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If

IF it was cold outside,maybe low 40’s or 30’s like it should be, I would be inside knitting

IF the ground was covered with snow, I would be curled up in a chair reading Henry Mitchell or another favorite garden writer, and in my head the garden would be all dreamy and perfect .

IF the ground had frozen at all I would have already winter protected the few plants I have that need it ( 2 rose,s a bignonia vine, a daphne and guara if you care ) and moved on to perusing plant catlogues and planning  wild new gardens

BUT , alas, it has been steadily warm and pleasant outside, forcing me out of guilt to tackle a project I meant to leave until spring.

This morning , in a very grumpy drag my feet sort of way, I headed to out “fix” the compost area.

It all started with the shed we are getting that will now live where the swingset has been for 15 years (actually more than one swingset  over that time in case you were worried about the safety of the children). The girls were furious that the swings were going, but Bill said they were too old for swingsets and would get over it. In their defense . they did sit on the swings lots and chat or ponder the world. I am with them,it pained me to take it down for all the reasons you would think plus one more : it was the very first project I EVER did here taking out the grass laying pea stone and edging , placing the swingset and the lilcac bed behind it. Very sad to have it gone.

Anyway, we cut the darn thing up with a sawzall, but as we were it occured to me that the big section that was the tower leading to the slide would be perfect as a new composting bin if  lain horizontally. So I made Bill leave it intact and set my plan for the spring. But it was just sitting there, and I really could not come up with any reason not to do it now. So I did.

The project was multi-advil one, involving first re-locating about ten linear feet of the 20x 5 foot pile so we could get the structure in place, moving the amazingling heavy tower 20 feet  by flipping it end over end , making the sides from boards scattered all over the yard, then re-placing the compost that I had moved which was now blocking the path to the back. Ow.

The compost moving went like this….

Then with CJ’s help I moved the tower and we managed to only crunch one dogwood bush .While I screwing  in the boards,I  had to take a break to run and answer the phone. It was Bill, he said , and I quote, “Be careful out there, you know what likes warm compost piles”. REALLYY BILL!! Tyvm for reminding me I was working in and near snakeville, you are awesome dude.

I put on my big girl pants(, after resolving  to find a way to get him back), and headed back out.

I finished much earlier than I thought I would, and only have left the cutting of the boards that are in the way , and the making of the doors. Not bad.

and…..IF I had not done it I would not have found these

and these

Happy Thanksgiving

It is Thanksgiving week  and I gather from all the Facebook postings ,tweets and blogs that it is mandatory to post a lists of what you are thankful for in your little corner of the world.  Ok, I’m on it.

First, in a very serious way, I am thankful that I have a finanancial backer in this enterprise called “Garden” that makes it possible for me to plant to my heart’s content, take as many classes as I want, and who even bankrolled my adventure in speaking via his purchase of shiny new laptop and projector. His generosity astounds, especially given my carping and whining.

Less seriously I think he has ulterior motives: namely to get me out of his hair .But that is ok, motive in this case does not matter. So Thank You # 1 goes to Bill. Thanks Bill.

The rest of the list ,in no particular order

I am thankful I garden where there are  4 seasons. Ever changing weather, ever changing interest in the garden, and a nice long winter break to curl up and read beautiful plant catalogues and picture books.

Picture books are on the list too! I lam thankful for  fancy photography books, garden primers, design books, and gardening magazines. Being that I was born in the wrong country ( and frankly the wrong year as well), my favorite publications are Gardens Illustrated and The English Garden. By golly I will have Sissinghurst here if it kills me, I just gotta get Bill to finance some castle wall building 🙂

My favorite discovery this year is an annual publication called International Garden Photographer of the Year, I have been checking out all the back issues of this glorious book from the library, but the results can be seen online as well. Ah-mazing!

I am thankful that our new neighbor has a rabbit hunting outdoor cat..I am sure it will soon go the way of the other outdoor cats who have hunted here before as this is coyote territory, so I must be thankful quickly while there is still time.

