The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Posted on by Posted in Winter interest .

I hate the winter. And that hatred continues to grow exponentially each year.

In fact, I started my “what do I hate more than winter” list and the list isn’t nearly as long as it has been in the past. Here are the only items that currently rank higher:

  1. People who stop in the middle of an aisle at a store and are oblivious to others around them
  2. The New York Yankees
  3. Shredded coconut
  4. The term “due diligence”
  5. Kate Gosselin
  6. Impatiens

That’s it. Winter ranks that low. But, I do understand and buy into the need for winter interest in the garden. It is one of the few things that gets me through the hellish months of January and February. I think I’ve improved in that design element the past few years but still have a ways to go.

In between my nose hairs freezing and forming an impenetrable blockage into my nose and the icicles forming on my eyelashes, I managed to snap off some photos the past few days that personify “winter interest”. Some may be a stretch and others may require a close-up view, but if they keep me interested, that’s all that matters. On to the photos:
             

The plumes on the Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’ continue to be a crowd pleaser. 

I’m glad I kept the spent blooms on the Astilbe. 

Purple Coneflower seed heads still stand tall

Frost tipped seedheads of Sedum

Eupatorium ‘Chocolate’ – I may regret if these reseed like mad, we’ll see.

Hypericum ‘Albury Purple’ with the foliage still hanging in there.

The crabapple fruit starting to shrivel up, but still digging these big time.

Not “interesting”, but a reminder of better days.

Yucca ‘Golden Sword’ pops like a son of a bitch amongst all the brown and death.

Rudbeckia seed heads, will hopefully continue to draw the hungry birds 

Maybe dull during the spring and summer, but the evergreens are on center stage now.

Arborvitae ‘Rheingold’ – don’t know if I love it or hate it, either way, the foliage color changes draw me in. 

I like to think I provide a refuge for the deer from all the local hunters. We are working on a compromise on what they are allowed to eat and hope to have a contract signed soon.

Have a great weekend.
ONG

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8 Responses

  1. OK, free advice time – note the plants that grab you and help you feel more jazzed in bleak winter days up there. Then, use more of those plants like the yucca in mass, relocate others less interesting to behind them.

    And don’t let Kate G. onto your property…Sarah Palin might help you with shooting lessons for more than the venison, er, I mean deer.

  4. You’re my brotha from anotha mutha. People stopping in the middle of aisles and shredded coconut. HATE.

    It’s friggin raining here today. I’ll never ever get used to rain in December. Yuck x 1000.

  6. I hate the split second beep at the traffic light change.

    And if I lived in a cold part of the world I’d probably hate winter too.

  8. I’ve always left seed heads standing through the winter in my garden. I tell myself it is for sculptural interest and seeds for the birds, but deep down I suspect its because I don’t get around to tidying the garden.

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