South Eastern Connecticut Landscaping

The sky is blue and the air is cold over Clay and Limestone, but, soon the earliest blossoms will be greeting the day.

Don’t look for the ‘Feed me Seymour’ blossoms of hellebores.

Or, the much lauded and dreamed of Tommies on a Hillside.

It won’t be the the sweet ephemerals that frequent this garden.

Nor, the frost tolerant earliest daffodils or,

the smallest of the small bulbs.

That honor will go to Hamamelis vernalis. Our winter blooming native witchhazel; whose buds are fattening up for the big show. (In past years the blooming started this week)

I planted them for my mother the spring she passed away. (here)

For remembrance
For honoring
and because planting a witchhazel was
a funny nod to our complicated and loving relationship.

Hamamelis vernalis blossoms in the winter
When we have just about given up hope
that spring will ever arrive.

On warm days
the crepe paper streamer petals unfurl and
its sweet scent drifts about.

On, the other hand, Diane (Hamemlis x Intermedia) may surprise us and bloom before our sweet native!

I promise to keep you informed as events unfold in the garden! But, I’m rooting for Vernal Witchhazel to open first!

xxoogail

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I’m sure you can understand why the January garden doesn’t get much picture time here. It’s not because it doesn’t look great – even though it doesn’t – it’s because it’s pretty darn cold! This winter has been one of the coldest we’ve had in a long time here in Tennessee and I like it much warmer. I remarked this morning to my wife that it feels like we’ve already been through the winter and now it’s time for spring to start. Unfortunately it ain’t so as winter has only just begun! One thing is for sure – if a seed needs cold stratification this winter it’s going to have good germination when spring comes!

Yesterday I took a walk around the winter garden and took a few pictures.The self-sowing garden is a mass of dead foliage, seed stalks, and left overs from the 2010 garden. I’ll cut things back on a nice warm day in a few weeks – assuming we have one!

Just beyond the self sowing garden is the corner shade garden. Not much to see at the moment but we can stop and check anyway. Please enjoy the modern garden art in the back – I call it “gas meter.” I think it goes really well with its companion pieces “electric meter” and “water meter” but maybe that’s just me.

An ajuga I found this spring and transplanted here is showing its winter foliage. I’m not sure where it came from but I like it! It’s summer color is awesome even though it looks a little like frost bit lettuce right now.

Nearby a ‘Southern Comfort’ Heuchera looks rather uncomfortable in this cold winter weather. Perhaps it’s in need of some Southern Comfort itself…hmm.

The focal point of the corner shade garden is the oak leaf hydrangea which is lucky to have a couple leaves remaining!

Also in the corner shade garden you will find hellebores with a flush of green leaves.

Around in the backyard the birdbath garden looks devoid of life. It’s nearly all deciduous with the only real foliage remaining on the ‘Powis Castle’ artemisia and some leaves on the butterfly bush.

The birdbath looks quite strange…

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Posted by mgervais

Surreal? The alchemy of frost and snow turns ordinary plants into something altogether mesmerizing. Today’s photo is another photo from Mike Lane in Victoria, B.C. He said, “There’s beauty to be found in the garden, even in winter. This cabbage looked so beautiful after a frost that I…

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Posted by mgervais

In a frozen landscape, color is a rare treat. Even shriveled with cold, this forgotten fruit lifts the spirits. Today’s photo was another winner from last year’s winter garden photography contest, and it’s from Mike Lane in Victoria, B.C. He said, “I’m a retired forester who has always been passionate about the outdoors, so my love of gardening flows from that. My garden here in Victoria, BC is in Zone 8 and averages 287 frost free days a year. Growing English roses has been my specialty for some years, however my love of photography has caused me to begin making changes in the garden. Now I’m planting more varieties that photograph…

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Today school was out, the roads were iced over, and the garden was draped in white. I always enjoy the one or two times each winter when our landscape is covered in snow. That’s the great thing about living in Tennessee – or one of the great things – the mild winters! It will snow a couple times each year with usually no more than 1-4 inches. When it does snow 12-24 inches it doesn’t last long and you’re left wondering “did that really happen?” And around here we measure the snow in inches – not in feet! It’s this type of situation that allows us to enjoy Old Man Winter when he comes to visit.

