New Woodland Entrance

Gardens change just as the seasons come and go. Ever since there was a woodland garden in the little valley on the other side of the drive leading to our house, its entrance trail was marked by several ancient dogwood trees.Colorful fall foliage of dogwood trees marks the entrance to the woodland garden in this fall, 2009 photo.

Some of the same trees are on the lower right in this March 2011 photo of the woodland garden.I have known for several years that the ones leading directly into the main part of the woodland garden were slowly dying of old age and accumulated years of stress, but I still hated when Lou sawed the last one down this winter. Though I am comforted by the three small ones that have sprouted nearby, it will be years before they grow as tall as their parents.

So what is to take their place? Can anything take their place? I ruled out another tree because I want to give the preexisting baby dogwoods room to grow, but I needed some vertical accent here. 

Here is my solution:

After Lou installed this new birdhouse for me, I thought the post was not substantial enough for the space, so I moved the stone rabbit from the other side of the path. The winter woodlands look so bare, but I know that soon the new birdhouse will be surrounded by foliage and flowers. I am eager to dress up the post, but, because it is pressure treated, I have to wait several weeks before painting or staining it. Patience! I am also thinking about putting a decorative bracket on the post with some sort of garden sign hanging from it.

The woodland entrance looks different now, but I am happy with it. At the front of the entrance trail, there still remain three of the oldest dogwoods, their curving trunks joined at the base. They are seen in the lower left photo above. They look healthy for now, but I know they too are probably beyond their life expectancy. I can't imagine how I could replace them, but that is a problem for another day.

Meanwhile, since I was in the redecorating mood, I also moved several pots to make a grouping across from the entrance. These are frost proof pots, which stay out all winter. I probably will put plants in a couple of them when spring arrives, but I like their empty appearance:

Before I close, how about some February flowers? Above left: Camellia 'Taylor's Perfection' is growing in the woodland garden. It is young but already appears to be a heavy bloomer. Above right: In a January post I showed Daphne odora 'Marginata' when it was covered with buds. Look at the blooms now! Winter daphne needs excellent drainage. I can guarantee its requirements only in the controlled environment of a pot. Usually it sits in the garden at the top of the hydrangea walk. However, because of the amount of rain we have through the winter, I have moved it temporarily to the patio, where it sits under the shelter of the eves next to the glass doors to the kitchen. A bonus is that we get to watch the blooms as we eat breakfast each day.

Have a great week!   Deborah

Here Comes the Sun!

One can read only so many garden magazines. The catalogues with their perfect plants are page worn. All the old garden books are memorized. The internet! But one's eyes eventually glaze over, and there is deep longing for fresh air. What's a pent-up gardener to do? Order a new birdhouse. Order a new tree. And pace, pace, watching the weather, hoping for a day of sunshine.

I would definitely be in trouble if I lived in the far reaches of the North, where there are months of winter gloom. I have had to deal with a few weeks, and finally the sun has returned. On Saturday I stumbled out of the house and gulped the warm rays. The temperature went up into the fifties. Spring! Not really, only a tease, but I didn't care.
The front garden, with the sun shining!

I planted this little coral bark tree last fall. I am impressed with its winter color and look forward to the impact it will make when it grows larger.

The dried stems behind the tree trunk is the ground cover indigofera, in the woodland garden. It has fern-like leaves and pink flowers in the spring.
More views around the woodland garden.

I grabbed my unfortunate son who came for a visit and headed for the garden. We planted the new tree, a variegated weeping redbud, Cercis canadensis 'Whitewater'. I have high hopes for it. Because our ground doesn't freeze, winter is a great time for planting new trees, allowing roots to take hold before the stress of summer heat arrives.It's hard to imagine that this old oak tree behind our house was once as small as my newly planted redbud! It has lived through many years of stressful weather. In 1990, its top was ripped away by a tornado, but it continues to survive.

We also transplanted a dozen ferns. My neighbor Betty had told me there were ferns in the valley behind our house, but although this property belongs to us, the hill is steep and the area wild so I rarely go down there. But on Saturday I was in the mood to plant. I wanted to add to the fern glade in the woodland garden, so I dragged my son down into the wilderness and we began digging. Most of the ferns are beautiful evergreen, holly type woodland ferns. My muscular son got to haul them up the steep hill and then dig holes for me in their new location. There are plenty more left in the valley, and I am looking forward to another pleasant day, hopefully when my son will be visiting, so I can continue to enlarge the fern glade. 

Meanwhile, Lou and I have pruned the apple trees and the crepe myrtles, properly — we commit no crepe murder! (This link takes you to a great article published by Southern Living magazine about pruning crepe myrtles.) I also have potted up some pansies. 

The sun is peeking in and out today. Lou is going to install my new birdhouse. We are rushing to take advantage of the nice weather, as rain will be returning tomorrow, or sooner, as already I see storm clouds on the horizon. Soon we will spray the apple trees and many of our shrubs with an ecologically friendly dormant oil. This will reduce insect damage later in the season and also helps to fight some types of fungus. Our season warms up so quickly that this must be done now, before growth starts.

It may be a few days before I can get out to enjoy my garden again. Here are some more images from here and there, photographed while I was taking in the sunshine:

I hope you are enjoying the week!   Deborah