Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day & Foliage Follow-Up February: Winter Snow & Upcoming Blooms!

February Garden

Welcome to my February Long Island, zone 7 garden! It has certainly been an interesting month, with the Blizzard of 2022 starting on the evening of the 28th and continuing all the way through evening of the next day with 22.4 inches of bountiful white! The temperatures finally started to rise, and the ground could finally be seen again after two weeks, but then on the 13th...Mother Nature gave us another go around with a layering of more snow! Since this is a virtual tour, you will get to see what the landscape looked like just two weeks ago, just three days ago and now. Come along and I hope you enjoy the views!

Front Entrance Garden After Blizzard of 2022

For two days, there was no getting out of the house. The snow had drifted three to four feet in some spots and had blocked the entry to the garage and back door. Here is a view of the front garden a few days after the crew had dug us out. The entire planting along the walkway had been buried, with just the taller trees in view. 

Welcoming Commitee!

The welcoming committee along the back patio garden had completely vanished in the snow, so it was nice to see their smiling faces once again!

Winter's Beauty-Ripples of Drifting Snow

The drifting snow caused by the high winds was pretty though, as the sun's shadow cast upon the covering of white.

Pool Surround

Along the pool surround, Green Giant Arborvitae can be viewed in the backdrop with an assortment of other evergreens along the edge. Thankfully, the temperatures were so frigid that the snow was light and fluffy, allowing it to easily blow off the branches of the trees.

Back Island Bed

There is something to be said about a winter's snow being magical. Here, looking from the back patio is the left side of the island bed with Crape Myrtle and Gold Lace Juniper, with Weeping Norway Spruce and Blue Globe Spruce in the foreground. The layer of snow changes the perspective of the garden, making the two beds look connected.

Sculpture in Snow

In the back garden, is this statue of a young girl and her kitten...

Driveway Entry

and the driveway entry garden still layered in white.

A Welcomed Visitor

At last, just three days before Bloom Day, only remnants of snow had remained along the landscape and the wintering birds started out once again to make their appearance. 

Front Walkway Garden

As the snow slowly melted, the garden had appeared again from under the cloak of white. There was a huge difference from just two weeks ago.

Southwestern Garden

There were still some gentle reminders of the blizzard of 2022, but the grass was visible once again and there even blooms to be seen along the way!

Holly Berries

In the back shade area, the berries of  Nellie Stevens Holly, are all bright and cheerful. They make a nice addition to the winter landscape. 

After the Storm & Getting Back to Normal

Along the northern perimeter is Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar and grass! I never thought it could be so exciting to see the green lawn again!

Hellebores Northern Garden

Even in the midst of winter, there can be blooms! Here is Hellebore 'Shooting Star', one of the first of the Hellebores to bloom. It is a little delayed this year, but should be in full bloom soon.

Helleborous 'Shooting Star'

Here are the beautiful pinkish buds up close and getting ready to open.

Mondo Grass and Osmanthus

Foliage is important, especially in the wintertime garden. Here is a view from the back patio with a foliage combination of Black Mondo Grass and Osmanthus 'Goskiki' in the backdrop. The Mondo Grass is a little beat up right now from the snow, but does well in the planter under the shade of the nearby Weeping Pussy Willow tree.

Skyland's Spruce and Coral Bark Maple

Here along the driveway border is Skyland's Golden Oriental Spruce with Coral Bark Maple in the backdrop. I enjoy how the bark of the maple glows a vibrant coral-red this time of year.

Skyland's Spruce Seed Cones

Here we can see Skyland's Spruce seed cones. They look so pronounced against the golden foliage of the tree and the blue sky.

Skimmia japonica Flower Buds

Last, but not least is Skimmia japonica. This is such an interesting shade plant with flower buds now forming, that will lead to blooms in early spring...

Thanksgiving Cactus

and indoors...Thanksgiving cactus started blooming in November and is still going!!!

Here we go again!

But wait!!! Just when the snow had disappeared, Mother Nature wanted to let us know that she is far from through...

February Patio Surround Garden

so it's just a good time to appreciate nature and gaze upon the snow...

