Each Little World

March in black and white

Late last week the weather was so beautiful I began a little light cleanup in the garden. Hellebores, like H. 'New York Night, were sending up big fat buds, snowdrops were blooming in white clumps and it seemed like spring might really have arrived.

But it is March in the Midwest, so snow immediately followed the first flowers on Monday.

It came down wet and heavy, but there's not enough of it to last. The roads were clear by mid-morning Tuesday, so we drove out to our favorite gallery to look at a group of new tea bowls by one of our favorite potters, Bill Farrell. 

We have serving dishes, large containers and many tea bowls by Bill. We have enough of his work that we really didn't need any more. But these are raku, unlike all of our other pieces by him which are wood-fired stoneware. They were too lovely to resist; a fact we were fairly sure of before we even left the house. 

By the time we got home from the gallery in mid-afternoon the view out the window showed the snow was melting on all the stonework in the garden, nicely re-iterating the tones and marks of Bill's bowls inside the house. 

Rain is predicted for much of next week, which will get rid of the snow and send the spring bloomers above ground for sure.

In a vase any day

Just to remind you of my holiday treatment of the fireplace mantle: A beaded Christmas tree and a pair of votive lights and i called it done.

The flowers that were on the dining table during the holidays took a long time to fade.

I decided to enjoy their slow demise by moving them to the mantle and adding a dried fern leaf that nicely matched the browning flowers.

Mark enjoyed the Foo dogs so much that I added them to the opposite end of the mantle. There were just enough bits of teal in his painting that the dogs and the vase seemed appropriate partners for the painting.

I replaced the flowers went I went grocery shopping recently to complement my new painting, which we'd swapped for the little girl's portrait.

Mark decided that the new painting perfectly melded his painting with the textile filling the wall space next to the fireplace.

This is a closeup of the top of the beautiful Miao baby carrier. The Miao people are one of many different Chinese ethnic groups.

Miserable weather, miserable news. Thus I am sitting opposite the fireplace to enjoy the view before I lose myself in a book. Hope you are all managing to survive this scary end of Trump's administration. Definitely sending thoughts and prayers to Joe and Kamala.

IVOM: A Thanksgiving arrangement

I posted a version of this foliage display on October 26th, noting I had actually put it together on October 14th. It's now more than a month later and it's still looking good enough to use on our Thanksgiving dinner table — with a bit of sprucing up. 

I added a number of Bergenia leaves which had started to get burnished bronze and red out in the garden. The rabbits tend to munch these during the summer, but they return in the fall and are untouched now.

I decided to make one last foray around the garden as the bouquet still looked a bit blah even with the Bergeinia foliage. The addition of variegated Arum italicum foliage and yellow Epimedium leaves definitely brightened things up, along with an 'Autumn Brilliance' fern frond. 

Epimedium 'Waterfall' is the only one of my many Epimediums to turn this wonderful buttery color with dark edges. 

I clipped this Maidenhair fern frond when it was a flat fan. In the house everything has delicately curled up.

I only grow Arum italicum 'Ghost,' a plant that appears in the autumn when the weather cools down and pops up again when the snow melts. There are other varieties with different degrees of patterning that I continue to lust after. I've never been able to buy one as they are always sold out as soon as I seem to discover them in on-line nurseries. 

The wonky flowers on star fruit (Penthorum seloides) get better and better as the days go by.

Hope you have a pleasant and safe holiday.

Late November walkabout

November has brought us days that got up into the 60°'s and a lot of nights, like last night, that hit the low 20°'s. That means last weekend was the perfect time to stroll through the chilly garden to see what is still looking good.

The pond froze on Saturday night but it was warm enough Sunday that it melted again. 

The mossy rocks are always a thrill for me to discover. The densely weedy shoreline less so.

I moved and divided Pulmonaria 'David Ward' rather rudely midsummer. I was worried that I lost it by my thoughtless behavior in hot weather since it is not a plant that I see to buy anymore. This is the only Pulmonaria that I intentionally grow, so I am thrilled to see it again.

False Rue Anemone (Isopyrum biternatum) is one of the treasures of the cool garden in early spring and late autumn. It has white flowers in the spring but I grow it for that lovely foliage.

Some of my Hepaticas are looking good while others have disappeared. 

A lot of gardeners consider Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium 'Aureum') weedy, but I love it. The tiniest seedlings are recognizable and easy to pull. I appreciate the note of bright green it adds whenever and wherever it appears, and the tiny daisy-like flowers are perfect additions to any bouquet.

Epimedium 'Waterfall' has been one of the stars of the autumn garden. None of my other Epimediums have this thrilling mix of color in their leaves. 

Who doesn't love Hellebore foliage? It is dramatic at any season, but especially now when it has a lot less foliar competition.

Whatever the weather

We've had a week with overnight frost, high winds, rain and just plain November days. I went out midmorning today to check the rain gauge (only .36") and to look for fallen branches from the winds that began yesterday. No big branches were down, though I found some lovely pieces of bark. I left this one on the bench by the front door to dry out a bit before I bring it indoors. 

Despite the miserably cold weather I found a lot that caught my attention no matter where I went in the garden. The beds, paths and upper pool in the back garden were absolutely covered with needles from the lone Austrian pine of the original three trees planted in the mid-1950s.

Some things, like this Himalayan maidenhair fern, seem to take the change in the weather in stride. It looks green and gorgeous until it gets buried by snow. 

Big healthy Foxglove seedlings are such a hopeful sign. But I probably should have moved them out of the path when they were tiny. I am going to have to tread  carefully next year. 

