Winter fantasies

The longer I’m confined indoors by snow-covered ground and freezing temperatures, the more fantastical garden renovations become as I plan for spring. Of course, I continue to trudge through snow or mud or over frozen soil, but outdoor jaunts are more brief in the winter months. Still, in these few minutes, as I search out the next swelling flower bud or emerging bulb, I’m able to counter my fantasies with a dose of reality.

No, it is not practical to chop out the thirty year old gold thread branch cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera filifera) at the foot of the driveway. The tall cypress (twenty-five feet, I estimate) is a constant reminder that this conifer is regularly misused in gardens where it is presumed to grow considerably smaller, but most practically, the evergreen serves to enclose the rear garden. Somehow, it was provided adequate space to grow to this size, though I barely had a clue and presumed it might grow only to ten feet.

A variegated leaf Japanese maple would not be faded by the sun, but its color might be faded if the shade is too dense.

The most current fantasy chops out a Stellar Pink dogwood and a neighboring panicled hydrangea that have become too shaded with no flowers or ones that are thirty feet above and beyond view. There are plants better suited to this spot, and of course, my first thoughts are that another dogwood or redbud must be ideal. Or possibly, a variegated leaf Japanese maple (above) could work here.

A variegated mutation of the yellow leafed ‘Rising Sun’ redbud planted several years ago started a compulsion to collect as many redbuds as could fit into the garden.

Two redbuds are at the top of my have-to-have list. I must have ‘Zig Zag’ with branches that zig and zag at pronounced angles, though it seems to be rarely available. Instead, I might settle for the small-leafed, compact growing ‘Ace of Hearts’. With slower growth in the shade, I could possibly fit both, one around the corner from the other and something else in between.

Certainly, if I can find both, they’ll start off small enough that I’ll be dead and gone before they grow too large. And, redbuds grow at the margins of forests where they often mingle closely with others. Clearly, you see the process, and before any spring purchase, I’ll have dreamed another dozen possibilities and discarded a dozen more.