Each Little World

Holiday greenery

I spent the afternoon of December 8 in the garden as it was unseasonably warm. It was a lovely day to work outside if you didn't assume climate change was responsible for the temperatures in the low 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

I wandered the garden with my clippers cutting evergreens to fan out around the big Mark Skudlarek plate by the front door. There's a long rolled-up tube of chicken wire curving behind the plate to hold the stems of the greenery.

Many of the evergreens in our garden are now mature enough that I had no qualms about cutting a few small branches off of any one of them. I ended up with the most mixed display I've ever had, using clippings from seven different evergreens. 

The mix includes Arborvitae, both Canadian and Japanese Hemlocks, blue Juniper, Scots pine, Russian cypress and an unknown lacy yellow Chamaecyparis. I put the Canadian Hemlock branches in with their silvery blue undersides showing for more contrast. 

I love how the blue tones echo the color of the plate.

I added a string of battery powered mini lights and then decided it needed something more. I tried a few still bright Allium seed heads.

But that bright pink seemed a bit much. So I calmed it down with a few bigger and much less colorful Allium seed heads and am generally pleased with the result. 

The only downside is that I learned via a discussion on the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society FB page that the professionals said not to do any trimming while it is this warm. They noted the trees and shrubs are not dormant and the fresh cuts could prove harmful.

I love the education I get on that Wisconsin site, but I sure wish the subject had come up before I went clipping here and there. 

Wordy Wednesday

It's been a sunny and chilly week here and that pattern continues in our 10-day weather forecast. It rained a bit Monday night and turned into wet snow by morning but it quickly melted away. My rain gauge is plastic so it's been put away for winter and I am left guessing about how much moisture the garden actually got.

This weather is typical for this time of year, so I am not complaining after the summer and fall we've experienced with its clear signs of climate change. The Weeping Beech is one of the few trees in the garden still holding its foliage. The color has gone from deep gold when I took the photo last week to a rusty orange. 

Mark recently decided what types of photography most interests him and what cameras he wants to use longterm. Thus he sold off a number of cameras, lenses, film developing equipment and more. That was after doing a major clear out of his bookshelves. I caught the bug from him and took two loads of books to our local library sale and a big donation of all kinds of items to St. Vinnie's.

It's a drop in the bucket when we look at all the books and art we own, but it felt freeing and a good way to prepare for a few months mostly spent indoors.

We're going to relatives on the other side of town for Thanksgiving. It's an easy drive and we were assigned an easy dish to bring. So it will be a relaxed holiday. Hope yours is as well. 

How did I miss these beauties?

I clearly only wandered through a narrow swath of the garden before I posted my November report on Monday. Don't know how I missed these beauties.

You may not think this image of Peony foliage is anything special. But this is the first time I remember having a Peony whose foliage is still green, upright and disease free in November. Amazing.

Not far away I discovered my Helleborus niger, aka Christmas rose, was up and blooming. I've been growing this plant for a dozen years and it surprises me every time. Its partner across the path is barely visible so I just buried it under a pile of leaves. I don't think it will make a show before spring.

This Larch (Larix laricina) is so blindingly bright that it seems impossible to not see it from everywhere in the garden. I think it must have just turned color quickly because I know I could not have walked past it without seeing it.

On the downside this autumn:

Our paperbark maple which is the last tree to turn color — an intense red — just lost all its leaves in the last two days without seriously coloring up. 

In my sunnier beds, the Alliums I planted in 2022 are popping up and growing as a result of our hot/cold/warm weather conditions. I think this means they will not flower come next spring. They put on a nice show this year so I decided not to add any more bulbs in that area. We'll see what happens come June.

Early November report

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! —
November!

— Thomas Hood

It's the beginning of the first full week of November in my Z5 garden in southern Wisconsin and that poem is all wrong this year. This morning it's 56°F as I am writing this at 8 a.m. Yesterday in the garden birds were flocking to the water bowl. The last stems of Aconitum (monkshood) and Chrysanthemum 'Sheffield' were still flowering despite some frosty nights.

