Shrubs Shouldn't Have to Wear Clothes

I believe that trees and shrubs that require burlap clothing to avoid browning and death in a prairie winter should just not be grown in the prairies. This is stupid. Trees and shrubs should be able to hold their own and I can, in turn, respect them for their hardiness. Then again, I also have a need to grow azaleas (Northern Lights series) in my yard. I found out that they need to be wrapped to prevent bud kill from late spring frosts. The azaleas are protected by the little brown burlap "mushrooms" to the right of the cedar (arborvitae):

Narcissus bulbs, newly planted in anticipation of fragrant blooms for Christmas:

Here's a new outlet for frustrated Canadian gardeners in the winter: aquarium plants! I haven't had a plant in my aquarium for years, mostly because the fish uprooted and ate them. This is some type of variegated Acorus:

Dead Things in the Garden

Gardening losses are tragic, but they are learning experiences...hopefully gardeners can share these experiences so we don't all have to learn by trial and error. Even more unfortunate however, is that these plant losses were almost expected. The plants just never got the snowcover they needed, not that we didn't have enough snow! Resident-lawnmower-man did some over-eager shovelling of the driveway this year and included the leading edge of the flowerbed in his snow removal. Thus, the unsightly winter burning and drying of the junipers and loss of several three-year old Heucheras (Coral Bells) painstakingly grown from seed. The University of Saskatchewan GardenLine site discusses browned evergreens, saying that cedars are particularly sensitive to winter injury. We wrap our cedar, hoping that the dead side (caused by the neglect of a previous owner) eventually grows in. In the meantime, I'm growing a Clematis macropetala up that side and it seemed to enjoy the winter wrapping! On the other hand, the snow mold on the lawn wasn't bad this year.

Kona says: "I made it through winter outside just fine! I even ripped the door off my doghouse to improve the view! Only wimpy dogs wear sweaters...I sleep in the snow."