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Waiting for the planting season can be a frustrating time for a gardener. Most planting guides recommend installing plants after all danger of frost has passed, but this could mean waiting until late spring in some areas, which poses a short growing season in some places. The solution, however, is to pick frost-resistant plants.
Most evergreen plants, both broadleaf and needle-like, make excellent frost plants. Frost tolerant fall vegetables will extend the growing season, especially with the help of cloches or row covers. Many frost tolerant flowers will enliven the dismal cold season landscape and produce the first hints of color in late winter or earliest spring as well.
What is frost?
Most frost damage occurs when sunlight hits the still-frozen plant tissue the following morning. It is the sudden change in temperature, and not the cold itself, which causes the damage, so plants shaded from early morning sunlight will be far less vulnerable. Another effective, albeit more labour-intensive method, is to go outside on frosty mornings with a watering can and use the water to melt the ice before the sunlight hits.
A more insidious hidden frost known as Black frost occurs when the air is generally dry and the temperatures drop below freezing point, internally freezing the plant from the inside and blackening the leaves over a few days.
Hoar frost is far more common in cooler zones in Australia and is recognizable by the appearance of thick white ice crystals developing on top of the plants surface. These crystals form when surface temperature on an object drops below zero and the surrounding water vapour in the air freezes on contact.
Snowdrop
Snowdrops
are gorgeous frost hardy flower bulbs with small white bell shaped flowers that appear in late winter or early spring.
They grow best in partial shade with moist, well draining soil.
Pansy
Talk about irresistible! Pansies come in a wide assortment of colors and bi-colors, many with super cute face patterns on the petals. Growing 6 to 8 inches tall, pansies are ideal for container gardens or mass plantings around trees or along garden walkways. They love cool weather and will add tons of color to the winter landscape in frost-free regions. In Northern gardens, rely on pansies for bounteous blooms in the spring and fall. Although it’s not required, it does help to remove the flowers as the fade to promote new crops of flowers.
Snapdragon
Jump-start the color-show in your garden by filling pots, planters, baskets, and beds with snapdragons. Available in dwarf, standard, and even trailing varieties, snapdragons offer an assortment of jewel-like colors that are so bright they practically pop out of the garden. Tall varieties, which can grow 2 feet tall, also make outstanding cut flowers. Snapdragons prefer chilly spring or fall weather and may stop blooming once the weather heats up.
Flowering Kale
Bold and beautiful! That’s how we describe the richly colored, frilly leaves of flowering kale. Appearing in shades of green, blue, purple, rose, and cream, flowering kale forms a dense mound that mixes well with other early bloomers. Add to containers or plant directly in the landscape. You can also use flowering kale in the perennial border, tucking it between plants that are just waking up after their winter’s nap. Flowering kale prefers full sun, but will tolerate light shade. It’s not considered an edible variety.
Camellia
Camellias
are cold hardy flowering shrubs that can survive hard freezes. They can be used to create a beautiful flowering hedge and they’re fairly easy to care for.
Dianthus
Chilly weather won’t stop annual dianthus from putting on a non-stop show of color. These charming little plants are tougher than they look, able to keep blooming even after a light frost. Most annual dianthus grow 6 to 10 inches tall and produce richly fragrant pink, white, or red flowers. Use annual dianthus in containers or line them out along a front walk or border edge. Once summer temperatures heat up, dianthus will often take a break from blooming. Shear them back by about a third and they’ll pop back up and bloom again in the fall.
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