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…
Category: Uncategorized
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…
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…
Work to be done
There is work to be done if flowers of hellebores and snowdrops are to be seen as milder temperatures return. The largest piles of leaves were removed from hellebores before the recent, extended period of cold, when swelling buds were first noticed. While flower buds were not injured by temperatures that dropped to zero, foliage…
Impatient for spring
Is mid January too early to be impatient for spring? In fact, I don’t wish to scoot the calendar forward, but anxiously await milder temperatures after several weeks of cold that has dragged on far too long. Winter flowers are a partial remedy for seemingly interminable winters, but many blooms curl for protection as temperatures…
A brown leafed gordlinia
Six spindly gordinias (x Gordlinia grandiflora) were planted into clumps of three when it became sadly apparent that a long established Franklinia (Franklinia alatamaha, flowers below) was nearing its demise. Over three years, a rejuvenated spring drenched the surrounding soil (also killing a large witch hazel and holly), and though Franklinia was found in the…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 