Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day & Foliage Follow-Up March: Spring Blooms and Anticipation!

Welcome to my March Garden!

Welcome to my Long Island, zone 7a March garden! With spring arriving in just five days, the garden is full of excitement as winter flowers are in bloom, spring bulbs make their appearance, perennials come to life and trees are forming buds and catkins. Come along on the tour! 

Black Mondo Grass Planter

As we all know, March is a month of surprises. We have had a combination of daytime temperatures in the 50's, followed by drops of twenty degrees the following day with winds and snow squalls. One day life is all about being in the garden, while then next it is back to staying warm inside while gazing out the window to watch the snow fall upon the spring blooms. 

Weeping Pussy Willow Catkins

One of the first and also one of my favorite signs of spring are the appearance of white fluffy catkins on the Weeping pussy Willow by the back patio. It only takes a warm day or two to really get them going and sometimes it seems like they just pop over night!

Hello Hyacinths!

In the back perennial border, Hyacinth bulbs are forcing their green foliage with delicate pink tips as they appear above the soil...

Crocus Blooming!

and the Crocus are blooming right along side them!

Front Garden Views

The front garden still looks rather winterlike, but I am convinced that the Weeping Japanese Maple is starting to show signs of life.

Front Island Bed

But wait...look closer! There are more crocus on the way!

Sedum are Appearing!

The sedum in the front garden bed are certainly starting to show their perfectly shaped rosettes with a pinkish hue. Once they start coming up, it is full speed ahead.

Hello Allium 'Globemaster'!

An exciting view is that of Allium 'Globemaster' appearing in the back pool garden. There are nine bulbs coming up at the present time, and the daylilies surrounding them are starting to emerge too!

Winter to Spring Transition

Along the front walkway and driveway gardens, the newer growth from last season on the Coral Bark Maple is still growing red, but before long foliage will start to appear...

Hellebore 'Champion'

and Hellebore 'Champion' is displaying its lovely yellowish-green blooms with pink highlights in the back shade garden.

Hellebore 'Merlin'

'Hellebore 'Merlin' and 'Shooting Star' are joining the show with the deeper pink blooms of  'Merlin' and pinkish-white blooms of  'Shooting Star'.

Hellebore 'Shooting Star'

The Hellebores perform very well at the northern side of the property and along the shadowing from evergreens bordering the back fence line, and they provide that well needed gardening goodness from January though March!

Arborvitae 'Anna's Magic Ball' and Mugo Pine

I enjoy seeing changes in foliage this time of year. The orangey hue of 'Anna's Magic Ball' Arborvitae from wintertime really pops in color against the deep green foliage of Mugo Pine.

Back Patio Garden

In the back garden, Osmanthus 'Goshiki' is showing signs of new growth...

Glorious Seed Cones (Skyland's Oriental Spruce)

and the mature female seed cones of Skyland's Oriental Spruce are abundant against its golden foliage.

Thanks for Visiting!

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my March garden and as always, I look forward to your comments and seeing what's growing in your neck of the woods! Special thanks go out to our hostess Carol at May Dreams Gardens, who makes it possible to see blooms on the 15th of every month with her meme Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. Also, special thanks to Pam Penick at Digging who has hosted Foliage Follow-Up for all these years, a meme I will still continue to honor. I am also linking with some other wonderful hosts and hostesses at Floral Friday Fotos, Macro Monday 2, Mosaic Monday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf, Nature Notes at Rambling Woods, Image-in-ing weekly photo share every Tuesday with NC Sue and Gardens Galore Link Up Party every other Monday with Everyday Living. I am also happy to join the Weekly Photo Link-Up at My Corner of the World on Wednesdays and Garden Affair at Jaipur Garden. 

A GUIDE TO NORTHEASTERN GARDENING NEWS:

We have been continuing our regular zoom meetings with GardenComm and Metro Hort. It's a wonderful way to get together with colleagues, participate in webinars and share gardening adventures! 

Are you a gardener or wanting to learn more about gardening and design or could you just use a little inspiration? If the answer to any of these is YES, then check out my four books, all available on Amazon!😊

More news!!!🎕 If you haven't heard, I am in the process of working on a new book for the northeast and Mid-Atlantic garden! Organized in a similar fashion as Gardening By Month, this one will be a reference of plants and inspiration specifically for the shade garden. I have been writing a couple of hours each day, will need to take some high resolution photos in springtime, then hopefully will have it ready to publish in 2023! 