Late last fall I planted a pair of dwarf Hydrangeas. They came through the winter and grew this year with no problems. I need to put larger cages around them so they are protected from critters this winter and next spring when they put out new growth. Love their deep purple foliage. 

I've been growing this Paeonia lutea for four years. I moved it last year after deciding it was in too much shade to flower. I've never noticed pink stems on it before. Now I am going to have to make a note to see what it looks like next spring when it reappears. 

This ornamental cabbage was looking so sad that I almost tossed it. Yesterday's rain suggests it was lack of water, not the cold, that was its problem.

I discovered this Hellebore, that typically tries to flower at Thanksgiving, up and beginning to bloom ten days ago. I cut a few blossoms to enjoy inside and assumed it had succumbed to the cold weather by now. What a trooper!

Its twin, planted across the path, was budded and buried deeply in autumn leaves. I left it that way, hoping that would preserve the buds to flower in the spring. But it was ready and did not want to wait. 

Though I think winter is on its way, clearly my garden is not yet convinced.

The big bang!

My gardening friends and I have all been thrilled with the blast of color and warm weather that we've been enjoying here in southern Wisconsin. I took this photo Sunday afternoon when I came around a corner and was stopped in my tracks. That's Epimedium 'Lilac Fairy' foliage down low in front, Bowman's Root on the left, Berberis 'Orange Rocket' and Japanese Blood Grass. Just realized there's a small 'Rhinegold' Arborviate behind the grass adding to the glow. 

Alas, this morning it was clear that the weather is changing back to a typical chilly November.

The color keeps coming

It has been a fabulous year for fall color. Despite a lot of windy days and cold temperatures, there is still plenty of color to enjoy in the garden. This week's rise in daytime temperatures up into the low 70°F. means that finishing our fall cleanup has become a pleasure rather than a chilly chore. Plus working outside has kept me calmer while the election results continue to unfold. 

Acer pennsylvanicum aka Moosewood maple has huge leaves that always turn a buttery yellow.

The foliage on this Larch (Larix laricina) looks evergreen in the summer but it is a deciduous tree and loses its needles in the fall. I took this photo yesterday. Compare its color to the image below taken two days earlier. 

The Larch with Acer Tegmentosum 'White Tigress' in the background. 

Acer Tegmentosum 'White Tigress' is a stripe bark maple. Underneath the tree are big bags of chopped leaves ready to be used as mulch. We got about a dozen bags of leaves just from the trees in the front garden.  

Hosta leaves melting like butter. 

Carex siderosticha 'Lemon Zest' is not so fussy as C. 'Banana Boat' when it comes to both light and moisture.

Stephanandra incisa 'Crispa' is a quiet green presence in the landscape until autumn arrives.

I bought two Orixa japonica from Song Sparrow last fall. They came as 4 foot tall plants and settled in nicely. Their glossy green leaves have turned this beautiful shade.

My Epimediums range from this pale yellow to bronze fall color. 

One of our many Korean maples; the color continues to change drawing me out into the garden to check on it almost hourly. 

Euphorbia palustris is a knockout in any season. 

Another Korean maple (Acer pseudosieboldianum). This one is in a lot of shade and has colored up as the others are losing their leaves.

Fothergilla gardenii

Our neighbor's Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) has turned its autumn color, a warm cinnamon. This tree inspired us to plant two of our own. 

The Ginkgo gives in

The big Ginkgo biloba finally acknowledged that it was cold enough and windy enough for it to bow to the weather and release its foliage. Love these pale yellow leaves against the silver blue spikes of Juniper 'Blue Star.'

The ground directly under the Ginkgo is thick with fallen leaves. Note the foliage of the Itoh Peony on the left. It is still almost perfect; the only Peony that never has fungal problems. 

The surface of the pond has so many leaves floating on it that you can't distinguish it as water. 

Autumn pastels

The trees in the garden are dazzling reds and golds, but on the ground the color is much more subtle and subdued. 

Pulmonaria 'David Ward' has beautiful coral pink blooms and apple green foliage in the spring. It is not quite as bright at this season but is still a knockout. FYI: David Ward is the name of the late Beth Chatto's gardener. 

Brunnera 'Alexandria,' with almost solid silver leaves, is the companion plant to Brunnera 'Alexander's Giant'.

Arum italicum 'Ghost' appears when temperatures begin to fall and puts on a show until the snow buries it. 

Tricyrtis hirta 'Tojen'

Tricyrtis, probably formosana. 

Tricyrtis hirta 'Miyazaki' is just beginning to flower. I am hoping a few more buds open before we get a frost. 

I did not realize that Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow' was a Zone 6 plant when I bought it. But it has made it through two Wisconsin winters. It looks lovely in the spring paired with Epimedium 'Lilac Fairy' or here with fall-blooming Crocus pulchellis. 

Trycirtis macrantha aka yellow bell toad lily. The interior of the flowers are speckled but they may not open any further this year. 

The foliage on Thalictrum 'Lavender Mist' turns a warm gold at this stage of the year. 

First fall color

The garden from the ground up is still mostly green, but a few things are starting to indicate it's October. Autumn fern just has the slightest hint of the changing season.

The three-flowered maple (Acer triflorum) is looking gorgeous . . .

but this color is nothing compared to the show it will be soon putting on.

See what I mean? Twenty-four hours later and it's almost sold red foliage.

The sugar maple had been the only tree in the garden that was shouting the news that autumn is here.

This tree was planted when our house was built in 1954 and is having serious health problems. This is the last autumn we will see this colorful exhibition as the tree will come down this winter.  

Given the fact that there is a large Oak seedling, a small Hemlock and a Witch Hazel all growing under the maple, we don't feel as bad as we otherwise might to see it go.