December Colors

One of my ongoing projects is to find different plants that provide bright colors in the winter.  They don't have to be the brilliant colors of summer, because their setting is much more muted.  But small bits of mauve, purple, red or yellow seem to jump out.

 Here is one bit of green, which would not even be noticed during the summer.  But now with everything died to the ground, this Arum sintenisii, from Plant Delights is striking.  When I saw this Arum is from Cyprus, I had to have it as a reminder of our trip to Cyprus last January.  Having visited that Mediterranean island and learning how hot and dry it is in the summer, I can understand why this dies back in the late spring, only to put new leaves up when the weather cools.

The Heather Bed has the most color because I have tried to pick varieties by their winter blooming schedule or the winter foliage.  The whole bed has done very well this year because we regularly kept it moist through soaker hoses.  Even though the surviving plants have had to endure our summer droughts, they so much prefer the comfort of being watered.  The red foliage of the "Multicolor" heather is very welcome, even with the problem keeping these plants alive. I have lost several, and don't know if it was from summer drought or the super cold winter two years ago.

What has been the most surprising combination is this mix of lavender flowers from three different plants that are all blooming together.  While the picture is not the best, since the plants are spread out over several feet so it is hard to get all in focus, you can see them here.  The blur of green and a very light lavender-blue on the bottom right hand side of this shot is a spreading rosemary plant.  Behind it you see the in-focus flowers of lavender.  I don't have my plant list here as I write this, so I cannot be sure, but I suspect these are Hidcote Blue.  This is another plant I grow as much for having visited the Hidcote Manor Garden, and seeing the plant reminds me of that incredible place.  In the background, in a shadow from the holly tree, is a lavender heather.  The name is written down in my garden journal, but that is miles away from where I am writing.

Finally, there is a January and February bloomer that has jumped ahead of the seasons, the Winter Jasmine, or Jasmine nudiflorum.

 

This is a new bush that we started along the top of a retaining wall behind the house.  The original plant was bought from the National Arboretum many years ago, and sprawled down over the retaining wall around our house in Washington, DC.  I brought a piece out when we first bought the house in Maryland, and have the original bush attempting to grow up and over a different retaining wall.  That one doesn't get the sun so strongly, and has not begun blooming like this. 

This is such a cheerful yellow, it leads me to smile every time I see it.  It is just what is needed when the weather is too cold to be outside, and the wind is whipping around. All the better with a bit of snow, and the jasmine defiantly blooming through it!

Tucked into bed for a long winter's nap

Here is the Before picture - the way everything looked in the middle of November when lots of our neighbor's trees had provided leaves for mulching.  Unfortunately, those oak and tulip poplar leaves don't collect in neat piles or get chopped up before delivery.  The perennials were mostly still green, providing nutrients to the roots for next year.  You can see the light blue of the Chesapeake Bay, and the darker blue line of the other shore.  More about that later.

So, here is After. The big Fall clean-up is done.  There are many tasks involved, but the most important is a final mowing of the lawn to cut the grass short for the winter.  Since we use a grass catcher, it also vacuums and chops up all remaining leaves that have fallen.  It results in a mixture of the grass and leaves, which with good rain and the right weather, can begin decomposing.  It is never done by spring, but makes good compost over time.

There are several things that step forward in the winter season.  For example, the informal, mixed evergreen hedge in the "back corner" of the labyrinth, visible in the top left corner of the "after" shot.

Here is a closer view. Starting from the left is the juniper that runs along the top edge of the slope, with a golden thread leaf false cypress barely visible between it and the tall grass.  Then a winter berry, two Sky Pencil hollies (trust me, there really are two there), a Chesapeake holly with an equally tall gold thread leaf cypress next to it, then another Sky Pencil holly, and a clump of tall grass at the edge of the road. Not yet tall enough to be seen are two Osmanthus bushes on either side of that solitary Sky Pencil holly - next year they should really begin to make themselves known.  Scattered on the ground are low, spreading dwarf hollies and hellebores.  I love the mixed green colors, different textures and shapes that provide screening.

In the more private part of the garden, behind the house and only visible to our neighbor on the North side, the Heather Bed was at peak color a few weeks ago.  Although many of the heather have died in hot, dry summers, there is still a nice mixture of perennials shrubs and grasses.  This shows the "spreading rosemary," at the bottom left, which according to the label would only be a foot tall.  Wrong!  But it takes heavy pruning in stride, and is becoming wonderfully ancient looking.  There is red from the spirea next to it, and behind that the flowers of the 7 foot tall grasses growing much further down the slope.  The bright yellow in the center left is the lone surviving Clethra which really wants more water than it will ever get on this steep slope.  Then you see the trees from far down the slope and on the "flats," our name for the filled in area with houses barely about water level.  Visible is the top of one of the houses built on stilts to avoid water damage.    

In Calvert County, both the county and the real estate agents talk about property that have a "seasonal Bay view."  This means that during most of the year, the Chesapeake Bay is hidden by all of the leaves on the trees.  But for a few months, starting in November and ending in March, all can be seen.  The county assumes even a short term view of the Bay is worth more than none at all, and has a higher property tax rate for the privilege.  Our property is charged at the much higher "Bay view" rate, even though large portions are just seasonal.  So, here you can see the seasonal view now open from the center of the labyrinth.  I will talk about the odd shaped wild cherry tree in the center, next time.