Must. make. post….
For a brief moment in time I had fallen under the impression that my autumn-hating self had made a turn for the better, and that the new me could embrace falling temperatures and a dialing back of the gardening year, but the last few weeks have proven that impression to be false. I’m apathetic and bored with the garden, bored with the to-do list, and bored with the plants. Even the onset of the Holiday season hasn’t snapped me out of it, although the annual visit to Longwood Gardens did at least motivate me to pull out the Christmas decorations and get a little into the mood here.
A ‘retro’ themed Longwood Gardens was as festive as ever with holiday song, lights, and decorations galore.
As usual it was a fun trip, and we had a groundbreaking addition this year as the boy wanted to take his girlfriend along for the visit. She was a delight of course, but who are these people I live with these days… people who have jobs and drive and have girlfriends? I wonder where my worm collecting and sandbox playing garden helpers have disappeared to.
Christmas decorations in the Music Room. The girl liked all the retro colors and style and I can see all the old becoming new again just as it often does.
Back at home I did at least manage to finish up the bulk of the garden cleanup and bring in the last of the tender things, just in time for our four cold days which actually managed to put a little frost into the soil and a skim of ice on the mountain lakes. Immediately the conversation turned to the impending winter and all the joys of snow and cold. Rumor around here is we are to expect a “bad” winter with a bunch of cold and snow all courtesy of an El Niño weather pattern, which to me sounds exciting but I wonder if it really stands a chance. Perhaps we do have the conditions for a nice Nor’easter pulling in all kinds of snowy moisture from the coast but I’m not sure I can completely put my trust in what “everyone” is saying. From what I gather 2023 is on track to be the warmest year ever recorded and I’m just not ready to put warmest year and bad winter together as a forecast… so as always we will wait and see what the actual local weather does.
Ready for winter with just a few still-too-nice to be cut down perennials and a few growing evergreens. The ‘Gold Cone’ juniper to the left is getting a bit sloppy as it approaches maturity and I’m debating taking an axe to it. The kids wanted it for Christmas though, so once the lights are off…
We will also have to wait and see what the gardener here does. I’m ready to leave this season of brown behind and move on to white. It can be snow or snowdrops, both will make me equally happy although I don’t know if my knee is ready for a season on the slopes yet… although kneeling is a critical part of snowdrop season as well…
I begged and borrowed my way to enough leaves to blanket the potager beds with a cover of mulch. Tulips have been planted in several and with or without snow it should be a nice April show.
I just checked the 10 day forecast. Only four days below freezing and an inch of rain next Sunday. Those lows are well onto the warm side of average in a month when we should be below freezing each night, and those lows are not exactly the weather we will need for a white Christmas.
Many plants will enjoy another mild winter. Lycoris houdyshellii on the left and L. radiata on the right will suffer foliage damage if it gets too cold for too long. Based on a twenty year average they shouldn’t survive here, but on a five year? …so far so good.
I apologize for a somewhat gloomy post on a gloomy late autumn day, but if you need a flashback to cheerier times give Cathy a visit at Words and Herbs for her week of flowers. It’s what I should be looking at rather than whining about weather and moping about the season. Perhaps I’ll visit now. Enjoy 🙂
sorta like suburbia 
This gardener/blogger isn’t even inspired to write anything, so you’re ahead of me there! Cathy’s Week of Flowers is cheery! I may do something like that in mid-January, or February, or March . . . (no snowdrops to look forward to here, thanks to no one but myself!). The pics from Longwood are nice. I need to see more! Happy December!
Heh heh, it’s a struggle but someday perhaps I’ll look back and be able to roll my eyes at how ‘hard’ I thought I had it.
You need to get your own trip scheduled, I know you want to! There were photo ops galore but I did a lot of wandering and just looking.
Longwood Gardens looks gorgeous per usual. If it wasn’t so far away, I’d go in a flash.
Maybe you need a Vit.D supplement? I doubled mine to 4000 i.u. and I feel like it’s sunny June! (87% are reportedly D deficient.)
Yeah, kids grow up so fast. Once they get their license, they are pretty much gone and you’re facing an empty nest. 20 years of dedication to the job and you’re handed a pink slip, with scarcely a ‘thanks for your years of service.’ That may come later when they become parents. 😉
Funny you should mention vitamins since I just decided I needed to start again on a daily and took the first one today. 1000 i.u. of D3 (just looked) so we will see how that goes!
We are pretty sure the boy likes his new family better than he does us, so we’re also unlikely to get a whole lot of recognition. I don’t think reminding him of the dirty diapers is helping either, but I’m sure when the college bills start rolling in he’ll think of us.
