Sleep, sleep, and cut back foliage on the hellebores. That’s it, that’s all I plan to accomplish between now and spring. Perhaps I’ll manage to work in a bit of time to continue to cut up the trunk of the tall maple that toppled over into the garden in last week’s ice storm. The top…
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.
A blessing or a curse?
For the better or the worse, the garden changes. Plants grow (if the gardener is so fortunate not to kill everything), but in time this can present problems as trees shade smaller shrubs and perennials. While Japanese maples and dogwoods grow vigorously, a tickseed or sedum will invariably require transplanting to a sunnier location, and…
A maple and the ice storm
There are undeniable benefits to living at the forest’s edge, but today I’m not so enthused about living in close proximity to towering swamp red maples and tulip poplars. A portion of the garden is tucked beneath the shade of these tall trees, and after last night’s ice storm the ground is littered with branches….
A foul forecast
With cool temperatures through much of the autumn, alarmists warn of an impending cold winter, and I’ll admit that I’m at least a bit concerned that this forecast could occur. There is no doubt that winter temperatures have warmed over the past several decades, and now my garden is chock full of treasures that would…
A bittersweet ending
It appears that my quest to rid the garden of the invasive Oriental bittersweet vine (Celastrus orbiculatus, below) has been successful, and without any of the ensuing complications that I feared. A year ago, the thick vine climbed far up into a mulberry that arched over the garden from a neighboring thicket of brambles and willows….
Berry nice
None of the four variegated English hollies (Ilex aquifolium ‘Argentea Marginata’, below) in the garden has any berries at all. They never have. No doubt, this is a result of not having a male pollinator handy at the appropriate time, so I must be satisfied only by the handsome foliage. It seems a small investment in…
Foliage, not flowers
Two ‘Flaming Silver’ pieris (Pieris japonica ‘Flaming Silver’, below) in part shade in the front garden have long been plagued by lace bugs, though much of the damage occurred when they were less shaded. One pieris has been overtaken by a wide spreading leatherleaf mahonia (Mahonia bealei) so that it’s barely visible, though if it…
Colorful conifers
The yellow needles of golden fernspray cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Fernspray Gold’, below) brighten noticeably as temperatures cool in the autumn. I don’t suppose to fully understand the change in color at the time when most plants go into dormancy, but in November the cypress shines across the garden. The fernspray cypress is slower growing than many…
Confused, at best
Confused? No, not me, not this time. While reblooming hydrangeas and Encore azaleas flowered meekly through late summer and early autumn, a small rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis, below) continues to bloom, apparently unaware (or unconcerned) that temperatures dropped deep into the twenties this week. It is not sheltered, but somehow the rosemary has been fooled into…
The dreaded leaf clean up
I know gardeners who are deeply disturbed by any accumulation of leaves in the autumn months. Their gardens must remain tidy, so leaves are raked or vacuumed promptly. If you’ve visited these pages before, I’m certain you’ll not be surprised to learn that I’m not bothered at all by large piles of leaves. I must…
Still flowers
Recent weeks have been occupied documenting autumn foliage colors, and after somewhat of a slow start (caused by a September drought?), colors became more remarkable into late October and early November. Also, berries of hollies have ripened to deep red (below), and despite mounds of fallen leaves there are abundant interests to entertain on a…
Bewitching
The yellow flowered, hybrid ‘Arnold Promise’ witch hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’) has struggled through this year. As far as I can see, nothing of consequence has changed in the nearby area to cause the soil to be continually damp, but water has often pooled in the area and the witch hazel objected by…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 