The garden is not happy this morning following a night when temperatures dropped near ten degrees (Fahrenheit). Leaves of aucubas ( below) and rhododendrons hang limp, a protective mechanism but very concerning to gardeners who have not repeatedly seen leaves rise as temperatures approach the thirties. I am not concerned about any plant in this…

The variability of seedlings is illustrated on a brief jaunt through the garden viewing handfuls of native American holly (Ilex opaca) seedlings. While several have been dug and moved to locations better suited to the long term, all are native to the forest that borders the garden. All are readily identifiable as American hollies, and…

The gardener must muddle through the worst, always looking for a reason to smile. Regular bouts of heat, drought, and flood can be painful, though severe cold could be the worst. Fortunately, no matter the season, there is some bloom, bud, or bark to bring joy. Today’s blanket of snow is lovely (at least until…

Shoulda, coulda, but didn’t. I was aware that snow was forecast for today. Ideally, I would have taken advantage of yesterday’s sixty degree temperatures to tie the mahonia’s branches (below). Instead, I browsed the unusual number of blooms for this first week of the new year, so this morning a tall branch obstructs the path…

Sometimes, I forget. But, then the garden reminds that some task was neglected, and today the first color on snowdrops along the front walk is a reminder that much of the wide spreading clump of the evergreen ‘Evergold’ carex should have been dug out as flowers faded a year ago. Instead, the carex was cut…

This mild, late December afternoon has lured bees from their shelters to sup from mahonia (Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’, below) blooms at their winter peak. The buzz is heard from several paces down the path, and bees are hardly bothered as I poke my nose close. Tomorrow, bees will be gone until the next…

Exceptionally mild December temperatures have encouraged me to jump into a project that was just a thought until the first spade of sod was dug a week ago. The lower rear lawn has long been a disappointment, an overly damp weed patch for several years. Occasionally, I get to thinking about doing something here, but…

Recent mild temperatures have encouraged flowering of several spring flowering camellias along with prolonging blooms of a single azalea that occasionally flowers into early December. The formula of cold nights followed by mild daylight hours that spurs early, spring-like flowering is imprecise, and in the case of camellias December flowers are quickly damaged in twenty…

While prompting no more celebration than an approving nod, I am happy that several flowers are coming along on a ‘Marvel’ mahonia (Mahonia x media ‘Marvel’, below) that was moved earlier this year from a too shaded spot where it did not bloom since planting several years ago. There are plants in the garden that…

The family gathered around the firepit beside the koi pond on a mild Thanksgiving afternoon as sunlight faded. Logs of the aged variegated redbud (Cercis canadensis ‘Silver Cloud’) that was cut down a year ago after the weakly rooted and top heavy tree leaned to touch the ground burned brightly as we scooted chairs back…

Thankfully, leaves of the Korean Sweetheart tree (Euscaphis japonica, below) have turned, not to copper or purple but to brown. A year ago, the foliage did not drop until late in December, signaling a lack of dormancy with some winter injury as a result, so today brown is better than green. I expected the young…

I should know better. I do know better, of course, but this matters little when I am blinded by enthusiasm, or occasionally lulled into an inattentive daze. This garden was begun thirty-two years ago, so there are rarely gaping holes to be filled, but the small size of gaps and the lust for new plants…