Each Little World

Coffee in the Tea House

The break in the weather has brought pleasant temperatures and breezes: perfect weather for taking a break in the Tea House. Mark took these images with his phone as we got up off of our knees from weeding to relax.

Me in my full mosquito-proof gear including a veil on my sun hat. For the first time in years, I've managed to get ground covers to grow where you step across the stream. Everyone is always looking down to check their footing on the stepping stones, so it behooves me to provide a weed-free view. 

Look at the tray that Mark brought out with our coffee and a cookie to share. As he always likes to say, "Why wouldn't you line things up if you could?" Over the years he's done a lot of artwork that uses grids, stripes and checkerboards. He can't resist creating patterns.

We have cushions for sitting on the floor that are covered in beautiful blue and white Japanese fabrics. These days, however, we prefer to sit in chairs, especially if we've been on our knees weeding.

It's obvious my energy level is just about depleted at this point in the afternoon. 

Our Tea House is more rustic than the one I saw on the recent WHPS tour to an estate garden in Lake Forest, Illinois. 

It was fun to see one in a private garden, but I like ours better. 

The view out the full height door looking toward the upper pool. 

Looking out the same door around the back of the upper pool toward our weeping Serbian spruce. We bought it from Peter at Stonewall Nursery in 2014 and it has done beautifully. 

The views out the other door.

A narrow band of windows goes around the walls between the two doors. 

We change the scroll and other items in the Tea House periodically. Sometimes there is an antique Japanese pot or ikebana basket. Currently the interior is more multi-cultural with an African mask and a mid-century Raku pot from a local antiques mall. 

Evening in the garden

A breeze to keep the mosquitoes at bay sent Mark into the garden with his camera. He started on this path across the front garden out by the street. 

Around the side of the house into the pond garden.

Looking west towards the Tea House above the pond.

The stream and waterfall that flow from the upper pool which is next to the Tea House on the left in the above view.

The pond looking west. 

Water baby's breath almost ready to bloom.

The route to the Tea House past the Weeping Beech and across the stream. 

Or you can walk around the other side of this upper garden and approach the Tea House by going behind the upper pool.

The back side of the Tea House sloping garden with the Martagon lilies starting to form seed pods. 

Mid-march mess in the garden

Last Thursday afternoon it was 60°F. (15.55° C.) and pouring rain. I went out on the deck and attempted a shot, but decided that trying to capture rain against snow is above my skill level.

I took these pictures the next day when the temperature was 35°F. (1.66° C.) at noon. It was cloudy, starting to lightly snow and the wind definitely made it feel more like winter than spring.

I was able to see where the main paths in the back garden are and decided to reconnoiter. The snow was slowly sinking and a few spots were bare; but not as much open ground as I expected. The rain coming off the roof of the Tea House has worn a trench into the ground.

This is the area I call the Sacred Grove and is flat and south-facing. I really expected to see some snowdrops up here but no such luck. That's a half-buried bag of leaf mulch on the left that I never finished spreading on the garden last fall. So it will be used this spring instead. 

Across the path, things look pretty much the same. 

All the evergreens — including my new variegated Boxwood — appear to have survived.

The difference in color of the needles on this Pinus cembra (Swiss stone pine) is an indication to me of how deep the snow was in this area. It suggests the snow covered the second layer of branches. 

The rocks that are beginning to reappear are covered in lichens. That's Epimedium 'Domino' which I had to cage after critters started munching on it in early spring last year. 

The snow was very crusty though not thick enough to support my weight. It was thick enough, however, that I had to stamp my foot down to break through it as I made my way around. It was awkward and slow-going. 

Planting for the tour

It seems crazy but I am using this upcoming tour of the garden on Saturday as the impetus to do all sorts of garden projects that have been on my mind for a long time. Nothing like visitors to get me inspired and outdoors working. Thus, in addition to weeding, deadheading, and pruning, I am dividing and replanting, adding new plants and moving old things to new homes. My daylilies fall into the latter category.

I have been growing daylilies out by the street where they have been getting more and more shaded out. So they were all dug out last week and the best ones were potted up to be replanted.

I managed to get them all into new homes, including this one (above) with mid-size flowers which I believe is H. 'Red Magic'. I thought it would go well with the red-orange-tinged barberry and the tea house stucco color. Two more daylilies are next to the big ceramic pot across the path from 'Red Magic.'

