Gardening Tips: Bouncing Back

July 8, 2025 Rebecca Brown and Norman Cohen

After a cold winter, many Maryland gardens require some TLC. (Shutterstock)

July’s warm temperatures can make the harsh winter of 2024-2025 seem like a distant memory.

But for those of us who care about our outdoor spaces, there’s plenty of evidence that last summer’s droughts, followed by an unusually cold Mid-Atlantic winter, left many Maryland gardens in distress.

If your landscape suffered, you’re not alone — your Garden Variety columnists are also looking at damaged trees, shrubs, and perennials with replacements in mind.

This month, Rebecca Brown and Norman Cohen share their hard-won advice for getting your garden back on track.

Rebecca Says: Take Inventory

Before heading to the nursery or garden center, I take a quiet walk through my garden with a notebook in hand. I assess my perennial beds, shrubs, and container spaces. It helps to follow the golden rule: the right plant in the right place.

Budget is always top of mind, especially after a winter like this one, when single- digit nights left a trail of dieback and losses.

The good news? This summer offered a great opportunity to introduce fresh plant varieties. I’ll be expanding my collection — thanks in part to the local deer who treated my evergreen and deciduous azaleas like a buffet. With luck (and some strategic pruning), those will recover.

Be smart about replacements and additions

When replacing or adding new plants, I always consider key criteria: mature size, light requirements, moisture needs, and maintenance level. For perennials, I think about bloom time, color, height, spread, and whether they’re native to our Piedmont region. Native plants support local ecosystems and are often more resilient. If you choose non-natives, research their invasiveness to ensure they won’t overrun your beds.

Norman Says: Try a Container Garden

Each season, I start a container garden just outside my kitchen. It’s shaded, close to a water source, and (crucially) out of reach of deer. Containers offer easy, controlled gardening and help you test new plants before committing to bed space.

Over time, I’ve learned to resist impulse buys and carefully read plant tags. Look for information on fertilizing, sunlight needs, mature size, and color. Some of my go-to annuals include New Guinea impatiens, begonias, Persian shield, Boston ferns, and coleus. I also love perennial favorites like Heuchera americana (alumroot), Tiarella cordifolia (foamflower), and native ferns — many of which can be transplanted into shaded garden beds once the season ends.

Plan a New Garden Bed

This year, a partially shaded garden bed became full sun after the removal of three damaged black locust trees. That meant rethinking the space entirely, focusing on sun-loving, deer-resistant, and largely native plants.

Here’s my new plan:

• Narrow-leaf mountain mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium) — not native to Maryland, but native to the Piedmont and pollinator-friendly.

• Threadleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata) — yellow-flowered and native.

• Salvia farinacea — blue blooms, not native but adaptable.

• Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) — native, ornamental, and shrub-like at 3–4 feet.

Final Thoughts

The best gardening advice? Think it through, write it down, and avoid impulse buys. A thoughtful plan now means a thriving, low-maintenance garden later.

Rebecca Brown began her career as a horticulturist more than 30 years ago and studied at the New York Botanical Gardens. She has been a University of Maryland, Baltimore County master gardener for 11 years and is a backyard beekeeper.

Norman Cohen is a retired chemist. He has been gardening for more than 40 years and has been a University of Maryland, Baltimore County master gardener for 17 years. Cohen also provides gardening education to the public at local farmers markets.