Winter arrived at last. It wasn't much of a snowfall with hardly enough accumulation to measure.
Out of the bosom of the air,
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Silent, and soft, and slow
Descends the snow.
Snowflakes poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The temperature dropped to single digits on the Fahrenheit scale. I welcomed the snowflakes but not the cold. Braving the frigid wind to take an early morning walk around the garden, I see that nothing is blooming and the frogs in the pond have decided to hibernate at last. It's at this time of year that I appreciate the evergreens in my landscape. I planted my favorite, the weeping Norway spruce, Picea abies Pendula, in May 2013. This little beauty looks lovely in every season with its dramatic form, dark green needles, and a pendulous growth habit. I am choosing this miniature evergreen tree for January's 'False Bay Dozen' hosted by Diana at Elephant's Eye on False Bay in South Africa.
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| Weeping Norway spruce, Picea abies Pendula, first winter. |
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| Candles of New Growth in Early Spring |
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| Weeping Norway spruce's first year. |
The height of the tree is determined by the height of its stake. It grows more bushy each year, but provides little needed shade for the pond. We planted a zebra grass for shadiness. The grass and the tree provide contrast in texture, color and shape.
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| Late spring 2015 |
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| Summer 2015 |
The plumes of the zebra grass provide winter interest, but the plant is becoming messy now, so I asked H.H. to cut it down. We are procrastinators, so he will probably wait until the springtime, and that's OK, as long as he does it before its new growth reaches four inches or so.
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| Plumes of zebra grass against yesterday's blue sky. |
Foliage comes into its own in the stark winter landscape, especially the verdure of evergreens. I am linking with Pam at Digging for her 'Foliage Follow Up' on the 16th of the month.
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| Silvery Russian sage outlined against a biota shrub. |
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| Green vinca leaves under the snow at the base of the hitching post. |
January sparkles.
January's bold.
January huffs and puffs.
January's cold.
Author unknown.
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| The kitchen garden sleeps. |
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| The fairies need to shovel snow from their front door. |
No flowers in my garden, but indoors a lovely surprise: the amaryllis bloomed late, proving that Carol at May Dreams Gardens is right when she says you can have flowers every month of the year. I am linking with Carol for 'Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day' on the 15th.
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| Amaryllis 'Red Lion' |
I was hoping for more blossoms, but I'll take these two beauties.
Please visit Diana's, Pam's and Carol's blogs. My thanks to these three gardening friends for hosting great monthly memes.
Snowflakes are flurrying and the temperature is below freezing, so I'm hunkering down in front of the fire for the rest of the day. It's seed catalog season -- one of my favorite seasons of the year!
Pamela x
~~ I love reading your comments. I hope you leave one so I’ll know you visited!
I look forward to visiting your blog in return.
we both have green candles!
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining in.
Great gardening minds think alike ...
DeleteWhat a sweet little tree. Winter is our visitor here in the Midwest now, too. My indoor plants aren't blooming yet, but it is fun to have a few growing and thriving in the middle of winter. I like your caption with the fairy garden photo!
ReplyDeleteI usually bring the fairy gardens up onto the porch over the winter. I'm anxious to see how they survive this year. Thanks for your nice comment.
DeleteBeautiful amarilys! Keep warm and stay healthy! I can wait to see your garden on spring!
ReplyDeleteWe're still waiting for winter here. Love your amaryllis, BTW.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI accidentally removed Jo's comment when I was trying to redo my reply. I am so upset. I count Jo as a dear gardening friend in England. She never fails to comment on my postings. She said in her comment that it was snowing yesterday in England and winter had arrived there too. Sorry Jo. P x
DeleteYour garden is beautiful in the snow!
ReplyDeleteLovely Amaryllis!
I use the weeping Norway Spruce often in designs here in wintry Niagara Falls. They make great specimen trees and always attract positive comments from visitors. Love yours in the snow.
ReplyDeleteHi Pam, your winter evergreens look beautiful, as does your spectacular amaryllis. Stay warm in the cold temps! -Beth
ReplyDeleteYour Red Lion drew me in and I stayed for the foliage. What a great idea! I live in upstate New York and I think all of our snow will be gone by tomorrow. The weather has been so strange. today, the birds were out singing in force. Happy GBBD!
ReplyDeleteWinter finally arrived here too this week, but the snow is nearly gone already. Personally, I like the mild winter. I'm just not a snow kind of gal!
ReplyDeleteThe snow has gone here already, Robin. It's raining now.
DeleteKeep warm, i cannot relate with all of you now in deep winter! We dont have it, i havent experienced it. Meanwhile that your colors are put, i offer my posts which will keep your emotions warm! But i love the deep color of that hippeastrum.
ReplyDeleteWelcome from the Philipines, Andrea. I haven't visited your site lately -- I'm off there now.
DeleteHi Pam, I sure enjoyed your garden tour. I saw with my cup of tea all cozy and just enjoyed the heck out of it. That weeping beauty by the pond is something. Also, I grow the same zebra grass. We are zebra grass twins. Hugs from Oklahoma.~~Dee
ReplyDelete'Zebra grass twins' -- I'm still laughing, Dee. Actually, my husband just cut that one down as it was getting really messy. But I have another one still standing a distance from the pond. Love grasses!
DeleteYour weeping Norway spruce is especially lovely with the fresh growth in the spring. I love that bright green. Thank goodness for amaryllis and other indoor plants! It is so nice to have blooms when the world outside is cold and white.
ReplyDeleteHurrah for evergreens! Wouldn't the winter garden be dull without them? Your Amaryllis is wonderful - how considerate of it to flower in time for GBBD! Stay safe in this cold weather.
ReplyDeleteOur winter is nothing in comparison with yours. That Abies in combination with the grass next to the pond is beautiful, the Abies will grow tall and will be even more beautiful. In our country we don't have fairy gardens but the way you have done this in a bath tub is interesting, you have given me a new idea.
ReplyDeleteThe dark green foliage of your evergreens is really striking against the snowy backdrop. Just lovely. Thanks for joining in with Foliage Follow-Up, Pam!
ReplyDeleteA stunning snow garden....love the weeping evergreen. I need more evergreens here....and my pond side zebra grass barely grows. I need to move it perhaps. We have had a foot and are getting another storm tomorrow...lake effect...we can always count on!
ReplyDeleteWe finally had a good snow of a couple inches last night. Such a strange winter it's been! I love your weeping spruce! That looks so pretty in spring, too, with the bright green of emerging needles!
ReplyDeleteI agree with liking the snow yet not being too excited about the cold. 25F would have been just fine for getting that wintery feeling.
ReplyDeleteLove the spruce. I added a few evergreens last fall, but it will be years before they amount to anything impressive. Still they are a joy to see when everything else is brown.
Pamela, I love Weeping Norway Spruce, too. I have three of them which at the moment are being trained up a long pole. Eventually I won't be able to tie them up any longer, but we'll see how long we can keep them going. I've seen several gardeners plant two Norways adjacent to each other and then train them over as an archway, too. I like their narrow footprint in the garden, this year we added three weeping white spruce to the garden too, their added benefit is narrow growth habit and no staking. Love the amaryllis!
ReplyDeleteSnow is wonderful. Everything is so clean and quiet.
ReplyDeleteLiking the medal gate...things like that always adds interest for me. Yes, the cold is not so nice. Even the dogs can't take it for long outside.
Love your weeping Norway Spruce. I planted one last year but it is a baby compared to yours. Nice to see what I have to look forward to. The new growth is beautiful.
ReplyDelete