Gardener’s window: Use January for reflection and planning

Together we will look at pruning ornamental shrubs, feeding the birds that like to hide in them and the winter blooming beauties. It doesn’t grow green in the garden, it doesn’t matter. He can at home. I’m going to give you tips on how to care for maids that I’ve fallen in love with over the past year.

How to feed birds

I have several feeders in my garden. The biggest success has tallow balls, which I buy directly without nets. Why? Nets seem like a practical thing, after all, you can hang the ball anywhere. However, this is a big mistake! Please remove the nets. It can happen that the bird’s leg gets caught. It does not mean that the bird will remain hanging in the net. He breaks free, but may die somewhere else. It costs us no effort, so let’s minimize the risk.

What to feed?

• sunflower
• a mixture of seeds and grains
• legumes
• nuts
• apples
• drying worms

What not to feed?

• pastry
• spoiled feed (e.g. rancid)
• salted and kitchen scraps

Don’t feed bread to swans or ducks either. It fills them up quickly, but doesn’t provide them with the nutrients they need. Even a small amount of salt is dangerous for them. Instead, give them carrot peels or pieces of lettuce.

Caring for roses

No one knows how the winter will develop. That’s why it’s better to cover the roses with thorns. In November, you heaped compost around the roses, which will protect them during the mild winter. However, they need certainty.

I cut, you cut… and with what?

Shears are perhaps the most used tools in the garden. I use Felco scissors because they can be taken apart, cleaned and sharpened. In the spring they are as good as new. And if something happens to them, I can buy a spare part. If your scissors cannot be disassembled, at least sharpen them with a sharpener (you can buy it at any hobby market).

What bushes to cut?

On frost-free days, you can shape or shorten ornamental shrubs and hedges. But only some. Do not prune ornamental shrubs that form flower buds during the summer (they bloom on last year’s wood) – they would not bloom for you.

They are:

• lilacs
• zlatice (golden rain)
• vistarie
• gorse
• ornamental cherries

You can slightly shorten (due to shaping) sedums, trepucks, vaigelias and viburnums. These shrubs bloom on short shoots this year. Their pruning is not necessary, older bushes are brightened by cutting old branches near the ground. You can cut hornbeam and bird’s-tooth hedges as you like.

What blooms in January?

Hellebore

These beauties are an inherent symbol of the winter garden. Depending on the cultivar, they bloom from December to March. Their elegant flowers in shades of white, pink, purple or green bring life to otherwise dormant flower beds. They are easy to care for, try them in containers too.

Kalina Bodnanská ‘Dawn’

A nice surprise in a gray-brown garden. These are the romantic flowers of the Bodna viburnum ‘Dawn’, which are borne on bare branches. This deciduous shrub is suitable as a solitaire or part of a hedge. I planted it in a perennial bed last year.

Housemaids don’t have to suffer in winter

Every winter, the condition of my maids gets a little worse. They have less light, the air is dry, the temperature in the room changes because we don’t heat at night. What do I recommend to keep plants fit and beautiful?

• Place them as close to the light as possible. Sills near windows through which you ventilate are unsuitable.
• Water less, preferably with rainwater at room temperature. If you don’t have a raincoat, let the water stand. Check the substrate with your finger if it is dry. Water succulents and cacti as little as possible.
• Spray the water on the leaves. This has worked very well for me.
• Do not repot or fertilize.
• Watch out for pests. Small black flies often appear. Eliminate them with yellow glue boards.

Tip for the holder

A hardy houseplant is an anemone. In horticulture, we grow it in a greenhouse, but it is very undemanding in terms of temperature and care. This plant has antler-like leaves and is grown in a hanging container. It is an epiphyte – in nature it grows on another plant, but does not parasitize it.

Until the new year, I wish you the joy of blooming flower beds, singing birds, humming woodpeckers and well-being while relaxing in your green paradise.

About the author

Magda H. Švarcová advises Flos gardening on Instagram. He loves peonies and roses. She would prefer to plant perennial beds everywhere.