Monday, December 5, 2011

A frosty winter morning in the garden

 This morning I awakened to crystal white crust on neighboring roofs and the garden. It was gorgeous!




Leptinella 'Platt's Black'


Corokia cotoneaster curving hedge with Hakonechloa 'Aureole' in its buff-colored winter glory

The Edgeworthia chrysantha still holding onto its leaves, Hakonechloa 'All Gold', Calamagrostis brachytricha and Ophiopogon cultivars.

The Musa basjoo leaves looking more like green, floating combs than banana leaves.

I've removed the annuals from the pots (mostly), the abutilon is still blooming along side the Echium.


Abutilon, Loropetalum, Echium, Ophiopogon and Eriobotrya.

The mostly evergreen sweeps of plantings are beginning to take effect.

I've made one 'clean up pass' through the garden and will finish when the trees have finished their final winter slough.

Hakonechloa 'All Gold'

Its about time to 'top' the bananas. 

Yesterday morning while drinking my coffee on the covered back porch, I witnessed a humingbird feeding on the Mahonia, then the Abutilon, then zoomed to the water feature for a drink- now THAT is the way to start the day!

Mahonia blooms

8 comments:

Loree / danger garden said...

So remind me...you do nothing to protect your bananas right? And they don't die back completely to the ground?

Did you remove your Astelia or are you letting it just "pass on" if we get a bad winter? And what about that Echium?

Garden Furniture said...

Wow, you keep your garden so tidy. I bet it looks really beautiful in the summer time.

Lauren said...

Right...I'm a lazy gardener! Although the thought of wrapping the bananas has occurred to me this year. I've never wrapped my bananas and this year they reached 20 feet tall! They were about 2 feet high at the beginning of the spring. If I had a new banana in the ground or a small clump, I'd wrap the trunk.

Good memory...I dug up the Astelia chathamica. The Echium stays. I may cover it with Remay...I may not...it was a seedling that I left in the ground.

Lauren said...

Well, thank you, Garden Furniture! My garden is a focal point from many windows in my house and I find that a lot of winter structure and tidiness helps my state of mind through the dark, rainy, Pacific Northwest winters.

Anonymous said...

I'm a reader from Seattle. I have similar plant tastes and the need for structure and tidiness myself. Keep blogging!

Lauren said...

Hello Seattle Reader, do you have ESP? I've been on my case (this week) for being an inconsistent blogger - thank you for the booster! And thank you for reading and commenting!

Anonymous said...

oh yes please continue to blog. your blog is on my bookmarks BAR so i check in every day. No pressure...just know that there is ME out there that reads YOU.

Lauren said...

Will do, thank you Seattle Reader!