Garden Plants in December

My flat leaf parsley is still green and beautiful.  It can still be used now, but I would be very surprised to see it in the spring.  The same is not true for the tiny German chamomile plants that have come up around it. I have faith in those little plants to take whatever the winter has in store for us.

Creeping lemon theyme does well over the winter here.  I have long since given up on the more upright varieties. I'm way too cheap thrifty to replace all my plants in the spring.

My sweet woodruff still looking good.  It a nice ground cover in the garden. It is not so rampant as to take out the Johnny-jump-ups or the tiny cardinal flower seen at the right of the picture.

Clumps of new cardinal flower plants still look good.  They would prefer a nice snow cover to look this good in the spring. If it's going to be cold I like a nice warm blanket myself!

This  Lewisia  is really beautiful, but I wonder what it is up to with buds in December.  Sometimes I just have to believe that my plants know what they are doing.  Some plants bloom in desperation just before they die, but this one looks too good for me to expect that.  This plant is one that I will dig into my pockets and replace in any case!

Last but hardly least the Emperor of China chrysanthemum has the red leaves that come with the cold, but still has a lovely pink bloom.  I have never understood the growth habit of this plant, but who can resist a pink flower in December

Spring Preview

With our December thaw so far most of the beds still have a covering of snow, but here and there the perennial plants are putting on new growth to be ready when spring finally arrives.  I am encouraged to see this kind of growth at the base of my perennial flax.  This plant put on quite show last summer.  I can close my eyes and remember the beautiful blue flowers but it's a lot more fun to actually see them.  Those delicate blue flowers that sway in the slightest breeze that open in the morning  and drop their petals to the ground before noon on a hot day, are a delight!

Ed's Mammoth Pink chrysanthemum is sending new growth in all directions.  If this continues we will have plenty of these gorgeous dark pinks flowers to spread around.  It almost feels like money in the bank!

The Doone Valley lemon thyme  looks perfect peeking out from the snow.  The fragrant and tasty green and yellow leaves are the stars here.  In the cold their fragrance is somewhat subdued, but if you rub a small sprig with your hands the aroma of spring is right there just waiting!

I failed in my search to find a picture of the sweet clove scented flowers that remind me of the fragrance of the carnations I remember from my youth.  I would be really tempted by the carnations at the checkout in the but that aroma seems to be missing and without that the flowers have lost their appeal for me.  I'll have to wait for these to bloom!

New Autumn Joy shoots are pushing up through last year's stems. It's kind of amazing since they don't bloom until September.  They will wait right where they are until the warmer weather.  Planted in the bed down by the road, the  big round mound of leaves get larger every year. The flowers are loved by bees, and Ed uses the dried stalks to make trees on his train layout. 

Of course some of our plants show absolutely nothing above ground at this point.  That doesn't prove a thing. Nature has to save some surprises for later. It's part of the fun!

In The Shade By 4 PM

A mid November day with temperatures in the 60's is an unexpected treat.  We were able to work with our hands in the dirt without the aching fingers that follow contact with cold soil so common at this time of year.  It is only mid afternoon but the length of the shadows show that sun is soon to set.  Temperatures will drop like a rock and darkness will quickly cloak everything.

Chrysanthemums near the wall have been cut back.  Next year's growth is already well underway.  Cut stems are piled nearby. They will used as loose mulch once the frost has entered the ground.  Next Spring we should dig up this clump and replant perhaps just three prime plants.  This section of garden is intended to be orderly and we must work to keep all of the plants within their small space.

Foxgloves, growing wildly in the distance, are all plants from seed this year.  We have never had large plants like these and all of them need to be dug come Spring.  We wanted them to grow only right next to the stone wall.  How can we leave tall plants at the front edge of the bed?

Gray green foliage and magenta colored flowers make Rose Campion a winner anywhere.  It freely reseeds and there are always more of these than needed.  We will wait until Winter's end to decide which of these stays.

Most of the recently cleared ground in the photo was completely covered by Oenothera siskiyou.  Its pale pink flowers nestled above dark green serrated leaves made a striking appearance.  Planted in the harsh dry soil in front of the house, this plant barely clings to life.  In the deeply rich and moist soil near the road, this plant became wildly invasive.  We intend to keep it but it cannot grow in the cramped bed by the stone wall.  It will be interesting to see the degree to which we were able to remove this plant from here.

Creeping lemon thyme is one of the plants that is behaving as expected.  We wanted it to edge the planting bed and grow over the row of stones.  Despite the richness of the soil here, this plant has stayed in bounds.  The late winter flood did no damage to this still frozen plant.  Neighbors have grown over other thymes and we work to trim them back since this is the desired plant.

Planting next to a former pasture comes with guaranteed problems.  Coarse grasses will try to take back their ground with a persistence that is frightening.  We fully expect that our chosen plants will be displaced by the natives shortly after we stop working here.  Our line of defense is a trench filled with bark mulch.  The picture clearly shows that the weeds grow freely in the mulch.  What is not shown is the relative ease in removing entire plants including an intact root system.  We worked this strip in the Spring and have done nothing here since then.  If the weather holds, a line will be stretched defining the edge tomorrow and this area will become neatly weed free.

Bluebird Housecleaning And Eviction Service

This morning there were robins all over the grass that is  now uncovered by the snow.  More thrilling than that, I noticed two birds perched on a cage and a post in the garden.  I thought they looked like bluebirds so I got my binoculars to check.  Not only were they bluebirds, but they were a male and a female. Time for procrastination is over.  The bluebird boxes needed to be cleaned out today.  After lunch Ed  headed out with two buckets, one for the contents of the houses and the other with the necessary tools to make repairs to the houses if needed.  I tagged along with the camera.  Sometimes we clean the boxes out in the fall.  The two in the garden down by the road were still empty and ready for use.  The rest of our 15 nest boxes were anything but empty.  Bluebird nests are made of grasses, tree swallow nests are sticks and feathers, chickadees use moss, wrens fill the nest box to the top with sticks.  White  fluffy stuff is chewed up pieces of milkweed and it means just one thing....MICE!

"Don't look at me like that with those black eyes or wiggle your whiskers and cute little pink nose. This is a bluebird house and you have got to go."  Of course I talk big, but furry little critters make me  go  EEEK!  It is Ed's job to actually evict them from the houses.  He deftly flicks the sticks and fluff into the bucket and whisks the mice onto the ground.  They scurry off into the tall grass in a hurry. I don't ever remember a year when there were mice in almost all of the boxes.  This year some of the boxes were filled with fluff and had two or three mice.  One could hardly expect the bluebirds to select a house under those conditions.  Now all the boxes are empty of old nests and mice.  One house in particular smelled way too much like mice to my nose.  I hope it will air out.  Certainly today's sunshine and brisk breeze should help.  While we were working a pair of red tail hawks circled overhead. It's great to have them back.  We invited them to catch as many mice as they could find.  Moles, voles and rabbits are on the welcome back menu as well!

In the bed down by the road the icy snow is finally retreating.  Lemon thyme and my King Alfred  daffodils are now making a welcome appearance.

Tiny tips of my Dutch iris are now pushing up through the mulch.  Beautiful flowers won't be far behind.   The garden is still slightly chilled, but Spring is here !