Winter interest refers to plants which enhance the winter landscape by remaining above the snowline.
They add both visual and nutritional value.
In Archuleta County, not many plants have winter interest after December as the snow piles up higher than all but the tallest of shrubs.
Evergreens like spruce and pines retain their needles and conjure up imaginations of Christmas and powder turns.
Other evergreen plants like creeping mahonia add a splash of color to the garden before they are covered up with snow. Creeping mahonia doesn’t drop its leaves, despite the chlorophyll degrading as the day lengths shorten. Instead, its leaves turn from green to maroon until the following spring.
Grasses like blue grama have showy seed heads that can be paired with forbs like Mexican hat to add vertical and horizontal patterns before they are swallowed up by the rising tide of snow.
By gardening for winter interest, you are also gardening for pollinators and wildlife, as the seeds and berries are a food source for insects, birds and rodents. Insects also lay eggs in the stems of plants and in the duff.
It’s important to note that if you have a pest problem, trimming back the garden and removing the infected and affected shoots can get rid of the next generation of pests.
When gardening for pollinators, planting native is important as plants and insects evolved side by side and have specific relationships. For example, the yucca plant is pollinated by the yucca moth, and milkweed species are the monarch butterfly’s larval host. Most adult pollinator species are generalists and can feed on the nectar from many flowers, but lay their eggs or feed their young on only a few species.
Selecting native plants for your garden can be a daunting task, but Colorado State University and the Colorado Native Plant Society have resources to help get you started.
Archuleta County Weed and Pest is your local resource for managing noxious weed populations and controlling other pests.
CPR and first aid classes
CPR and first aid certification classes are offered every other month at the CSU Extension office, generally on the third Monday and Wednesday from 6 to 10 p.m. The cost for the classes is $80 for combined CPR/first aid and $55 for CPR, first aid or recertification. Call the Extension office at (970) 246-5931 to register.
Check out the online option on our website, https://archuleta.extension.colostate.edu/.