📚 My Author Page 📚

A Guide to Northeastern Gardening: Journeys of a Garden Designer Zones 3-9

Landscape Design Combinations

Dream, Garden, Grow!-Musings of a Lifetime Gardener 

Gardening by Month: A Monthly Guide to Planning the Northeastern & Mid-Atlantic Garden. 

"As Always...Happy Gardening!" 

 Lee @A Guide to Northeastern Gardening,© Copyright 2010-2022. All rights reserved.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day & Foliage Follow-Up December 2019: Garden Views & First Snow!

December 2019

Welcome to my December garden and the last Bloom Day post for 2019! Like last year, December has been a unpredictable month with a little bit of everything weather-wise. The first snowfall on the 3rd. really got us onto the holiday spirit here in the northeast, followed by a second snowfall om the 11th, and now the temperatures are seasonably cold (in the 30's and 40's) with a surprise day in the 50's every now and then. The garden is in hibernation mode, but the evergreens and structural elements are keeping the interest going for into the winter months. Come along and see what the December garden has to offer!

Hypertufa Planter with Evergreens

Fist stop is the Hypertufa planter with a combination of Dwarf Hinoki Cypress (right), Juniper (middle), Golden Boxwood (left) and thyme. I purchased it at the local nursery this past fall. As I walked in, I had no intention of looking for a planter, but this one grabbed my eye and quickly won me over. It came home and I am really enjoying it!

Garden Whimsy

Throughout the garden I have some playful statues that also give enjoyment during the colder months. Here is one of a girl and boy playing, which brings back memories of childhood.

Garden Gal with Black Mondo Grass

Garden Gal is still sporting her Black Mondo Grass, which stays mostly evergreen throughout all the seasons.

Dried Sedum Flowers

There is beauty to dried flower stalks. This is Sedum 'Brilliant'. After blooming late summer into fall, the flowers dry to provide late season interest.

Dwarf White Pine and Weeping Norway Spruce

In the backyard are Emerald Green Arborvitae, Weeping Norway Spruce and Dwarf White Pine, with Gold Lace Juniper and Skip Laurel in the backdrop. The sky looks very ominous behind them.

Weeping White Pine Seed Cone

One of the things I love most about fall and winter are the large seed cones that form on the Weeping White Pines. Here is a view of one close up. 

Crape Myrtle Bark

Crape Myrtle has an interesting bark, which is more prominent this time of year. I love how it peels to expose new layers underneath. At times, it appears like a rainbow of hues.

A Favorite Combination!

In the back garden bed is one of my favorite foliage combinations. Here are perennials Japanese Golden Sedge and Heuchera 'Caramel'.

Late Fall/Winter Foliage

Add some Gerard's Azalea in the backdrop and you get a really nice splash of fall color, that will last into the winter. The Azalea is evergreen and the Sedge and Heuchera are both mostly winter hardy (semi-evergreen) here in zone 7.

Golden Skyland's Oriental Spruce

Remember the new Skyland's Golden Oriental Spruce that was planted in the pool garden a few years back? Well...here it is and growing nicely. It is now about seven feet tall.

Front Property December View

Follow me around to the front garden. In the foreground are Dwarf Cryptomeria (left) and Weeping Norway Spruce (right), Weeping Japanese Maple (center) and Blue Atlas Cedar (back left). It's mid-December and the leaves still remain on the Weeping Japanese Maples, which has been the trend for the last couple of years. With the fluctuating temperatures, some of the ornamental trees are taking their time to defoliate. 

Blue Atlas Cedar

Majestic as ever is the Blue Atlas Cedar on the northeastern side of the property. It was brought home in the trunk of a Ford Probe back in the early 1990's, before I became a landscape designer and acquired a truck! It wouldn't fit in either one now!

Front Walkway December View

Come along to the front walkway. The walkway is lined mostly with evergreens and you can get a glimpse of the red branches of the Coral Bark Maple glowing in the backdrop.

Nellie Steven's Holly Berries

On the northwestern side of the property, red berries are prominent on Nellie Stevens Holly.

December Views

Looking out from the front yard onto the street are the defoliated branches of trees on the median in front of the very ominous sky...

Driveway Garden View

and here is a close up view of the lamppost and Weeping Norway Spruce in the driveway border garden.

Welcome Frogs!

Around by the back patio, the Welcome Frogs are enjoying a nice cup of hot cocoa!

December 3rd. First Snow!

The snow is now melted, but the beauty of a virtual tour is that I get to share the views. On the evening of December 2nd, plummeting temperatures and falling sleet were followed by a couple of inches of pure beauty on the 3rd. The event happened again on the morning of the 11th, covering the landscape in a blanket of snow.

Snowdrops on Hypertufa!