There are colorful leaves on the ground and the roof but lots of green leaves still on ferns, assorted perennials and trees. Our Paperbark Maple hasn't even begun to turn color. Here's a sampling of what the garden looks like right now.

Hamamelis virginiana (Witch Haze) is in full bloom and has dropped its leaves so you can actually see the flowers.

Of course, it's not easy to see the flowers without a nice Yew hedge behind this shrub.

Dawn redwoods are deciduous. This one, 'Ogon', is a bright chartreuse all summer before it turns its needle-like foliage a gorgeous cinnamon. I love it when it's in the middle of that change-over and there are bright gold tips at the ends of many of the autumn toned branches. 

I have three varieties of Hackonechloa in multiple locations in the garden. H. macra is shrinking up without ever putting out their inflorescence.

H. 'All Gold' has "flowered" like crazy.

I always wait for a few frosts to put an end to the Hostas. Once that happens it's easy to just pull the foliage off the plant rather than having to cut all those stems.

Hellebores, Geranium macrorrhizum, Vancouver and many ferns, like this Dryopteris crassirhizoma, are still bright green. 

Winter lasts such a seemingly long time that I am not going to complain about this unusually lovely weather. A little rain would make it perfect.

Wordless Wednesday

PHOTO BY MARK GOLDBACH

IVOM: The goodbye bouquet

Last Wednesday, before the weather changed, I clipped a crazy assortment of foliage and flowers and made a giant bouquet. Partly it was a test to see what plants have the potential to last in an arrangement, but mostly it was just fun to grab a bit of everything. 

Toad lilies and Aconitum are the main flowers here, along with fading Agastache 'Blue Fortune' and Eupatorium 'Chocolate.'

I've never cut a stem of Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty' for a vase as they make too important a statement in the garden to do that. But they were about to bite the bullet anyway, so I did it. And now I know it works well in a display. Here with Arum italicum and the underside of a yellowing Hosta leaf.

The view from the other side shows the beautiful red backs of the hardy Begonia foliage and the sori on the ferns.

I couldn't resist trying a big Rodgersia leaf which didn't last too long. Not surprising given how far gone it was when I cut it. The stems on Anemone 'September Charm' were so long they just wanted to keep flopping. So I let them.

When I brought the display into the house, Mark insisted on taking a photo with me to indicate what a large bouquet it was. I look like a woman who has spent a week fighting a cold and had to cancel her haircut appointment so she wouldn't pass on her germs. 

Just enough rain . . .

to give the garden a drink and provide some art in the driveway.

An autumn vignette

A friend who stopped by to see the garden last weekend took this photo. I think it perfectly captures the moment: Flowers still opening, foliage turning color and fading away.

GARY TIPLER

Autumn energy

After a summer of feeling overwhemled by heat, drought and age, I got out there Sunday morning and dug out a pair of dying 23-year-old 'Crimson Pygmy' barberries. One left to deal with down the road. Thanks to my garden guru, Jutta, for turning me on to the Rootslayer shovel which made the job much easier. (Actually took three different shovels to get them out.)

I'm glad to be rid of these invasive plants but even happier at the empty space. It is one more location where plantings have grown up and hidden the rocks that we love and worked so hard to add to the garden. I've got some ideas about what to plant next but I definitely want to make sure the rocks will remain visible. 

Not IVOM . . .

but a grouping around a plate by the front door instead. The weather and the squirrels have small Oak tree branches hitting the driveway daily. As I was picking them up I was struck by the warm beauty of the leaves. I put them into the roll of chicken wire that I sculpted around the back of this big ceramic plate. 

I added a few dried flowerheads of Oakleaf Hydrangea along with Allium and Thalictrum seedheads.

Though I usually appreciate asymmetrical design, every time I glanced at this display it bothered me. But the driveway was bare. Then Mark and I went for a walk on the new paved path on our street and I found a few more stems to add.

I'm much happier with the way this looks now. Of course, I'm not sure how long the Oak leaves will stay so colorful and fresh but it's fun for now. 

The full view of the display space next to our red front door. This area is a tiny wind tunnel and is always fulll of leaves, thus the bamboo broom.