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This combination of plants provides one of my favorite moments in the spring garden. The group includes Epimedium 'Crime Scene' with Primula kisoana and the emerging foliage of Cimicifuga racemosa 'Hillside Black Beauty' (now know as Actea simplex, Atropurpurea group).
Thinking spring is the perfect antidote to the very Novermber-ish weather we're having. To see what's sparking other gardener's memories, visit Cathy at Words and Herbs who's hosting this meme.
Some vases are perfect because they are just right for short-stemmed blooms.
If you're lucky, they're equally good for long-stemmed beauties.
But the very best vases look perfect even when they don't have any flowers.
I love the glass vases by Richard Jones of Studio Paran in Madison. Given that I have three more of his vases in different shapes, sizes and colors, you could probably say I am addicted.
Jones is closing his studio and has been slowly selling his stock; first online and now Saturday afternoons in person at his shop.
I bought this one knowing it was unlike any of my other black and silver vases. Mark suggested I display them as a group without flowers. I was thrilled he said that as that is exactly what I was thinking of doing!
I added a pot of Cyclamen to turn it into a Christmas display. Though I admit the flower color looked much more red in the shop than in my living room. Still, I am happy with my new purchase and love the group as a holiday display.
I always bring in the last good-looking foliage and seedpods to make an autumn arrangement. This time I forgot about watering it after the first few days. So I remade it as a study in brown.
Have a pleasant Thanksgiving. I'm not the cook this year, so it will be very pleasant for us.
I grew up in Buffalo, NY on the south side of the city; meaning lake effect snow storms were the norm. We moved to Orchard Park — which just got a record-setting 77 inches of snow in 24 hours — in the mid-1960s (below). The snow was apparently falling at the rate of a little over 5 inches per hour. It sounds like the storm arrived and stayed put, rather than blowing on; similar to the rain "events" that are happening more and more these days.
I've lived in Madison for 50 years and have always said it doesn't really snow here all that much; not when you're a Buffalo gal. This is what it looked like at my house (below) in the winter of 2007/08 when Madison got 100 inches of snow. But it took until the end of March to hit that record.
No snow in our forecast this week and the temperatures will be in the 40°s after a very chilly week. So no complaints here and a sympathetic shout out to my cousins who still live in that snowy spot.
This image looking down the Tea House slope has always been one of my favorite views of the garden. For the last few years it has also been the area where I've been replacing high maintenance perennials like Hostas with shrubs.
It has been a problem free landscape except for the rabbits; thus the caged Deinanthe cerulea. Deinanthe is a shrubby perennial which dies back in the autumn and returns each spring. Its size makes it function like a no-fuss shrub.
Despite a lot of extra watering, this year's weather and the loss of a neighboring tree proved too much for the Deinanthe. In September I dug it up and moved it to a much shadier location where I hope it can recover. I've had this lovely plant since 2006. It came from the the source of so many of my treasures: the late Seneca Hill Perennials.
I replaced it with New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus Americans), a low growing native shrub whose flowers attract humming birds. An Oak Leaf Hydrangea (H. quercifolia 'Pee Wee') is behind it. The Hydrangea flowers on old wood and our erratic early spring temperatures have kept this from flowering for the last two years. Luckily it has distinctive foliage to recommend it.
Among the other shrubs along the edge of this slope are Cornus sanguinea 'Compressa", a trio of Thuja occidentals 'Pancake' and a few others that are not visible. There are still a few Hostas because they are one of the few plants that provide so many foliage options in my Zone 5 climate.
October began with a few gorgeous days in a row letting me empty all my containers. The perennials went back in the ground, while I brought my Begonias indoors to see if can manage to overwinter them. Then I scrubbed all the pots — the ones that were planted — from the smallest to the largest.
The small pots went into the garage until next spring. Mark and I turned the biggest decorative ones ones upside down to winter in place. Since they won't be able to hold water, they should be fine with this treatment. Mark can still pretty much turn these pots over by himself. I just help put the wood risers under them.