So here’s what winter really looks like in Tennessee (although technically it isn’t winter yet!)

We wake up to temperatures beyond cold, way beyond cold. My wireless weather station does a nice job of letting me know how cold our frost pocket really is. It’s amazing how different our yard can be than what they say it is in our area on the news. These weather stations have really advanced a lot since we got ours (La Crosse Technology WS-1516-IT Professional Weather Center @ Amazon).

When you actually get all dressed up in your winter weather gear here’s what you see in the garden:

A red twig dogwood looks fantastic in the snow. In the early spring or late winter I’ll trim back most of the stems and allow new growth to sprout up with its characteristic red bark color. Of course I’ll make sure to propagate more than a few red twig dogwoods!

The vegetable garden is also covered with a layer of white snow. It looks so peaceful and organized right now!

Even though the temperatures inside my shed are staying 10-15 degrees warmer than the outside it is still dipping into the 20′s. I don’t have any heating system in there yet – one day maybe. For now it is protecting hardy plants that are in pots for next spring. 

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Tuesday find ourselves cold again – waking up to temperatures in the mid teens in our little frost pocket. Fortunately the garden shed stayed about 10 degrees warmer without any extra heat. I hope to eventually add something for heating purposes but for now the shed is overwintering many of the plants I made from cuttings. Yesterday’s look back post ended with photos from June today we’ll finish with a few photos from the other warm months!

July 2010 – July brought us a new addition to the family with the birth of my son. On the day he was born I was out with my two daughters in the garden on a warm and windy day. They picked flowers and played in the summer sun knowing that they would both be big sisters soon!

July 1, 2010

July also brought many flowers to the garden like this combination of Russian sage, rudbeckia, and Shasta daisy. The daisies are very easy to root from stem cuttings or through division.

August 2010 – The months beyond July found us extremely dry. Very little rain fell in August which meant that only the toughest plants did much – but there’s always something to see in the garden! The crape myrtles were covered in blooms near the arbor and one of the most delicious tomatoes was harvested from the vegetable garden: the Woodle Orange!

September 2010 – September brought many of the fall blooming flowers into the game. The caryopteris row was making progress and the Sweet Autumn clematis looked like mounds of snow in September.

October 2010 – October is probably the last of the reliable warm months here in Tennessee. The temperatures are cooler and nearly perfect for garden activities. November – not so much (although we did have several good days this yea in November). Mums and salvias were blooming all over and the fall colors were changing.

The Sheffield Pink mums were a new addition in the spring and proved to be an awesome addition to the garden.

October also found me cleaning up the vegetable garden (here’s the vegetable garden layout) from the summer crops. There’s still more to do but I’m not in a big rush to finish – not when it’s 25 degrees outside!

Thanks for joining me on this look back at the warmer months. The good news is that winter doesn’t last forever! Now it’s time to start thinking about seeds!

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The watchword these days seems to be green everything. The cars are greener; the grass is greener, but only on the other side; and heating systems are greener. What? You haven’t heard of a green heating system? You thought you were stuck with the standard gas or electric options?

If you are thinking about building or remodeling your home, then try a geothermal heating system to keep the costs and your carbon footprint down.

A home-sized geothermal heating system will cost you about twice the regular amount of the gas and electric alternative, but will more than make up for the cost over time. It is a bit construction intensive, though. It starts with a system of pipes that are placed underground below the frost line, where the temperature is constant.

The pipes are connected to a fan in the home that sucks in the air and circulates it through the pipes and then blows back into the home. The key is the temperature in the underground piping. Let’s say the temperature outside is -10 degrees. The air gets sucked into and runs through the underground pipes, where the ambient temperature in the ground warms it to the temperature of the ground about 60 to 65 degrees.