Each snowfall covered the landscape and transformed it into a winter wonderland for a couple of days...

December 11th. Second Snow!

then disappeared as quickly as it came. 

December 2019 Snow!

Decorated with snow, Welcome Bear guards the outdoor garden...

Thanksgiving Cactus

while the cactus blooms away on the inside to bring in the holidays.

December 2019 Garden

Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoyed your tour of my December garden! Special thanks go out to our hostess Carol at May Dreams Gardens, who makes it possible to see blooms on the 15th of every month with her meme Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. Also, special thanks to Pam Penick at Digging who has hosted Foliage Follow-Up for all these years, a meme I will still continue to honor. I am also linking with some other wonderful hosts and hostesses at Floral Friday Fotos, Macro Monday 2, Mosaic Monday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf, Nature Notes at Rambling Woods, Dishing It & Digging It on Sunday with Angie the Freckled Rose, Image-in-ing weekly photo share every Tuesday with NC Sue and Gardens Galore Link Up Party every other Monday with Everyday Living. I am also happy to join the Homestead Blog Hop  and Weekly Photo Link-Up at My Corner of the World on Wednesdays.

The holidays are here! Treat yourself or the gardener in your life to one or more of my books-all written from my experiences as a lifetime gardener and professional landscape designer/consultant for over 20 years. Each is filled with gardening advice, design techniques and garden musings, making for a thoughtful gift!

Visit my Author Page for Details and Purchase.

A Guide to Northeastern Gardening: Journeys of a Garden Designer Zones 3-9

Landscape Design Combinations 

Dream, Garden, Grow!-Musings of a Lifetime Gardener

As Always...Happy Gardening!

Author: Lee@A Guide to Northeastern Gardening,© Copyright 2010-2019. All rights reserved.

This Month's Color in the Garden September 2017: Feature Plant-Black Mondo Grass

This Month's Color in the Garden

Welcome to This Month's Color in the Garden! It's September and the feature color is black. Black is a rare and unusual color in the garden, but is exquisite when mixed with the right combination of plants. Although there are no truly black flowers or foliage, some varieties appear black due to the deepness of the purple or burgundy hues within them. Black blooms or foliage can bring interest and drama to the landscape when used properly. One plant in particular, which is known for its striking black foliage, is Black Mondo Grass. Mondo Grass is actually not a grass, but rather a member of the genus Ophiopogon, a genus of evergreen perennial plants native to India, China, Japan and Vietnam. Black Mondo Grass, Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' is considered a ground cover that grows to approximately ten inches tall and slowly spreads to about two feet in width. Foliage emerges as dark green in spring and matures to a deep purplish-black by summer. Black Mondo Grass is hardy in zones 6-10.

Black Mondo Grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' )

Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' produces spikes of small light pink-white bell shaped flowers in mid-summer, followed by small black berries. Mondo Grass prefers to be grown in full to partial shade in a well-drained, slightly acidic soil. In cooler climates, Mondo Grass can withstand some sun. These plants can be propagated by division, best to be performed in early spring before new growth emerges. 

Black Mondo Grass and Golden Japanese Sedge (Photo Credit: Houzz Idea Books) 

To add that wanted interest and drama to the garden, combine Mondo Grass with other grass-like plantings such as Variegated Liriope, Golden Japanese Sedge and Golden Variegated Sweet Flag (as pictured above). Black Mondo Grass fits into a variety of garden styles, including container gardening, mass plantings and rock gardens. Mondo Grass is mostly maintenance free, except for an occasional feeding with a light fertilizer, or as mentioned, a division in spring. If desired, prune back old foliage in spring to tidy up the plant and promote new growth. 

Black Mondo Grass with Variegated Liriope in Backdrop

When discussing the color wheel and design, black, white and gray are not true colors (or hues) but are considered as neutral, achromatic colors. According to the language of flowers, the color black has been associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery throughout history. It denotes a feeling of strength and authority, and is considered to be formal, elegant, and prestigious. In the horticultural industry, plant developers have been working on hybridizing even darker varieties of plants due to the increased interest of using black in the garden. 

I hope you enjoyed This Month's Color in the Garden for September. Please do share your experiences with the color black in your garden, whether it be with plants, hardscape or garden decor. Next, join me for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day and Foliage Follow-Up on the 15th! See you around the garden!

 Linking with: Today's Flowers, Floral Fridays, Macro Monday 2, Friday Photo Journal and Dishing It & Digging It.

As Always...Happy Gardening!

Author: Lee@A Guide to Northeastern Gardening, © Copyright 2017. All rights reserved