Cold

This winter has been snowy and cold so far. We are supposed to go well below zero tonight.  The month of January has been a snowy one with at least one storm a week.  As much as I dislike winter it does give me time to read other blogs, study garden catalogs and work on upcoming talks that  I am giving this year.    I am having a half dozen  trees cut down that were in bad shape or in a bad location.  This will allow me  room to add  shrubs and smaller trees to help form the bones of the new garden.  

  

Moved In

We moved into our new house two weeks ago but just got Internet today. My first project was setting up my plant room in the basement.  The little cuttings and stock plants are now happy under lights waiting for Spring. The yard here has a lot of potential and I will spend the next few months planning the new garden. (also repainting the inside of our new home) The first big job next Spring will the front the house which will need a complete make over.  I still don't understand why people allow their foundation plantings to become overgrown..  The yew on the right blocks part of the garage door.  I will save the Rhododendron and make use of it somewhere else in the yard.

Moving On

After 22 years of living and gardening in the same place my wife and I have decided to move.  We are relocating less than an hour  away to live near our grandson.  Moving the contents of a house is hard enough but add the possesions of  a passonate gardener and life gets complicated.  Garden tools, pots, and other things are being stored at different places till Spring.  I potted up some plant material before the house was sold and heeled it in at a freinds garden for the winter. Many choice plants are being left behind but generous freinds have offered me divisions from their gardens next Spring.  Some  people think that I am crazy to leave my garden but I am looking foward to designing and building a new one. The new place is ideal for a shade garden which also happens to be my main interest. I will keep the garden smaller so my wife and I will have more time for family and travel.(Visiting other gardens)  The hardest part will be restraining my urge to keep adding more gardens and aquiring to many plants,                                                                                                

Sunday in November

Visit to North Hill

With the heat and drought this Summer I haven't spent much tme in the garden except for basic maintenance  The garden still looks pretty good despite the lack of attention.  Last Saturday  I took a ride over to neighboring Vermont to see one of the finest private gardens around.  The home of garden writers and designers Joe Eck and Wayne Winterwrrowd, North Hill is a spectacular garden carved out of New England forest over the last 30 years. A blend of formal and informal this garden is not only well designed but also contains a wonderful collection of many rare plants.  I have been visiting this garden every year for the past twenty years and never tire of it. The garden sits on a south facing slope and incudes a rock garden, many shade gardens a number of garden rooms and an amazing vegatable garden.  What I really like about this garden is the little details such as the carefully placed pots around the garden and the standards on the small terace.  There is a water feature tucked  along a path in one of the shade gardens.  Every detail is well thought out in this wonderful garden.

Cyclamen purpurascens

When it comes to hardy cyclamen most gardeners think of c. coum or c. hederifolium but for  northern gardeners cylamen purpurascens is the one that works best (at least for me).  I purchased mine about three years ago from the now closed Seneca Hill Perennials.  Nestled between epimediums and some helllebores , this cyclamen blooms every summer for at least two months.   Since it is evergreen I loosely cover it  with a few boughs of hemlock or pine  for a little extra protection during the winter.  Last year a small number of seedlings appeared near the mother plant. They should start blooming in a few years. 

After fours days in the 90's we got a slight break today.  Most of the time this past week was watering and more watering.  The rain last night help somewhat but we need more.  With the lack of attention due to the weather the garden has gotten a little unruly.  Hopefully tomorrow I can tackle the weeds and do some edging,  The daylilies are hitting their stride and bringing lots of color to the garden. I tend to favor the reds and oranges over the softer colors.  Some of the species lilies are also starting to come into flower.