For winter mulch, I buy a bale or two of straw. I use that on my roses and last year I put some on one set of bearded iris. The only other thing I winter protect is a small rhodo......I just put some burlap over that. I have not used grass clippings. I don't use anything to hold the straw in place....but if you need to then also wrap in burlap.

There is a guy that lives around the corner from me that takes his clematic down off the trellis at this time of year and buries it in the soil.

Oh and I wouldn't use peat moss as it doesn't provide much insolation or so I have been told.

Sierra

Sometimes I mulch things just to be on the safe side. For instance, lots of people donÂt mulch Jackmanii clematis here, but I donÂt want to take that chance because if it dies it usually means a bare trellis for a year until the new one establishes itself.

I would think grass clippings would work fine. I mostly use peat moss and leaves. When that runs out I have even used pine shavings meant for hamsters. Go for the unscented type. I would use cedar but itÂs too expensive. In spring I just scrape the shavings off the ground as best I can and throw in the fire pit. I have used light fluffy types of potting soil or even spare garden soil, just as long as itÂs covered and kept dry in winter (as best you can) and removed in spring.

My method of application varies. For clematis, I basically just mound peat moss or leaves around the base of the plant, maybe 8 inches high. You might want to go higher. Or sometimes I cover with peat moss, then a layer of leaves. I then cover all this with a doubled up sheet of newspaper and weigh that down with rocks or clumps of garden soil, even wood pieces. Just to keep the wind from blowing it away. Once it snows it usually stays in place anyways. As my clematis are mostly pruning group c (blooms on new wood) for the winter I am mostly concerned with protecting the root zone. The top growth usually dies and dries out over winter.

For tender roses I basically take a smaller cardboard box, remove the bottom and top flaps, and put this around the rose. Sort of a makeshift rose collar. I then fill in and around the rose with peat moss, mounding up over the crown of the rose, then a layer of leaves. I then cover the "box" with burlap, or news paper, or anything really and weigh that down with stones, soil, or wood slats. Sometimes I cheat and remove the bottom flaps from the box, but not the top flaps. Thus after itÂs placed around a plant and filled, sometimes you can just close the box flaps.

No matter what you do, once you get a few good snowfalls ensure you pile lots of snow around and over things. Once spring comes the boxes may be falling apart, but they usually last during the winter.

Among the items listed, hostas are hardy to at least zone 2, but someone more familiar with your area might be able to tell you if they need protection. If all it takes is a bit of mulch on the ground, then better safe than sorry I suppose.

For some of my more tender woody shrubs, I wait until it snows, then mound lots of snow around the shrub, then put a cardboard box over it to try to limit wind damage. I know in warmer zones they might worry about things overheating under there, but thatÂs not the case in zone 3. I even covered my yellow ribbon cedar with a garbage can the past two winters.

Good luck. ItÂs sort of fun to experiment and think of inventive ways to winter protect things.

Glen

If i'm ever in Winnipeg in winter, i'll have to drive around and see if i can find a house with a bunch of cardboard boxes in the yard! LOL THAT must be Glen's house!

Or mine. *blush*

I can vouch for straw working well. It doesn't mat down like leaves do and seems to stay put.
I doubt if you'll have trouble wintering the hostas. My tiny seedling hostas survived last winter with just a thin mulch of grass clippings and your zone is similar to mine. I think the mulch doesn't protect from the cold but rather prevents the plants from breaking dormancy too soon when we sometimes get a warm spell followed by more frigid temps. Good luck

I agree, lots of snow is your best installation and I assume you get lots up there Hunner, but since I never know what kind of winter its going to be here, lots of early snow or no snow at all till Jan/Feb, I always take the time to mulch the border line tenders and newly planted perennials/own-root roses with dry loose straw (30 bales a year).

I wouldn't use fresh grass clipping for mulch, dry clippings that are brown would be ok as long as it doesn't mat down in the crown, this will only cause the plant to rot when springtime arrives.

In the spring when the native trees unfurl their leaves is when I start to push back the straw off the plants, placing the straw to the sides of the plant which will act as a ground cover mulch which will decompose in time amending the soil.

Are there any wheat farmers around your area Hunner, maybe they will sell you some bales.

