NC Piedmont Winter Garden Checklist, Pruning Calendar, Frost Damage Guide (PDF Download)

THE NC PIEDMONT WINTER LANDSCAPE CHECKLIST

A 14-page printable guide. Every window, rate and temperature traced to NC State Extension, an NC Cooperative Extension county center, NC TurfFiles, NC DEQ or the NC General Statutes.

THERE IS NO PUBLISHED NC STATE WINTER GARDEN CALENDAR FOR THE PIEDMONT.

NC State publishes a spring Piedmont tips page. Henderson County publishes winter garden calendars for the NC mountains. For winter in the Piedmont, there is nothing.

So the guidance has to be assembled from county offices scattered across the state, and those offices do not agree with each other. On camellias, on maples, on evergreens, on ornamental grasses, on where the old wood line falls. This guide assembles it and prints every disagreement instead of picking one and hoping.

WHAT IS INSIDE

- What to prune in winter, with every NC county calendar's named window side by side
- What NOT to prune, and the cold-injury mechanism most guides leave out
- Hydrangeas by species: which prune in late winter and which wait until after flowering
- December through February lawn care for tall fescue, bermudagrass and centipedegrass, in one table
- Cold damage: the six mechanisms NC sources name, and why most of them are about water rather than temperature
- Ice and snow: the species NC State says break, and the ones it recommends instead
- Mulch depth and timing, with the four NC figures that disagree
- Erosion before spring rains, including the 21-day rule that has no acreage threshold
- Tool care, winter weeds by name, and the December soil-test fee trap

NINE PLACES NORTH CAROLINA CONTRADICTS ITSELF

Camellia in February, or absolutely never in winter? Four NC offices, four answers. Heavy winter pruning of maples and birches: yes per one county, explicitly no per NC State. Evergreens, ornamental grasses, azaleas, spring-flowering shrubs and winter herbicide timing are all printed with both positions and a recommendation.

THE SHARPEST CONTRAST IN THE GUIDE

Tall fescue is the only one of the four NC lawn grasses NC State tells you to fertilize in winter: one pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet in February. For the warm-season grasses the instruction is in capitals: DO NOT. Get that backwards and you buy winterkill.

FORMAT

Instant digital download. One PDF, 14 pages, US Letter, print at home or read on a tablet. No physical item ships.

WHAT THIS IS AND IS NOT

An educational guide compiled from published North Carolina sources and written for the North Carolina Piedmont. It is not a design, not an engineered plan, not legal advice, and not a site-specific recommendation for your property. Pruning windows, herbicide labels and lab fees change, so verify anything time-sensitive before acting on it.

Alex Purdy, Carolina Terrain, Waxhaw, North Carolina. NC Landscape Contractor License CL.1872, NCSU Stormwater SCM Inspection and Maintenance Certification 5970, NDS Certified Drainage Contractor. I am a licensed contractor, not a professional engineer and not a registered landscape architect.

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