Winter | Deborah Silver & Co.

Winter Green

The color green has not nearly so much significance to a gardener as living green does. I have never taken the time to record how many different plants I have on my property, but suffice it to say that there are lots. Each of the plants have a certain shade of green associated with them. Taken as a whole, a garden is a green tapestry. Only a fraction of the possible colors of green represent in my garden today. A good portion of the garden is still dormant. My roses, shrubs and trees are bare. The perennials are buried under snow whose crust has frozen solid. My isotoma fluvialitis is entirely brown. What’s to look at? The living green in winter is a certain kind of green we call evergreen. Given that our winter is still holding on in March, this is the perfect time to be thinking about evergreens, and how they endow the winter landscape.

That group of plants that manage to stay green over our winter-not such a big range, but impressive in their delivery. The ability for spruce, douglas fir, white pine, boxwood, and rhododendron to stay green over the winter is an extraordinary story of adaptation. Evergreen trees and shrubs do not shed their needles and leaves at the end of the season. They shed interior needles on species specific schedules during the growing season-but definitely not during the winter. Evergreen trees has evolved such that the individual needles have very little in the way of surface area. Those needles are vastly better adapted to resist the drying from winter winds, and survive without photosynthesis going on, than a big fat juicy leaf of a hydrangea. Hydrangeas, and many other deciduous plants, shed that juicy liability in the fall. The needled and broadleaved evergreens-they tough it out.

My urban property has but one large spruce. I am sure it has been here at least 40 years. Maybe 60 years. This tree is green, winter and summer. The winter green is moody and dark, unlike the summer emerald green. I am never more appreciative of that green than I am right now. I barely notice this tree in the summer. In the winter, I see it coming from blocks away. The evergreens that define my winter garden-I could not be more appreciative.

Yews are needle leaved evergreen shrubs. Their dense and dark forest green needles provide such beautiful structure to a garden. In the spring, the new growth is lime green. In the depths of the winter, the color is almost black. Watching the change in color given the season is to understand how plants deal with stress. A yew floating in much too much water-the needles will be yellow. A yew that dies makes a spectacular issue of that demise. Orange needled yews-I am sure you have seen them. Yews in the thick of enduring the winter-the needles are almost black. The color green teaches, should you be watching.

Evergreens provide a stalwart backdrop in the winter for the snow covered branches, and the wispy tufts and remains of the perennial garden. This black green backdrop of hedged yews brings a magnolia into clear focus. Were this view open to the street, the delicate tracery of the branches and the overall shape of this tree would be lost. Specimen evergreens need ample space around them-appreciative space. Hedging evergreens whose repetition defines spaces help to create winter interest.

Broad leaved evergreens are a glutton for punishment. Rhododendrons feature broad leaves with big surfaces that suffer much more damage than needled evergreens. Those big leaves react to winter weather graphically. Those big leaves are sitting ducks for serious cold and vicious wind. The rhododendron outside my home office window tell me whether the day is cold. In cold weather, rhododendron leaves curl and drop down. In very cold weather, the droopy outline of the leaf is rolled in on itself- much like a pencil. In much the same way as I curl up on a cold day, their curling and dropping mechanism helps protect them from extreme cold. In the picture above, the leaves are hanging, dangling, from the stems. This is a winter profile, generated by adaptation. Once the leaves fan out, I know the temperature has moderated. Rhododendrons prosper far better in warmer zones than mine, but my few plants grace my garden with green all winter.

Boxwood-no other evergreen shrub describes a landscape better. Most of our suppliers winter their boxwood in tunnel houses. How so? A boxwood out of the ground, in a pot, is an evergreen needing protection from the winter. Boxwood in containers require special care, as their roots winter above ground. Lots of water prior to the freeze is a good idea. A wilt pruf spray- not a a bad idea. Evergreens in pots at the front door is a very good winter look.

Boxwood in the ground prospers in my yard. The evergreens, both big and small, both needled and broad leaved, define a landscape both summer and winter.

If a winter season is unavoidable, the evergreens help to make it a little easier to bear. They organize a space when snow has all but obliterated any of the details. Once established, evergreens are long lived, and low maintenance.

This day would have been ever so much more bleak, without the evergreens.

