A Berry Sweet Gift

For years I watched it grow.  It was a gift planted by a bird.  With no tag, all I could do was watch it, marvel at its beauty, and wonder.  What type of tree was this?  Or was it a shrub?  I could tell from the berries that it was a type of holly, but which type?  How tall would it grow?  I was anxious for more information, but the saying "a little birdie told me" was not true in this situation.  No bird was taking the credit for this beauty.  It was an anonymous gift.

The bird that planted it must have had some training in design.  It grows next to my winter garden area, and the berries are a beautiful addition to the entire area.  The berries shine in the sunlight, and it is a feature that is in just the right spot to catch your eye as you come up the driveway.  The perfect position!  I couldn't have planted it in a better place myself.

Every year it grows taller and stronger.  Every year its beauty grows, too.  I love this little gift, but for all these years, I have wondered about its identity.  Until finally, I saw my mystery holly in a picture on a garden blog.  Phillip at Dirt Therapy had a picture of his holly which was the spitting image of my mystery plant.  And he knew its name: a possomhaw holly.

A possomhaw holly!  Even the name is cute!  I was happy to have an identification, even happier that it had an adorable name.

Possomhaw holly (Ilex decidua)

Possomhaw hollies (Ilex decidua) grow in zones 5 through 9, and up to 30 ft tall!  They lose their leaves in winter, showing off the berries even more than most hollies.  It's branches gently hang down, enticing you to have a closer look at its string of red pearls.

Of course, I also have other berries in my garden.  The red berries and green leaves of the dwarf Burford hollies show up in various places in my garden.

And the black berries of the 'Bay Breeze' dwarf Indian hawthorn are subtle and sophisticated.

But it's the berries of the possomhaw holly that I love to see.  

A gift.  Beautiful, striking, and unusual.  Thank you, sweet little anonymous bird.

Changes Are Coming!

The garden is always changing.  Plants grow.  Some go dormant.  Some die.  Sometimes, changes are initiated by the gardener.  Other changes, however, are brought about by uncontrollable forces.

To varying degrees, there are changes in every area of my garden.  Want to see?

The Main Rose Bed looks a mess.  But changes are coming!  It will look quite a bit different in a few weeks, after I have pruned the roses and cut back the dead stems of the lantana, the cannas, and the asters.  One element that would greatly improve the look of this bed in the winter would be evergreens.  When I designed this bed, I considered mixing evergreens with the roses.  I generally do put evergreens in all of my beds.  But I wanted this bed to be filled only with roses and their companions.

Main Rose bed

Still, it needed some green.  A green backdrop would be the perfect touch for winter - and for summer.  That change will happen one day.  In fact, it's already started!  There are evergreens planted behind the fence, just not tall enough yet to see.  But some day those evergreens will give this bed the structure it needs in winter, without sacrificing any room for my precious roses.

Walking garden

The Walking Garden looks quite different than it does in summer.  Not as romantic or colorful, but there is still a lot of interest in this bed.  I love how the delicate hydrangea petals contrast with the dark, strong green of the holly.

In addition to a lot of winter interest, there are a lot of small changes coming to this bed.  Numerous bulbs are emerging.  One large change is in the ''Professor Charles Sargent' camellia.  It will soon be flush with blooms.  (Notice the little iris in the background that is craning its neck to be in the picture!)

Over the next year, I'll be making big changes in the Corner Bed.  Looking to complete this bed's transformation into a winter garden, I have purchased some winter blooming plants, and more camellias (three camellias are blooming in it right now, but they are too small to be seen unless you look for them).

Corner bed

Like the evergreens growing in the main rose garden, this bed just needs time to complete the changes.

Kramer's Supreme camellia

The biggest change in my garden this year, however, will be in the East Bed.  That's because the winds blew down my gazebo.  :(  And, the top is bent.  :((

East bed gazebo  :(

So, I'm not certain what changes will be made here, but changes will definitely be coming!

I'm joining The Patient Gardener for her End of Month View.

Miracles in my Garden

Don't believe in miracles?  Become a gardener.  There's just something about being in touch with nature that makes you see everything as a miracle - or if not a miracle, at least as amazing.

Take today, for instance.  I walked outside with my camera, mostly as a habit.  I didn't expect to see any blooms.  But I wanted to be in my garden before the rains started.  (Rains are a miracle - if you don't believe me, ask anyone that's lived through a drought!)

Walking through the garden, rounding the corner, I was surprised and delighted to see my rosemary blooming!  This particular rosemary has never bloomed before.  I never expected it to, either.  It was a gift of remembrance given to me three years ago.  It has grown and flourished, better than I ever expected.  But it has never bloomed.  This past autumn, I gave it a small pruning.

