Hi! I dont know if it is " good advice" to plant year round, but I do. I think I lose just as many plants as anybody. January and February are the coldest months here. I am not doing anything in the garden then.

There will be exceptions...but basically yes, it's fine.

I even transplanted a shrub when the ground was frozen on top last winter, while doing a pruning project.

Moved a sasanqua Camellia.

A sharp shovel cut through the top 1/2" of frozen soil. And I shaved the frozen layer off the top of the spot it was going to.

The root ball was smaller, so it worked out dandy.

So the part about not planting when ground is frozen, is part myth, part true.

M. D. Vaden of Oregon

As long as the plants are fully hardy for this area, then the only reason NOT to plant is because the soil is too wet or the weather is too unpleasant for you as the gardener! Frozen soil is seldom an issue, as it generally only freezes in the top inch or two and thaws rapidly. Because of my business, I get very little time to do much in my own garden during the normal gardening months and do the bulk of my gardening activity in winter. Planting, transplanting, dividing, editing and even preparing new planting beds have all been accomplished throughout the winter with no ill effects. Many of my clients' gardens get planted now also. And late winter is an ideal time to prune a lot of trees and shrubs as well.

In one of my numerous personal garden redesigns, I replanted an extensive mixed border in mid December, finishing only hours before an extended 2 week cold snap hit. Didn't lose a single plant. Just avoid working the soil if we have had a long rainy stretch - you can damage soil structure, causing compaction and altering drainage. Let the soil dry out some before attempting.

thanks everyone, happy gardening!

Plant year round here, except when soil is waterlogged or frozen, both of which depend on where you are and what kind of soil you have. Gravelly till soil is common, and almost never waterlogged even after several inches of rain. But silty alluvial soils and peat soils could be waterlogged any time of year.

So, for hardy woody stuff and perennials, yes, you can plant all year. Whether you want to or not is a different matter. January and February are often too unpleasant to be working in unless you absolutely have to. I have planted conifer seedlings in February - that's when Weyerhauser has its big seedling sale in Rochester, and that's when they have to go in if they're going to make it through the summer without watering. And bare root trees and roses are planted then too because that's when the nurseries have them. You do have to pick your work days around the weather.

there is no cut-off time for winter, or summer either.

well, I'm actually inquiring about it because it is my job, I just took on a position in April as lead groundskeeper for a property management company, so I have lots of apartment buildings I am landscaping now and most of them are requiring a complete overhaul. I don't really have the option of "if I want to or not", because if I don't work because of the weather, then I don't work! Ah, Seattle! I love it more everyday, and I'm looking forward to this year round-planting thing, what a concept!

Summers are dry here, that is the main limitation - you must be prepared to water new plantings the following summer. And the many popular garden plants not adapted to summer drought, such as rhododendrons, azaleas and a thousand other types may need to be watered indefinitely, summer after summer to give good results - or even remain alive - depending on the individual circumstances.

Speaking of broadleaf evergreens, those are the type most likely to fail from winter planting. As with other large categories, there is a wide range of hardiness. But, due to having broad leaves present, instead of bare twigs, needles or scales all share the same comparative vulnerability to drying out during Arctic conditions - newly planted stock subjected to a cold front before there has been enough rooting out to get adequate moisture from the soil outside the original root-ball may burn up.

Fall is the optimal time for planting hardy stock, those that have not had the roots disturbed much at planting will take root if planted early enough and be well along before spring. (60% of annual total elongation of tips of existing roots occurs in fall, after overwintering buds have been set and a chemical signal prompting root growth is sent from them down to the roots. So, fall, in this context, is whenever a particular plant has set these buds; a drought-responsive species like vine maple might have dormant buds set and be actively growing longer roots in August). The exception is if roots have been found to be deformed when taken out of the pot or unwrapped, or it has been assumed that the roots inside the ball may need to be corrected (a very common problem, due to failure of growers to pot on in a timely manner) and the ball has been washed and opened up at planting.

Not much root growth happens in winter, and in spring new roots are made. Bare-rooted stock will basically just sit there until spring, when opening overwintering (dormant) buds again send chemicals to the roots, causing new roots to burst out of cut ends of bare-rooted stock. However, this is a comparatively minimal effort, relative to the elongation that will follow in autumn. The spring root growth, where a plant has had most of the root system removed or reduced (purchased bare-rooted or balled-in-burlap, or bare-rooted at planting, in order to discover and correct deformities resulting from careless container production) will not be adequate to completely restore the plant. That is why top growth of bare-rooted stock is dwarfed the first summer after planting.

It's great to be able to work and plant pretty much all through the winter. Sometimes it seems availability is a bigger issue than bad weather days. Once you figure out who has what and when it seems to make it easier. It also helps to access as many sources as possible because most nurseries have very limited winter inventories and often those items are not what you're looking for.