Fall in the Heather Garden

The big job last Saturday was pruning two large, vertically growing branches off of the large holly behind the house.  Pruning the holly has been an annual chore which requires climbing up into the tree, carrying the (unplugged) small electric chainsaw.  This year there were very few holly berries, probably because of the long drought over the summer, so there was nothing to pass on to the wreath makers at church.  After a weekend of hard work, and looking forward to being gone next weekend, here are a few pictures.

The Heather Garden sits on the north side of the holly tree, at the very top of the slope down to the Flats at water level.  Standing or sitting there is the best view of the Chesapeake Bay through a gap in the tall trees.  Heather seemed a good choice for this spot because it stays low, screening the houses on the Flats below while staying out of the view.  Winter blooming varieties were chosen to provide a subtle but distinctive color in January through March, when all else is gray and drab.

On the left of this photo is Prostrate Rosemary with pale blue flowers, the orange leaves of spirea, and on the right a fall blooming heather. I don't have the variety name at hand, so it will have to wait.  I will be sure to write about it in the future since it is one of a few, very tough, reliable heathers to survive our hot and dry summers.  Unfortunately, it has fairly small, white flowers, so there is not a lot of impact when it does bloom.

The tall stem with the long, narrow seed pods is a Maryland Senna,  Senna marilandica, which just finished it's first year in the garden.  This native perennial came from the Lower Marlboro Nursery, which just closed this year after many years of operation.  Many plants came from the nursery over the years, with several going strong in the flowerbeds. Others have gone native, intentionally planted into the wild area and spreading their seeds around.  There are three Sennas in the Heather Garden, and they will all get moved down the slope a bit, so the very tall flower stems are not quite so high in the sky when them bloom.    

This is Calluna vulgaris Multicolor, which has a dramatically colored foliage, here in its fall spectrum.  Once the weather gets cold, it will shift into a different mode.  I promise photos of that when it happens.  For this one, the focus is the foliage which glows like a small fire in the bright January sun.  There used to be three plants, but two were lost last winter.  Maybe because of the heavy snow?  This plant was very beat up, and was given a reprieve because it is such a bright spot, and it has recovered.  So, depending upon what it looks like next spring, I might get a few more and try again?

Once the color has gone out of the rest of the garden, the heather and rosemary provide foreground interest to the view of the Bay from the house.  You will have to wait for more pictures of that.