Dave – Page 119 – Ramblin' through Dave's Garden

Lost blooms

Most often, Leatherleaf mahonia (Mahonia bealei, above) flowers dependably late winter into early spring along with witch hazels and hellebores. The late winter bloomers provide a welcome measure of relief to impatient gardeners yearning for spring. In recent warm winters, leatherleaf mahonia occasionally bloomed into January, and despite consistently cold temperatures this winter the flower buds…

A pussy willow for every swamp

The variegated pussy willow (Salix gracilistyla ‘Variegata’, above) sprawls about the rear property line with an open habit and a tangled mass of branches. One look will dissuade a gardener from believing this wide spreading shrub is appropriate for any place other than the far reaches of the garden, and more preferably onto someone else’s property. A…

Bloodied, but not beaten

With warmer temperatures after a winter that has been too long and too cold, I’ve finally begun to remove remnants of the large maple that toppled over in December’s ice storm. The top branches that crushed an old ‘Forest Pansy’ redbud were removed within a few days of the storm, but the shattered trunk arched…

Flowers in the snow

More than a few times this winter, enthusiasm has been quashed by another spell of extreme cold or more inches of snow. As soon as buds of hellebores show signs that flowering is imminent, they are buried for another week under six inches of snow. Finally, ‘Diane’ (above) and ‘Jelena’ (below) witch hazels (Hamamelis x…

The winter of our discontent

At long last, this wearying winter is nearing its end, but not before leaving a trail of broken limbs and browned foliage. Ice and heavy snow (and snow again) have snapped branches and even entire trees, but as late winter creeps into spring the pressing issue is figuring what is alive from branches or entire…

Better late than never

There are occasions when snowdrops (Galanthus spp., below) push through snow to flower in winter’s most inhospitable conditions. Though much of the snow has melted, the deeply shaded front garden remains covered, and today a few snowdrops have managed to poke through along the treacherously icy front walk. I’ve been waiting. I’m certain that area…

For the birds

In late February, abundant berries remain on nandinas (Nandina domestica, above) and many of the hollies (Ilex spp.) in the garden. The uneaten berries are typical, I suppose evidence that these are unappetizing to all but the hungriest birds. Even in years when I’ve been discouraged from stocking the bird feeder due to the growing…

Just around the corner

Though the garden remains covered by snow, several days of warmer temperatures are forecast for this week. Time for winter is running short on the calendar, and finally there is evidence that this long season of cold might be coming to a close. While it’s likely that the snow will melt in a few days,…

Cutting back the hellebores

Predictably, I failed to remove the foliage from hellebores before the flower buds swelled in late December, and now they are covered by many inches of wet snow. By mid January the buds were prominent, and there have been times when the hellebores flowered from late December until March. But, temperatures have been far too…

The overnight snow

I’m getting too old for this. Perhaps I am too old, and I’m fooling myself. Anyway, this morning an able bodied young fellow trudged down the walk to inquire if my wife and I needed some help shoveling last night’s fourteen inch snowfall from the driveway. No, I told him, I’m planning to dig it…

Another day in paradise

Another day, another ice storm. Or snow. And if we’re fortunate the day will bring only a cold, miserable rain. This winter has gone on far too long already with ice and snow, and too much shivering cold. The snow has been mostly benign, but the December ice storm kick started one garden trauma after…

Tracks in the snow

The morning after a recent snowfall the back garden was crisscrossed by deer tracks. This was hardly a revelation. I can’t claim that the local deer community is comparable to areas nearby that are vastly overpopulated. By comparison, there are few in this neighborhood, but the small group of deer beds down in the thicket…