Just seeing those bright blue flowers made my heart leap.  Blooms!  Blooms on this particular rosemary!  Well, it seemed almost like a miracle.

Then I realized that the garden was full of miracles.  Buds on trees and roses are pregnant with the promise of spring.  New little leaves are welcomed by the warmth, and the rain.

Bulbs and perennials are waking up from where they have been blanketed all winter by the warm, soft earth.

I don't clean up my gardens until after the perennial plants begin to emerge in spring.  (The lantanas always emerge last.)  The old stalks and stems are an indication that what is coming up is a flower, not a weed.  (I'm very bad about pulling up anything I don't immediately recognize.)

When I first started gardening, I only planted shrubs.  They stay on top of the ground and there is no mistaking them for a weed.  But then, I began to plant perennials.  Sometimes, as I walk through my gardens in winter, they look bare to me.  I begin to make plans to fill in bare patches, and start a grocery list of new plants to purchase.

But then, when spring begins to arrive, the perennials poke their heads up out of the sea of leaves.  And that's when I know - those bare patches are, in fact, full.  Full of little miracles.  Don't believe they're miracles?  Ask my husband.  That list of plants to purchase gets trashed, and all that money is saved.  He would say that's a miracle!  ;0

Plants emerging from under the ground.  Blooms.  Rain.  Money saved!  My garden is full of miracles! And if you don't believe in miracles, you'll at least have to admit - it's all quite amazing!

Ready, Get Set, Go!

I think it's started!  At least, I'm hoping it has!  As we were driving down the highway yesterday, we noticed it.  The paperwhite narcissus were blooming!  Surely, that's a sign:

spring is coming soon!

It's been warm enough lately to go outside and play work a bit.  I cheerfully put on my sweat pants and a light jacket.  Mr. Holleygarden calls sweat pants "fat pants", leaving no doubt in my mind the answer to the question: "Does this outfit make me look fat?"

The delivery men know my gardening clothes.   In fact, everyone that knows me has come to understand the sign my attire conveys:

I'm working outside.

GET READY!

My first chore is to start on the mulching.  Mulching is work that I love.  Not while I'm doing it.  But, afterward, it is so satisfying to see the beds.  They have a finished look to them.  They can have just one or two plants in them, and they look as if the bed is designed, not bare.

In learning how to mulch, there are just a few things to remember:

• Don't put the mulch too close to the wood of the plant.
• Mulch can prevent any new (wanted) seeds from coming up.  
• Mulch will break down over time, making this an annual chore.  

But it is well worth all the time and effort.  Not only does it make the garden beds look beautiful, it makes the soil nice and fertile, too.  I am always amazed when I dig down and see the signs:  

the soil is dark and lovely, not too heavy, not too sandy.  

From what I understand, northern gardeners mulch to protect their plants from the thaws and freezes over the winter months.  I mulch to keep the soil cooler in the heat of summer.  Every year I vow I'm going to mulch every bit of my garden before it gets too hot to work outside, requiring me to finish in the autumn.  We'll see how far I make it this spring.  I watch the sun as it moves higher in the sky.  I can read the sign:

believe it or not, it will be hot soon!

GET SET!

My schedule changes throughout the year.  Right now, it's inside chores in the morning (because it's too cold to be outside), while the warm afternoons are spent outside.  In the summer, that reverses: outside work in the morning, until it gets too hot, then work inside for the rest of the day.  There are just a few days that I can work outdoors all day long, first in the spring then again in the autumn.  I cherish those nice days.  My family knows the sign that those days have arrived:

indoor work is completely ignored.

My mother, especially, thinks it's odd that I love to garden.  I've always been a bit squeamish.  When I was young, I turned away from worms, screaming.  Now I admire them, and cart them off to places where I want better soil.  I used to grow my fingernails long.  Now they are an embarrassment to me.  Short, ragged, and sometimes dirty.  I look at other women's hands.  I am always disappointed when I see one with beautifully manicured nails.  I look for someone who has nails like mine.  That is an unmistakable sign:

they're a gardener, too!

GO!

I've begun mulching.  Little buds and blooms are showing.  Days are getting longer.  It's only January, but the signs are there:  

spring is right around the corner!  

My Favorite Rose - This Winter

As I wander through the house, I look out the windows.  I look for sunshine.  I look for shoots springing from the earth.  I look for weeds that will need weeding.  I look at my garden's design.  I look at the places garden areas will be added this spring.

