The cut boughs of evergreens can be a wonderful insulator for perennials that are evergreen or semi-evergreen. Nature usually insulates with fallen leaves but most of us clean up our gardens and tidiness is not always healthy for all plants. It would be difficult to list all of the plants that might benefit from an extra blanket of evergreen branches but a stroll through your garden would reveal perennials that are still holding on to a bit of foliage. Some of these perennials are probably evergreen in our zone but will suffer from dramatic temperature drops that are often accompanied by strong winds. Situate cut boughs around these plants and turn a few limbs upside down, over top. Anchor with a heavy stone or a few bricks and leave the branches there until late February or early March. Sometimes one Christmas tree is not enough, friends and family members are always great sources for more. The covering will also protect the earliest flowering plants like primula and pulmonaria, I have often been greeted by primroses in full bloom when I peek in late February, a real winter treat.

A few plants that benefit from a collar of boughs are half hardy euphorbias, rosemary, trailing verbenas, and kniphofias or red hot pokers. The idea is simply to keep the wind off and buffer temperatures so that the plants don't desiccate while the ground is frozen. Check underneath once in awhile to make sure that chewing vermin aren't making a meal of your plants. Voles are the main culprits and they feel secure as they hide out of site. Hawks, owls and cats are their main predators so simply remove a few boughs if you see damage. They usually leave quickly, realizing that their secure den is not so secure. Cover things back up after they have left, just remember to check again later.

Evergreen branches can also be used to spruce up outdoor containers. Set in amongst pansies, trailing ivy or ornamental cabbage, the tips of the branches are simply shoved into the soil during a thaw, much like putting filler in a flower arrangement. Berried holly branches or sprigs of blue spruce and boxwood provide color and cold tolerance.

As you may have noticed pansies and violas look a little frozen on cold mornings. They will thaw out as the temperatures rise and it's important not to squeeze the foliage or flatten plants while they're frozen.

By now most of our gardens look empty and dormant. The chill has settled in and days are short. It's also the time that gardening catalogs begin to arrive. Seed, bulb and plant catalogs fill up the mailbox, enticing pictures take the gardener out of the drab winter months. It's all so tempting. Purchasing plants this way can be very disappointing. Often shipped too early to actually put outside and so small in size that it's a challenge to keep then alive. Use reputable sources and remember your local nurseries. Call around to local businesses if you read about something tempting, it may be available and it may even be less expensive. Chances are it's not shipped in from Washington State, not uprooted in shipping and not waiting on your doorstep on a freezing cold day.