Sharon

I should add that I really haven't measured exactly how much straw I mulch with. I just make sure the plant has a good layer around the base and a good 2-hands fulls on top of the plant. I also should mention that the majority of the perennials don't get cut back at fall time, so therefore the dry straw kind of settles inbetween the dried up stems and then traps in the snow when it does snow.

Oh my I said snow, watch it will snow tonight. ;)

Sharon

If you cant get any straw maybe evergreen boughs would help out..so far I havent used any boughs as we have straw available from a neighbor...savona

Hunner, being where you are, straw may not be something easily attainable, but spruce or pine boughs over top of a soil mound would be fairly economical. Especially if you know someone who's cutting down a spruce tree.

Somewhere I've heard of people using the pink fiberglass insulation. Has anyone tried this? And what happens to it if it gets wet? I suppose a plastic sheet over top would keep most of the moisture out.

Laurie

Different sort of mulch question. We put down that 5" of shredded cedar bark mulch this year and of course now it's covered with leaves. Is it okay to leave LOL them - I'm worried about them breaking down & making soil pockets on top of the mulch, not to mention the unsightly look of rotting leaves, or should we invest in a leaf blower and blow them onto the lawn where I can harvest them for mulch/compost?
Kate

Kate,
Put simply, mulch is mulch. Leaves are mulch. So, if you leave the leaves, you are just adding to the effectiveness of your mulch, as well as restoring it as it breaks down.

The leaves will not break down to form "soil pockets" on top of your bark mulch; they will just more-or-less disintegrate rather invisibly, and the effect is not unsightly...your cedar mulch will soon change from its fresh reddish color to a subtle gray color, and the dried leaves will look entirely natural...so will spruce cones, and all the other bits of vegetation that will naturally accumulate on it.
So, yes, it's okay to leave them.
Unless you were figuring on vacuuming your mulch once a week or so, LOL! (Nah, I don't even do that inside!)
Lori

Another option is floating row crop cover. It is a woven white fabric that comes in a variety of weights and widths. It provides a couple of degrees of protection, which isn't alot but is critical at those times of the year (spring and fall) when it's above freezing during the day, but it dips down below freezing at night. I cut all my herbaceous perennials to about 2-4 inches tall after everything freezes, and drape the floating row cover over the beds. I either tuck in the edges or use landscape fabric staples to secure it down. One of the great advantages to row crop cover is that it allows some light transmittance (the heavier the fabric, the more frost protection but the less light transmitted) and it allows water to pass in. So, I can leave it on into the middle of May if frosts keep occurring at night, but the plants can grow during the day. I've also wrapped it around shrubs to help increase their chance of survival, and to prevent moose browse. This might not work well in areas where you get a lot of wind, or where you get lots of heavy snow or freezing rain--the fabric might trap alot of snow/ice and get too heavy and break off branches or tip the whole plant.

Another nice thing is that you can cover the row crop cover with extra mulching material for added protection. Cover the top of the cover with straw, leaves, whatever, and you can just brush it off in the spring, or roll up the row crop cover and all the mulch is quickly removed. No careful raking and pulling in the spring.

Emily in sunny Fairbanks

Lori,
Thanks. What was I thinking? Give my head a shake. It's just the leaves are so obvious now. And you're right, I don't vacuum that often inside either.
Kate

Thanks for all the great ideas everyone...now if I can find some straw I'll be ok...there is a stable here out by the airport, I guess I'll have to take a drive out!

Hunnerbun, just make sure you're getting straw, and not hay - hay has seedheads and will cause you a weeding nightmare.

Just thought I'd mention Flax straw. When I planted my chokecherries along the fence (90' and 70'), I wanted to do a heavy, economical (as in free) mulch that wouldn't break down quickly so I used flax straw. Around here the farmers tend to burn the straw because it doesn't bale easily and takes forever to break down in the soil. Anyway, eight years later and that flax straw is still there - it's since been covered with leaves and wood chips, etc, and it has broken down/softened up some but for the most part, it's still there. It doesn't pack down/mold/hold moisture. Another bonus - volunteer seedlings, if they do occur, are a very pretty blue - much like the ornamental flax but annual and one branching stem per seed.