Re: TN Gardens in Winter
Hello Gerry,
Have a brother and his family in your neck of the woods... near Clarksville.
We are awakening to 12 degrees here this morning... coldest thus far this
year. Will be afternoon before I take that walk in the garden. I also use the
winter as time to reevaluate the backbones of my garden. Walk around the outside,
walk through and then every angle I can find while trying to see the garden
through the eyes of others. Mine is just a bit locked into seeing what I wanted to
see when I laid everything out. Make mental notes, and sometimes on paper, of
changes or projects that I really do need to do come spring... that I put off this
year. This week it has been taking a close look at the conifers in the garden.
Does the green balance itself throughout the garden against the browns of winter?
Foliage of the hellebores has to come in here along with the Lungworts and ferns.
Right now I am having a bit of Daphne envy. I have not had much luck with any
of those here in my garden. Will one day try again as I do enjoy the fragrance and
appearance. This year, however, it is working with peris and nandina landscaping
the east side of the house.
Gene Bush Southern Indiana Zone 6a Munchkin Nursery
around the woods - around the world
genebush@otherside.com http://www.munchkinnursery.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Gerry/Bob O'Neill <eoneill@IBM.NET>
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 1999 8:17 AM
Subject: [SG] TN Gardens in Winter
> Gene et al.,
> I never miss a daily stroll around the garden, accompanied by cat and coffe
> in the morning and cat and glass of wine in the evening. This goes on
> summer and winter, rain, snow or shine. My husband calls it "Walking the
> Back 40," and knows the time is inviolate. In a minute or two I'll get off
> here and go do the morning stroll through a rain/snow/sleet mix.
>
> What do I see? Well, this morning the juncoes are on the ground around the
> bird feeder, bad news, since they only show up here in the valley when it
> snows. Color is everywhere, though not much in the way of flowers. Viburnum
> burkwoodii x 'Mohawk' is still cloaked in deep burgundy foliage, as is
> Virginia sweetspire (Itex virginiana?). They are both late to shed their
> leaves, but this year seem to be even later. Helleborus orientalis putting
> up light green bloom stalks, will be in full bloom in a few weeks..My two
> winter prizes, Daphne odora alba and D. odora variegata look lovely..Deep
> green shiny leaves, flower buds swelling, and at least in the case of
> variegata, starting to show touches of pink in the bud. They will both be
> in bloom, perfuming the whole garden, in late January.
>
> I do have a few flowers hanging on. This year I put in a raised bed
> dedicated to my collection of half hardy Salvias. A lot of the greggii's
> are still putting out the occasional flower in red or pink, wasted now
> since the hummers have long gone. They all have tufts of new growth around
> their woody bases, nicely hardened off, so I have hope that they will all
> survive. I have cuttings of all of them in the greenhouse just in case. So
> when Spring comes I may have some Salvias to give away if anyone is
> interested. And the Cetranthus ruber still has blossoms on it...Rosemary
> 'Arp' is blooming, as it always seems to do at the worst possible time of
> the year...lovely sky-blue flowers. Likewise the creeping Rosemary, whose
> tips will be killed back eventually, but will resprout from the base and be
> all over the place come this time next year.
>
> Part of the reason I love walking this time of year is because I can see
> the layout of the garden without being distracted by plants. I can se that
> the proportion of the island bed in the front yard is all wrong and needs
> the help of a spade and edger to fatten it here, lengthen it there, so it
> will be more in scale next year.
>
> Lots more, but I can hear the snores from here.
>
> Gerry
