Garden stroll on the first day of winter...

It's less than an inch of snow, and it will be gone before Christmas... but it was a nice touch for celebrating the first day of winter. Over the past many years, there have been eighteen seasons when we were basically without snow at Christmas. In virtually all instances, the snowfall for those years was well below normal. Right now I'm ok with that, however I will be concerned if we get very frigid temperatures without the benefit of insulating snow. On the other hand, we got plenty of good soaking rains this fall, which is a positive for the gardens.

Those of you who follow my posts regularly, are probably aware that the spruces pictured above and below are Picea pungens 'Montgomery'. These are pretty much full size which is just about right for this garden... they make an excellent statement and yet will not overgrow the space allotted them.

The tall thin confers are fastigiate Scotch pines or Pinus sylvestris 'fastigiata'. These normally mature at about 25' with 8' of girth, but that's not likely to occur here. These tend to suffer a lot of damage from snow load. Each season numerous branches are broken. The flip side is that they have beautiful bark in rich tones of brown with reddish hues and this becomes more obvious when there are less branches.

The gazebo gets sealed up each winter with homemade storm windows. One big change this year was the installation of 25 Green Mountain boxwoods about its base. It is difficult to keep annuals watered at this distance from the house, hence the change to shrubs. The flowering crab to the left in the photo above is 'Snowdrift' which has white fragrant blooms in the spring. When removing a very large portion of the tree a couple years ago, I realized (too late) that my chain saw was at the wrong angle. As a result there is a very large wound without the benefit of enzyme collar about some of its circumference. It will be interesting to see how the tree copes with this down the road... my money is on the tree as malus tends to be very forgiving.

To the east of the gazebo is the Mary Potter crab, an excellent choice for holding its fruit well into the winter. The bark of the Seven Sons to the right in the above photo is a wonderful hue of cinnamon, adding color to the winter gardens.

I also enjoy observing the buds of the magnolias in the winter and considering their potential for the spring bloom... two different 'Butterflies' are pictured below and show tremendous promise for a clouds of warm yellow in the late April or early May.

Upon leaving the gazebo area, there is an intersection containing a couple small stone walls... I would so like to build more but find it diffcult to retrieve the stones. In the midwest, stone piles can be twenty feet high and forty feet long... for some unknown reason, the best stones are always at the highest and most distant part of the pile, making retrieval difficult, especially for those of us having back and shoulder problems.

From the gazebo area of the gardens, my stroll led me to the birch walk portion of the gardens. From here on there is an awful lot of burlap to be seen, housing tender acer palmatums, and newly planted conifers.

The clump birches have recently had a severe trim of their side branches, allowing more light to penetrate this area. In one case, an entire trunk unfortunately necessitated removal. All in all, the changes work ok for me and I am satisfied with the look of this part of the gardens. This spring the areas under and about the recently pruned spruces will get new hostas and hellebores.

The removal of the old hellebore foliage will be one of the first tasks in the early spring garden... I anxiously anticipate their first buds, but it will definitely be into April before they show growth in this climate. Here are a number of plants beneath the shade of european beech cultivars.

What would the winter garden be without the benefit of conifers... the following was taken in the north eastern portion of the gardens...

In the eastern portion of the gardens, a circle of eight magnolias are covered with the buds that will bloom in April. The aged cistern waits out the long winter next to a speciman weeping Louisa crab apple.

Pinus densiflora ‘Umbraculifera’ or Tanyosho pine appears to wear a starry crown which is in fact the plenteous bloom set on a Royal Star magnolia growing behind it.

Other early blooming magnolias provide a tracery above the spent blooms of Annabelle hydrangeas, while the Scarlet Oak holds its papery leaves until new growth forces them from the tree come spring.

It was a beautiful unseasonably mild morning for my walk through the gardens...

Even the burlap coverings had an artistic look about them... it's amazing what a bit of pure white snow can accomplish!

If you missed my Christmas message, it can be seen in the previous post just below... Take care, Larry