They are very big pots. Here's what they look like next to a person . . .
and next to the fence for the winter. Also sitting on wood blocks.
We moved the rest of the decorative pots down to this storage area on the east side of the house. It's a surprisingly protected location with the garage wall, fencing and a big maple tree overhead. We've never lost a pot to winter weather yet. Knock on wood.
I got my work table all cleaned off (except for that big branch) and bagged pine needles from neighbors and a friend by the beginning of the last week in October.
The weather was terrific so it wasn't as frustrating raking up the endless maple leaves from my neighbor's tree as it would have been on a miserable day.
We spent the last nice day — Thursday, Nov. 10th — cleaning the garage, washing tools and putting them away. I cleaned and organized my metal shelving and cabinet and Mark did everything else.
Just as the sun was fading and the temperature dropping the team from Tiplok came to blow the leaves off of the roof on the house and the Tea House. Rain was forecast for that evening so we really wanted to be sure the gutters were not going to get clogged up. They did a great job, including blowing the leaves from the roof off of the yew hedge where they initially fell.
We did get rain as predicted that evening and the temperature took a dive with snow showers on Friday and Saturday. It snowed lightly starting on Monday but it was enough to cover the ground. The view Tuesday morning.
It snowed on and off all day yesterday. Note the snow depth this morning at 7 a.m. My theory of winter is that it will be a long winter if there is measurable snow before Thanksgiving.
The temperature is supposed to hit the mid-30°s today. But the high temp doesn't get out of the 20°s for the next few days. That's January weather. I was going to add more leaf mulch on some of the newer plants and already I can't locate them because of the snow cover. That's gardening in Wisconsin.
I cut the seedheads off of my Belcamda chinensis knowing they have a reputation as rampant self-seeders. Given that it's planted next to the gravel-filled upper pond, I could just imagine my frustration if the seeds landed there. Thus I've been enjoying this small bouquet of shiny black buttons indoors, instead of worrying about them free out of doors.
Our recent warm weather pushed my Thanksgiving rose — Helleborus niger — into spectacular bloom. Here it is last Monday, Nov. 7th.
Last Thursday we finished our winter prep on the last warm day. Overnight the temperature dropped from the low 70°s to the 30°s. That was followed by wind, rain and snow showers. When the temperature finally hit 32° early this afternoon I went out and cut a few Hellebore stems.
The flowers were lightly brushed with snow with iced and downward curving stems. It didn't take them long to perk right back up however. You've gotta love a plant that can deal with serious weather.
The garden has never looked better in autumn than this year. This is the view from the spot I aways sit in our living room. Once I sit down, I've hardly been able do anything but look out the window at this glorious scene.
Of course, the above photo is one I intended to post when Typepad started acting up. In the intervening days, that green tree turned red and now all of them have lost most of their leaves.
Gorgeous warm weather today, followed by rain and temps dropping into the 30s — if the weather forecast is to be believed.
Thank you for checking in with me while I attempted to solve my problem loading photos. Fingers still crossed, but it seems to be working.
I just checked again and I still can't get my photos to insert into the blog post. Only text. So I just sent a help message to Typepad. I had been holding off hoping it would right itself from their end. I can't be the only one with this issue.
I haven't been able to blog properly since Oct. 27th. So I spent lots of time outdoors watering, raking leaves and doing general garden cleanup as we just had a week of perfect weather. Started to rain yesterday and we had a brief but intense storm. More rain is likely today and we're under a high wind warning.
I also finished a Blurb book that I started at the end of 2020. And I am working on two others. All are small 7" x 7" garden-themed books. Being married to a photographer and having friends who are historians, I know the only way to archivally save images is to print them.
Having Typepad almost implode finally spurred me to start making books so I can remember my garden when I have to move down the road to the "home." Lots of fun looking at old photos.
Today I'm going to settle in on the couch with coffee and a mystery and enjoy the rain.