The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Category Archives: Winter interest

Waking up to winter

Posted on by Posted in Family, Winter interest .
Guess who made an appearance today?

Old lady winter revealed herself overnight and with authority. While the snowfall was insignificant, it did make for a nice, albeit short, display:  

But it wasn’t really about the snow at all. It was all about the frigid temps and the severe winds. 
I raced to bring the rosemary and a small plug of mint into the garage so they could be saved from the harsh conditions, knowing they would ultimately end up indoors for the winter. By the time I was done with that task, I couldn’t feel my hands and had a sweet snot moustache. Good times.
Once what little snow we had melted, the winds took hold and have yet to stop. As bad as the winds are, I find myself entertained by the dancing ornamental grasses:

When we say grasses provide movement in the garden, this is the extreme.

In fact, check this out if you like watching grasses dance:

Think the grasses are scared? Hell to the “no”. They’ll bounce back. 

One last thing. And let’s step back into fall for a minute.

We spent this past weekend in Connecticut with family (with hospitality like no other from J&N) and had a chance to visit my wife’s cousin at Quinnipiac University. There is absolutely nothing like a New England autumn and nothing like a New England college in autumn.

Here are a few pics I snapped along the way.

While I may have put the family in danger by taking this photo on a narrow side road near the school, with cars flying by in all directions, it was definitely worth it:

The tree colors on campus were off the charts:

Consider me a new fan of all Quinnipiac sports based solely on their use of grasses: 

The views from all over the campus are extraordinary:

And coming from someone who has so few mature trees on their property,  I have severe leaf envy: 

Oh the compostable possibilities.

We are expected to get back into the 60’s next week so I’m sure I’ll be all autumn-loving again real soon.

John  

For today at least, Winter is OK

Posted on by Posted in Winter interest .
I’ve noticed an interesting pattern with my blog posts of late. One day it’s “Winter isn’t so bad, look at all the interesting textures and the plant interplay with snow and ice.” The next day it’s “This sucks, let’s look backward or forward and reminisce about actual living blooms or healthy foliage.” A bit schizophrenic if you will.
And that just about sums it up for me. While I’ve come to appreciate the winter garden more and more and its beautiful subtlety, I still long for the days when I couldn’t keep up with the pruning or deadheading or even the weeding.       
Today was one of those “Winter ain’t so bad” days as I wandered the yard for the first time in two weeks. We have had brutally cold temps for days now but that wasn’t going to stop me in my quest for the beloved “winter interest”. Frost bite and runny nose be damned; we are getting some pics up in here.
There is no better example of winter awesomeness than the peeling bark on trees. Throw in some late afternoon sun and you’ve got yourself a cornucopia of interest:   
River Birch

Multi-trunked River Birch 

‘Winter King’ Hawthorn

Without any leaves or flowers in sight, it is an awesome opportunity to get up close and personal with the tree limbs and enjoy their subtle colors and textures:  

‘Winter King’ Hawthorn 

Next, we move on to the deciduous shrubs. Many offer great branch color that contrasts so well with all of the surrounding “brown-ness”:

‘Henry’s Garnet’ Itea

Dappled willow

Or even their own version of peeling bark hidden deep inside all of that shrubbery:

Ninebark

Of course, I couldn’t compose a winter post without some reference to an ornamental grass, and for today, I was digging the spent “blooms” on a patch of ‘Karl Foerster’ grass:

I even find interest in the spent siberian irises, with their dead foliage lit up by not only the winter sun, but also the snow at their feet:

The spent seedheads of the bee balms …

A reminder of what was and what will be:

Same goes with the obedient plants … 

And their once crisp white blooms:

The aforementioned siberian iris and their seedpods add a certain look to the landscape …  

Although they cannot compare to their “spring look”:
And finally, a lonely bud bides its time until …   

It puts on a show for both the eyes, and more impressively, the nose:   

Be on the lookout for the next post which will go back to winter denial/hatred.

John

The garden is beaten down by ice

Early morning frost pics

Wordless Wednesday – Waiting out the fog before getting a Christmas tree

Oh yeah, winter

Plants that die well

Posted on by Posted in Ornamental grass, Winter interest .
When you dig gardening (pun intended) and you live in a colder climate (zone 6 here), you need plants that “die well”. It is a long stretch from November to March and the search for winter interest is always top of mind. 
To me, winter interest is all about subtlety and as is the case when gardening during any season, looking natural is the key. And I’m the first to admit that I have a long ways to go in mastering this practice. But that is the beauty with gardening – we will learn until the day we die. 
For today, I thought I would share some of my “good dying plants” and “not so good dying plants” with you. Shall we?:
One of the “winter interest” staples is the classic coneflower (Echinacea). Here it is in it’s decaying glory:              

Not bad eh? I should also add I love NOT cutting down the coneflower blooms in order to feed the birds (as seen in the photo of the finch above) and I enjoy the reseeding in all of my garden beds. Coneflowers for years to come.

