Trees in mid-winter

(Here's a post from the archives that celebrates trees, especially trees in the middle of winter. The only thing that has changed among my trees since the original post is that the old apple tree finally had to be cut down because of disease. Now a new one has taken its place and should be here for many years to come.) 

"I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree," the poet Joyce Kilmer wrote just before he went off to serve in World War I, where his life ended. His poem lives on, and no one has ever better described the mystical hold of trees on the human psyche.

At all seasons of the year, trees have a kind of beauty and poetry and majesty of their own. In mid-winter, as at every season, they are the anchors of the garden.



Live oaks, of course, are much the same at all seasons. They never get fully undressed, although they do shed their leaves in spring as new leaves are being produced. In winter, their leaves offer shelter and sanctuary for birds who need a safe haven from predators or from the weather.



The same can be said of the magnolia trees, a favorite roosting place for many birds in winter.



The bottle tree never loses its leaves either - but I haven't noticed any birds roosting here.



The sycamore hangs on to a few of its leaves until they are finally displaced by new leaves in the spring. Every passing breeze brings a shower of sycamore seeds cascading down from the plentiful seed balls. These seeds are favorite winter foods of many birds including the goldfinches who spend hours each day picking them out. 



The old apple tree, too, keeps a few of its leaves even as it prepares to open its swelling buds to the bees in late winter.



The corkscrew willow gives it all up, every leaf, and stands naked against the winter sky and the background of the neighbor's pine trees that tower over everything. The twisted limbs and twigs of the willow give some extra interest to the winter garden. Last summer, I learned that its leaves are hosts to some species of butterflies and moths. I knew there was a reason why I liked it.



This old crape myrtle was planted many years ago by birds, and it still feeds birds in winter with its seeds.



The upright limbs of the Shumard red oak seem to be lifted to the sky in praise and exultation.

None of these trees is old, as trees go. Except for the magnolia and the crape myrtle, we planted them all, but all of them, except for the willow, are now more than twenty years old. They have stood in our yard through drought and flood, heat and cold, and hurricane winds and they have been undaunted. Their leaves have shaken with our laughter, and in times of sadness, they have given me strength and consolation. They've always been there for me to lean on. They are friends to me.

I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as my trees.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - January 2014

Actually, in my garden, it is Garden Bloggers' (non) Bloom Day this month. My garden is literally bloom-free at the moment except for a few pansies which I have shown you before.

Just about ten days ago, Southeast Texas got its share of the polar vortex storm that swept the country. Ours was pretty weak tea compared to what our friends up north received but it was enough to send our low temperatures down to 20-22 degrees Fahrenheit for a couple of nights and that put an end to the few blooms which I still had. The almond verbena, yellow cestrum, Turk's cap, shrimp plant, and various lantanas that had continued to bloom through the winter were all hit hard by the cold and sent into a deep sleep. They should return in the spring, but for now, they look brown and dead.

So, I've truly nothing to show you this month, but I look forward to visiting the gardens of others who do have blooms to share, especially those in the southern hemisphere who are now in the middle of their summer. And I hope that by the middle of February, some blooms and color will have returned to my own garden.

Happy Bloom Day and happy gardening! And as always, thank you to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting us.

Succulents Simplified by Debra Lee Baldwin: A review

Succulents Simplified: Growing, Designing, and Crafting with 100 Easy-Care Varieties by Debra Lee Baldwin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Succulents are described as the plants that drink responsibly. Requiring very little water in order to thrive, they are the perfect kind of plants for areas where water is a scarce commodity and must be conserved. There are likely to be many more such areas in the future. It is good to know that even in these circumstances, there are plants that we can grow successfully.

Debra Lee Baldwin has written a book that is a useful introduction to these trendy, low-maintenance plants. In Succulents Simplified, she gives advice about how to choose the appropriate plant for the site or the indoor project that you have in mind. She gives step-by-step instructions that can help the reader whether she has an acre to plant or is intent on filling only a few windowsill pots.

I enjoy succulents and have several pots around the house as well as a few in the garden. Over the years, I have learned through bitter experience that the worst thing you can do to these plants is to overwater them. I admit I have killed more than a handful in this way. Perhaps if I had had Baldwin's book to guide me, I might have been a better and more successful succulent gardener. Well, I guess I have no excuse in the future, do I?

I think the great appeal of succulents lies in their sculptural and geometric shapes. These are forms that blend well with modern design, but, in fact, they can accent almost any style, regardless of what your individual preference might be. I suspect that succulents, which are hot right now, will become even hotter in the future as more people come to realize just how easy and care-free they are.

For the crafty gardener, a category that doesn't really include me, Baldwin includes information and instructions for several projects. Things like turning a cake-stand into a planter/centerpiece for succulents. She also shows how to make vertical gardens with the plants or to create a topiary sphere. Personally, I prefer a more naturalistic look, letting plants grow naturally into their own space, but to each his/her own.

Baldwin's easy-to-follow text is illustrated with some beautiful photographs of these versatile plants. Most of the photographs were taken by her. The credits for other pictures appear in the back of the book.

She gives us a list of her 100 favorite plant picks for all uses and she explains how to care for them and keep them fat and healthy regardless of where you live. She is obviously well-versed on the subject and writes from a wealth of experience. Also, her enthusiasm for succulents is contagious and the humor with which she writes helps to convey that contagion.

This was a fun and interesting book to read and from it, I picked up several ideas for including succulents in my landscape and I am looking forward to getting to work on that. I am especially excited about the diverse palette of colors that are available and that were shown throughout the book through the remarkable photography.

If you have an interest in succulents, this might just be the book to help you get started. And if you don't have that interest, it might be the book to give it to you!

(A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher for the purposes of this review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.)

