In the last weeks of a very average winter that seems so much worse by comparison to recent mild winters, a seventy degree day in February encourages that the worst has passed. Besides an improvement in the gardener’s disposition, there are also tangible signs of the change of season. For weeks, a scattered few snowdrops…
Category: landscaping
Winter jasmine
Better judgment, too rarely exercised in this garden, recommends that I not photograph yellow blooms of Winter jasmine that arch over the edge of the koi pond. A wide growing paperbush along side of the pond makes viewing of the Winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) ever more treacherous, with the route over slick boulders at the…
Which witch hazel?
I’ve told the story before (and will again), always with profound disappointment, that a mature ‘Arnold Promise’ witch hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’, below) faded and finally succumbed in an area of the rear garden that gradually became too damp. The loss of dear and long established plants is always tragic, but this witch…
Digging through the freeze
Frozen ground prevents much progress in tidying up the garden before spring. Brief spells of mild temperatures teased that the worst of winter had passed, and while recent cold has not been extreme, there have been few days to encourage the urge to get outdoors. Today, a small fothergilla (Fothergilla ‘Mt. Airy’, below) was moved…
Club and spikemosses
An interesting, low growing evergreen caught my eye on a winter afternoon as I walked along the creek in the forest that borders the garden. There are few evergreens in the forest besides the few native hollies and scattered ferns, and I was intrigued that this could be from the family of club and spikemosses….
Impatient for spring
Over my wife’s incredulous laughter, I claim patience, while fidgeting to get outdoors after the recent spell of mild temperatures. At the start of February, already winter seems overly long, though alternating periods of mildness and cold are typical of the Virginia winter, and five more weeks of varying degrees of cold are expected. In…
A fallen wall
A section of the dry stacked stone wall that retains the edge of the koi pond has collapsed, so this must be added to the list of chores that must be accomplished before spring. There is no hurry to repair the wall, it leaned in recent years, and if it was structurally necessary it would…
A winter wildlife update
Squirrels are less frequently seen at the birdfeeder after applying a pepper sauce to sunflower seeds. A year ago, a recommended switch to safflower seed achieved a similar result, but purchasing fifty pound bags of sunflower seeds and the pepper sauce is considerably cheaper. Birds, from my observation, prefer the sunflower seeds. As is typical…
Scenes from the winter garden
No doubt, the garden in winter is more sparse than times when it is chock full of blooms, but it is not devoid of interest. A brief stroll on a chilly afternoon reveals sights that are overlooked with the distraction of flowers.
Don’t expect too much
Yes, it’s fifty five degrees. No, it is not spring, so expecting more than the few scattered flowers of witch hazels, hellebores, and snowdrops is unrealistic. Still, I regularly examine early flowering magnolias (below) and ‘Okame’ cherry for swelling buds, which are not swelling despite this spell of late January warmth, and probably won’t for…
Scheduled for removal
Along with modest new plantings envisioned for spring, a few removals also are scheduled for some mild winter weekend. Two small trees have failed to survive, a small Japanese maple planted in the middle of a vigorous patch of Ostrich ferns, and a Golden Chain tree with pendulous branches (Laburnum x watereri ‘Pendulum’, below). Planting…
A splendid winter day
Today is one of those days, rare days when winter temperatures are just right and I’m itching to get outside. To do something, anything. There are two parts to this equation, weather and will, and only on occasion do they coincide. A prior engagement dictates that the day’s labor will be brief, and no matter…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 