Now that we have had a few hard freezes and the soil has cooled significantly, it’s time to go ahead and cover or protect any tender perennials that you might have in your garden.

Now, before I let you know how to cover and protect your tender plants, you should know that I don’t do this at all. My philosophy is that if it doesn’t survive the winter easily enough, then it’s not something I must have in my garden.

I am a low-maintenance gardener and only plant what is easy to take care of. (My sister-in-law, Lisa, doesn’t believe that I am a low-maintenance gardener, because I have so many plants that it takes a lot of time to maintain them. Therefore, the sheer number of plants gives Lisa the perception that I have a high-maintenance garden. For some reason, my husband agrees. Hmmm, maybe my thinking is a little skewed. Any readers who are plant lovers appreciate my predicament, but I digress.)

If you have plants that might not be quite winter hardy, you may want to protect them by mulching around the base of the plant.

The definition of mulch is anything that covers the ground. Typically, we “mulch” our flower beds and trees in the spring with a product that is attractive. Materials such as wood chips, pine bark, pine fines, chunk bark and stones are all usually decorative and enhance the look of the garden.

Other organic materials such as straw, compost and grass clippings are used as mulch in the garden to keep weeds at a minimum as well as hold moisture. These are more functional than attractive.

Materials that can be used to “mulch” or protect plants through the winter should be easy to put down and remove in the spring and are usually organic in nature. If I did mulch in the winter, I use pine fines or shredded hardwood bark. In the spring, I can just pull it away from the plant and allow it to blend in with the rest of the mulch.

When mulching for winter protection, place about 10-12 inches on top of or around the crown of the plant. With tender perennials, the purpose is to moderate soil temperatures and prevent freezing and thawing of the soil. Constant freezing and thawing eventually “heaves” the root system out of the ground, exposing it to drying winds and cold temperatures.

I have to take back what I said about never mulching, because there is one instance when I mulch in the winter. That is to protect any newly planted perennials. I discovered a clearance sale (don’t tell my husband — he thinks I don’t need any more plants!) a couple of weeks ago.

Since these are just planted, I will mulch them to protect them as the root systems aren’t quite established and will be more susceptible to heaving.

That’s it however; everything else in the perennial bed is on its own.