CHAPTER XXI 



Winter Protection 



Leaf Coverings — Protecting Lilies and Roses — Windbreaks for 

 Trees and Shrubs — Covering Tender Plants — ^Facts About Frost 



THAT plants or shrubs may withstand the cold, we protect them; 

 but it is mainly to shield them from the Winter sun. Some 

 plants may be heaved from the soil by frosts; when thoroughly 

 protected such heaving does not take place. 



Many of the perennials are benefited by a protection in Winter. 

 The sort of protection perennials need is one which will shield them 

 from Winter and earliest Spring suns, which start the plants into 

 growth only to be frozen again when the sun has set. This alternate 

 freezing and thawing is the main cause of Winter injury to shrubs as 

 well as perennials. The proper protection, then, is a hght layer of 

 straw or manure or leaves applied after the tops have been killed by 

 frost. 



Leaf Coverings 



It is usually better to wait until the ground is a little frozen before 

 applying the Winter mulch. It prevents a premature start in Spring, 

 due to a slight heating caused by fermentation. Perennials which 

 retain their leaves through the Winter, as well as biennials and Sweet 

 Wilham, Heuchera and many others, are best covered with straw or 

 leaves, but not manure, which often disfigures the foHage due to its 

 decay. An excellent method, however, is to cover the beds with 



Straw or Reed Mats 



It is a fairly easy matter to manufacture a good, stout reed mat or straw mat for pro- 

 tective purposes. A ball of stout cord and the necessary material for the mat; a little 

 dexterity in binding these into bundles and in twisting the cord, as shown in the draw- 

 ing, is all that are necessary. These mats can be put to a dozen good uses. Supphed 

 also by the seedhouses 



