitchen. I called it a “step saver” garden.
In planning this article, I also took great advice from Linda Vater, a prominent Oklahoma City gardener whose beautiful book The Elegant and Edible Garden is a goldmine of gardening ideas and tried-and-true advice for starting her garden from scratch and their personal gardening experiences.
Micki J. Shelton is a Muskogee Native and master gardener.
