No gardener in my zone goes gently into that night we know as winter. Should you live in Georgia or Tahiti, I imagine the garden goes on year round. I am sure come mid February, I will be longing for another place to be similar to the aforementioned. Those of us in northern zones dread the inevitable. The weather goes cold. Cold enough that every deciduous plant sheds its leaves. Cold enough to deeply freeze the ground and frost it with snow. With the cold comes brief gray days, and long dark nights.. The cold and the dark has that aura of endlessness about it. It is a tunnel that takes months from which to emerge. The not gardening season has arrived.
A mild December for us followed a very cold November. This means our first taste of winter is about the fog. The 40 and 50 degree daily temperatures hovering over frozen ground made for one beautifully foggy day after another. Not to mention very friendly conditions for installing winter container arrangements and lighting. The installation of pots and lighting at home come last. I was pleased that none of us were working there in 20 degree weather. The evergreens have taken on that olive/bronze winter color, as has the grass. Grass? It is a broadleaf evergreen in my winter garden.
That warmer foggy weather made it so easy to take picture after picture. It also endowed all of my pictures with a color saturation that parallels my visual experience. What you see is what I saw. If you live in my neighborhood, I am sure you see me out there touring the garden routinely. Spring, summer, and fall. The winter tours go on until the snow that is deeper than my boots are tall. The foggy early winter weather has been unexpected, and exceptionally beautiful. 
The mature flower heads of the limelight hydrangeas are spectacular right now. Funny that I have never thought that hydrangeas were worthy to plant for their winter interest, but interesting they are right now. The color and texture is a standout. The flowers will persist well into March. The color of the early winter hydrangea flowers is a version of cinnamon that is repeated in the the flame willow, and the obverse of the magnolia leaves. The pot pictured above is English made concrete in the classical Italian style. This weatherproof terra cotta wil endure the winter. All of that burnt orange color contrasts and resonates with the winter color on the boxwood. This is an unusual version of early winter that is worth savoring.
The garland over my door and porch windows will stay in place the entire winter. It will last as long as need be. It has a wintry, as opposed to holiday look.
I do have a cut evergreen tree in the pot in my side yard. My crew sinks the trunk into the soil. The tree is stabilized with concrete wire guy wires attached to four pieces of steel rebar sunk into the pot. The tree is loaded with LED lights which will light up this side garden all winter long. The arborvitae in the foreground, the boxwood and the grass provide green to this scene all winter long. The bare branches of the Princeton Gold maples are sculptural-especially in this New Year fog. The brick approach, the gate, the steel edger strip, the chair and the pot are all good examples of how objects stirred into a garden mix can create a little magic, no matter the season.
This lighted tree was a celebration indeed from before Christmas and through New Year’s. But it will keep on singing throughout the winter. Yes, I keep the lights on. I enjoy them as much during the day as I do at night. That subtle twinkle helps to stave off the gray. The daytime winter side garden view is a much muted and moody version of the summer. It seems appropriate to that season when the garden goes dormant. Once winter approaches, I am so pleased to have lots of evergreens.
I did spray all of my boxwood late this fall with VaporGard. It is an all natural product fashioned from pine resin that coats every leaf with a resinous wax. Properly applied, it stays in place all winter long. Broad leaved evergreens can suffer in a winter that is exceptionally cold and windy. Their thin broad leaves transpire with no opportunity to take up water from the roots. They can be severely damaged over the course of a bad winter. This coating helps prevent undue evaporation from the leaves. Juicy leaves are good looking and healthy leaves over the dormant season. Of course I watered my evergreens until very late in the season. That waxy coating is much better looking and more effective than burlap.
My garden is an at home real time version of nature. I am sure there are other places where the beauty of nature is more spectacular and showy, but this suits me just fine.
The view in from the street
The view out
The view from above
The warm temperatures have meant I have been able to tour after dark. Evening in the summer garden is a great pleasure. But an after dark experience of the winter garden is a once in a while experience. The seasonal lighting makes it easier to navigate in the dark.
A new dusting of snow creates beautiful shadows.
This container lights the stairs from the deck down into to the back yard at night. Of course I would want it to look good during the day. Those tall twigs are Japanese fan willow. The short brushy twigs? alder.
I can see my way at night going up and down. Milo is on the upper and I am on the lower. Such is our evening outing. He is on the elderly side now, so some of my tours he waits out. I can hear him barking for me, no matter where I am in the yard.
