Snow, stone, sky, shrub

Winter. It's back.

Looking to be lucky

The other day, I went to the local nursery to pick up a few stalks of "Lucky Bamboo" Dracaena sanderiana. Yes, it's only January, and that's how strung-out I was for the sight of some greenery.



Stuck in a water-filled bowl of pebbles, these shoots would almost have you believing that they actually bamboo . . . or at least a real plant. As long as I change their distilled water weekly and keep them out of direct sunlight, they carry on their charade admirably.

On the way out of the nursery clutching my bag of lucky bamboo shoots, I noticed that the ground was covered with leftover Christmas tree branches. Since we were on the road during the holiday season, there's no tree this year to harvest for winter mulch. I'm not adverse to clipping away at our neighbors' discarded trees on trash day, but this opportunity was so much more dignified. I filled the car trunk with pine boughs and happily drove home.

I like to wait until after Christmas to lay down mulch. The ground has to be frozen in order for the mulch to create a micro-climate that protects against the freeze-thaw cycle. And voles and mice will set up housekeeping in a cosy pile of mulch if the season's warm--without so much as a thank-you for the home delivery of tasty roots and stems. Unfortunately, during the few days between bringing home the branches and tucking them around, we've had our January thaw. The temperature has risen to the 50s, the snow is melting, and the air is balmy. Winter weather is forecast to return in a day or two.



So maybe I really will need some luck in order for this mulch to do its job. Good that I went for that bamboo after all.

Rain garden under the snow

My daughter, catching a glimpse of last spring's rain garden design,



and knowing that under its current snow blanket the area actually looks like this,



remarked in that sweet and spicy tone most sharply inflicted by a teenage girl, "How's that working out for you?" Yes, how indeed?

Well, as this plot had a French drain incised through its middle in early fall, the rain garden installation stalled. Back-hoes and bob-cats meant that the few plants previously put in needed to be moved or, if left in situ, they disappeared during construction. The big mystery after this hydrological project, of course, is how will the drainage be affected this spring? Will there still be standing water for the clumps of Iris versicolor? What about adding other moisture-loving plants, like Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum) "Gateway" and ornamental grasses, such as Northern sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium)? They could bring some movement, verticality, and complementary colors to this sorry corner of the garden.

So, here's a preliminary revision of my previous poorly implemented design.



I say "preliminary revision" because, looking out the back window, the area seems much larger than a few colored circles on paper would indicate. Anticipate fine-tuning. After my brief exposure to Japanese irises this past summer, I plan to enjoy the buzz from this winter's flurry of glossy catalogs--a diversion that I am postponing next year, when horticultural delirium tremens will send me jonesing for a shot of foliage and flowers. Oh, next year begins tomorrow. How convenient.

Deep snow, deep mid-winter

We are celebrating a white winter solstice this year.

Viva, Mount Vernon, 1916

When recently sorting through some old photographs, I came upon this print of my grandmother in 1916. Anyone who has visited the gardens at Mount Vernon will immediately recognize the undulating picket fence and the sweeping grass path of the Upper Garden. "Straight is the line of duty, curved is the line of beauty," as the subject of this photograph would herself say.

Among the dense plantings, hollyhocks, iris, and peonies can be discerned. Another photograph shows oriental lilies in bloom.

This photograph so evokes the delights of this particular garden on a hot sunny summer day. And my grandmother, whose personal credo was "We'd have an easy life if it wasn't for our pleasures," seems to be taking her enjoyment seriously!