The gray and murk continue here in the north country. I escaped for a bit last week though when I spent six lovely days visiting my family in Florida. I snapped these spider webs one morning while out walking. They might be made by sheet web spiders or perhaps made by bowl and doily weavers. I didn’t see a spider so I can’t tell for sure. The patterns are incredibly intricate. I thought the morning dew on them looked very Christmasy.
I think I mentioned before about the wonderful Garden Bloggers Bloom Day that many gardeners participate in. My garden in Massachusetts is sleeping. I am visiting my son, daughter in law and granddaughter in Florida for a few days.. perhaps you’d like to see what’s blooming in their garden.
A collection of succulents
Staghorn fern spores
A very funky “Christmasy” looking plant that I saw on my morning walk
The dark days are here. It doesn’t get light until 6:00 am the sun goes down at 4:15 pm. The beautiful snow we had has now mostly melted and what remains is dirt encrusted frozen chunks left from the plow. Christmas decor is popping up all over town though, and the lights and color are most welcome. I have some of my decorating done, but the real tree will be done next week. Last week I put up my sparkle tree. I got the idea from my sisters who live in northern Vermont. They bring in a big branch, cover it in lights and suspend it from the ceiling. Then they hang crystal, glass, white , gold, and silver ornaments on it. The whole room just glows.
I have a lot of those ornaments that I used to put on my fresh tree but now I put them on my sparkle tree. My branch is upright – usually in an old sap bucket – this year I couldn’t find it – must have stashed it away somewhere and so I used a wooden wastebasket as a base. The branch goes in the base – I fill it with rocks, small hand weights, gravel and make sure its real sturdy. Then I wrap strings of tiny lights all over the branches, hang the glass icicles, vintage ornaments, crocheted snowflakes, etc. and plug it in. The darkness disappears.. Let there be light.
My garden club does a terrific job beautifying our small community. We have 46 active members and take care of many of the “commons” and other areas in our small New England town. We also do some work at the Virginia Thurston Healing Garden in nearby Harvard, MA. http://www.healinggarden.net.
The last couple of weeks we’ve been out cleaning up the gardens for the winter and putting up some seasonal decor as well.
Here we are at the Hollis St triangle on Main St.
Spreading mulch at 4 corners – this is a brand new installation and we can’t wait til spring to see all the bulbs come up (421 planted)
Job finished – the day before the big snowstorm
Wreaths at Sawyer Common
And at the Blue Star Memorial ( created by the Garden Club)
Crew at the Virginia Thurston Healing Garden
Planter close-up
Healing garden entrance
Healing garden bench area
Healing garden urn
Watering trough in W. Groton
Carol Wheeler park in W. Groton
There’s something about the first real snow. Everything softens. The last vestiges of a decaying autumn change overnight to a magical world. This snow was wet and heavy and clung to branches. Unfortunately that meant power outages and broken tree limbs for some, but no one could deny the sheer beauty of the white fluff.
The garden as the first flakes began to fly
Later on in the afternoon.. garden lights on
The next morning at sunrise
Bent birches
Sunrise catching the tips of the maples
Glory
Its raining hard outside, snow on the way in a couple of days. Yesterday was the last hurrah for the lawn – it was mowed and then the machinery was cleaned up and put to bed for the winter. The last of the mums and other perennials were cut back and composted and other chores completed. I put the deer fence put up around the azaleas and arbor vitae. I use 6 foot tomato stakes pounded into the ground at intervals. Then I take fishing line and string it at the top and also at about three feet high. My dad always used this method around his veggie garden, and it works very well. Its not the loveliest of garden structures, but it keeps the deer from nibbling all the buds off things, so its worth it.
Speaking of garden structures…. since things are pretty much done out in the garden except for the wintry scenes to come, I thought I would show you some of the stone and other structures I have in my garden. These photos were obviously taken earlier in the year.