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This week in the garden - #85

Finally, this week we got the "killing frost" that we had been anticipating. Our low temperatures got into the 20s F. and all the plants in the garden that can be affected by frost are now in a deep winter's sleep. It's time to begin the clean-up and time to move those sleeping plants that are poorly sited and need to be in a different location.

Plants like my 'Montrose Purple' vitex that is presently living in the shade of my red oak tree. It grows in a misshapen form because it needs more sun. It would be happier, in fact, in full sun, so, I want to move it to a new location. But it is a big shrub and I'll need help with the project. I do want to save the vitex if I can. Assuming that I am able to secure the assistance I need, I hope that I can move that unhappy plant to a spot where it will be more comfortable - maybe next week.

*~*~*~*

Earlier this week, before the freeze came, I photographed this little butterfly in my garden.

It is a Sleepy Orange Sulphur butterfly. I don't often see them in my yard, but in the autumn of 2012, when we visited Big Bend National Park, these butterflies were everywhere. I love that name - Sleepy Orange.

*~*~*~*

There's not much going on in the garden with the plants at the moment, but it is one of the most active times of the year for the avian visitors to the garden. I keep my bird feeders well stocked and they are almost always busy with backyard birds like these.

 Carolina Chickadee

 Northern Cardinal

Pine Warbler

Thank goodness we have our feathered companions and the occasional butterfly to brighten our otherwise dull gray days of winter.

New Year's Eve blooms

 Christmas poinsettia still going strong.

 It wouldn't be winter without cyclamen. 

 Or pansies.

And more pansies.

 'Double Radazz' Knockout rose.

 'Monkey Business' rose.

'Cherry Nymph' amaryllis - too late for Christmas, just in time for New Year's.

From my house to yours this New Year's Eve, may 2014 be your best year yet and, most importantly, may your garden flourish! 

The Unexpected Houseplant by Tovah Martin: A review

(Cross-posted from The Nature of Things.)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I remembered Tovah Martin from some of the gardening shows I used to watch on TV, back when there were actual gardening shows on TV, so I was interested to read her book on houseplants. She is also the author of a number of other gardening books, none of which, I admit, I had ever read.

The uninitiated tend to equate indoor plants with that dusty, forgotten philodendron standing in some dark corner of the house, but according to Martin, the choices for indoor plants are much more extensive than philodendrons, African violets, and orchids. She is an evangelist for adding plants of many different varieties to the indoor garden.

She writes of using spring bulbs, lush perennials, succulents, even flowering vines and trees indoors. The key to the survival of these plants is, of course, light, water, feeding, grooming, and pruning, especially light and water, and Martin gives practical advice on how to provide what these indoor plants need. She gives tips on troubleshooting your plants, season by season, in order to keep them healthy.

Martin is a convincing proselytizer for the benefits of having an indoor garden. It's not just a matter of adding design flair to a home. Houseplants help to clean indoor air, which can be much more polluted than the outdoor air, and thus make the house healthier for its human occupants.

Martin's enthusiasm for her subject is obvious and she writes in a very knowledgeable and accessible manner which should be easily understandable by beginners as well as experienced indoor gardeners and decorators. Moreover, her text is illustrated by some beautiful photography by Kindra Clineff.

All in all, this is a comprehensive and useful guide for anyone who wants to add some beauty and warmth to their home with the use of houseplants. And it might even help you to keep those plants alive well into the new year!

(Helpful tip: Just don't overwater. That's always the cardinal sin that I and many other indoor gardeners seem to commit.)

Note: A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher for the purposes of this review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.


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The Layered Garden by David L. Culp: A review

(Cross-posted from The Nature of Things.)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A long-time writer and lecturer about gardening, David Culp, along with his partner, Michael Alderfer, has spent some twenty years creating their two-acre garden at Brandywine College in Downington, Pennsylvania. In this book, Culp shares the lessons he has learned from that experience.

The Brandywine garden is a layered garden, which simply means that it is a garden with plantings that are planned in order to provide a succession of eye-catching combinations (layers) of interest and beauty from earliest spring right into winter. It is a true four-season garden.

The way that Culp and his partner achieved a four-season garden in Pennsylvania is not necessarily the way that I would achieve it in Southeast Texas. The plants will be different with very little overlap because our climates and our soils are different, but the principles embraced by Culp and recommended by him have application regardless of the area in which one gardens.

The design technique of layering involves the interplanting of many different species in the same area so that as one plant passes its peak, another takes over, with the result that one can have a nonstop parade of color throughout the year. It is a technique of succession planting so that an area is never lacking in color and interest.

The basis of this method is, of course, knowing how to choose the correct plants for your area by understanding how they grow and change throughout the seasons. Then, one must have some idea of how to design a layered garden and know how and be willing to maintain it.

To illustrate these basics, Culp takes the reader on a personal tour through the several parts of his celebrated garden. We get to see the woodland garden, the perennial border, the kitchen garden, the shrubbery, and the walled garden and witness how they change throughout the year.

The final chapter of the book explores the signature plants used in the garden for all four seasons. Many of these signature plants will not be appropriate for other hotter or drier areas of the country. Peonies and hellebores, for example, will not find a home in my garden. Still, there are some plants that we have in common, like roses, members of the lilium family, asters, etc., and the practical advice and ideas behind the plantings are applicable anywhere. Applying them should make it possible to have a four-season garden in any climate.

Finally, I was glad to see a listing at the end of the book of some of Culp's own favorite garden books. They are works by many of his gardening heroes and heroines who are mentioned throughout the book. They represent a veritable encyclopedic range of knowledge about the art and science of gardening, and the list includes several books that I would very much like to add to my own bookshelves.   


(A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher for the purposes of this review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.)

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