How To Protect Your Plants— w. c. mccollom,?.* 
KEEPING^THEJCOLD IN THE GROUND— WHAT TO DO NOW TO ENSURE THE WINTER SAFETY OF EVEN “HARDY” 
PLANTS— BAD EFFECTS OF EXCESS OF WATER AND THE WINTER SUN 
W HY protect at all? The protection 
ofplants of various degreesof tender- 
ness is to prevent winter injury. 
Some folks contend that we should 
grow only those plants that nature intended to 
meet local conditions and so eliminate the need 
of winter protection. These same folks, of 
course, would also be willing to eat the small, 
gnarled apple that nature gave us in place of 
the improved forms that persistent high 
cultivation has produced. We want the 
beautiful; and many beautiful plants require 
some sort of protection in our very change- 
able climate. 
Trees or shrubs (more particularly ever- 
greens), which are normally considered hardy, 
will succumb because of their e.xposure when 
set out as “specimen” plants. These trees 
could have been saved with a little winter 
protection of some kind for the first season 
or two, or until they showed b}^ their growth 
that they were established. In the wild 
they are cared for by companion vegetation; 
with the growth in the woods comes the under- 
brush, which catches the falling leaves to 
mulch the ground and keep away the frost 
and thus protect the roots and which later 
on is converted into fertilizer for the growing 
tree. 
FRUITS 
Sowing cover crops in the orchard is highly 
commended because it provides a winter 
mulch besides supplying fertilizer and humus 
when plowed under in spring. W here trees 
are isolated or where cover crops are not 
practical, good manure is the best winter 
mulching, but rough litter of any kind is far 
preferable to nothing. Apples and pears are 
very hardy and it is not necessary to protect 
them to actually prevent them winter killing, 
but the action of the frost heaves the roots and 
mulching is worth while for that alone. 1 he 
softer fruits, such as plums and peaches, oft- 
times kill back even after they are established 
and, on general principles alone, it is better 
to mulch all newly planted fruits for at least 
the first two winters. 
The so-called cane fruits (raspberries, goose- 
berries, currants, blackberries, and dew- 
berries are included) are all surface rooters 
and surface mulching in fall is a necessity; 
it not only protects the plants from winter 
killing but the rains gradually leach the 
fertilizing quality from the manure into the 
ground and so will maintain size and quality 
to the fruit. 
Figs can be grown near New York in a 
sheltered location with their needs over the 
winter properly looked after. W hen grown 
on walls the plants should be strawed in — 
that is, all branches are then completely 
covered in with straw, the earth drawn up 
around the trunk of the tree, and all the sur- 
rounding ground mulched with at least six 
inches of manure. Where figs are growing in 
the open, the roots should be loosened up on 
the sides, the plants bent over, and then 
covered with earth. When in tubs the plants 
may be removed to a storage place, such as 
cellar or garage. 
Mulching strawberries is already a habit, 
part of our routine work. Good, rich manure 
is the proper material to mulch with, but 
don’t let any lie on the crown of the plant or 
it will cause it to decay. Don’t apply the 
mulch until the ground is frozen a little and 
then cover the bed lightly with salt hay, or 
rye straw, with a few light sticks on top to 
keep this in place. 
DECIDUOUS PL.^NTS 
Most deciduous trees and shrubs commonly 
used in planting effects are perfectly hardy, 
yet it is advisable, however, for the first 
season or two after transplanting to mulch 
all isolated specimens with a good coating of 
manure. Hydrangeas of the semi-hardy types 
are ofttimes used in border effects and they 
must be protected over the winter; the best 
method is to bury them. Loosen the soil 
on the sides of the plant which can then be 
partially laid ov'er and then buried with earth. 
Mound up the earth on top of the plants and 
cover with a mulch. Small plants can be 
tied up and a barrel (both heads removed) 
placed over them and then filled with earth. 
Standard Roses can often be protected in the 
same manner, according to whether they are 
low headed or tall. 
People will fuss with Roses more than with 
any other plant because they have been 
educated to appreciate the finer varieties of 
Teas and Hybrid Teas. There are more 
methods of protection for Roses than there 
are letters in the alphabet, and each method 
doubtless has some particular merit. Roses 
are light rooters; they don’t like a soft, soggy 
soil and as the action of the frost on the un- 
protected average soil produces this condition, 
we must mulch the ground to prevent it! 
