Winter survival

My backyard on a gorgeous winter day in Northern West Virginia Photo: me

Hi everyone! I hope you've all had a great winter. Thankfully, it hasn't been horrible here in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia - except for these last few weeks of on-again off-again nice weather. This is the stuff that really causes havoc to our plants. That first stretch of warm weather caused my plants to bud and leaf out. Then the temps did a nosedive and killed off the new growth. I think this has happened two or three times.

As I walked in my back yard garden and looked at the things I planted my heart sank because they didn't look too good. A lot has to do with the fact that, being on the retired person's budget, the plants were small and possibly never had a chance to fight the erratic weather patterns.

The other thing is that critters chewed down the few small trees and bushes I planted, which were nothing but one or two sticks to begin with.

Here's some photos (not mine) of the things I planted:

Variegated willow bush

Variegated redwood dogwood

Variegated redwood dogwood in winter - well my sticks are still bright red, so I'm taking that as a good sign!

American Redbud - mine was a 2 foot stick and now is chewed down to the ground...will it sprout up? I have faith....

I did a poor job of protecting my plants - never thought the trees and bushes would get 'et. Bummer! I need to get a roll of chicken wire to wrap around the tomato cages - maybe. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them! How have your plants fared this winter?

See you soon!

Happy gardening my friends!
~Ann