Winter Snow on Weeping Japanese Maple

and dream of spring until we meet again. Happy Bloom Day!😊

Winter's Greetings

Thank you for Visiting!

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my February 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. It's a wonderful way to get together with colleagues and share gardening adventures! Now we meet two times a month, once for the northeast regional meeting and again for a "Better Together", where gardeners from all over can connect at once.

Plant-O-Rama went virtual this year and it was wonderful, with guest speakers, chat rooms and a virtual trade show. It was a very enjoyable experience and I got to make some new friends!

More news!!!🎕 I am in the process of working on a new book for the northeast and Mid-Atlantic garden! Organized in a similar fashion as my last book, Gardening By Month, this one will be a reference of plants for a specific type of 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! There's a long way to go, so details will follow.

Purchase Here

Looking for some winter reading?: Visit 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 and

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

"As Always...Be Well and Happy Gardening”! 

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

This Month in the Garden: A Virtual Garden Tour

Virtual Garden Tour

Welcome to This Month in the Garden! For the month of February, it's time for another virtual garden tour! This tour will take you on a journey of five gardens/national parks in the U.S. We will tour the New York City High Line, the Green Animals Topiary Garden in Rhode Island, Muir Woods National Park in California, Allerton & McBryde National Botanical Gardens in Hawaii, and the Desert Botanical Garden in Arizona. Each introductory photo will have a caption containing a clickable link that will bring you to the entire post if you are interested in seeing each garden in its entirety. At the end of the post will be a link to a library of several more gardens and places of interest that I can share with you. I hope you enjoy the tour!

New York City High Line

The first stop is the The High Line (also known as the High Line Park). This 1.45-mile-long (2.33 km) New York City linear park was built on a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets of Manhattan's West side. The park runs from Gansevoort Street (three blocks below 14th Street) in the Meat Packing District through to the northern edge of the West Side Yard 34th Street near the Javits Center. The refurbishing of the railway into an urban park began construction in 2006, with the first phase opening in 2009 and the second phase opening in 2011. The third and final phase officially opened to the public in September of 2014. A once abandoned railroad track has now become an array of blooms for residents and visitors to enjoy. The High Line has been developed with various works of public art and the native greenery incorporated into the long forgotten tracks has preserved the history of the area, leading to a beautiful and dynamic park. The New York City skyline as well as the Hudson River can be seen as a backdrop to the gardens.

Green Animals Topiary Garden Portsmouth, Rhode Island

The Green Animals Topiary garden was established on small country estate consisting of seven acres of land overlooking Narragansett Bay in Portsmouth Rhode Island and was purchased by Thomas E. Brayton in 1872. Mr. Brayton was the treasurer for the Union Cotton Manufacturing Company in Fall River, Massachusetts from 1879 to 1920, and he hired Joseph Carreiro, who was responsible for creating and maintaining the topiary garden.  Upon Mr. Brayton's death in 1940, his daughter Alice inherited the estate and resided there until her death in 1972. Alice Brayton known for her love of horticulture named the estate after its unique sculptured green topiary. Green Animals Topiary Garden was left to the Preservation Society of Newport County and remains today under their care as a historic landmark. There are more that 80 pieces of topiary throughout the gardens. The topiaries were started in 1901 in a nursery then moved to their present location in 1912. 

 

Muir Woods National Park, Mill Valley California

Muir Woods National Monument is located 12 miles north of the Golden gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. It consists of a 560 acre park with six miles of trails meandering through some of the last remaining redwood forests in the world. Much of the Northern Hemisphere was covered with Redwood-like trees 150 million years ago. Climate change caused the numbers or Redwood to decrease drastically leaving only two species in California. While many of the world's redwoods were lost due to industrialization and nearing extinction the canyon of redwoods in Muir Woods was never logged and remains preserved here today. The breathtaking Cathedral Grove represents trees ranging in age from 500 to 800 years with heights up to 258 feet towering towards the sky.  The main attraction of the Muir Woods is the Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), a relative of the Giant Sequoia which is known for its great heights. The oldest tree existing in the park is over a remarkable 1,200 years old. The redwoods in the park flourish in California's fog belt where and yearly daytime temperatures range between 40 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. During the drier summer months the forest is layered in fog which keeps the park cool and moist year round. On average the park receives up to 40 inches of rain during the winter months which supports the moisture requirement of the redwoods.

