Tips on planning your 2026 garden, organizing pots and protecting new houseplants

I like to use lots of color in my home garden. My favorite color is blue, so I always include plants with blue flowers and hosta with blue foliage.

Color is a common design element to consider in the home garden as you plan for the 2026 growing season. Complementary colors such as orange and blue are opposite each other on the color wheel and can create bright, vibrant effects when combined in the garden. Harmonious or analogous colors such as yellow and orange are next to each other on the color wheel and create a visually harmonious effect when used in the garden.

Combinations of hot colors such as reds, yellows and oranges create vivid and exciting displays in the garden. Hot colors tend to leap forward in the landscape.

Cool colors in shades of blue, violet and green can create a more soothing and tranquil effect in the garden. Cool colors tend to recede in the garden and can be used to exaggerate the illusion of depth. I recommend checking a few different photos of plants you are considering, as colors in some photos may not be accurate.

January is a good time to clean and organize things. To clean crusty clay pots, add 1 cup each of white vinegar and household bleach to a gallon of warm water and soak the pots. For heavily crusted pots, scrub with a steel wool pad after soaking for 12 hours.

Terra cotta pots are best stored indoors so that they are protected from moisture. They absorb water and can crack with the typical freeze/thaw cycle over the course of winter. If you must store them outside, stack them upside down with a cardboard spacer between each pot. The stack should be elevated from the ground and covered with a tarp to keep dry.

Protect houseplants from cold temperatures when purchasing them in the winter. Most garden centers wrap plants to protect them from cold temperatures, but if they don’t, be sure to ask them to wrap the plants for you. Wrapping plants also protects them from breaking.

Be sure the plants are placed in a stable location on the way home. When transporting plants, the car, bus, or train should be warm, especially if outdoor temperatures are below freezing. Plants should never be transported in a cold trunk or allowed to sit in a cold vehicle for any length of time.

Set the plant on a stable surface and carefully tear or cut the wrapper from the bottom up to unwrap the plant. Do not attempt to pull the wrapper off a plant, as you risk breaking stems, flowers and leaves.

Be sure to remove wrapping around a plant before 24 hours have passed. Open the top to allow the plants to get air if you cannot remove the entire wrapping right away.

• Tim Johnson is director of horticulture at Chicago Botanic Garden, chicagobotanic.org.