Planning for spring, part 30

Winter has barely started, and no matter how anxious, already I’ve blown through the spring budget allocated for the thirty year anniversary of the start of this garden. Happily I suppose, money is not the issue, but space, though my wife is likely to quibble that both are problems. A year ago, a few extra…

A drab ending to a wet year

A single leaf identifies each of three Putty root orchids (Aplectrum hyemale, below) successfully transplanted. I suspect this has required no particular expertise, though I attempted as much as is possible to duplicate conditions of a local forest where these are scattered about. The leaf, only one per orchid, will persist through winter, but fade…

Standing sentry

There is no better way to stir the garden to life than to fill the bird feeder after it’s been empty for a few days in December. Bluejays are first to arrive, then a variety of smaller birds, though no cardinals yet this morning. Squirrels are beginning to move in, but retreat as a Red…

Quiet members of the garden in late December

In winter’s dormancy the gardener becomes more aware of less flamboyant  members of the garden, not only bark and buds, but also simpler plant forms. Damp conditions this year have been beneficial to naturally occurring bryophytes, mosses and liverworts that thrive in gaps between path stones, and also transplanted club and spike mosses.   

A bit of color

Several hellebores are showing a bit of color, though flower buds could remain in this state for another six weeks, and probably will. A time, possibly two, in twenty years the same hellebores began flowering the third week of December, with full bloom following shortly before the new year. As I recall, that early winter,…

Gold Cone ready to go

In recent years, ice, snow, and wind have irreparably damaged and tilted a tall ‘Gold Cone’ juniper (Juniperus communis ‘Gold Cone’), that must now be removed. No matter that ‘Gold Cone’ was never gold, with barely a trace of yellow new growth in spring that faded quickly in the first spell of heat. It was…

Too cold?

I debate taking actions to protect marginally cold hardy evergreens planted this year. The overriding philosophy of this garden has long been “survival of the fittest”, and without a doubt, constructing leaf filled cages to insulate fatsias and Anise shrubs (Illicium floridanum ‘Pink Frost’, below) is contrary to three decades of trial and error in…

Berries are hit and miss

Again, there are few berries on the tall, seedling American holly (Ilex opaca, below) in the rear garden that can positively be identified as female. There are handfuls of the native American hollies in and near the garden, with many smaller seedling hollies at the edges, and others deeper into the forest that borders it….

That’s more like it

Until a few weeks ago, days were getting shorter, but not colder, so that autumn leaf color has not been much for folks in the area to get excited about until this week. I don’t get too excited about autumn foliage. I’m not very excitable, I suppose, but it’s more or less the end of…

In my younger days

I notice that dry stacked columns constructed from blocks of limestone have gone out of plumb after too many years of freezing and thawing. A couple columns remain relatively straight, but several aren’t, and I vaguely recall seeing this some time ago. Then, as now, I hoped that evergreen foliage would disguise the crookedness so…

Big leaves

Falling leaves of the Bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla) are a significant event in the garden. Immediately, a widespread area of ferns, hostas, and a young patch of Allegheny spurge (Pachysandra procumbens) are buried beneath a deep cover of the huge leaves, which will remain in place until decay begins in early spring. Other leaves are…

A day in the garden

Mid-October in northern Virginia is not the best time to visit a garden. A garden group visited my place in early November a year ago, and with a warmer than average first half of autumn there were still a few things to see. But of course, I would prefer visitors to see the garden’s peak…