Unless it's cold and windy, or raining heavily, winter is a wonderful time to linger in your garden. In mid to late winter, some manzanitas have started blooming, and the fresh blue-green foliage of California poppies is forming a fluffy mound.
If you're like me, you might intend to sit on a bench and observe your garden, but pretty soon you find yourself kneeling on the ground, pulling a tiny weed that has barely poked through the surface, or gently brushing aside some mulch where a native wildflower is coming through. Or look closely to see the tiny flowers on an evergreen currant.
With the soil moistened by winter rains, it's easy to pull weeds. Once you've learned to distinguish weed seedlings from resprouting native annuals, you can remove the weeds while they're small and give the annuals more room in the garden.
It's also a good time to prune back perennials and some shrubs. A good rule of thumb is to avoid cutting shrubs from the chaparral plant community during the rainy season, and to cut back other plants before the new buds have started forming. Manzanita and ceanothus, for instance, are chaparral shrubs that bloom in winter and spring, so wait to cut them back – sparingly, if at all – until after they have bloomed.
Spreading perennials such as hummingbird fuchsia, matilija poppy, and mugwort must be cut back in the winter. Assuming they've been in the ground a year or two and have developed a strong root system, they benefit from being cut a couple inches high. Left unmanicured, hummingbird fuchsia develops long branches with tufts of flowers at the tip, losing its lush mounded form. (But varieties with thicker, woodier stems and taller habits need a lighter hand.) If the soil is not too wet, it's also a good time to dig out sections that are crowding other plants and relocate them.
Perennials whose flowering stems tower above the mound of vegetation, as a general rule, only need to have their flowering stems cut back. You can wait until the birds have eaten their fill of the seeds, but before new growth starts in the spring. Yarrow will look better if spent flowering stalks are cut to the ground now. Cut back only the spent flowering stems of native buckwheats, not the branches. Sages that have not yet started showing new buds can still be shaped, but do not cut into the woody branches.
Woody vines, as well as deciduous trees and shrubs that lose their leaves in the winter, are also best pruned before new leaves emerge. Winter is a good time to bring wild grape vines under control. Without the leaves, it's easier to see the form of the plant and, when it's young, shape it. For specimen shrubs and large trees, either hire a professional arborist or leave it alone! Beginners can practice on wild rose and mock orange.
Coyote brush, though evergreen, is another good winter project for beginners. It grows fast and tolerates a great deal of pruning and shaping, and it has even been used for topiaries.
The seedhead of a matilija poppy in the winter garden.
Manzanita flowers burst forth in the rainy season, in shades ranging from pure white to deep pink. Each variety blooms on a different schedule and in a different color. Plant a variety of manzanitas to enjoy extended bloom times and the spectrum of delicate pinks.
Perennials such as hummingbird fuchsia benefit from being cut back in the winter. Here it is in bloom, last October.
and here's the same mulched patch of hummingbird fuchsia after being cut back to about a couple inches high. Cutting it back maintains its mounded form and encourages more flowers to form. (Photos: Tanya Kucak)
Enjoy evergreen currant's spicy fragrance on rainy days, and look for its tiny flowers in the winter garden. Each ruddy petal is about one sixteenth of an inch long.
© 2013 Tanya Kucak