I got interested in daylilies when I had a much smaller garden. Thus I am particularly fond of the varieties that are not such huge plants and that have equally smaller flowers, like this one, H. 'Little Red Warbler.' A more red-orange flowered variety — H. 'Petite Sioux' — is paired with it. That particular one is a descendant of the original plant I bought in the early 1990s.

New plants that have been decorating the deck are also finally getting put in the ground, like this Larch that I bought with my gift certificate last month. This space has been empty and crying out for something. Since the area is covered in moss and self-seeded Japanese painted ferns, it is clearly a moist location which will be good for the Larch.

The addition of the Larch makes this space finished as far as I'm concerned. And since the surrounding shrubs have been pruned and the whole area weeded, it is tour ready as well. Luckily this space is still open enough to the sky to continue to provide a home for my rain gauge. Our ancient dying Lilac tree is coming out later this summer. 

I also finished weeding along the fence on the other side of the gate. I'm leaving that clump of Perilla since I can't easily squeeze behind that 'Stolwijk Gold' Clematis anyway. One of our big garden "rules" is no plants closer to the house than two feet to allow for painting and maintenance. And nothing closer than a foot to the fence to keep extra moisture away from it to prolong its life. 

This is an easy area to weed since it is usually damp and mossy and things pull out easily. But it can be buggy and I have to remember to always check where I am in relation to the fence roof so I don't come up and crack my head or shoulder on it; something I still do with surprising frequency. 

Wednesday vignette

The ivy that graced the area in front of the mica rock in the Tea House garden is just a memory. It was all ripped out on Monday. I started filling in the area with plants from elsewhere in the garden but I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. Going from one subtle plant to a mix of Hostas, Heucheras and Carex is a big change visually and mentally. It will probably take me a while to get used to it. 

Just before the ivy disappeared I snapped these photos. All the ivy on the ground was brown and ugly looking. But I loved the way the last ivy tendrils that climbed up the rock seemed to mimic the color of the stone.

When we first got this rock it took us a long time to decide where to put it in the garden. It was so brightly colored and shiny we called it the "glitter rock." Over the years moss and lichen have colonized the rock's surface, and its color and glittery mica barely register anymore. But I love this last little moment when the ivy turned pinkish in homage to the rock.

Weather report

First serious snow of the year began Saturday afternoon. These views of the back garden were taken in the late morning on Sunday. It was still snowing though not the big flakes that can be easily seen in photos. This was fine snow almost like rain. Very cold and a good breeze blowing.

All of our work to create a garden that looks good in winter has paid off when I look out the windows on these views.

Our new "snow-viewing" style lantern looks great with its wide cap frosted with snow. Note the animal tracks coming down the left side of the hill known as the Buddha Mound. But they did not continue across the pond so we're not sure where that critter — possibly a fox — went. 

The dark lantern in the background is 18th C. Japanese. The three narrow vertical sticks mark the places where tiny new shrubs are planted. I marked them like this so no one — me included — will accidentally step on them walking through the snow-covered landscape.

It's supposed to snow again today starting in early afternoon. At the moment it is merely gray and bitter cold. When Mark got up this morning at 6 am to go meet friends for the daily coffee klatch it was -7 degrees F. (-21.66 C.) So cold he decided not to go out and came back to bed again. Here it is two hours later as I write this but the temp has only warmed up 2 degrees. I'm supposed to meet my gal pals for our weekly Monday coffee and gab fest this afternoon. But if it stays this cold we may cancel as well. 

Luckily it was not quite so cold on Sunday when Mark went out to clean the driveway. 

This was the first time this winter that Mark needed to use the snowblower. I hope this snow cover is not too late to help my plants make it through the winter. Besides which, annual snowfall replenishes ground water and it has been mighty scarce this winter. 

Worldless Wednesday

Wednesday vignette

On our way up to Stout's Island Lodge in July, we stopped in Eau Claire at Caradori Pottery. We first discovered David Caradori at the old Cambridge Pottery Festival. We bought our first pieces of his work at the festival and later made stops at his shop in Eau Claire and also visited his home to see his personal pottery collection. 

Caradori's a fan of Japanese tea bowls and has worked with the esteemed Japanese potter, M. Kusakabe, so he and Mark immediately hit it off. These are sake containers made by Caradori which we brought home from our stop at his shop. Their lids turn into little cups for drinking. Perfect for an autumn afternoon in our Tea House.

We usually sit on cushions on the floor when we're in the Tea House. The Yanagi butterfly stool is as much a sculpture as seat and we rarely actually use it. Mostly just enjoy its crisp lines contrasted with the rough stucco walls.