The reverse is true in the summer. If it is 100 degrees out, then the pipes will cool the air to the ambient temperature in the ground. The constantly cool air is circulated though the home. The only cost is the electricity of the fan.

You should always have a smaller backup heating and cooling unit for those days when it is too hot or cold and it needs that extra boost. Geothermal heating systems are becoming popular in new-home construction because they have a much smaller carbon footprint than electric and natural gas furnaces, and are actually healthier in the long run.

The air that circulates is not flash heated in a furnace, so the moisture is not taken out. As someone who suffers from sinus infections easily, I wake up most days during the winter with a sore throat and a congested nose. That wouldn’t happen with a geothermal unit.

You can boost your efficiency by having large windows to capture the sunlight and concrete floors to absorb the heat and cold. Everyone wants to be green, and geothermal is about as green as you can get without living in the wild.

Image Source: flickr.com/photos/thinkgeoenergy/4553405115

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This morning we awoke to what is our first hard freeze of the season. Here are a few photos of the frost for your chilly enjoyment!

Frost on Grass

Frost near the garden shed.

Frost on the ‘Shasta’ Viburnum.

While you can’t see the frost on the Sweet Autumn Clematis I thought the seed heads were worth a look!

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Putting the Garden to Bed Terry L. Yockey
		This is the time of the year when we begin thinking about putting our gardens to bed for the winter. It  is especially important here in our harsh northern climate. LeafMaster Blower/Mulcher Gardeners Supply Start preparing your plants to overwinter in midsummer using only “winterizer” fertilizer. These fertilizers are high in potassium and low in nitrogen. Late applications of nitrogen heavy fertilizers will stimulate new, soft growth which doesn’t have a chance to mature before frost. For the same reason, avoid severe pruning late in the summer. The exceptions are a few late blooming shrubs such as hydrangeas and clethras. Just before a freeze, water all shrubs and plants heavily to ensure that soil around the roots is moist going into winter. This is especially helpful with evergreens, as they transpire moisture all winter. Wrap the trunks of smooth barked trees to prevent frost cracking. Construct wind breaks or sun screens around plants predisposed to winter damage. Rhododendrons and other broad-leaf evergreens are particularly susceptible. Drive four wood stakes around the plant, wrap with burlap and staple at each corner. For large shrubs a two-sided, V-shaped windbreak may work. Point the V in the direction of winter winds. Evergreens such as arborvitae may be split by wet snow or ice. A good preventative is wrapping the plant with burlap. Garden netting, used to protect crops from birds, also works well. In the flower and vegetable gardens, cut off old flower stalks, and discard any diseased plants. Diseased vegetation should always be removed so eggs won’t hatch early and infect your plants next year. After clean up, let your garden air dry for at least a week. Mark the location of any young plants that have self-seeded over the summer. You can then transplant them when spring arrives. It is a good idea at this time to draw a rough sketch showing where all your plants are growing. This is invaluable when you are going through all those seed and plant catalogs in the dead of winter. After the airing, spread an inch of compost over the garden followed by a loose mulch. I’ve used leaves in the past, but a better mulch is straw or hay. Leaves tend to mat down and smother the plants when the spring thaw comes. Mulch is not meant to keep the soil warm, but to keep the temperatures around your plants even. This keeps the plants from heaving during an early thaw followed by freezing. It also keeps the plants from starting growth too early in the spring. Lay mulch around shallow-rooted plants after the ground freezes. Avoid piling it against trunks or crowns which can cause rot. If mice are a problem where you live, a thick mulch may not be a good idea. Mice are very fond of straw and hay winter homes. It may seem like a lot of chores, but I love this time of year and I even like fall cleanup. It gives me a great excuse to be outside enjoying the last weeks of nice weather before our long, gray winter sets in. Fall Clean-up Tips Video How to cut back your fall garden before winter from author Tracy Disabato-Aust

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