This lovely lady was given to me by my in-laws.. she says, “welcome to my garden, please enter and enjoy”
I purchased the birdbath many years ago when we lived in Rhode Island, the globes were given to me by my sister Betsy and hang on shepherd’s hooks used in son Matt’s wedding. The star came from neighbor Sally’s farm, the birdhouse was purchased locally
The fish mobile was given to me by my in-laws and came from Minnesota
This fencing was in the garden when we moved here.. I wasn’t sure I liked it at first but now I love it as it has aged and become covered in lichens
A sand cast cement birdbath I made this spring
Stone birdbaths purchased at stoneyard nearby
Birdbaths with some water in them
An old soapstone bird of my grandmother’s
Granite bench which was in the middle of the field when we moved in.. it looks better in the garden
An iron dragonfly purchased in the San Juan Islands when on a trip with son and daughter in law in the 90’s
Beautiful old pot from Kilbridge’s in Groton
This soapstone sink was given to me by garden club friend Mollie.. I turned it into a trough
The birdbath was purchased locally, the iron pot is not old but has rusted nicely and makes a great trough for saxifraga
This rock sculpture was given to me by friend Joan and is called ‘Joanhenge”
Swan given to me by my sister Betsy for a special birthday
Here she is potted up
I gave this birdbath to my mom years ago, it broke into pieces one winter.. I glued it back together and now have it in my garden
A trellis I purchased locally
Another cool trellis
We found this iron kettle under 3 feet of snow (after it melted) at our first house in W. Simsbury, CT in 1978
And last… a living sculpture.. Happy Thanksgiving dear readers…I am thankful for all of you.
We had a light dusting of snow a few days ago….
Full house on the feeder
Everyone is stocking up
More snow on the way tonight. I guess winter is upon us.
It finally happened. Jack Frost came by and put his special touch on everything. In the early morning, the plants have beautiful frosty edgings.
Sunrise on the garden globe
The porch plants came inside to their winter home.. a shower stall in the downstairs bathroom makes a great little greenhouse
By mid-morning, the sun has warmed things up. The real cold is coming the end of the week so over the weekend it was time to finish the fall clean-up. Patio and porch furniture came into the garage for the winter, ceramic birdbaths were emptied and stored away so they won’t crack, trellises/stakes/and supports stashed away and deer fence put up. I took bushels and bushels of decaying plant material to the compost. The Sheffield mums are still going strong so I left those alone.
Smokebush leaves continue to change
The gorgeous red blossoms on the pineapple sage remain
The meadow received its annual mowing
One last alpine strawberry
A thrift decided it wasn’t done yet
A leaf hanging on
And a turkey in a ma-a-ple tree……
My garden club maintains a lot of different areas in town and those all required clean-up this week too. Yesterday we cleaned up the Blue Star Memorial so it would be ready for today’s ceremonies. Thank you for your service, Veterans.
Happy Halloween. I think today is the last day for the flowers… supposed to be in the 40s’s tomorrow windy and rainy and in the 20’s tomorrow night so the hard freeze will finally come. I have been slowly working on the autumnal chores. The iris and daylily and other “soft” foliage has been cut back, but I’ve left the woody stuff for winter interest. Today I’ll cut back the dahlias, cannas, and elephant ears and dig them up for overwintering. The brugmansia, geraniums and all the other pots will come into the basement. I’ve already brought in the succulents and orchids. Some ivys and other things from the porch will come in as well. The front hall will look like a tropical jungle until I figure out places to put everything. I always save too much stuff. I need a sunroom or greenhouse!
Here’s a few last looks before it all goes.
View out the upstairs window – this maple is always late but worth waiting for
Birch and maple
I love the heart shaped leaves on the Redbud in the foreground
The slide slope and back steps
Sunset from the porch
The leaves are going – the big wind and rain storm last week caused a lot of them to drop. The 4 1/2 inches of rain we received here was much needed though. We have escaped the heavy frost here so a few plants are still blooming – dahlias, cannas, brugmansia, montauk daisies, sheffield mums, plumbago, verbena bonariensis and toad lilies to name a few. I’ve moved a few things that needed moving and started cutting back some of the daylily foliage. Its time to start putting the garden to bed, but the big clean-up will have to wait another week or two.
Sheffield mums in front of a canna leaf
Highbush blueberry with gorgeous red foliage
A late turning maple framing some birch
Al fresco dining season is sadly over…
I thought it would be fun to see what else I’ve been doing to keep busy in the garden. My garden club had a workshop where we learned to make sand cast cement birdbaths and I have made them three times now.
This is a rhubarb leaf
Hosta leaf
Papyrus
Three medium sized elephants ears – each about 18 inches long – which my sisters received in October as early Christmas gifts
A huge elephant ear and a papyrus drying in the sun
Finished elephant ear – with a flip flop for scale. This one is heading to Florida in February.
I think I’ll be making more of these.
Gramma Penny's Garden 