Landscaping a home in December isn’t what the average homeowner would dream of doing.
But that is the task before Hyde Landscaping of Franklin, Conn., which will use a volunteer team of 104 landscapers from all over the state, said Wes Hyde, vice president. Twenty landscape companies total are working on the property, which will have 2,000 square feet of pavers.
Dormant sod will be laid down, and it will have a good chance of surviving the winter. The secret to success, Hyde said, is to withhold water and nitrogen so it doesn’t rouse itself into a growing cycle and die in the cold temperature.
To create color, the team will plant many evergreens.
“My words to them is that ‘It is December in New England,’ ” said Hyde, when plans for the design initially took place.
He did contemplate forcing some shrubs to flower for the show, but ultimately decided against it. “I didn’t want it to look fake,” he said.
Instead, gold-leaf cypress will be among the evergreens to provide a backdrop to the garden palette created by the 800 to 900 perennials that will be planted.
Easy maintenance and low watering attracted the team to the summer-blooming daylilly. There also will be a couple hundred units of vinca, an evergreen ground cover, as well as violas, cabbages and kale.
Hyde said there are no plans to plant mature trees, the average height being 8 to 10 feet. The Girards had some orchard trees in the back of their property that were taken down in the excavation, and those will be replanted.
Other low-maintenance shrubs include the fothergilla, which has a white bottlebrush blossom in spring and a brilliant fall foliage, as well as Andromeda, rhododendrons and azaleas.
All of the plants will be well mulched and are expected to survive after planting.
The landscape company will provide a year’s worth of service to the family so they can learn to take care of the plantings.
Prides Corner in Norwich, Hart’s Greenhouses in Norwich and Johnson’s Farms in New Jersey are donating the plantings.