Use lighting to brighten up your winter landscape

▪ Brighten up the winter landscape with landscape lighting. For most homeowners, low voltage lighting is the choice to add subtle lighting accents to the home and safety for walkways. Never come home to a dark house again! Quality is key. Stay away from plastic fixtures. Ask a professional for a lighting design and installation. Where possible, use LED lights. They last a long time and use much less energy. Contact me for more information.

▪ Disconnect hoses and insulate exterior faucets using a faucet cover. It’s easy to install and to remove in the spring.

▪ What’s blooming? Flowering apricot, which is a small landscape tree used as a specimen. Grow it in full sun and well-drained soil. It grows to 12 feet in height and has beautiful double pink flowers.

▪ Last call to plant spring bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. All spring bulbs are now on sale, so buy a bunch. Plant them en masse.

▪ Set out transplants of cool-season vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower.

▪ Now is the time to sow seeds of spinach, collards and turnips.

▪ Create a stunning winter container using these cold loving plants: tall snapdragons, annual dianthus, parsley and violas. Plant taller plants in the back, and smaller ones in the front. Don’t be afraid to add a small evergreen, like holly or boxwood, to give the container some structure.

▪ Fruit trees are arriving at local nurseries. Plant them now. Most need full sun, and check the label for height and pollination requirements. Fruit trees can be high-maintenance trees. Consider dwarf varieties.

This story was originally published January 23, 2017 at 12:24 PM with the headline "Use lighting to brighten up your winter landscape."