I am extremely thankful, and grateful to all the knowledgeable, generous, and kind gardeners I have met in the Master Gardener group I belong to, at events when I am speaking, and on the web. I have learned so much from interacting with you, reading your books and blogs, and gardening side by side with you.

I am thankful for pie. This has zilch to do with gardening, but to me Thanksgiving is about the pie. Most years I skip the turkey altogether , I can have that any old day. Just name another day on which sideboard in the dinning room is heavliy laden with pies of so very many varieties…you can’t…there is no other such day. So pie gets on the list.

I am thankful I am lucky enough to have something as beautiful as a rose in my garden . Sometimes a rose is all you need to make you feel everything is right with the world.

and on other non- gardening fronts, I am of course thankful for my family and the blessing that surrounds Faith Anne. I hope you all have a very loooong list of your own to ponder this holiday.

Peace and Happy Thanksgiving

It’s fall again

I love the fact that despite getting whacked…and whacked hard..by several early winter storms, my sheffield daisies are still blooming their fool heads off.

 Maybe their view of and to  the world is a little different this year, but I don’t mind if they don’t.

‘Major Wheeler’ honeysuckle is following suit, happily sending out new red flowers daily.

I also adore the colors hues of the various sedums in the fall. here are three that are close to my door

 (it is blustery today and I am feeling icky and not willing to venture out to take more pictures 🙁  )

I am choosing to ignore the rest of the cleanup that needs to get done outside and instead shall head out shopping and to the movies, then hope to curl up and knit drinking hot cocoa laced with Baileys later on. Enjoy your day!

People are funny

As I assess the garden this year, and decide which plants performed well and thus get to stay, and which made me grimace in frustration and shall be composted, I am drawn into thinking about the warped psyches of oh so many gardeners .

Everyone who turns a spade in the ground and attempts to beautify their little piece of heaven is always on the lookout for plants that will enhance their space with minimal upkeep (for the most part as I do not discount those who seek out plant growing challenges and take them on full throttle 😉  )Therefore, plant breeders and hobbyists are always working toward giving us low maintenance, disease resistant and long blooming perennials and shrubs to satisfy our ever growing list of demands. 

It is really hard to have a garden bloom successively successfully (say THAT three times fast!). It takes effort to either prevent or cure plant fungal issues and other problems, be they pathological or cultural. It also takes effort to rip the little suckers out and replace them in a fit of anger when they will not behave for you.

So along comes plant breeder who give us a nicely structured plant, branched from top to bottom, good rounded form, no pruning necessary. said plant blooms it’s head off from the end of May through several frosts (and even snowfalls here in the snow belt)  and does not EVER require deadheading. It needs no winter protection, gets no foliar spots or other disfigurement. And yet all I hear is whining.

In case you are wondering , I am referrring to the Knockout Rose series, and now it’s little brother, the Drift. Unlike many remontant (reblooming) roses, it has no rest in between blooms, it just keeps on keepin on all season. Although I get some black spot on many of my resistant varieties I never see it on my Knockouts. I can cut roses from them for arrangements all season long.

Yet they complaints fly…they don’t look like my glorious heavily petaled Abe Lincoln…….they don’t have any fragrance…hybrid teas are the REAL roses…and on and on….Really???

This is where I think people are funny, and I mean funny- strange not funny -ha-ha. The knockouts aren’t meant to be a fussy hybrid tea- that by the way looks leggy and spotty and the blooms are it’s only saving grace. They are meant to be great garden plants that require no spraying or for that matter any work at all to give you a smile in the form of a rose every time you walk by. They are fragrant if you purchase the right ones (double pink has sweetly scented blooms and the yellow has clove- like scented bracts) and they add so much to your garden while asking so little. Give the people what they want…and they will bite your hand off.

In November I can count on my late mums (sheffield and copper penny) , two other roses (The Fairy and Magic Carpet) and my Knockouts to still be blooming here. That says a lot given that by then we have had several frosts, probably snow, and they have been in bloom since late May. All the other roses are  done, and lots of them get black spot in late fall so I was all too happy to see them de-foliate and disappear.

