I’m a day late minimum with just about everything lately and this post is no exception, but I wanted to squeak in one more Garden Bloggers Foliage Day post with Christina for the 2014 season, since who knows if we’ll have anything other than snow next month… so here goes!
Even after a few days of shockingly cold days and nights the grass is still green and juniper ‘old gold’ still fresh.
With the autumn leaves gone, foliage is down to the evergreen plantings. Evergreens are more expensive than perennials and don’t grow well from seed… hence do not match up well with my frugal gardening 🙂 I’ve been doing my best though, and some such as juniper “Old Gold” are finally showing off -finally- after five years in the ground from a $4 rooted cutting!
A more recent addition are three new rhododendrons which look absolutely overgrown and lush considering the $12 I spent on the bunch. This purchase went absolutely unnoticed when I mixed it in with a cartload of mortar and tile from the Depot. You could almost say they were free with purchase, right?
Look at the buds on this $4 rhododendron! The plant and price make me understand how hard a nurseryman’s business must be, I’m sure he made no money off this purchase…..
Small patches of winter color are beginning to show up in the backyard too. This is the first year my boxwood cuttings are big enough to look even remotely like a hedge, and when the grass goes completely brown these bits of green foliage will at least look slightly hopeful.
My design makes little sense, but hopefully in a few years the vegetable garden will at least look “interesting” even if it never makes it to beautiful.
The only winter color here when we purchased the house were a few foundation plantings along the front, and a line of meatball yews along the south facing side. After three years of sweaty summertime hedgetrimmering I said ‘screw this’ and let them do their own thing and break away from their tight ballism. Now I have to chose between the abandoned house look and the bare look of a brutal trim-back. Any suggestions? I probably wouldn’t mind trimming them back for a straight hedge along the side, I could remove them completely, or I could leave just one between the windows and let it get even bigger….. I need a plan though, eyebrows are already being raised here in my end of suburbia and the MIL will soon question my motives since it faces her house 😉
overgrown yew hedge
Man cannot live on green alone (even with a little yellow) so I foolishly placed an order for some last minute winter foliage via Conifer Kingdom. God must love either procrastinators or he loves winter garden interest because although Pennsylvania froze the week after I ordered, the box full of evergreens showed up the minute the thermometer went back over freezing. Today will hopefully top off at 50F (10C), the gale force winds have died off, and it should be perfect for getting these guys in the ground.
Not to overstep my boundaries, but I smell a 50% off sale on fall bulbs at Brent and Becky’s for the day after Thanksgiving. I will not be able to resist, so I guess we’re going to see how God feels about late bulb orders.
My Conifer Kingdom purchase made me happier than a cat in catnip. In a few years I hope to really ‘up’ the level of my garden’s winter interest. Just look at the needles on that pine! ( Pinus densiflora ‘Burke’s Red Variegated’)
Premium conifers might be as cheap as marigolds in your neck of the woods, but not so much here, so mailorder is my weapon of choice. For those interested, here’s the breakdown on my order…. $127 total including $25 shipping and $20 discount via a Facebook coupon code (fyi code expired 😦 Nov 21st).
A free gift included in the order, you can easily see where this dwarf Picea omorika ‘Peve Tijn’ (Serbian spruce) was grafted onto the rootstock.
There’s a reason you can pay through the nose for many of these treasures. Two of my purchases are 1 year old grafts and really don’t look like much yet, but that’s because they start life as run of the mill conifer seedlings grown on for a few seasons and then a small bit of the desired cultivar is grafted onto the stem. Once the graft puts on some size (a slow process at an inch or so of growth each year), the original seedling is cut off and the new plant takes over.
Dare I say I spent nearly $30 on this little spit of conifer? It’s picea pungens ‘Walnut Glen’, a blue spruce which develops a yellow tinge in the winter. I expect great things form this little guy!
So how’s that for a foliage post? A November report which speaks of excitement, hope, and anticipation for the future! Not bad considering the weather, I just have my fingers crossed that I don’t have to re-title this to “That Was Stupid” in another year 🙂
If you’d like to see what foliage is contributing to other gardens across the globe pay a visit to Christina’s blog “Creating My Own Garden of the Hesperides“. I believe you’ll find some bloggers who are enjoying good foliage now, and not just in their dreams for the future!
Sure they would be hardy outdoors under the snow, but to see them blooming now is twice as nice, even though they have suffered more than ever this winter under my neglectful care. Most are unnamed mixed seed, but the darker, smaller bloom is from the Meaden’s Crimson seed strain.
Snow, snow, and snow. At least the morning dawned sunny and bright so there’s hope for a change.
By the way, the odd lumps are snowman and snowlady bodies. It’s all part of a whole new winter world out there with the tropical border acting as a sled run, the cyclamen bed as the foundation for a snow fort, and dried hydrangea as excellent snowperson hair. Looks like we’ll be enjoying it for at least another week or two!
sorta like suburbia 