The lighted tree in the side garden tells a different tale every hour of the day and night. At dusk it begins to glow.
The Welsh poet Dylan Thomas wrote a poem called “Do not go gentle into that good night” in 1947. Pictured above is my garden sculpture version of that poem.
lighted pots in the front yard after dark
night light
the front door after dark
Eventually I ended up inside the front porch.
Welcome to my house, winter.
Ordering materials for containers on line or from a print catalogue is incredibly difficult. I have tried it, and I have had plenty of materials delivered that were not great. As in, did I buy this, no kidding??? I have tried to avoid shopping on line. I shopped the holiday and winter materials in person with Rob for 5 or 6 years. I liked being able to hold a pick in my hand. I could see the color. I could assess what its durability would be in a container. I could see the finished height-and the width. I could see how it would read. I could see how the shape, mass, and color would work with other elements under consideration. I could see what picks would be investment caliber, and which would be a one season fling. My shopping days are over now. I am happy to turn over the shopping for the winter season materials to Rob and Sunne. I have confidence that their choices will work for a wide range of my projects. And I respect and am intrigued by what materials they chooses from their own individual aesthetic. It is up to me to put what they buy together in such a way that my clients feel their taste is represented. If you are thinking that my design for holiday and winter container arrangements is fueled by beautiful materials- you are right.
This lead running fox is the work of HCrowther Ltd, which has been manufacturing lead garden ornament in London since 1908. Their sculpture is particularly fine. This very appealing sculpture is as at home in a stone trough as it would be in the lawn. My personal choice-set in a bed of European ginger.
This very old lead cistern carries the evidence of its age. The dealer in England from whom this piece was purchased thought it likely was at least two hundred years old. Wave the history card in my face, and I am done in. 
This lovely home in a local neighborhood was in sore need of updating, and needed additional space to house a young family with children. The addition was in progress the first time I saw the house. On this miserably wet and cold March day, the prospects for the outdoors did not look promising. Contractors had driven machines over every inch of land they owned. Water was sitting on the surface of the soil everywhere. It seemed like every move my clients made uncovered a new problem requiring attention. When a house is under major renovation, the landscape is last in line-as it needs to be. 
It wouldn’t be possible to install a landscape at this point. Some years ago the New York Times ran a feature about landscape costs-the thrust of which was that it can, and frequently does take as much money to build and furnish a landscape as a house. I don’t know that I would go that far, but a landscape is a considerable investment. Though property values have been under siege in our area of late, it is still true that for most people, their home will be the biggest investment they ever make-for better, or for worse. Thus I have no problem recommending to a young family that they invest such that fifteen years later, should they decide to move, a landscape that is in place will make that home they want to sell look settled, finished- irresistible. 
Some very important investments in a landscape are not fun. This property was the lowest property in the neighborhood, and water would stand and not drain for weeks after a heavy rain. The regrading and drainage work necessary to correct this problem was very expensive, and not so satisfying. It was about as much fun as buying a new hot water heater. I have seen many landscapes, installed both by home owners, and professional landscape contractors, where drainage issues were not addressed. The plant material is struggling, dying or dead from the lack of an investment in the drainage. For the sake of the future, some things cannot be skipped over.
These clients knew they wanted stone for their terrace and walkways. Bluestone is a gorgeous natural stone that gives a space a solid and serious look. They also wanted their stone wet set in mortar. Mortaring stone to a concrete substrate insures a level surface that presumably does not move, or require maintenance. I say this with one caveat; the winters in Michigan will heave up just about anything. I made sure the installation was expert.
Their decision was to stage the installation of the landscape such that they could have their mortared stone. The first year, their yard consisted of stone, and lawn. Year two saw the boxwood installed in the rear, and the yews in the front. This year, some of the garden. Next year, the yews designed to back up the boxwood here, and maybe an arbor. I do admire their willingness to wait, in order to have the landscape they wanted. Get a plan, pick a part to install you can handle, do it, and proceed again when time and money permits. This seems like such a logical and good way to proceed. 
The front porch, originally only inches wider than the front door, was redone. The new porch absorbed an awkward space between the original stoop, and the adjacent bay window. Four years later, with the exception of one stone that is shaling probably from salt damage, the stonework is beautifully intact.
The front walkways from the drive and streetside meet in a circular stone landing midway to the door. Perhaps there will be a sundial someday, or a sculpture, or a high school graduation picture being taken.