I look forward to my garden's awakening from its sleep.

And I have realized that I have a favorite rose this winter.

Prosperity rose

This picture of Prosperity rose was taken in December.  There are no blooms to be seen now.  Still, it has become my favorite rose this winter.  Why?  Because I can see it from my bedroom window.

And when I see it, I begin dreaming.  I dream of how this rose will look this spring.  I dream of its branches filled with creamy white blooms.

And then, I walk around the house, and my dreams include the rest of my garden.

But this particular rose is in my dreams every morning as I awake, and every night as I close the drapes.  Therefore, it has become my favorite rose - this winter.

Prosperity is a hybrid musk rose.  If you put this beauty in your garden, be sure to give it lots of space.  It will grow to a large mounding shrub, around 8 ft tall and wide, or you can grow it as a climber.  It needs no pruning, repeatedly blooms, and is hardy in zones 6 (possibly 5) through 10.  Prosperity will also grow in a semi-shady position, and is fragrant.

Wouldn't it be lovely growing along a fence?  Ah, there I go... dreaming again.

Garden Book Reviews January 2013

49 cents.  I couldn't pass up buying this book at only 49 cents!  With shipping and handling, it was still under $5.  That's a bargain!

Of course, buying books online, where you can't thumb through the pages, does have its pitfalls, too.  I have bought books that were disappointing.  But the treasures I find usually outweigh the disappointments.

So, what book did I get for such a bargain?

Beautiful American Rose Gardens

by Mary Tonetti Dorra

Just the name alone was enticing.  If you are interested in having a rose garden, I would recommend this book.  It has gorgeous pictures of real gardens.  Some of these gardens are designed, and some maintained, by professionals.  Some are not.  Either way, there are lots of ideas and inspiration in this book.

No matter what kind of rose garden you wish to have, there is a rose garden design in this book for you.  Roses grown formally in rows.  Roses grown informally mixed in with other plants, cottage style. Roses behind boxwoods.  Roses grown over arches.  Miniature roses, shrub roses, climbing roses, old garden roses, hybrid tea roses.

What I really liked about this book is that it is divided into five different sections of the country: New England, South, Center, California, and Northwest.  Anyone that grows roses knows that climate makes a big difference in the type of rose that's best for your garden.

What I didn't like so well was that each garden was only given a few pages.  As beautiful as the pictures were, I wanted to see more.  I also wanted to know more than what the author presented.  I wanted to know more specifics about the roses, and their companion plantings.  I would have loved to have each garden given twice as many pages each, possibly more.  This book was much like an hors d'oeuvre - it whetted my appetite for more.

Still, I definitely got more than my money's worth!  If you love roses, want to put in a new rose garden, or just love looking at beautiful photos of rose gardens, I recommend you snatch it up.  Especially if you can get it at a bargain.

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Now it's your turn!  Please join us on the 20th of every month with your own garden book review.
Any book with a gardening influence qualifies!   And please take the time to visit each of the other participants, too.   

Watching, and Waiting

"Is she here?", he asked.

"No."

The 'she' he was asking about was me.  And I really was there.  But I had tried for days, and in numerous ways, to make this customer happy.  And I couldn't.  He was not happy.  He was not going to be happy.  And there was nothing I could do that could change his outlook or attitude.

And I was tired of trying.  Plus, I was busy with other things.

And a million more excuses.

So, I told my co-workers that when he walked in that day, they were to tell him that I was gone.

In reality, I was hiding in another room.

I had endured his curses and threats, and was tired of explaining that what he wanted was impossible for me to accommodate.  I expected him to leave.  He had told me many times that his time was valuable (much more valuable than mine).  What I didn't expect was him to answer:

"I'll wait."

:O

What?  He'll wait???!!!  Now what was I to do?  He could see the doorway to the room I was hiding in.  I couldn't leave the room without him seeing me.

I was trapped.

I sat there for a few minutes.  My co-workers were silently smirking.  They knew I had painted myself into a corner, so to speak.  Could I out-wait him?  No.  I had too much work to do.  I realized I was going to have to just bite the bullet.

I took a deep breath, walked out of the room, strode right up to him, and sweetly asked, "May I help you?"

If he was surprised, you'd never know it.  He launched once more into his tirade, and I once again told him what I could do - and what I couldn't.  But one thing changed that day.

He never came back.  Secretly, I gave a little cheer.

My garden is hiding from me.  But I know it is there, just under the surface.

I'm waiting, and watching.

And one day it will become tired of just sitting there, waiting for me to leave.  And it will come out of hiding.  

And I will greet it with unconcealed cheers of joy.