Yes winter is hard, the sky is often gray and this year it has been rain, wind, storm, rain, storm, rain, wind, rain, rain - well, you get the picture. The weather has been miserable, which it usually is in winter, but its been constant rainy miserable rather than snow-ice miserable.
I have mentioned in previous posts that I am not a fan of evergreens and this is indeed the case. I do have some, I am not an evergreen free-zone but they are not top on my list of must-have plants. Yet I look around my garden and it has color and indeed, quite a bit of green.
There are some flowers, the hellebores are just coming into flower,
and probably due to the lack of snow and ice there are even some daisies in the lawn. I encourage daisies in the lawn, a lawn without daisies is, well, grass really without daisies, a bit too mono-culture for me.
The article quotes James Golden where he talks of a garden "One that evokes and looks seriously at decay and death ..." now I would not say that I am looking to evoke decay and death in my garden, I can be a bit dark at times but that is dark even for me. I do though like the change from autumn to winter, the dying down and the feeling that the garden is going to sleep. There is a beauty in this death and also life for the wildlife as it is often a great source of food.
Spring is about awakening, the color and life returning. I do have some color in the garden, there are the Hamamelis which are a joy this time of year. This Hamamelis Jelena is by the pond, you can see the orange fuzz if you squint at the picture enough, it is still quite young so each year the display gets that little bit more. I like this glimpse of color as to me it has more impact that if there was constant color this time of year.
Without the pause for winter there would be little point in a spring border, this scratty muddy bit is my spring border. It will look better in a few weeks, promise.
I would not get so excited about life returning if I did not allow the garden to have winter. This wonderful green flush of an oriental poppy brings with it great promise. Well, hopefully anyway as it might still get snowed on, there is still time.
The small points of color that continue through the winter are highly prized. This Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve' must be one the longest lasting flowering plants I have.
and counting the furry paw-buds on the Magnolia stellata is counting how much happiness it will bring when they flower.
This however, is a highly prized evergreen, this is Illicium simonsii, bought from Crûg Farm Nursery last year. It was a total impulse buy but I love it. It flowered well and so far is looking hardy as hardy though it is purposely in quite a sheltered spot.
and I love the Illicium, I really do, but this time of year the blossom on the winter flowering cherry probably brings me more happiness.I do not see my garden as ugly this time of year, muddy yes, ugly not really. In order to appreciate the life in it I am happy to see the death, as it is not really death but a pause, a moment of waiting before spring returns. It is no surprise that I have already written about Persephone previously is it?
On the day I sat down to write this a box of dahlias and crocosmia arrived, its like a carnival of summer in a box, the winter pause makes this thought of color even more welcome. If it was constant carnival the carnival would not be so welcome. Like Lucy I embrace the 'ugliness' of the garden this time of year. Suddenly I am reminded of the song of the ugly duckling......
