Category Archives: Winter interest
I’d like to wish everyone of you (except Alex) a happy and healthy holiday and thank you for reading my nonsense throughout the year. This blog is an incredible creative escape for me and I thank you all for your fantastic comments along the way. I am ready, with your help, to take on yet another winter and will continue with my promise to not complain about a thing.
John
I was home early from work today and made it a point to walk around the yard despite the sub freezing temperatures. There is a lot of “brown” all around, but upon closer inspection, there is still a nice variety of subtle colors and textures keeping things interesting.
I’m assuming the red tipped boxwood leaves indicate stress from the cold, but I still find it to be an interesting part of their life cycle in the fall/winter. Call me crazy:
Speaking of boxwoods, the Japanese boxwoods have turned their usual yellow/orange as the temps drop and now is their time to shine as everything else dies around them:
The basal foliage (foliage that hangs low to the ground under the stems) on many of the perennials have maintained their color and only now, truly stand out amongst the carnage. I’ll take it:
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| Achillea ‘Moonwalker’ |
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| Penstemon ‘Husker Red’ |
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| Physostegia ‘Summer Snow’ |
The seed heads on the Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum incanum) look fantastic and maybe, just maybe, I’ll finally harvest the seeds:
This is a mystery Heuchera that has held it’s color better than any other I currently own. Any idea of the cultivar? Need more, stat:
I went on an Arborvitae shopping spree two years ago and while they have been a bit slow to establish, the varying colors displayed throughout the seasons have been impressive:
My apologies if I’ve bored you to death but when you’ve got the “plant obsession” you can find interest any time of the year.
John
I felt like a desperate man today as I toured the gardens looking for some sign that my little beauties made it through the winter. I’d take any sign at all. Some sort of signal saying “Here we come dude, fear not for our safety. We’ll reunite soon enough”. And gosh darn it if those little buggers didn’t put a smile on my winter worn face.
The Summer Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum) bulbs have emerged.
Not that there was ever a concern, but seeing the little “fingernails” of the peonies emerge can be considered “breaking news” this time of year.
The Sedum ‘Matrona’ took a beating last year (deer, drought, clumsy kids) but they are on their way back. Can I get an amen?
Some other observations during my walkabout:
Maybe I’m insane, but the “evergreen” sedums have taken on a brighter color red the past few days.
Deep breath … the deer have reappeared and took to one of the arborvitae ‘rheingold’. However, they did just chow down to the new green growth and only disposed of the bronzed foliage. Maybe they were just trying to help?
I’m ready to cut down the ornamental grasses but held off for at least one more day as I still NEED their winter interest.
It may not be earth shattering, but for this time of year, I’ll take it. Baby steps … baby steps.
ONG
I woke up this morning looking like this:
I am so done with the snow. You can’t even enjoy “playing” in it since it is like 10 feet deep. Even the dog is like, “Um, nah, I’m good, I’ll hold it for a while.” I don’t want to hear about a time to rest from gardening, enjoy the different seasons, blah, blah friggin blah. I AM DONE.
I must admit, however, there were three things that did occur today to lighten the mood just a bit.
First, my garden blog pal, who I worship like no other, Allan Becker, sent me a personal email including a blog post from last winter that highlighted a number of winter worthy shrubs. Check it out here. I am a monstrous fan of the Cornus ‘Arctic Fire’.
Second, that kick ass wife of my mine whipped up another stellar dinner. Today it was spaghetti squash with meat sauce. You can find a very similar recipe here. In case you haven’t tried it, the spaghetti squash is baked and the strands of the squash can be removed to replace the actual spaghetti. Bellissimo!
And last but surely not least, my daughter made me a picture as she is also fed up with this weather and is ready for spring:
She knows the way to my heart.
John