Allerton/McBryde Botanical Gardens Kauai, Hawaii

Located on the south shore of Kauai in the Lāwa'i Valley are the Allerton and McBryde National Tropical Botanical Gardens, maintained for the preservation of endangered native species. Encompassed in a world of rain forests, native fruits and spices, hidden waterfalls and Jurassic trees, Allerton and McBryde Gardens will continue to provide a tropical paradise for visitors of all ages. In 2003, NTBG began an ambitious restoration of an area known as Lāwa‘i-kai including the beach and adjacent coastal forest in the Allerton Garden. The project’s first goal was to remove invasive alien plants which had crowded out most native strand plants and had threatened the Hawaiian green sea turtle (honu) nesting areas. The goal was to create a vegetative barrier to alleviate damage from tropical storms such as the tsunami and two hurricanes that had struck the area previously and to create a stable habitat for a wide array of highly endangered native plants, after removal of alien invaders. The landscape was developed through the study of fossil and historical records to replicate the type of environment that would have existed a millennium ago. Many of the plants, including rare palms, trees, and shrubs native to the island, now thrive in Allerton Gardens. These beautiful and breathtaking gardens continue to be dedicated to the study and preservation of endangered tropical plants and protection of the world's diverse ecosystems.

Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix  Arizona

The Desert Botanical Garden is a 140 acre botanical garden located in Phoenix, Arizona that was founded by the Arizona Cactus and Native Flora Society in 1937 and established in 1939.  It is the home to more than 21,000 plants, including 139 species of desert plants which are considered rare, threatened or endangered. At the entrance to the Botanical Garden is world renowned artist's Dale Chihuly Nature of Glass Exhibit which was originally displayed in 2008. The gardens bought the glass art after the exhibit as a permanent display. Among the sites to be seen, the giant Saguaro Cactus is one of the defining plants of the Sonoran Desert. These majestic cacti are very slow growing, only reaching a height of one and a half inches tall in ten years, but can grow to an eventual towering height of 40-60 feet. When fully hydrated, Saguaro can weigh between 3200 and 4800 pounds and a healthy cactus can have a lifespan up to 150-200 years! Follow the trail for a view of the red rock cliffs and cacti of the Sonoran Desert. 

For more virtual tours, you can visit my Botanical & Community Gardens page!

I hope you enjoyed This Month in the Garden for February. Be sure to stop by on the 1st. and 15th. of each month as I continue to share gardening tips, information and horticultural adventures! (Linking up with: Floral Fridays, Macro Monday 2, Ruby Tuesday and Image-in-ing Weekly Photo Link-Up.)

For gardening information: My Author Page and Books

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! 😊

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

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day & Foliage Follow-Up: Long Island Wintertime Garden

January Garden

Happy New Year and welcome to my south shore, zone 7 Long Island garden! After a relatively quiet December with the first dusting of snow on Christmas Eve day, Long Island was hit with its first significant snowfall on the 7th with 6-8 inches of snow across the island with deeper amounts on the north shore. The garden became a winter wonderland until it was washed away by rain a few days later, followed by a record high of 19 degrees on the 11th. The forecast calls for slightly warmer temperatures today, so come along with me on a tour of my January garden. You better bundle up because its cold outside!

First Winter's Snow!

The beauty of a virtual tour is that I am able to share some snowy views from one week ago. This was the morning of the 7th after the snow, with the sun just trying to peek through the dissipating clouds.

Snow Covered Garden

The backyard pool surround was covered in a layer of glistening white snow, making for a winter wonderland. I do love the seasons and first snow gracing the landscape. There is always something so magical about it; however, that statement may have a different tone by the end of the winter!

