On second thought, after sleeping on it, and with considerable deliberation, I must fess up that more maintenance is accomplished in this garden than I might imply. After all, the property is an acre and a quarter, so after subtracting for the house, driveway, and small amount of lawn, what remains that is garden is…
Author: Dave
I've been in the landscape business with Meadows Farms since 1976. I have a one acre+ garden in Warrenton VA started in 1989 that I test new plant introductions and landscape products. I have 6 ponds in the garden and a number of patios and paths.
Late December in the garden
I am pleased to report that recent weeks have been mild, not warm, but not cold after a period in November that alarmed many gardeners with temperatures far below normal. Rainfall has been plentiful, at least the number of days if not the total accumulation, so that the garden is damp enough to help to…
Low maintenance
Though it’s no secret that I find garden maintenance loathsome, I take for granted that some labor is necessary to maintain a minimum of order so that the garden is not given over completely to briars and brambles. In recent years, parts of the garden without an adequate cover of shredded leaves grow prodigious crops…
For the birds?
Gardeners, I suppose, are an optimistic lot, sometimes ignoring the obvious for years, or even a lifetime. There is ample evidence that I am a slow learner, with lessons too often requiring a decade or two, if they are ever to be learned. And, so it is with winter berries, or at least many berries…
Gordlinia
Two gordlinias (x Gordlinia grandiflora) have recovered nicely after defoliating completely in colder than average temperatures last winter. The evergreen, shrubby trees are of questionable cold hardiness, and certainly I would not have been surprised if both had died. Now, I’m pleased with their rejuvenation, though only one has grown vigorously. The gordlinias are planted…
Not ready for winter
Somehow, this year has passed too quickly. When cold persisted too long into spring, the internal clocks of many plants became muddled, and mine also so that it seems only a short while ago I was nursing too many shrubs through their winter injuries. I was jolted, along with the garden’s hydrangeas, by fifteen degree…
December flowering daphne
After a three week hiatus when nighttime temperatures dropped into the twenties, and then the teens, ‘Eternal Fragrance’ daphne (Daphne x transatlantica ‘Blafra’, below) shows signs that it will flower again in December. Until this year I had experience only with the spring blooming ‘Carol Mackie’ (Daphne × burkwoodii ‘Carol Mackie’) and the variegated cultivar…
Lost treasures
Changes in the garden are unending, witnessed through the shorter span of the seasons and over decades if the gardener is so fortunate to remain in place long enough. Most alterations are for the better, while others are not so appreciated. Perennials come and go in this garden that is dominated by trees, though there…
A snake’s paradise
Several years ago, through one summer a garter snake resided in the vigorous clematis (Clematis montana ‘Rubens’, below) that covers the rail on one side of our deck. I suppose there were occasions when the small snake followed the sturdy trunk of the vine down to prowl the ground below, but my wife and I…
With overnight temperatures in the twenties, the leaves of paperbushes (Edgeworthia chrysantha, below) began to fade, but after a few nights at fifteen degrees the foliage wilted, and now it’s dropping. This is not unusual, and the sudden freeze should not result in any harm. While young shrubs suffered only a little in the severe…
A heavy, wet snow
Long stems of nandinas (Nandina domestica) arch under the weight of the wet and heavy late November snow. Leaves remain on several Japanese maples (Acer palmatum ‘Okushimo’, below) so that these catch more snow than others with bare branches, though this snow will melt quickly and no damage is expected. A well prepared gardener will…
Sick of sycamores
Autumn is most noted for foliage that turns to marvelous reds and yellows before falling to carpet the ground. In this garden at the forest’s edge, perennials and small shrubs (as well as garden tools) can be lost forever (or just for months) if deep piles of leaves are left for long. So, a few…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 