The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Category Archives: Winter interest

Friggin “winter interest”

Posted on by Posted in Winter interest .

I hate the winter. And that hatred continues to grow exponentially each year.

In fact, I started my “what do I hate more than winter” list and the list isn’t nearly as long as it has been in the past. Here are the only items that currently rank higher:

  1. People who stop in the middle of an aisle at a store and are oblivious to others around them
  2. The New York Yankees
  3. Shredded coconut
  4. The term “due diligence”
  5. Kate Gosselin
  6. Impatiens

That’s it. Winter ranks that low. But, I do understand and buy into the need for winter interest in the garden. It is one of the few things that gets me through the hellish months of January and February. I think I’ve improved in that design element the past few years but still have a ways to go.

In between my nose hairs freezing and forming an impenetrable blockage into my nose and the icicles forming on my eyelashes, I managed to snap off some photos the past few days that personify “winter interest”. Some may be a stretch and others may require a close-up view, but if they keep me interested, that’s all that matters. On to the photos:
             

The plumes on the Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’ continue to be a crowd pleaser. 

I’m glad I kept the spent blooms on the Astilbe. 

Purple Coneflower seed heads still stand tall

Frost tipped seedheads of Sedum

Eupatorium ‘Chocolate’ – I may regret if these reseed like mad, we’ll see.

Hypericum ‘Albury Purple’ with the foliage still hanging in there.

The crabapple fruit starting to shrivel up, but still digging these big time.

Not “interesting”, but a reminder of better days.

Yucca ‘Golden Sword’ pops like a son of a bitch amongst all the brown and death.

Rudbeckia seed heads, will hopefully continue to draw the hungry birds 

Maybe dull during the spring and summer, but the evergreens are on center stage now.

Arborvitae ‘Rheingold’ – don’t know if I love it or hate it, either way, the foliage color changes draw me in. 

I like to think I provide a refuge for the deer from all the local hunters. We are working on a compromise on what they are allowed to eat and hope to have a contract signed soon.

Have a great weekend.
ONG

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Maybe I dig the cold weather

Posted on by Posted in Winter interest .

After a fantastic and relaxing Thanksgiving weekend, I expected to be one miserable SOB on Monday morning. Like a kid who doesn’t want to go back to school, I contemplated pretending to be ill. Maybe food poisoning? My work would never question that, right? 

Before I could plan out my work abandonment, Casey, our labrador retriever of 11 years, was up and barking at exactly 6:42 AM. I kid you not, it has been exactly that time each morning for maybe the past 8 years. Girl has a routine and she sticks to it.

I opened the front door to let her out to do her “thang” and was immediately drawn to the frost filled yard. It was stunning. I completely lost track of feeding the dog, waking up the kids and getting ready for work. I ran in to get the camera and headed outside without any shoes. Even Casey was way confused:  

I just starting snapping off photos and couldn’t have been happier. For one day at least, I forgot how much I hated the cold. The photos:   

Eupatorium ‘Gateway’ and Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’

Ilex ‘Blue Princess’

Barberry ‘Crimson Pygmy’

Carex Buchananii ‘Cappuccino’

Hydrangea ‘Endless Summer’

Ajuga ‘Chocolate Chip’

Euonymus ‘Silver King’

Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’

Chasmanthium Latifolium’

Boxwood ‘cultivar unknown’

Hypericum ‘Albury Purple’

Yucca ‘Golden Sword’

Good news or bad news

Posted on by Posted in Winter interest .

You know the old question “What do you want first, the good news or bad news?”. Well I am contemplating just that as I type this post.

Tick Tick … well … I’ve always been a “Tell me the bad news first” person so I can get it out of the way. The bad news here is that I’ve finally taken a step back (both figuratively and literally) and started taking photos of my garden beds from a distance. And it has revealed what I always knew … I need more structure and more Winter/Early Spring interest. That season in NJ runs from late November until late April and that is too significant of a time to have things relatively bare.

As you’ve seen in previous posts, I am enthralled with new foliage growth and the forming of flower buds (which by the way will be the “good news” in a very soon to follow post). My gardens look lush and flower filled by early June and usually by then I’ve conveniently forgotten about how things looked in the earlier months. Well by posting the photos below I’m hoping it will be a reminder to focus more on evergeens,  conifers and non plants (stones/birdbaths/art/etc) in order to make my gardens more well-rounded.

Here are the photos from afar … view them at your own risk:

This photo of the front bed actually looks better than most as the Catmint grows quickly in the Spring.  

The smaller bed with the Plum tree surrounded by Korean Boxwoods looks OK but definitely needs more to up the interest.

This photo of the front bed on the other side of the front walk also looks a little bit better since a lot of foliage has started to grow. If I had taken this photo 2 or 3 weeks earlier it would have been real bare. 

This is the side bed facing West and although visitors really don’t see it … I do … and it others me to no end. I did have some Euonymus here but the deer downed them. C+ for effort.

Again, this bed looks better than it did 2 to 3 weeks ago but I wanted to at least capture the photo now for a future “Before and After” comparison.

This one hurts. This bed surrounds my driveway and it is ugly with a capital U. It will look good mid-season with all the ornamental grasses but during the Winter/Spring I turn the other way as I walk into the house.

Ugly view #2

Last view of this same bed to prove there are actual plants in there.

Ahhh … the bad news is out of the way. I feel better. Be prepared for more of my typical photos in a post later today because I need to get these out to feel more whole.

Namaste