Posted on: March 7, 2013 6 Comments

Filed Under: Winter, Plants, Woody Plants, Landscape Design Tagged With: evergreens in the landscape, evergreens

Winter Rain

Michigan is in the middle of several days of rain. This in and of itself is not particularly remarkable, but for the fact that it is the end of January. Winter rain in zones where the ground freezes is just cause for alarm. Our frost is not so deep this year-15 inches down into the ground. Any amount of frozen ground means that rain will not be absorbed; 15 inches of frost means frozen. Todays rain will run to drains and sewers, or it will sit. As Thursday’s forecast calls for a daytime high of 25, any water not absorbed by a storm sewer system by then will freeze. This roadway between the shop and Branch will be a sheet of ice come Thursday, if this water has no place to drain.

The day has been spectacularly gloomy and foggy. The rain has been both steady, and heavy. Many roads are flooded. This picture was taken at Branch. The buildings there sit on 7 acres of land. This land is comprises of little rocks, big rocks, and a thin layer of compost. The landscape plants you see here are heeled in-above ground. There is not much point to digging into the rocky soil. Our landscape nursery sees lots of materials come and go. We heel in, above ground.

Our rocky property drains like crazy. In a hot summer, Steve has to watch and water our nursery stock daily. 7 days a week daily. The only rain water sitting today is the rain on the concrete. The land itself has no puddles. The compost piles should be thoroughly saturated by this heavy rain. Any water in the piles that freezes will expand. This expansion will move the compost-no harm in that. Nature will incorporate air into the compost.

Water that freezes in a pot that does not drain can prove very distructive. This Francesca del Re pot blew over in the 60mph winds we had last week. Though this frostproof pot is made from a clay that is loaded with minerals and grog, it broke. Sufficient wind and water give life. Extreme wind and water can spell disaster.

Winter rain is deadly to pots and sculpture that do not drain. Water that freezes expands. Nothing stops that expansion. Concrete sculptures can be shattered. Even the best handmade terra cotta pots will absorb water. Once that absorbed water freezes and expands, it can shatter a pot. Years ago I had a client with an antique cistern that she did not drain. Water that collected and froze in that cistern split the cast iron cistern open. Providing for good drainage is not just a summer issue. Anywhere water collects and sits is a recipe for trouble.

This cast stone urn on a plinth at the shop is not draining. Part of tomorrow’s work will be setting the water free. Lets say that the water was left to freeze in this urn. The shape of the urn is outfacing. This means that the water that expands as it freezes will have an outward and upward journey. I would guess the freezing process will not harm this urn. But any water that is trapped in a pot, or under a sculpture-the winter weather in Michigan could damage it.

It is pouring rain tonight! No end of ornament in the garden will collect that rain. Michigan gardeners-check out where water is collecting. Prepare for the freezing temperatures to come. If water that threatens to freeze threatens you, make a move. Drain the water away ahead of the freeze to come.

Rain in the winter-it can be beautiful. It can mean trouble. Pelting rain and fog in late January-nature at work.

Posted on: January 29, 2013 4 Comments

Filed Under: Winter Tagged With: winter rain, garden ornament care

Let It Snow

Snow-just what is it? Water, high in the atmosphere freezes, forming very small ice crystals. These ice crystals, in the form of individual snowflakes, fall to earth, blanketing your garden and mine with a white granular substance we call snow. Frozen rain, if you will. Ordinarily, I am not a big fan of the snow. It is cold. It is difficult to walk and drive through. Worst of all, it is a sure sign that the growing season has come to a close. Once the garden goes to sleep, the snow usually comes, and covers all until the weather turns.

Snow can be just the thing-for people who sled or ski. My appreciation is a little less visceral. I love the white of it. Snow makes such a stark and crisp contrast to our relentlessly gray winter skies. Even the softest light will make it sparkle. Fresh heavy snow is visually dramatic in form, texture, and mass.

Snow falling on a windless day emphasizes the shape and configuration of everything it touches. Flat surfaces build up snow collars. A chain link fence catches the snow in a way that beautifully describes its texture. A perennial garden cut back to the ground gets a softly undulating and sleepy shape. The snow will detail every vertical blade of ornamental grass left standing.

In my zone, a winter blanket of snow protects many plants from dessicating winds. Though it is hard to believe that ice crystals could offer any protection, a blanket of snow insulates. The frozen ground will stay frozen. Ground that freezes and thaws can heave plants out of the ground. Insulation is a preventative against all kinds of loss. Heat loss from the roof or the hot water pipes. My down jacket-insulation against the cold. The snow keeps everything uniformly cold.

