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Decorating Tips to Warm Winter Decks

Barbara Ellis shows how to ease your deck or patio into fall and winter with these decorating tips.

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Ease your deck or patio into fall and winter with cool-weather decorating savvy. Use colorful potted perennials as a quick way to accent your color scheme. In the North, ornamental cabbages and kale contribute bright foliage for at least several weeks, and in the South they'll stay colorful all winter. For extra texture and color, mix in smaller pots of evergreen groundcovers or perennials.

Although cool weather may signal the end of the gardening season, don't let decks and patios slide into the winter doldrums. Whether frost has already cut down your summer annuals, or cool temperatures are simply fueling a growth spurt for plants that have been plagued with summertime heat, it's easy to dress your outdoor spaces well into winter.

  • If the surface of your deck is tired and dried out, plan to clean, repair and re-seal or stain your deck. Fall is a great time for these necessary chores since gardening "to do" lists tend to be shorter in fall than spring, and the deck isn't as heavily used as it is in summer. Fall also offers weather that's warm enough for cleaning and sealing or staining. Pound in nails that have worked loose and sand away rough edges on damaged boards, then clean and seal. Although requirements vary depending on the product you buy, waterproofing sealants generally require temperatures above 32 degrees F and popular stains require temperatures above 50 degrees F to set properly.

  • To clean up before you dress up, start by removing annuals that have been killed by frost from containers. Or pluck damaged leaves and flowers to keep plants presentable for a few more weeks. From about USDA Zone 8 south, the growing season is far from over, and cutting plants back encourages new growth and flowering.

  • If frosts and freezes are on their way, but container plants are still going strong, take steps to keep the color coming. To help protect annuals, move pots close to the house, ideally under a roof, to delay when they are hit by frost. When frost threatens, cover plants with lightweight blankets or plastic sheets overnight and uncover them in the morning. This technique is especially useful for protecting plants from an unusually early frost. Covering for a night or two, until warmer weather returns, can keep plants blooming for a few more weeks until really cold weather arrives.

    • Long-blooming perennials, such as 'Mystic Spires Blue' salvia (shown on right), provide color up to a hard frost.

  • From USDA Zone 7 south, spruce up deck containers by replacing tired summer annuals with cool-weather annuals. They will add color to the garden during mild weather all winter long. Ornamental cabbage and kale are good choices, as are pansies and Johnny-jump-ups. For even warmer zones, also consider snapdragons, stocks and primroses for wintertime color.

  • Containers planted with perennials that feature attractive fall or winter foliage look just fine after frost. Ornamental grasses such as dwarf forms of Japanese silver grass (Miscanthus sinensis), like 'Little Kitten' and 'Yaku Jima,' or dwarf fountain grasses (Pennisetum alopecuroides), like 'Hameln' or 'Little Bunny,' stay handsome all winter. Also consider lavender (Lavandula officinalis), variegated yucca (Yucca filamentosa) such as 'Bright Edge' or 'Golden Sword' and sedum 'Autumn Joy' for containers.

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