Info on D…makes sense. https://youtu.be/oz7u92mifPI?si=ierdhwL72m9owzB2
Haha, precisely why I started my week of flowers again, to blow away those November blues and start December with some colour. Thanks for the shout out! 😉 Maybe you should join me. 😜 Sifting through the photos of last summer is such a pleasant way to spend these dark evenings! The displays at Longwood always look amazing. I wonder why our garden centres don’t make an effort and put on a show in the winter months as they don’t sell many plants at this time of year. But Germany is not a gardening nation! Hope you get some more seasonal weather soon, but not too much of it. Just enough to get you in the mood for Christmas. And look after that knee. 😃
We did get a nice touch of winter Monday morning. Just enough to put some white on the ground yet not enough for any real trouble! I do like seeing the snow now much more than in March, but it will be gone quickly since our “winter” goes into retreat again tomorrow and it’s above freezing for as far as I can see.
Thanks again for the week of flowers! I did enjoy the color and memories of warmer days, but each time I sat down to try a post all I did was scroll through pictures -which was also a nice distraction, so again it worked 🙂
Funny you should say Germany is not a gardening nation. Compared to yards in the US I was amazed by what people could make of their spaces in Germany, but I did think the larger gardens tended more towards wilder plantings… I think if you want a not-gardening nation you could look at most of the US lol
The garden team here is divided in its approach to winter, darker days, cold and wet. The headgardener has a strong dislike/hatred for these miserable conditions and abandons the garden which, of course, means I have a seasonal promotion for in her absence I am presently the head gardener and I enjoy being outside, pottering around, cleaning up, raking leaves – as long as I can keep my fingers warm. I have found in these last few years that my hands become very very cold and painful and that a good pair of gloves is essential for me to garden. After all of that – the headgardener has decided we will go for a walk for the afternoon and it is a beautifully bright, sunny day even if it is cold. -2C all day today.
Congratulations on the promotion! -however temporary it may be 🙂 and I do agree completely with the need for gloves in the cold. Actually, I’m one to wear gloves for nearly everything, and even then I still end up with dirt under the nails and muddy fingertips. To be honest every time I see Monty ripping rootballs apart and plunging a hand into the dirt barehanded it makes me cringe. Perhaps I’m too clumsy with pruners to risk exposed skin, but I do like having a semi-clean hand to wipe the bugs out of my face and keep the splinters and thorns at bay.
I hope you have plenty of walking weather this winter. You’ve had more than your share of damp this autumn.
I have managed to finish the autumn clean-up, cutting down of the last of the old herbaceous material and I even managed to cut and edge the grass so everywhere is reasonably tidy looking. Nowadays my gardening consists of walking about to keep an eye on emerging snowdrops and those things in the protection of the glasshouse. I’m off for a walk now!
Thanks Paddy, I suddenly feel in good company with my winter plans. ‘walking around to keep an eye on emerging snowdrops’ sounds both productive and purposeful and may be a task I can manage for the next few months!
Winter is the very best season for the gardener – we can enjoy the snowdrops at a time we can’t do any work! It’s all benefit.
The weather here is too weird to think about. Supposedly going to hit low 50°s by Friday after lots of frosts, lows under 20°, a little rain, a little snow. My early Alliums are all up a foot. The good thing is that I’ve decided if plants die it’s no longer my fault. I love that Juniper and your garden looks way cleaner than mine. I was counting on snow to protect the plants and hide any messes. I need to go look at the week of flowers instead of out my window. How nice to have Longwood close enough for diversionary visits.
Uh oh. A voice of reason advocating to spare the juniper? I did manage a rooted cutting, so all will not be lost, but thinking back it’s already been in that spot for at least 12 years so no rush in removing it.
I completely agree that most plants will have to take care of themselves this winter. A few rabbit cages, some evergreen boughs over borderline crinum lilies… and everything else is on its own…. except for the snowdrops of course! The most daring snowdrops will get some kind of cover when it gets really serious 😉
Our November was warmer than usual and dry. I only had 1 inch of rain in a month that usually has upwards of 3 inches. According to the weather people we are 10″ behind in rain this year. Hopefully December will catch us up. The moderate drought that we are in feels more than moderate to me. I am sure the garden thinks the same. We are predicted to have a warmer than usual winter. Of course that doesn’t mean no cold days or snow. We don’t get much snow anymore. I am happy with winter being here. I am ready for a rest. Plus our kitchen is being remodeled. Which includes I won’t have to cook over the holiday. Sitting here being thankful that what is being done is able to be done.
Due to the remodel we are also putting flooring through the living area. We are camped out in the Sunnery. (our sun room) Not complaining as yet. Just happy to get my new flooring and kitchen.
I hope you are feeling better now that the holidays are under way and all your plants are safe as can be.
Cheers
Oh! A home remodel is always super fun lol, I remember fondly dinners by the microwave, kids sitting on construction material and a big box for a table. I hope yours goes fast and works out perfectly, with little to no stress 😉
-and I hope you get some rain. I always say too much rain is inconvenient, but always better than too little.
My mood shifted to amazing all because of one warm and sunny day, and is doing well since, due to the bright yet cold days which followed. I also don’t mind the break which the cold brings, I just don’t like endless gloom.