My tulips on February 25
On February 25 I took a photo of the tulips I was forcing. This little pot of bulbs was clearly not developing at the same time. But even as the most advanced tulip began to decline, the others were just coming into bloom.
My tulips March 10
As I watched the decline of my tulips, the colors changing, the petals crinkling I was reminded of a practice at a meditation center I once read about. On the first day of a week of meditation a beautiful big bouquet of flowers was set out in the meditation space. Over the course of the week the flowers in the bouquet began to decline and shrivel. By the end of the week, many of the flowers would be very dead indeed. The point was a visual example of the change that comes with every moment, every day, in the world and in each of us.
My landscape March 11
Change is coming rapidly here on the hill. After a few days of daytime temperatures in the 40s, and a night of rain there is still a lot of snow on the ground, but the road is muddy. Fog is floating over the snow because the air is so much warmer than the ground. In just the hour since I took this photo the air has warmed further and the fog is thicker. The air is soft and damp. We are on the cusp of spring. The sugar houses are beginning to boil sap into sweet syrup. I wonder how bad mud season will be this year. The only thing I know is that it will not be like last year. Things are never exactly the same. Everything changes.
Cottage Ornee 2-27-13
Yellow Birch 2-27-13
Sargent crab in Sunken Garden 2-27-13
Over the week the snow has been refreshed by snow showers. Drifts and plow banks by the roadsides remain deep and high. It still feels like deep winter.
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Yellow birch in the snow
Outside snow is blowing across my hill.
Tulips in the greenhouse
Inside the greenhouses at Mt Holyoke and Smith College tulips are beginning to bloom. On March 2 the greenhouses welcome the public to the Annual Bulb Shows.
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Yellow Birch in snowfall
Almost March, but it still feels like deep winter.
Praying mantis in the snow
Everything is white and still.
Bridge of Flowers in February
The Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls is icy. And closed.
Salmon Falls
Salmon Falls and the Potholes are frozen. Winter has not lost its hold
Grandson Rory sledding
Winter is for time with 16 year old grandson Rory. And sledding. And bowling. And movies. And philosophical, economic and history conversations. Whew!
Rory downhill
Time to come in
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Winter trees at the End of the Road
The leafless landscape seems dead, but dormancy is only a false death. In the 1/24 issue of the New York Times Michael Tortorello takes us on a wintry horticultural tour of gardens in New York City and learns that death is not what winter brings. I grant you, the activity he sees in Central Park and other places is rather different from the dormancy I can see in my frozen snowy landscape, but still, his guides make a point.
An important lesson is that it is not really the cold that makes trees and shrubs lose their leaves, it is drought. Plant respire through their foliage and lose a great percentage of their moisture through their leaves. If the ground is frozen there is no more water being taken in, so the leaves have to go.
Rhododendron Foliage 1-25-13
Rhododendrons, broad leaved evergreens, do not lose their foliage, but you can see how the leaves curl to minimize moisture loss. These leaves are still performing some photosynthesis. It is the look of these droopy cigar-like leaves that made me dislike rhodies for a very long time. I don’t know why the wonderful spring flowers did not make as big an impression on me when I was a young non-gardener as the winter foliage.
While there is no chickweed or knotweed or mugwort sprouting in my neighborhood as there is in Central Park, a close look will show tiny green buds on the lilacs, and the buds on the rhododendrons are not hard to see at all.
Dormancy is not death. We are all just waiting. I am more impatient than the plants.
Paperwhite daffs from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs
The days grow longer, so even though we are ‘enjoying’ a week of zero temperatures – and below – we can feel the shifting of seasons. The paperwhites that Brent and Becky sent along with my order as a bonus to cheer those of us who lived through Superstorm Sandy are indeed encouraging.
I potted up my paperwhites in late November and kept them out in our bright unheated Great Room until January 6. Unlike most daffodils they do not need chilling in order to bloom but I wanted that bloom when the excitement of Christmas was over and when I was facing what I consider the longest month of the year, February.
Days grow longer and my lasitude begins to shift, but still the days grow colder which keeps me tethered to the house and as many hours near the woodstove as I can manage. This year I am not complaining about the cold. It is my understanding that one of the reasons for the increase in the number of ticks and terrible invasive insects like the emerald ash borer and the Asian longhorn beetle is the mildness of our recent winters. We need the winter cold to rid ourselves of these destructive insects. The city of Worcester, not far from us, has lost many of its trees due to a serious invasion of the asian longhorn beetle.
The days grow longer. What cheers you?
Possum in the Compost Pile
This opossum has been a regular evening visit to our compost pile. I don’t think it is heating up at this time of the year but at least s/he is loading up on nutrituous peels.
ADDENDUM – I had forgotten that oppossums are Marsupials – just like kangaroos. Only smaller, of course. Lots of fascinating information about oppossums here from the National Oppossum Society.
View from the house
Cottage Ornee January 12, 2013
The road back home
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Trees at the End of the Road
The winter light at the End of the Road is all about all I have to say about gardening on these winter days. I’m just enjoying the view.
Trees at the End of the Road
Trees at the End of the Road
Rooster and snow
This rooster guards the front door, even during blizzards.
Krishna in the snow
Trees down by ice 2010
Sunset – almost
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