As I write this it is deep winter outside. The temperature dropped to -6 last night which is very cold for here in the mild middle. As ever when it gets to this time of year I know that I am focussing on the detail in the garden to get my 'colour' hit.
I would blame my own personal preferences for needing to find the colour in the garden, as I am not a huge fan of evergreens. Except most of the evergreens are..... well ..... green and I do have quite a bit of green in the garden. So let me start with the flowering ornamental quince in the front garden: Chaenomeles Crimson and Gold. This is a lovely shrub, it forms a hedge under the lounge window and it flowers nice and early for the early pollinators. I often grumble that it refuses to grow to reach the windowsill, which is what I wish it to do. It turns out wanting plants to grow taller than they actually grow is rather unreasonable - who knew!
I always get excited when the first primroses start to flower. They look like they are positively shivering in this cold but they struggle on. I have lots of nice pale yellow ones as well as some of the more red/pink types. They intermingle and self-seed around the garden, they are a happy sociable sort of plant.
Talking of self-seeding: the Cyclamen coum have prolifically self-seeded around the garden. It seems like they waited about ten years to really get started but now there are many. I imagine in my head of field of pink cyclamens appearing soon ...... this might be (is) over-optimistic. I am not sure if these are happily socialable or rather prettily invasive. Either way, so far I have no grumbles.
The Daphne Jacqueline Postill is slowly easing herself into flower, like she is lowering herself into a hot bath. As each flower opens the potential for fragrance gets stronger and fragrance in the winter garden is a special thing.
The cold is making the snowdrops bow over whilst waiting for some warming sun and the ground around them to thaw. They look a little sad at the moment but they will soon perk up again.
It is always a joy when the Hamamelis are starting to flower with their shreddy wonderfulness. Sadly I have lost the largest hamamelis I had in the garden, but this youngster by the front gate seems to have settled in well.
and there I am talking about finding colour in the small, yet here in the large the copper beech pillars absolutely glow in the sun under the clear blue sky. Colour is all around us if we take the moment to look up, pause and breathe.
Have I mentioned how much I love the winter garden?
So much beauty despite the cold. As you probably know, the U.S. has plunged into the deep freeze lately. Our highs here in the Upper Midwest region have been -15C to -17C, with lows at night -20C to -25C. Some regions of the country have been even colder than that. So, it's a joy to see anything growing and blooming. Thanks for sharing!
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