In a vase on Monday: Teahouse flowers

We've been reminding ourselves to take advantage of the cooler fall weather to sit in the Tea House with our afternoon coffee. We hadn't been inside for a while so Mark vacuumed the interior and replaced the wilted bouquet.  

He opted for a sprig of Kirengeshoma palmata flowers with very wabi-sabi leaves. I think being in charge of the bouquet was his way of using his new hanging vase by potter David Caradori of Eau Claire who we visited on our mini-vacation in July.

To see what kinds of bouquets other gardeners have put together this morning, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden who hosts this great meme.

The Moss Garden at this particular moment

2017

Once we made the decision to move the bench to the moss garden with a wide path approaching it, that arrangement clearly divided the space into a couple of large beds that swept around the seat. I decided that I would just fill in the space with plants I already had and that would be that. So I dug up Japanese painted ferns, candelabra primroses and Hostas and began to fill in the space. The white buckets indicate the locations for future Yew balls. We already had one planted under the Carolina Sweetshrub by the fence, so adding four more would make a nice uneven number.

I also added a young Korean maple and two boxwood seedlings, all of which had been growing in pots around the garden. The boxwoods would also eventually be trimmed into balls. Everything's caged to keep the rabbits away now and during the coming winter. 

But hardly had the plants in the first picture begun to settle in when I decided it was too much color and pattern. That probably sounds crazy but the old moss garden was a calm green moment amidst everything else that was happening in the garden nearby. I wanted that green quiet feeling again. So on my recent trip to the Flower Factory I bought 8 solid green Hakonechloa macra plants to use instead of painted ferns and Hostas. This spot is fairly dry and the Hakonechloa will do better here than the painted ferns anyway. 

Mark and I then revisited our early idea of a long "wave' of Yews — rather than a mere four — that would be pruned into balls until they start melding into each other a number of years down the road. That would lower maintenance since they only need clipping once a year. After calling a few local nurseries we discovered Winterland Nursery still had what we wanted despite it being almost Labor Day. 

Luckily we had a planting plan otherwise it would have been easy to be seduced by Winterland's fields of trees and shrubs. 

We bought ten Taxus x media 'Tauntonii' which we've used elsewhere in the garden. Hopefully these will do as well as the others we've planted over the years. Winterland Nursery was bought out by McKay Nursery and they now offer a one year guarantee which is a valuable added protection to pricey plants like these. 

Mark unloaded the heavy pots and brought them to where we wanted to plant them via multiple wheelbarrow trips. We spent a fair amount of time moving them around to determine the best placement. Then it came time to plant them. Out came all the necessary tools. Mark started to dig the first hole to see how bad the roots from nearby trees might be and to see what the soil was like. He gave me some tips and said to call him if I need help.

I didn't really need help. I just had to do it my way with my tools. I knew it would take me twice as long as it would if Mark did it, but I wanted to do it right and also not hurt myself. That meant I did not use Mark's big shovel in the foreground or the heavy duty orange-painted spud. They were so heavy to lift I didn't have enough strength left for leverage!

I used the cardboard template to cut the diameter of the planting hole and the other tools as needed. Luckily I only had to use the saw on a few big roots; my Felcos worked for the rest. I planted two yews last Wednesday, three on Friday, three on Sunday and got the final two in the ground on Labor Day. I've got a pile of empty pots, a bucket of roots and a pile of dirt to use elsewhere in the garden. I'm sore, but not incapacitated, and very proud of myself. 

 Alas, it doesn't look like much given all my hard work. You get a better sense of how this will look from the shaggy Yew ball at the rear which has been in the ground a few years and thus makes a bit more of a statement.

This is the swath of Yew and Box balls that we planted a number of years ago and is what we're aiming for in the former moss garden as well. The individual plants are just beginning to touch each other, so Mark can soon start pruning them into a meandering cloud. These shrubs are almost 4' across and about 3' high.

Along with the Hakonechloa, I'm planting maidenhair ferns and candelabra primroses.  All are pest and maintenance free, other than cutting them down in the spring before they start to regrow. The primroses will provide a burst of red and then everything will revert to green again. Podphyllum 'Spotty Dotty', a Rodgersia and a red-flowered Trillium are planted around the apple tree to add some contrast to the ferns and forest grass that will eventually surround them. 

I'm hoping I can steal enough Hakonechloa and Maidenhair ferns from elsewhere in the garden to get this area off to a good start during this cooler weather we're currently having. Then I have to get back to the Sacred Grove where I've been re-doing a chunk of that area as well.