The days are getting longer! Well that’s what we all say but what it really means is that the amount of daylight will now begin to increase, albeit quite slowly. I like the light and don’t care for a sunset at 4:30 in the evening. I am always happy when the upswing happens. Its all upward from here. The garden is resting of course. The bluebirds and other birds visit constantly. The squirrels keep us entertained, the deer appear from time to time, and we have had a beautiful fox visit as well. We had a bit of snow but that melted, and now we are getting a big rainstorm instead of a snowstorm this week. Then it will get very very cold but dry, so it doesn’t look like we will have a white Christmas this year.

I thought perhaps I would share a bit of decor since there’s nothing in the garden to look at.

This is the front porch

Front Door

Porch arrangement

Grapevine tree, tools and a sled

Mantle

Twig sparkle tree – This goes up before the real tree and provides lots of light this time of year

Table decor with an antique decoy and natural materials.

We had garden visitors of course. We always battle the squirrels, and this one is quite clever.

These ladies were watching my every move

Gorgeous sunrise

I made this grapevine tree on the porch table years ago. The photo was taken a couple weeks ago when we had a little snow. It looks very Christmasy to me. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I count my many blessings and am grateful for my gardens and my gardening friends. May the New Year bring you joy.

Time flies. Sorry I didn’t get a post done earlier in the month. November was typical – warm one day, cold and frosty the next. There’s always so much work to be done in the garden this time of year. Its not all that enjoyable putting the garden to bed. The plus side is that after its done, I get to rest for awhile.

I cut back the dahlias after a frost, dug them and dried them before putting them to bed for the winter in the basement.

The meadow got its annual haircut.

The never ending battle with the squirrels continues, but they are entertaining and very resourceful.

The Brugmansia put out a late flush of bloom. We dragged it into the garage so it wouldn’t freeze. I need to cut it way back before I can get it into the basement for winter dormancy, but it was so pretty I couldn’t bear to trim it yet. This photo is from a couple weeks ago but a few buds still popped this morning.

This Bradford Pear has been severely leaning since it was hit by a broken maple branch during a windstorm a few years ago. We were afraid it would eventually pull right out of the ground in the winter wind storms and crush everything in its path. We decided to lop the top off and see if we could salvage some of it.

It looks pretty bad right now, but hopefully it will fill out in the spring and still provide a bit of shade for the plants that are growing beneath it.

Frosty mornings are always pretty

Lambs ears with a coating of hoarfrost

And finally, my garden nymph watches over the garden until spring. We have plans for next year of course. I hope to create a crevice garden in the front bed by the driveway using stones from a kind neighbor. Some plants need to be moved to different areas of the garden where they can expand. I plan to expand the dahlia section. Stay tuned