Sorry, couldn’t resist posting more photos of the snow and ice.
Category Archives: Winter interest
First it was an ice storm, and then yesterday it was snow.
The kids were home from school and a little bit too giddy for my liking. Hell, if you look closely in the pic below, you’ll see they are actually enjoying each other’s company:
And check out the funny girl chucking a snow ball at me (How perfect is that snowball by the way? Look at the top middle of the photo):
As much as I have grown to despise the cold, there is no denying the beauty of the winter garden. A time for quiet reflection, a look at the bones of the landscape, the enjoyment of plants dying with dignity and with purpose and a chance to regain our breath.
For shits and giggles, check out the “afters” and “befores” below. Beauty in all of the seasons:
Guess who made an appearance today?
Old lady winter revealed herself overnight and with authority. While the snowfall was insignificant, it did make for a nice, albeit short, display:
But it wasn’t really about the snow at all. It was all about the frigid temps and the severe winds.
I raced to bring the rosemary and a small plug of mint into the garage so they could be saved from the harsh conditions, knowing they would ultimately end up indoors for the winter. By the time I was done with that task, I couldn’t feel my hands and had a sweet snot moustache. Good times.
Once what little snow we had melted, the winds took hold and have yet to stop. As bad as the winds are, I find myself entertained by the dancing ornamental grasses:
When we say grasses provide movement in the garden, this is the extreme.
In fact, check this out if you like watching grasses dance:
Think the grasses are scared? Hell to the “no”. They’ll bounce back.
One last thing. And let’s step back into fall for a minute.
We spent this past weekend in Connecticut with family (with hospitality like no other from J&N) and had a chance to visit my wife’s cousin at Quinnipiac University. There is absolutely nothing like a New England autumn and nothing like a New England college in autumn.
Here are a few pics I snapped along the way.
While I may have put the family in danger by taking this photo on a narrow side road near the school, with cars flying by in all directions, it was definitely worth it: 
The tree colors on campus were off the charts:
Consider me a new fan of all Quinnipiac sports based solely on their use of grasses:
The views from all over the campus are extraordinary:
And coming from someone who has so few mature trees on their property, I have severe leaf envy:
Oh the compostable possibilities.
We are expected to get back into the 60’s next week so I’m sure I’ll be all autumn-loving again real soon.
John
I’ve noticed an interesting pattern with my blog posts of late. One day it’s “Winter isn’t so bad, look at all the interesting textures and the plant interplay with snow and ice.” The next day it’s “This sucks, let’s look backward or forward and reminisce about actual living blooms or healthy foliage.” A bit schizophrenic if you will.
And that just about sums it up for me. While I’ve come to appreciate the winter garden more and more and its beautiful subtlety, I still long for the days when I couldn’t keep up with the pruning or deadheading or even the weeding. 
Today was one of those “Winter ain’t so bad” days as I wandered the yard for the first time in two weeks. We have had brutally cold temps for days now but that wasn’t going to stop me in my quest for the beloved “winter interest”. Frost bite and runny nose be damned; we are getting some pics up in here.
There is no better example of winter awesomeness than the peeling bark on trees. Throw in some late afternoon sun and you’ve got yourself a cornucopia of interest: 
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| River Birch |
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| Multi-trunked River Birch |
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| ‘Winter King’ Hawthorn |
Without any leaves or flowers in sight, it is an awesome opportunity to get up close and personal with the tree limbs and enjoy their subtle colors and textures:
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| ‘Winter King’ Hawthorn |
Next, we move on to the deciduous shrubs. Many offer great branch color that contrasts so well with all of the surrounding “brown-ness”:
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| ‘Henry’s Garnet’ Itea |
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| Dappled willow |
Or even their own version of peeling bark hidden deep inside all of that shrubbery:
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| Ninebark |
Of course, I couldn’t compose a winter post without some reference to an ornamental grass, and for today, I was digging the spent “blooms” on a patch of ‘Karl Foerster’ grass:
I even find interest in the spent siberian irises, with their dead foliage lit up by not only the winter sun, but also the snow at their feet:
The spent seedheads of the bee balms …
A reminder of what was and what will be:
Same goes with the obedient plants …
And their once crisp white blooms:
The aforementioned siberian iris and their seedpods add a certain look to the landscape …
Although they cannot compare to their “spring look”:
And finally, a lonely bud bides its time until … 
It puts on a show for both the eyes, and more impressively, the nose:
Be on the lookout for the next post which will go back to winter denial/hatred.
John
Did I just say on Friday that I was dreaming of Spring?
That was dumb …
Back to the couch so I can finalize my spring catalog orders. More on that tomorrow …
John
When you dig gardening (pun intended) and you live in a colder climate (zone 6 here), you need plants that “die well”. It is a long stretch from November to March and the search for winter interest is always top of mind.
To me, winter interest is all about subtlety and as is the case when gardening during any season, looking natural is the key. And I’m the first to admit that I have a long ways to go in mastering this practice. But that is the beauty with gardening – we will learn until the day we die.
For today, I thought I would share some of my “good dying plants” and “not so good dying plants” with you. Shall we?:
One of the “winter interest” staples is the classic coneflower (Echinacea). Here it is in it’s decaying glory:
Not bad eh? I should also add I love NOT cutting down the coneflower blooms in order to feed the birds (as seen in the photo of the finch above) and I enjoy the reseeding in all of my garden beds. Coneflowers for years to come.
We also have the mother of all winter interest, the ornamental grass:
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| Miscanthus (Maiden Grass) |
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| Panicum (Switch Grass) |
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| Carex (Sedge) |
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| Chasmanthium Latifolium (Northern Sea Oats) |
Also love spent Hydrangea blooms:
The color left behind by Penstemon ‘Husker’s Red’:
The native Mountain Mint:
And even the ubiquitous Sedum:
And finally my friends, love me some spent Astilbe blooms:
Nothing that necessarily jumps out and grabs you, but they all add a nice cold weather/wintry vibe. Memories of what was and what soon will be. Sweet.
But I can’t leave it all positive. Not everything looks good dead. Some ugly examples:
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| Lobelia |
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| Peony |
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| Siberian iris |
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| Hibiscus |
Let me know some of your favorite winter interest plants. Lord knows I still need some guidance.
John