We also have the mother of all winter interest, the ornamental grass:

Miscanthus (Maiden Grass)
Panicum (Switch Grass)
Carex (Sedge)

Chasmanthium Latifolium (Northern Sea Oats)

Also love spent Hydrangea blooms:

The color left behind by Penstemon ‘Husker’s Red’:

The native Mountain Mint:

And even the ubiquitous Sedum:

And finally my friends, love me some spent Astilbe blooms:

Nothing that necessarily jumps out and grabs you, but they all add a nice cold weather/wintry vibe. Memories of what was and what soon will be. Sweet.

But I can’t leave it all positive. Not everything looks good dead. Some ugly examples:

Lobelia

Peony
Siberian iris
Hibiscus
Let me know some of your favorite winter interest plants. Lord knows I still need some guidance.
John

Wordless Wednesday – Frost

534 days to go – seeking winter interest

Posted on by Posted in Winter interest .

Not so long ago, I vowed to have my garden/property looking fantabulous by June 29th, 2013.

Why put that pressure on myself?
Because NOW is the time to dedicate the time and effort to something I love. Let’s go for broke. Dream big and try to pull this off while I am still physically able to do so. I’m daring myself to accept the challenge and see it to fruition. It will be the opposite of “stop and smell the roses”. More like “bypass the roses, pick up your shovel because we’ve got ten yards of topsoil to spread.”

Why that date?
I need to give myself ample time to do this right and plan it appropriately. I need two springs and one fall to plant my ass off and my absolute favorite time of the year in the garden is late June/early July.

Speaking of planning, I spent this past weekend photographing my garden beds in their current state as a means to capture them at their weakest. My ultimate goal is to have four full seasons of interest throughout my yard and now is the time to assess where that stands. I feel very vulnerable sharing some of these photos with you, but is for the greater good.

Today, I’ll show you what is going on (or not going on) in the bed that surrounds my driveway. I see it more than any other garden bed so I NEED to get it right. Hopefully these photos will inspire me to think “winter interest” throughout the planning process because it can be easy to forget once everything is green and thriving in the spring/summer.

Here is photo #1 as of today:                    

And here it is as of mid-summer:

The dilemma – I love how it looks from early summer through mid Fall. Do I accept that and move on? Maybe the Siberian irises, which bloom in mid-spring, don’t work here because they bloom when the surrounding Miscanthus grasses are still sheared to the ground and the Eupatorium (Joe-Pye weed) have yet to put on any height? Maybe I need to mix in some evergreen shrubs to get the “green” in winter/early spring and some bulbs for some early spring blooms? Problem is this area stays wet for long periods of time.

This shit keeps me up at night.    

Photo #2 as of today:

And in mid-summer:

And in late summer/early fall:

Again, a whole lot of brown and not much else. I don’t think drastic changes are necessary, but I’m hoping I can strategically add some winter color and maybe an inanimate object or two. Oh yeah, I can’t forget the impact the deer have here.

Finally, a quick pat on my own back for inspiration. I planted this section of the bed in summer of ’10:

And have been thrilled with how it has filled in and the mixture of foliage textures and colors:

I’ll continue the theme of “winter interest” over the next few posts and hopefully something will click with all of your wonderful feedback (hint hint).

It has to look better than this in late winter, right?:

John

A quick winter tour

Posted on by Posted in Winter interest .

The thermometer said 15 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind chill made it feel like it was 0 degrees but that didn’t stop me from taking a walk around the yard. My nose hairs may have been frozen together and I had a difficult time keeping the camera straight but it was all worth it. I felt invigorated. And here’s what I witnessed:

No matter how much damage they cause, I can’t help but love having the deer visit twice a day:  

OK, maybe it bothers me a little:

The thought of them jumping into the raised bed is comical:
The birds that have remained are constant entertainment and I love the challenge of trying to snap them before they are off to their next destination:    

OK, fine, I doctored this shot a bit but it is pretty cool IMHO:

I could be wrong, but I’ve never seen the sedums have this much growth so early in the winter. Hang in there  guys:

That’s all … but it was enough.

John