I hesitate to make pronouncements of any but the most obvious sorts. Too frequently hasty conclusions are quickly disproved, and unquestioned observations are contradicted. Along the driveway there are a handful of hybrid camellias, two of one cultivar, and three of the other, ‘Winter’s Star’ and ‘Winter’s Interlude’, though I don’t recall which is which until…
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.
Neglected chores …. again
Inevitably, one garden chore or another is neglected. Not only in January, when I make an effort to do as little as possible, but through the year. The resulting calamity is predictable, but rarely are the consequences so dire as to cause any more than a few hours additional labor. In recent days it’s become…
Something’s missing
The garden escaped the late October hurricane without substantial damage, but storms earlier in summer blew trees over and broke some nearly in half, so there are gaps to be filled and considerable rough edges to smooth. I’ve resisted the urge to replant for the most part. For once I’ll take a bit of time…
Are flowers in January too much to ask for?
I sense I’m a bit of defensive when writing about mid-winter flowers in my garden. Somehow, I feel slightly apologetic that northwestern Virginia doesn’t suffer Arctic temperatures and is just mild enough that a few hardy souls are able to eek out sporadic blooms through the eight weeks that is the worst of our winter. I don’t…
Men are inclined to collect?
A few days ago I was reading a story about Colchicums in the English gardening magazine Gardens Illustrated (my favorite magazine, with superb writing, though the gardens hardly translate to the much warmer and more humid mid Atlantic region of America). The author related that he, like many men, has a tendency to collect. I…
Recollections
I recall as a young child climbing a crabapple that grew adjacent to the walk that led to our family’s small apartment in Langley Park, Maryland. At the time the crab seemed huge, and I sensed the danger in swinging from branch to branch, dangling “high” above the concrete. Of course, I know now that…
Not only native
Cardinals and jays frolic in the rear garden. Here, there is a substantial cover of deciduous trees and tall evergreens, some from the native forest and others planted by the gardener over twenty-three years. Mossy boulders nestled beside the rills of garden ponds (above) provide still water easily accessed for a drink or bathing. And,…
A December project
I am not typically anxious to undertake projects in the cold of December, but recently I discovered an invasive bittersweet vine invading the tree tops of a grove of wild mulberries that lurks in the thicket beside the garden. If the vine was not eliminated it would have easily hopped over to the nearby ‘Elizabeth’…
Blooming in December
I’ve just returned from visiting nurseries in the southeast, and after a month of freezing nighttime temperatures in Virginia it’s difficult to imagine that it’s winter along the Gulf Coast. There are flowers everywhere. Not only late blooming camellias, but also roses and autumn flowering Encore azaleas. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise, and certainly…
More hollies
The variegated English hollies (Ilex aquifolium ‘Argenteo marginata’, below) have no berries. I suppose that all four are males, or perhaps there is not a male pollinator for the females. I’m not observant enough to detect the sex of the hollies from the flowers, so I’ll enjoy the variegated foliage and if they should ever get…
Hollies, berry nice!
Before finishing up here today we’ll have a good idea of the number of hollies in the garden. I haven’t counted (and won’t), but I’m guessing the number will be a dozen, and possibly a few more. I suppose that I can recall all the varieties, and then how many of each are planted, so…
It’s bittersweet
Yes, I know it’s bittersweet. But, is it the native American (Celastrus scandens) that is increasingly rare, or the invasive Oriental (Celastrus orbiculatus)? Before any research is done, it seems most likely that the vine will be the more prevalent Oriental bittersweet, but further investigation is required. Both are lovely vines with prominent winter fruit. Both…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 