So in honor of what is usually Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (the 15thof every month)..  I give you roses…..( Red Knockout, Double Pink KO, and Sweet Drift) 

Heavy snow, heavy heart

It was with a heavy heart that  I took a full walk around the property this afternoon. The snow is pretty deep and it is hard to predict the extent of the damage, but what I could see was not good.

Our biggest tree, a maple I planted almost upon arrival here in 1989, is pretty much toast. Huge branches , including all those from the very top of the tree not only broke off, but stripped the bark down large sections of the trunk as they fell.

The boys and I cut off what we could yesterday, but for  the rest we  need ladders, and there is too much snow for that.

My ‘Mrs.Robinson’ crabapple, all loaded with winter fruit took a big hit, as did the magnolia and two pear trees. A third out back is now just a trunk.

The white pines, very suseptible to winter damage anyway, are broken and twisted.

The ninebark and forsythia,, the first over 10 ft tall, the latter about 15 are still buried.

And the stacks of branches are starting to pile up. 

Yesterday we went out in the cold for as long as we could (we had no power or heat to come back in to) and shook lots of bushes and limbs to free them from the  heavy  wet snow and see if they would  perk back up. Some we had success with, some, not so much.

Once the snow melts and we clear the paths of debris, I will be able to prune some things back into shape, or tie some things up as in the case of the arborvitae. Usually in winter, lots of these are tied or protected somehow ( the boxwood too but no one had gotten to that yet. It was still early fall, and a lovely warm one at that.

A lesson learned, both the concolor firs and the corylus ‘contorta’ were left unscathed, their branches fully able to bear the weight and shake it off.

All over the place roads are still blocked by downed limbs  and trees are still precariously balance on power lines. It is scary to drive under them, I duck out of reflex every time.

We have power back on, so tommorow I will head out to start some of the cleanup. Looks like the chipper will be working overtime, and the hobo fire barrel will be cranking in January.

Sigh.

well then….

I had just started to head outside into the garden in the past few day to take some photos of the foliage that was starting to turn…lots of things were still very green and there were cheerful mums, many roses and even two clematis in bloom. This garden was still rockin some serious fall beauty until last night. All day yesterday it rained, cold , raw depressing rain. As the drops were falling, so were the temperatures and the meteorologists were warning those of us in high elevations that we would see snow. They called it right (for once in a very long time) , and we got snow, but first sleet and freezing rain from which the garden will not recover. Well then. I guess you can call this season done. Darn.

But, it  is beautiful out there. Now that my hands have regained their feeling ( it is 27 degrees out there) I can show you some pics of the destruction.As always..click to embiggen. 🙂

Photos I like

 Going through and cleaning up the photo files after a busy year here in the Burrow.Found lots of keepers that really will help me improve many of the plantings, as well as some that I just like for the photos themselves.

 This one falls into the second category… Why do I love this photo?

 Because in this very blooming garden, where from March to November you can find color everywhere…..

 in this photo…… there is nothing but green. Crazy. Just look at all the shades, very cool.

                                             This ranks as a favorite too, because it is the very defininition of “bloom where you’re planted” …which is just darn good advice.

 This one is sweet

                                                                                                                                                                    and this one has great color.

                                                                                                                                   And this one makes winter seem peaceful and wonderful.

                                                                                                                                                          Amazing how photos can do that.

go over to www.gardeninggonewild.com to see some great photography by Saxon Holt, as well as many fellow bloggers whose photographs puts my humble “pictures” to shame.



Wind Down

It is wind down time here in the Burrow, leaves are starting to change and the weather is offering up nice cool nights even though the days are still unseasonably warm.

Although there is less in bloom, a garden walk is still a delight given the clear, crisp air today (after more deluge yesterday) and the beautiful fall sunlight.