Blue Jay Visitor

It's wonderful getting to see visitors each morning, especially in winter. The birds hid for a bit after the snow, but a few days later this Blue Jay came out of hiding for a snack.

Skyland's Oriental Spruce Seed Cone

Along the driveway border, the seed cones on the Skyland's Oriental Spruce are in abundance this winter. We are able to get a view of this lower one up close.

Front Entrance Garden

Here are Weeping White Pine (front right), Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar (middle) and Coral Bark Maple (back left) with Japanese Garden Juniper, Blue Star Juniper and Golden Sedge along the walkway. You can see the branches of the Coral Bark Maple are starting to glow red with the colder temperatures.

Winter Structure

Here is a closer view of 'Blue Star' Juniper and Golden Sedge, with Hoogendorn Holly, which reside along the foundation. I do depend on evergreens for winter color and structure and am always looking for new cultivars. Another benefit is that these selections are slow growing and low maintenance.

Hellebore 'Shooting Star'

Yes...there can be blooms in winter! Hellebore 'Shooting Star' is getting ready to open its buds to expose pale pink blooms with cream and green highlights! It should be any day now.

Hellebore 'Champion'

Here are the buds of Hellebore 'Champion', which displays greenish-yellow blooms. I have two other varieties as well, so look out for more buds and blooms as the winter progresses!

Crape Myrtle

Crape Myrtle is known for its beautiful blooms that appear July through September, but it has nice exfoliating bark too, which is of interest in the wintertime. It has a bit of an artistic touch.

Weeping Norway Spruce Seed Cone

Here is another seed cone, that of Weeping Norway Spruce. I do enjoy looking for them and they have a reddish-pink hue before turning brown.

Hot Cocoa on a Cold Day!

Remember the welcoming committee? Here they are to say greetings!

What Every Gardener Needs!

My dear friend knows me well and surprised me with this door mat as a gift. It's perfect!!! 

Winter Bear

Before we venture onto the indoor garden, here is some more seasonal interest. I do enjoy my garden bears and this one is all decorated for the winter months. Now, since it's freezing out here, follow me inside to warm up and see some more plants!

Kalanchoe, Peace Lily and Fern

Welcome to the indoor garden. When the temperatures are cold outside, there's always the indoor garden to depend on for some enjoyment. Here are some selections that are blooming right now.

Hawaiian Anthurium

This collection keeps me smiling year round, but even more so in the wintertime. The blooms on this Anthurium last for months at a time. The orchid is also forming its flower stalks, so blooms should be coming in a couple of months.

Indoor Garden-30 year old Jade Plant

One of my favorite plants in the indoor collection is this Jade plant, which I have had for over 30 years. There is another twin of the same age on the opposite windowsill in what I refer to as the plant room. There are also some succulents and Thanksgiving Cactus that are still producing buds and blooms. I have seen the Jade produce little white blooms over the years, usually around March. Other plants in the indoor collection currently include Spathiphyllum, ZZ Plant, Parlor Palm, Dracaena, Philodendron and Ficus.

Thank you for Visiting!

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my winter 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:

It's been pretty quiet around here these days, but the good news is that I have started working on a new book for the northeast and Mid-Atlantic garden! I am doing the brainstorming and writing each day while it's cold outside and springtime will bring lots of photo taking, so stay tuned!

I have been enjoying connecting with gardening friends during our regular zoom meetings on GardenComm. It's a wonderful way to get through the winter months and share gardening adventures! 

If you would like to receive post updates for the 1st and 15th of each month, there is a new follow.it subscription widget for A Guide to Northeastern Gardening at the top right side of this page.

If you haven't already done so, be sure to visit My Author Page. I have poured a lifetime of gardening love into each of my books. along with experiences, tips, journeys, design inspiration, maintenance advice, guidance and more! Check out A Guide to Northeastern Gardening: Journeys of a Garden Designer Zones 3-9, Landscape Design Combinations, Dream, Garden, Grow!-Musings of a Lifetime Gardener and Gardening by Month: A Monthly Guide to Planning the Northeastern & Mid-Atlantic Garden. 

"As Always...Be Well and Happy Gardening”! 😊

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