Winter greens

Did you see this post from Loree Bohl of Danger Garden on FB?

Another conversation that I just have to share: I bought a green scarf today, the clerk ringing me up says: "oh that's a beautiful green, I just love green, it's my favorite color, it's why I moved to Portland, because it's so green. I first visited here last January, during that snow and ice you had, but there was still green. And you know what? None of that green died. The cold didn't kill it. None of that green died!"... I should have just smiled and nodded but instead I had to stomp on her green happiness by saying..."oh ya? I wish that were true, plenty of green died in my garden last winter"...but she wasn't having it, continuing... "but there was still green, and not just the evergreens, that's all that's green where I come from"..."where do you come from?..."Wisconsin... the evergreens are all that's green there during the winter."

. . .

As a Wisconsinite, I was very annoyed at this woman. She moved away from a state that is bordered by two Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. A state that marks the western edge of the Eastern hardwood forest and the eastern edge of the tall grass prairie. What's not to like?

And since I grew up in Buffalo, NY on the south side of Lake Erie where annual snowfall is around 94 inches, I don't even consider that it snows in Wisconsin since our typical annual snowfall in Madison is only half that amount.

It is obvious the woman Loree met is not a gardener. Nor is she very observant. Nor does she seem to appreciate any color other than green in the landscape. Maybe she's from "up north" in Wisconsin where evergreens DO dominate the landscape. But that evergreen gorgeousness is what folks who live in southern Wisconsin travel up to swoon over.

Yes, the green in my garden in January mostly comes from "evergreens." Though they are actually all different colors and shades from yellow-greens to blues and purply browns. But the lack of snow cover this winter has meant other greenery has also been visible this year. 

There's also a lot of browns and tans this year from leaves that have remained on the trees as a result of our strange autumn weather, like the pale foliage on this Japanese dissected Maple (above) — which looks just as good with snow (below).

The Japanese Maple at the back edge of the pond (below) also kept its leaves. Even though it suddenly snowed this week, the garden is not what I would call buried in snow, especially compared to other winters.

Tuesday I focused on some of the evergreens in my garden for Foliage Follow-up. Here are a few more favorites whose portraits I snapped just before it snowed. 

Thuja occidentalis 'Warenna Lutscens' (Arborvita)

Fargesia rufa 'Green Panda' (clumping bamboo)

Buxus and Chamaecyparis 'Green Arrow' (boxwood and false Cypress)

Rhododendron yakushimanum 'Yaku Angel' (front), Buxus sempervirens 'Latifolia Maculata' and Taxus media (Tauton yew)

Pinus strobus 'Blue Shag', Amsonia ciliata and Taxus media

When snow melts, lawn grass looks blah and bad. But if you've replaced your grass with sedges like Carex plantaginea, it is green even as the snow disappears.

Sedges like Carex morrowi variegata may be flattened and beaten up by snow and winter weather, but they still offer a lot of color and texture whenever they are not covered by the white stuff. 

Then, there's the green glowing gorgeousness of moss.

This moss has been colonizing a mica encrusted rock. What we're gaining in green, we're losing in glitter.

And lichens. In cold and wet weather many of the older rocks in our garden are almost solidly green. That's another yew in the background.

And ferns! Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance' (Autumn fern)

Moss, lichens, last season's Hellebore leaves and Adiantum venustum (Himalayan maidenhair fern)

Adiantum venustum (Himalayan maidenhair fern) is so much stronger than it looks. The one above is protected by trees but this one (below) is growing out in the open.

Despite little snow cover and days and days of extreme cold, this Arum italicum 'Ghost' is doing fine. In the U.K. this plant is one of the stars of the winter garden — which is why I bought one. 

I just planted this Hepatica noblis 'Cremar' in October. It makes quite an impression in the winter garden for such a new resident.

We had our first serious snowfall of the season right after I took all these photos. We probably got five inches over the course of two days. As you might imagine, it covered up some of these plants and changed the degree of greenness visible on others. But I still think there is a lot to see in terms of color, texture, and form in the garden. To my eye, snow and evergreen plants make many beautiful combinations in winter.

Comments

[Peter/Outlaw]

Lots of green to celebrate in your Wisconsin garden and plenty of brown in the PNW. Maybe because lawns here are brown in the summer and green in the winter, it seems greener to some.

[Linda Brazill]

That might explain it, because she certainly did not understand the realities of the climate in her new home — based on her conversation with Loree.

[Loree / danger garden]

I have to admit you shared more green than I thought might be around in your winter, probably because I am equating it with Spokane, the Zone 5 of my youth. What killed me about her statement was that she seemed to think that evergreen = conifer. And there is so much more than that.

[Linda Brazill]

I really think she must be from a small town up north where it is woodsy. If she grew up on a farm, I think she would have a broader view of nature.

[Lisa at Greenbow]

This post reminds me I must get that Searsucker Carex ordered this winter so I can get some into the garden this spring. I am also reminded how jealous I am that you can grow Maidenhair Fern. I have tried it in several places in my garden. It just doesn't like our heat and droughts I guess. I have seen it growing wild in a park about 60 miles north of here. I just have to let it go I guess. All of the moss and lichen growing in your garden is so pretty. You have so much winter interest whether it is snowing or not.

[Frank]

A beautiful post, the vascular plants are nice enough but I love the look of mosses in the winter. I'd try a moss garden like yours if I had a shady enough spot.... maybe someday.
Your bamboo is telling me that it's not my climate which keeps my own fargesia stunted, it's my gardening skills. Yours looks very nice and healthy.

[Linda Brazill]

We have moss in a fair amount of sun. It just appeared and has colonized an area. So whatever conditions we had, that is what it was looking for — which is pretty much how moss works. Our bamboo died back in 2013/14 and it took until last year for it to get up to speed again. It needs to be cut back this year which means Mark has to take an axe to the roots all around the plant and hack it out.