Laziness reigns, and we have still yet to put away all the pool furniture and toys, the garage is a MESS and the shed arrival will be delayed another 6 weeks (this due to the fact that it never occured to us when we ordered it that after the fence went in and the gardens that followed it last year , there is no way to access our yard with heavy equipment anymore. Feeling like a total idiot, I had to call the shed company and instead have it arranged to be built on site. Sigh). We were going to tackle some of that today, but that remains to be seen.

I did manage to get a few things cut back that looked particulary hideous and planted some bulbs (snowdrops, crocus -or as I like to call it here”chipmunk snacks”, species tulips and allium). While out there I also managed to break the bolt on the wheelbarrow AND give it a flat tire, so I need to  add fixing that to the to-do list as well.

Instead of wallowing in overwhelmingly depressing work loads, lets look at some pictures!

Lots of roses are still flowering, the mums look spectacular, many annuals are still strutting their stuff, and lots of foliage is turning .

I just love how the white roses (sea foam and magic carpet have such a pronounced blush of pink on them in the fall,  and especially love how no hard frost has knocked them down yet.

I am off to enjoy the day, and hope you are too!

Fairy Garden

Yesterday I gave a talk, and at the end of it showed off  pictures of  the fairy houses Faith and I have made.  When you think about it, humans have an odd attraction to things in miniature (babies, puppies, shots..well maybe I shouldn’t count miniature alcoholic beverages..but given the fact that I could use one after my 5 hour drive yesterday through biblical rain and flooding,closed roads and a punctured tire , I will include them anyway)… but I digress..

Little tiny mini houses and their coresponding gardens and decorations are just a smile waiting to happen upon those who find them.

Here in the burrow, we have many fairy houses hidden  under bushes and plants in the dogs garden. There are little colonials , a treehouse, and a few farmhouses. Miniature thrift is used for hedging around a number of them and dwarf conifers adorn their little yards. Fences, arbors and walkways help define their “lots”, and each yard has an assortment of garden tools, birdbaths, and benches.

In late fall they are all collected up and placed inside in the cellar to minimze the destruction, but also because in the spring time we like to re-locate them to a new area -where they remain hidden unless looked for.

Fairy House purists(if you will) will tell you that the house should be assembled using only twigs, shells, and bark etc. But here they are made of pine boards, or other similar construction because a fairy house made of bark will be carried off by the local wildlife (dogs included) in an instant. As it is every spring the house are stripped of all their twigs and moss roofs by the birds building their nests and every pinecone, acorn or other natural ornament will be promptly stolen by chipmunks and other critters. First to dissappear  are always the twig chairs, followed by the gazing balls made using marbles, then the treehouse ladder. Some happy mouse family must have some rockin digs furnished with it all.

Before all the houses get put away, some are assembled in to containers for fall decorating. This one is bejeweled with winterberry berries and even has it’s own corgi dog.

Roses , Berries and Seedheads

Fall here is all about roses, berries and seedheads. In my lectures on Easy Care Roses, I often reccomend a number of the newer shrubs and climbers that have long bloom times, and at this time of year I am always grateful I take my own advice 😉 .

Blooming right now are Climbing Iceberg, both the red and double pink knockouts, the white Magic Carpet, Seafoam, Easy elegance Yellow Brick Road, the Fairy, Carefree Spirit, both the pink and red Drift roses,( from the breeders of the Konockout series),Elsie Poulsen,  and two David Austin Roses; Chritopher Marlowe and Sharifa Asma( both of which have  lovely fragrances). They all certainly earn their place in my garden.

Rounding out the picture are of course the mums and the asters ( check out the photo of one called Matchstick-you will know it when you see it!) and the hydrangeas in their ever changing glory of course.

But even better yet are all the berries on the viburnums , the hollies, the winterberries , the rose hips and the seedheads and pods.

Clematis Texensis whirly seedheads are surrounding my garden sign, the baptisia has long stems of rattling black seed pods waiting to open, and I wish I could snap a photo of the coneflower seedheads when the goldfinches visit..it is like a new garden of bright yellow flowers when they are all perched on the stems devouring the seeds, but they are very nervous and take off when I approach  no matter how stealthy I think I am .

Hover to see what’s what and click on to embiggen!