A winter with no snow cover worries me. I like all of my plants buried in snow. Comforted and protected-this they need. The winter temperatures and winds can kill. As much as I treasure what nature provides, winter can be a formidable enemy to living things without protection.

As for the snow falling today-I welcome it. Our summer was very hot, and very dry. In the back of my mind, a worry about the lack of water. Snow is water in an alternative form. As every living plant depends on water to survive, I welcome this version. Once the ground thaws, a bit of that water delivered via snow will be absorbed into the ground.

Last winter was an anomaly. Warm temperatures throughout-no snow. This weather deprived me of plenty. No flowers on the magnolia trees. Poor bloom on the roses. Garden disappointment-I hope to not have this next spring. Today’s heavy snow comforts me. It is so beautiful. It is so expected.

My good friend MK writes me today that the snow is uplifting his spirits. Discussion not needed- I understand his feeling. The snow feels right. Basic to the psyche of any gardener is instinct to protect. The snow blanket is an essential part of the natural order of things.

Bring on the snow! I am enchanted as much by its beauty as I am by its utility. Though I will never enjoy it to the extent that Milo does, I appreciate this particular season for what it is. Quiet, and beautiful.

Posted on: December 27, 2012 6 Comments

Filed Under: Winter, The Natural World Tagged With: the winter season, winter weather, winter, snow

The Garden Designers Roundtable: Cheap And Chic

I am sure I have read countless articles entitled “Cheap and Chic”-as if cheap and chic were truly a believable or desirable place to be. I favor cheap if it doesn’t look and act cheap-no further explanation is necessary here. A vast planting of hellebores looks fancy, whether it came from seed, or from giant one gallon pots. As for chic-not the focus of any gardener. Those magazine pages picturing gardeners is spotless clothes and shoes are about something other than gardening. Great design has nothing to do with cost. It is the doing that costs. An extensive landscape project with mature plant material installed all at once-expect to spend lots. Make it a life’s work-expect to spend lots of your time, effort and energy. The urn pictured above with bamboo stakes glued around a circular form-cheap and chic. Meaning properly proportioned. Scaled correctly for the space. A garden urn and pedestal indoors? Filled with what looks like 200 varnished natural bamboo stakes? Satisfyingly stylish, with a dash of the unexpected. A fireplace full of candles collected over time? Collections beautifully or unusually displayed make a strong visual impression. The fireplace strung with a pair of mirror garlands-chic in the fashion sense of the word. The metal angel hair draped over the fountain looks sumptuous as it is too far away for close inspection. Up close, you would know it was cheap.

Available everywhere, even in your own drawer or shed, are objects whose shape is as interesting as their use. Vintage augurs rusty from disuse are available for a song. Strung with lights, and hung from a tree branch-amazingly dressy.

One of the holiday season’s most recognizable decorations-giant rayon weatherproof bows. The ribbon has one finished faux felt side. The backside is most definitely the back side. They are usually made by a bow making machine that keeps the finished side out, and the back side hidden from view. The bright red version is common on wreaths, garlands, and car bumpers and lampposts this time of year. The wine red version-I thought it had possibilities.

The cloud of red curly willow in the pots in the front of the shop is remarkable given the natural shape and contours of the branches. The cinnamon orange color-rich and vibrant as only natural color can be. Yes, the sticks are cheap. They are especially cheap if you grow your own. Grow your own, create your own, repurpose and reimagine what you already own-what you spend in doing such is the most satisfying way to spend.

The wine red rayon bows take on an entirely different feeling paired with the willow. This color takes on a jewel like look, in relationship to the color of the willow. A 5.00 machine made cheap bow transformed a winter look into a very dressy holiday look.

Dark and intense color is rich looking, no matter the material you use to achieve it. I am not a bow maker, but who needs to know that? I sure can glue loops onto a cardboard backing. And I can glue loops big enough to disguise the emergency light installed dead center to the front door.

Simple is always cheap. The time you spend second guessing an idea, or revising, or agonizing over what to do can be an expensive outlay of time. Trusting your first instinct about what to do-much cheaper. An idea simply expressed is cheaper-less costs less. A simple idea repeated until is makes a strong visual impact-chic. My clients who envision 100 boxwoods in pots for their landscape-not cheap, but how chic!