Each Little World

Witch hazel shining out

The driveway still has a lot of color: red from the Epimedium rubrum and the leaves on the Korean maple tree and yellows from the clumps Japanese forest grass. The clump in the foreground is Hakonechloa macra, the plain green variety, while the rear clump is Hakonechloa macra 'All Gold.'

Now that it has lost its leaves my fall-blooming common witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiana, is clearly visible and looking lovely. Since witch hazel is an understory plant, I put it under an old silver maple tree where it has been very happy. 

In retrospect, I should have planted it with a dark background to show off the yellow flowers. But that's a concept that I didn't really think about twenty years ago when I planted it. It's rare that I can manage to take a photo of it with this many flowers visible. 

Lichens on rocks and roofs

November beauties

I posted photos of some of these same plants on November first and they were still looking great this weekend. That's after a lot of cold daytime weather, with highs often ten degrees below normal and overnight lows down in the teens. We even had a little snow. But a couple of days that hit 40 degrees F. perked anything right back up that had been starting to languish. 

Rosemary at the top of the wall on the north side of the house.

This Rhododendron yakushimanum 'Yaku Angel' is loaded with buds, the most this shrub has ever had so I am pretty excited. 

This Helleborus niger typically blooms at Thanksgiving, but I think it is too cold for these flowers to actually open up this year. 

The entry for November 25th in my "Year in the Garden" calendar, said that this fern — Dryopteris erythorsora — is a "wintergreen Japanese shield fern." Here it is known as an autumn fern. The idea that there are summergreen and wintergreen ferns is a new one to me. I am guessing that is not the case in Wisconsin, though apparently that is how ferns are regarded in the U.K. 

Arum italicum "Ghost' is always looking its best just before snow arrives. It amazes me to see this come up as the weather cools but then it lasts and lasts. A rare treat for a gardener in my climate and zone.

Fiber Friday: Olbrich Botanical Gardens

I've said it before and I will say it again: The Growing Gifts shop at Olbrich Botanical Gardens is an unsung treasure trove of treats. Clothing, accessories like hats and scarves and bags, books and greeting cards, home decor objects like trays, vases and candle holders and lots of fun (and educational) items for children. I am often at Olbrich for evening lectures when the shop is closed. This being the holiday season, I made a point of stopping this week to see what they had in store for local shoppers. Almost everything that caught my attention was some kind of textile item.

I brought home this assortment of Alpaca socks (and one pair of cotton) to add to my stash. At $19.00 a pop these might seem like an outrageous extravagance. But I've been saving up to get them as they are the softest, warmest and most delightful socks I've found in years. The only ones to equal them were the hand-knit pairs my sister sent me for a few Christmases. I have cold feet year-round and wear these socks year-round as well, making them a necessity and well-worth the hefty price tag. 

The shop had a pair of these creatures for sale: this resting version and the other standing with its head bent down as though foraging. They are probably between 18 inches to 2 feet to give you a rough estimate of the size. Big enough to add a lot of drama to your holiday display.

They are from India, covered with white-on-white embroidery.

I did not get the prices on items (other than my socks) as the displays were so full that I didn't want to take a chance on upsetting anything by sticking my winter-coated arms in there twisting and turning price tags.

As you might expect, they had loads of felted, furry and feathered ornaments.

I was quite taken with the folk-art feeling of these felted trees. 

Olbrich's gift shop also had these funky 1950's style trees in an assortment of sizes and colors. Perfect for anyone doing color-themed decor or looking for mid-century modern holiday items. 

Matching garlands of felted spheres are available. Note that these are handcrafted by women's cooperatives in Nepal. Thus buying these supports women along with Olbrich.

Remember, members of Olbrich's Friends organization get a discount at the shop, among many other benefits. There are 8 levels of membership. You can find all the details here.

Wordless Wednesday

The same but different

Location, location, location! That's the mantra of realtors but it's a concept that holds true in gardening as well. Obviously where you live in the country or the world has the major influence on your garden. But then it becomes very personal and intimate. Plants growing near each other can look or perform quite differently depending on soil, moisture, light — any number of factors.

This is Caxex siderosticha 'Lemon Zest' growing in rather dry shade under a Redbud. It is actually turning more yellow as fall advances. It typically turns a limey green in summer in this shady location.

Here is the same plant in more sun so it holds its yellow color through most of the season just starting to turn brown from cold weather and a few dry weeks. 

My newest patch of Epimedium rubrum are a bright green during the growing season and are turning a warmish red orange at the moment. 

The mother planting (below) is across the driveway from the group shown in the photo above. This group has been growing many years longer than the first group with much darker green leaves and more mahogany fall coloration. It has surprised me how different the two groups look even during the growing season. I would not have thought the amount of light they get was that much different as I am guessing that is the main reason for the variation. 

The foliage of Epimedium x youngianum 'Baby Doll Pink' has turned a lovely yellow unlike any of the other Epimediums I grow.

