Finally, Hellebores

The evidence of a longer, and colder, winter can be seen in the timing of the initial flowers of Hellebore "Winters Bliss."  This is an early bloomer, and a few years ago it opened its first flowers the first week of February.  Now that we have begun the third week of March, it finally is willing to open up to greet the morning sun.

Temperatures were in the 70's yesterday, as we began the heavy clean-up.  Each year further into my older age, I dread cutting down the ornamental grasses.  We use the hedge trimmer to cut the stalks 6-10 inches above the ground, then everything is dragged down into the ravine, into one of two enormous piles of debris that is too coarse or woody for composting.  We finished cutting a section of grass Dad helped us plant 12 years ago.  But that is only half of it.  The rest will get done next weekend. 

The largest collection of Hellebores are in the North Garden.  Here is a cluster of a pure white variety with strokes of green at the base of the sepals. 

Since they are growing in a place that never gets sunshine, I particularly enjoy the brightness. This clump spreads out wider each year, unlike most of the Hellebores that stay within a small area.

Only one of the purples had an open flower, and it was buried back in the corner between the house and the porch.  Those yellow stamens make the whole image of these flowers come alive.  The purple/black varieties have very large buds, which should be open the next time I am at the house. 

I have never had success in cutting flower stems to take with me when I have to go into the city.  Since they last for weeks when grown outside, I would have thought them to be ideal to use as a cut flower?  I will try again this week and see if I can keep them alive.

Finally, here is a picture of the full moon rising over the Chesapeake Bay last night.  There was still color in the sky from the setting sun. 

The Crocus win the Gold and Silver

Caught up in the Olympic spirit of competition with hundredths of a seconds between the top two competitors, I walked out into the yard.  The crocus have bloomed before the Hellebores!  Here is the yellow - wait, I have the variety written down somewhere.  Ah yes, this is Cream Beauty.  Looks a bit like a gold medal, doesn't it?  This particular one is growing under a tree, allowing the sun to warm up the soil in spite of the cold rain.

These crocus, originally planted in the lawn in 2001, have settled well into their environment.  We have to delay mowing in the Spring, or mow around the crocus clumps, to build up bulbs before trimming the leaves off.

The other variety that is up in much greater abundance is the white, Purity, scattered in the grass.  I have grown fond of seeing the bright colors of the crocus against the still brown foliage of the zoysia grass.  It seems to be a more neutral background then the normal green grass, and has the added benefit of not growing up to cover the flowers until they are long gone.

Not much else is blooming other that the winter jasmine that started opening scattered flowers back in January.  Those were badly damaged by the temperatures in the 20's the last few weeks, so they are looking rather ragged.

After the Snow

After the series of snowstorms, each attempting to slow down the movement toward spring, comes hope. 

Here is Helleborus x ericsmithii 'Winter's Bliss', the earliest variety of these late winter blooming wonders.  This is just one of the two clusters of buds that have bravely raised themselves through the snow.  It's has a close cousin that may also have pushed up buds, but it lives in a heavily shaded place that the sun cannot penetrate, with several inches of snow over it.

The other varieties of Hellebores are quietly waiting in the wings with no flower buds.  Soon I will need to trim off all last years leaves so that the flowers are easy to spot.

But for now, Winter's Bliss is front and center, ready for her close-up.

Sleuthing Deer Trails

There is nothing as good as snow on the ground to show exactly where the plant terrorizing deer walk around the garden.  One doesn't need extensive CSI training to decipher what is going on.  Fortunately the recent snow and frigid weather has preserved lots of evidence.

We now know the deer are coming around the end of the fence on the north side of our property, and walking along the top edge of the hill.  As the first photo shows, there is are regular tracks around that edge and up into the labyrinth.  The most frequent exit is through a visually open section of the hedge which has deciduous hollies, at the top left side of this photo.

In this second photo that same exit is also at the top left. But the trail continues around the path of the labyrinth.  "Continues" is the wrong word, since the deer clearly likes to hang out in front of the evergreens.  Occasionally the critter of destruction exits through the hedge along the road, on the right side of this photo, to go into the county nature preserve.

Maybe I am being cruel about the pointy toed creature.  In this last shot, it is clear the deer is following the labyrinth trail around the viburnum in the center.  Maybe walking the labyrinth is a spiritual practice, and it is drawn to the holy mystery of the place, finding God in the pathways strewn with treasured plants? 

However, eventually it is overcome by its voracious hunger and destroys the beauty around it!  Beast of destruction!

January Snow

The snow remains a week after it fell, which is good since it provides insulation for the soil from the record low temperatures.  It simplifies the picture, only showing trees, bushes and grasses that are more than a few inches high.  It has also provided evidence of the deer trails, confirming the coming and going of that vegetation terrorist.

The Hellebores, which were showing their buds, are buried, so there will be no flowers anytime soon.

Impermanent Snow

The winter storm that has been sweeping across the country has arrived.  It started this morning with snow.  Fortunately, I grabbed my camera early in the morning because even as I was taking pictures, it was shifting into rain. 

The upturned, curved leaves of the Osmanthus captured and collected the flakes of snow.  The meager light seemed to be concentrated by the snow and leaves, so they were almost glowing. 

Soon we will be pruning off some of those branches, to use for decorations in the house. The bright yellow green sets off the dark green and red berries of the hollies. 

The Viburnum rhytidophylloides 'Allegheny' is putting on a dramatic show in the snow.  Some leaves have turned yellow or deep red.  There are three stages for fruits, with newly opened flowers, then red or black berries. 

The snow in this shot is out of focus, so it just appears as irregular white patches.  With the light being dim, the shutter had to be wide open to have enough light to even take the shot.

This could become a favorite picture for me.  There is so much going on.

Now it is raining and sleeting.  The snow is washing into the ground, and has almost disappeared. 

December Dusk

The weekend was spent raking leaves out of edges, then using the mower.  Call it a process of mowing the grass as well as sweeping and shredding the leaves for the compost heap.  If you look to the left of the Crepe Myrtle tree, at the edge of the picture is the overflowing compost heap. 

The remaining work doesn't have a strict schedule.  There is more bits of clean-up and fall pruning around the house.  Then, I need to go down into the ravine to see what needs to be done to keep the weedy things under control.