Use good rich manure and it will serve the 
double purpose of enriching the earth as well 
as protecting the roots. In spring this 
mulch can be dug under. An old established 
bed of Roses can be protected by placing 
pine boughs between the plants. This looks 
very well, giving a touch of green in winter. 
Loose litter can be scattered over the plants. 
This will not look so well, and is not so 
serviceable, as heavy snows are apt to force 
down the covering so that it requires shaking 
up occasionally. 
Newly set out plants and particularly 
tender varieties need more protection. They 
can be strawed up — that is, each plant tied 
up, and then covered with rye straw, a stake 
being placed with very frail growers to pre- 
vent the snow from crushing them down. 
Leaves make a good protecting material. 
Place some poultry wire around the bed and 
fill in over the bed with leaves, which may 
require an occasional shaking up to prevent 
matting down. All tender varieties should 
have the earth drawn up around the plants. 
One foot of the shoots can be covered and, 
even though the tops kill back slightly, the 
earth will protect the plant from killing 
back enough to cause injury. 
I3ULBS 
Most of the tender bulbs can be very 
easily protected because they have no tops 
to contend with. A good heavy mulch 
applied to the ground in the late fall will 
usually prove sufficient. Very tender bulbs 
can be protected by a covering of leaves 
about two feet thick held in place with a 
few boards. Most bulbs decay during winter 
from excessive moisture and not from severe 
freezing. One plan to prevent it from accu- 
mulating at the roots of such bulbs is to mound 
up well so that they will shed water nuickly. 
Flat plantings, when bulbs are used in borders 
130 
with other plants, can be protected by a few 
barrow loads of soil mounded up over them. 
In spring this extra soil must be removed 
before growth starts. Such tender bulbs as 
Montbretia, Tritoma, Ornithogalum, or the 
tender types of Iris, can be grown in the 
North by proper winter protection. The hardy 
bulbs, such as Tulips, Narcissus, Hyacinths, 
Snowdrop, Scilla, Fritillaria, etc., will do well 
with an ordinary mulch. 
EVERGREENS 
A great many of our finest evergreens suffer 
during winter. Though the tops do not kill 
down, one side (the south or east) will get 
badly scalded. This is due to the strong sun 
after severe freezing. It is most likely to 
occur with isolated specimens. Valuable 
evergreens should have their tops protected 
in some way for at least three or four years 
after planting. 1 here is no mystery. It is 
simply a case of keeping the sun from striking 
the plants direct. Boards placed on the 
south and east sides will prove effective. 
Such boards are also used in seaside places to 
protect the plants from salt spray. Pine 
boughs, spruce limbs or any native evergreen 
growth may be used to protect evergreens. 
These can be put in place by sharpening the 
end of the bough and driving it down in a 
hole previously made with a crowbar. 
Strawing in is also a very common method 
of protection. This can be done very quickly 
and looks very neat. Barrels can be placed 
over small plants until they get established. 
A very good method is to wrap the plant in 
burlap. All newly planted stock should have 
their roots protected for the first few seasons. 
A mulch of well rotted manure is the best 
material and this can be dug under in the 
spring. This will help establish a planting 
and will relieve one danger of winter killing 
— that is, the roots heaving and then the 
drying out process the following summer. 
All kinds of Retinisporas require protec- 
tion when small. Junipers are very likely to 
“scald” even after they are fairly well estab- 
lished, and any extra fine specimens should 
always be covered in. All the Yews must be 
covered for the first few seasons, and the same 
is true of Boxwood. Protect Dwarf Boxwood 
used in edging with boards or salt hay until 
the plants are growing well. 
Most of the dwarf evergreens are much 
easier to protect. Evergreen boughs make 
the best material to use. 
PERENNIALS 
Go into some gardens in the latitude of 
New York, or farther north, and you will 
find such plants as Eremurus or Rommeya, 
and others equally tender, growing properly. 
It is simply a matter of proper winter pro- 
tection. Most folks throw a few forkfuls 
of manure on their perennial border and im- 
agine they have done all possible. T his is 
wrong. Generally speaking the mulching 
is valuable and certainly should be practi.sed, 
but some of our very finest perennials have 
large fleshy roots and require some other 
form of protection. 
Plants of this class, samples of which are 
the two plants mentioned previously, or 
Anchusa, Incarvillea, or even Hollyhock, 
should have a mound of earth placed over the 
plants to shed water. After this little mound 
has been slightly frozen, the general mulch 
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