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| December Garden |
One week away from the official start of winter the days have been blustery and cold with temperatures in the 30’s and 40’s and it is time for the garden to gradually go to sleep. It was a good season with lots of blooms followed by a beautiful and rather mild fall and now the snow has arrived with more on the way. There are gentle reminders of blooms from a summer gone by with signs of what is to come in the next season. Come take a stroll with me in my December garden…better bundle up…it’s cold outside!
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| Barberry Royal Burgundy Berries December |
Since the winter is almost here and blooms are done for the season it is a time to focus on the structure and detail in the garden. I like to incorporate whatever color I can such as barberry which displays bright red berries that show up nicely in December and throughout the rest of the season. We're getting a real close up here!
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| Garden Bear! (With fresh greens) |
Here is "bear" who I purchased a couple of seasons ago and he is sporting his freshly cut greens at the door entry for visitors to see.
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| Picea pungens Globosa (Dwarf Globe Blue Spruce) |
One of my favorite evergreens in the garden is globe blue spruce for its bright blue foliage. I also enjoy it for the bottle-brush like structure of its needles.
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| Dwarf 'Hameln' Fountain Grass December |
The ornamental grasses are asleep for the winter. When photographing the plumes they appear to be black and white with the lighting (no photo editing here)!
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| Nandina domestica Berries December |
This is the first winter season for my new Nandina domestica which replaced the previous plants lost during construction. They are producing their winter berries nicely.
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| Japanese Iris Seed Pod Macro Shot |
This is giving a little bit of a different take on things. We are getting a glimpse of this Japanese Iris seed head looking down from above and photographing it macro style. In an attempt of getting more creative with the various lenses I am striving to capture the intricacy of nature's artwork.
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| Garden Gal |
Here is a little more macro-mania with a close up and personal with Garden Gal!
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| Picea pungens 'Skylands' (Skylands Golden Oriental Spruce) |
I purchased this Skylands Oriental Spruce in 2008 when it was six feet high and it has doubled in size, just about reaching maturity. It is one of my favorite pieces in the garden. You have probably seen the full tree in previous walks and since the focus here is on detail let us look at it real close up!
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| Weeping Japanese Maple |
The foliage of the weeping Japanese Maple is just about all fallen so you can see the structure of the twisted trunk beneath the canopy.
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| Magnolia 'Royal Star' Buds |
While leaves have fallen all throughout the garden there are already sings of what is to come next spring. Buds are starting to form on the Star Magnolia...
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| Magnolia 'Royal Star' Buds |
and will continue to enlarge as the season goes on. I hope there isn't too much in the way of a deep freeze that could do damage to next year's blooms.
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| Sedum 'Brilliant' December Seed Heads |
The seed heads are still visible on the Sedum 'Brilliant'...
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| Sedum 'Aurea' December |
and the Sedum 'Aurea' tucked in between the crevices of the waterfall will stay semi-evergreen throughout the winter.
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| Heucherella 'Buttered Rum' December |
Welcome to Heucherella 'Buttered Rum', the newest addition to the garden at the end of the summer. 'Buttered Rum' is a new hybrid combination of a Heucherra and Tiarella and turns this deep burgundy-red in winter. It is also supposed to be an evergreen!
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| Yaku Jima Dwarf Maiden Grass (6-7') |
The Yaku Jima ornamental grasses by the pool are now dormant but still displaying their plumes...
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| Frozen! |
and there is a definite chill in the air as we come to the end of our walk.
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| Here Comes the Snow! |
As Always...Happy Gardening!
Author: Lee@A Guide To Northeastern Gardening, Copyright 2014. All rights reserved
Very well done!
ReplyDeleteHappy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
Lea
Thank you for visiting and commenting Lea. I enjoyed seeing your Goldenrod still blooming in December!
DeleteWonderful images! Such a joy to visit your December garden.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness Dorothy...you still have so much blooming in your garden! I am glad you enjoyed the visit to mine, even though there aren't many blooms in December! Thanks for visiting and commenting.
DeleteLee your garden is beautiful with so much to still see...we had a foot of snow so much is covered up. I really am smitten with that blue spruce...bluer than any I have seen.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your kind words Donna. The blue spruce is one of my favorites, especially at this time of year. When the deciduous plants in the garden go dormant the color seems to look bluer. We have had a dusting of snow here but that's about it so far.
DeleteThe blue of the spruce and red of the berries are beautiful, and all the wintery views. I like the twisty branches of the Japanese maple too.
ReplyDeleteHi Hannah. I have learned through the years to appreciate some of the elements that are overlooked in nature so I tried to capture some of them for my winter shots. Thank you for stopping by and commenting...plus I enjoyed visiting your post too!
DeleteWhat a beautiful series! Thanks so much for sharing the love up-close with I Heart Macro:-)
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting your wonderful meme Laura. I always enjoy visiting! Have a great week!
DeleteWow, so many beautiful images.. Your garden is lovely. The bear is so cute.. Great shots, have a happy week!
ReplyDeleteHi Eileen. I enjoyed your photos of the Eastern Meadowlark. It was a bit milder today so some interesting birds were out but after some time with the telephoto lens...no luck...so I enjoyed your captures! Thanks for visiting and have a good week!
DeleteGorgeous series of photos and thank you so much for linking with Today's Flowers. I am going to go back and look again now :)
ReplyDeleteDenise-I so enjoy your Today's Flowers meme so thank you for hosting. Also thank you for your kind words and for leaving a comment!
DeleteI was excited to see I grow some of the same plants in my Ontario garden Lee. I've wondered if the red berries from my Barberry 'Rose Glow' are eaten by the birds over winter. Your weeping Japanese maple has a very appealing form and for me it is our pagoda dogwood in the front.
ReplyDeleteI admire well planned gardens as much in winter as summer and being a designer, you sure have accomplished this.
Thanks for sharing your landscape at Mosaic Monday.
You made my day Judith! Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving such kind words...they put a smile on my face. I always enjoy visiting your beautiful blog and everything you post always looks so warm and inviting so being there is most certainly a pleasure!
DeleteThe trunk of that weeping Japanese maple is so amazing that it could just about make any garden a success all by itself.
ReplyDeleteIt took many years with some selective pruning to get it to look that way. As time went on I took out the weaker sprouting branches so the mainframe could mature. Thank you so much for your comment-it is appreciated!
DeleteWonderful photos of your winter garden. It just goes to show that we don' t need flowers to have an interesting garden. I love your blue spruce and that fabulous Acer.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Chloris for your wonderful words. They mean a lot! Have a wonderful week!
DeleteWinter gardens are always so beautiful. I have really gotten into design of my garden. I have been reading Digging Deep by Fran Sorin, yes a self help book for gardening, :) but her book is so good. Help in the garden and help in life, can't go wrong with that!! fransorin.com is her site, she is amazing.
ReplyDeleteHi Becky. Thanks for visiting and commenting. I do love winter gardening as well and am always up for more garden reading. I will have to check out Fran's book...it sounds wonderful!
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