Morning Snow

It was just a short time that it snowed, maybe a half inch, if that much.  Then the sky opened up, and the sun was able to come through.  Fortunately I had just received some new batteries for my camera, and caught this shot.  Then ten minutes later, the sun was gone, and some more snow fell.  Now, the sun is back, trying to warm it up, but not having much success.

New Year's Flowers

 With the warm temperatures, many of the plants are confused about what they are supposed to be doing.  Here is one solo German Iris, which usually does bloom in the Spring and often re-blooms in November.  But this is its first time to make an appearance in January!  It was a delight to arrive yesterday afternoon, after being away for five days, to see the yellow shining in the garden.

The daffodils have put up leaves, some as much as 12 inches high in their confusion about what to do.  However, we have not had enough time with freezing temperatures for them to set any buds.  I wonder what they will do if the thermometer doesn't go low enough.

Several of the shrubs have patches of flowers that have awaken early.  Here is one cluster on the Viburnum x burkwoodii 'Conoy' that couldn't wait, even through the rest of the bush is waiting for later.  I will be watching to see what happens next.

Here you can see another side of the same Viburnum, with the view out to the Chesapeake Bay.  This is the time of the year when all of the evergreens provide most of the visual interest for the entire garden.  Having different colors of foliage, with varying leaf sizes and textures creates a more subtle display.

Around the back of the house, in the lavender bed, the Rosa 'Meiggili' ‘Peach Drift’is bravely showing its color in front of the tall grass. 

Finally, the winter jasmine, which has a few blooms throughout the winter whenever the temperatures get above 40 degrees.  Here it is the best I have ever seen it, because every bud has opened.

Happy New Year is what they all seem to be saying!

Autumn Sun

Fortunately the good weather for working outside came on the same days that I am able to do the work.  The fall clean-up work that is.  The lawn mowing started last weekend, and I could finally finish it this weekend. 

This is also the time when I can go back down the sides of the ravine, because the soil is stable again, and the ticks and chiggers are gone with temperatures dripping into the 30's.  So yesterday I spent a lot of time working on things that will never be noticed.  I pulled out what seemed to be a mile of honeysuckle out of tress and bushes.  It is always a slow process, because I try to follow every stem down to the ground, and dig out as much root as possible.  But I did find several very big and old roots that are now out of the soil and roasting in the sun on top of the compost heap.

As the trees are dropping their leaves, the view of the Chesapeake is opening back up.  The blue of the water seems brighter against the yellow of the remaining leaves.

Now it is time to enjoy the sun warming up the porch and take a nap before go back into the city.

February views

So, here is the promised picture of the blooming Hellebore "Winter's Bliss."  It sits slightly under the large viburnum at the edge of the road, and you can see the remains of last year's long stems of the pink hibiscus in front of it.  This is a great place for a Hellebore, where it can jump out of the bare soil with leaves and flowers, but then retires back when the larger and more dramatic hibiscus upstages it. This is easily seen from the entrance of the labyrinth, and provides a pleasant welcome at a bleak time of year.  The other Hellebores are being much slower in blooming, but I will let you know when they come through.

There have been short periods of mild sunshine over the last week, allowing the occasional views like the ones below.  If you look carefully at the bottom edge of this first shot, you can see the yellow of Winter's Bliss glowing in the sun.

Here is where the seasonal change of zoysia grass into a soft tan color is really effective in my opinion.  This view just wouldn't be the same if the grass were solid green.  The more neutral soft tan color is so much more distinctive than green would be.  This is the view of people walking their dogs down the road or hiking into the county nature preserve, but don't tell the county that our neighbors regularly go in the nearby unofficial entrance. 

The last photo is just another 15 feet down the road. 

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.