We still haven't had a frost, but word is there's one coming this weekend. So I made the rounds of the garden the other day to check out what looked interesting, because by the time the weekend is done, the garden will probably be done also.
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| Calendula 'Solar Flashback' -- I picked it and put it in a bud vase behind my kitchen sink |
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| Last few Erysimum flowers |
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| Hellebore flowers, getting ready to open, will undoubtedly survive the frost since they are winter-flowering plants |
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| Panicum's panoply of hues |
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| Self-sown Euphorbia, possibly 'Blackbird' offspring, has such interesting colors |
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| Holly fern spores |
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| Eryngium 'Blue Glitter' seedheads |
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| Bear's breeches/Acanthus mollis |
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| Last four fig leaves |
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| One last fig that never got big enough to ripen |
I've made all the big changes to the garden that I wanted to for the fall. In late winter/early spring (i.e, late January/February) I'm planning to start a major renovation of the gravel garden. Between now and then, I'll be out in the garden most days for a short amount of time, cleaning up and cutting back. I don't have a huge garden, but it's big for me (about 2/3 acre), and if I want to keep up, I really need to get my cleanup done little by little over the course of the winter. I like to leave seedheads like coneflowers up for the birds, and colorful blades like Panicums stay for winter interest till they get cut to the ground in the spring. But mushy foliage needs to go, and anything dead needs to be cut back before things start to bud out again, which here in the PNW starts to happen in February for certain plants.
In January I'll start sowing seeds out in the greenhouse too, as well as some, like Verbena bonariensis and a few California wildflowers, that I plan to sow in place in the beds.
Also in February, not that far away now, is the
Northwest Flower and Garden Show, which I plan to attend this year (I missed last year because I was recuperating from surgery). The theme this year is "Taste of Spring." It may sound kind of generic, but it does give them lots of leeway to be creative, so I'm looking forward to it, I'm looking forward to taking pictures for the blog and sharing them. And I hope you're looking forward to seeing them.