This group of three Epimediums, including E. 'Red Queen', are growing under a big old Arborvita tree and never color though they get plenty of flowers. 

 

(Not) In a Vase on Monday

Last Friday as I was leaving the gym, I ran into a friend-of-a-friend who said she'd been hoping she might bump into me there. The reason? She had an ikebana flower vase that had been in her family but it was time to send it out into the world to a new home. She wondered if I knew someone who might use it and appreciate it. Or perhaps, she suggested, it might interest me. She said she'd been driving around with it in the trunk of her car on the off chance of running into me.

The minute she opened the box and I saw the gleam of black lacquer, I was smitten. Moments later the box was being transferred to my car, making me the new proud owner of a beautiful vase and two narrow lacquer boards on which to display the vase. For Cathy's special charge this week (Not) In a Vase on Monday, I am using the two boards. The vase is staying in its box for another bouquet at another time. 

I decided that not only would I stay away from a vase this week, but I would not use fresh material either. These dried plants were part of other displays in my house. The pod is a Chinese lantern flower (Physalis alkekengi). The stem is from my new summer planting of Euphorbia palustris which can grow in up to two inches of water.

The cloth is a hand-stitched Indian Kantha that is draped over an upholstered chair in our living room. I took the photo with the lacquer boards resting on the seat of the chair. One more nod to (not) in a vase.

Cathy at Rambling in the Garden has been hosting this meme for five years. Stop by her blog to see what she's done to celebrate and to look at other vases from around the world who join in this meme every Monday. 

Wednesday vignette

This may be my favorite color moment of the entire autumn display: Crocus pulchellus amid leaves from Acer pseudosieboldianum. The flowers are much more delicately colored and more fragile looking than they appear in the photo. They would look like they were done when it got cloudy and cold and then stand upright and open again in the warm sun. A pricey bulb but worth every penny. 

Look up, look down: Final fall color

Hamamelis virginiana, aka fall-blooming witch hazel, is putting on its annual show right now. But if you grow witch hazels then you know about their annoying habit of often flowering before they've dropped their leaves. Yellow flowers among large yellowing leaves are hard to enjoy when you can barely see them. I discovered these wispy blooms by accident when I glanced overhead to see if the big maples in the front garden still had any leaves left on them. Their show is over for the year; not so in the back garden.

Our paperbark maple (Acer griseum x nikoense) was aglow on at the end of last week. It is typically the last deciduous tree to color up in the fall.  

But it lost most of its leaves with an overnight cold spell. 

I have to admit I was rather shocked to come out in the morning to this scene.

Turns out the Moosewood maple did the same thing.

Moosewood, Acer pennsylvanicum, is known for it large leaves and butter yellow fall color. That's Carex socialis 'Coahoma' in the foreground. 

The yellow leaves at the rear are from one of our stripe bark maples, A. tegmentosum 'White Tigress'. These leaves are so large that I will try to rake them up as they will mat down in a way that can harm emerging plants in the spring. 

It rained on the weekend and this was the scene out the library window on Sunday morning. These sugar maple leaves all came from the tree in our neighbor's garden. Looking at this view I guess we do still have more leaves that need to come down; namely the curly willow and the old apple tree. 

But the weather is definitely changing and it looks like the last fall cleanup is going to be done during much colder weather. Ugh. 

Still green

Despite plenty of cold nights, lots of plants are still green and great looking like Arum italicum 'Ghost'. This goes dormant in the summer, returns with cooler weather and will look this lovely until snow arrives and covers it up.

So many of my Hellebores suffered from last winter's cold and lack of snow cover. This clump of H. 'Royal Heritage' strain is a fraction of its usual size but is suddenly sending up some new leaves. 

Carexes are among the stars of my garden at any season. But I love them best early and late in the year when I am starved for green. C. plantaginea is one of my go-to ground covers for dry shade.

C. socialis 'Coahoma' looks delicate but is one tough plant.

I had a nice swath of C. morrowii 'Silver Scepter' that mostly died out last winter. I took the pieces that survived and moved them to a more well-drained location where they are currently doing well. C. morrowii variegated also suffered a lot of dieback last winter.

Digitalis purpurea 'Apricot Beauty' and Pulmonaria 'David Ward'

Milium effusum 'Aureum' has lost its gold coloration but still looks good along with a fall-planted Euphorbia x martinii 'Tiny Tim.'

Carex elata 'Bowles Golden' is similar in color to the above Milium but with much narrower foliage. Here it's growing with Adiantum venustum.

Berberis thunbertii 'Admiration' which has lost its bright summer color, along with a seedling of Tanacetum parthenium 'Aureum' on the left and a candelabra primrose seedling at the rear.

Euphorbia x martin 'Ascot Rainbow' is another plant that is new this fall. It's growing on the right side of the same Berberis as above.

Rosa rubrifolia

Hedera helix 'Glacier'. All said, a lot more green that I might have expected to find at the beginning of November.