White garden


Awesome plowing job, guys!

Vita Sackville-West carefully planned her white garden, but we have one—of a sort—every winter. This year, a sizable snowfall came rather earlier than usual, and I suspect it may be a sign of a colder and snowier winter than we’ve had in a while. The Farmer’s Almanac said as much, and they’re generally on target (I think).


Drinks on the patio, anyone?

Like many in the northern half of the gardening world, I have a love/hate affair with snow. It’s very beautiful, and provides good protective covering for plants. As Allan Armitage posted on Garden Rant a couple weeks back, lack of snow cover is one of the difficulties of gardening in the south. As far as driving in the stuff and shoveling it? That’s where the hate comes in.


The pond is under here somewhere.

Nonetheless, the blanket of snow is one of the reasons I appreciate my lush summer garden all the more when it—almost magically—appears. In the dead of winter it’s occasionally hard to believe that a green and floriferous garden will ever re-emerge.


This is also why I swear by my indoor plants and try to pay proper attention to them even in summer, when I’m tempted to ignore them. Many of my housepants are flowering now. (I just don't get it when people diss houseplants. It really bugs me. Oh well.) The hyacinth buds are starting to come out and I’m already discarding my first batch of paperwhites. My two new amaryllis are also pushing up fat buds. I’ll be ready to bring up all the hyacinths from the root cellar in a week or so.


The sculpture in back has an elegant top dressing.

Sorry for this short little snow post—must shovel now!

Comments

Carol Michel said…
Those are nice snow scenes. I don't get why people diss houseplants either. I love to have them inside when outside there is snow and cold.

Be careful with the snow shoveling.

Carol, May Dreams Gardens
EAL said…
Don't worry Carol, I did a very poor job and was back in the house within 10 minutes. Heck, there's another storm coming in tomorrow.
Isn't it funny how fresh snow makes everything look better? Your garden looks lovely all dressed in white. I think we're in for a snowier than normal winter too. That makes 2 in a row.
Anonymous said…
The winter garden with a blanket of snow is truly beautiful, but I'm glad ours only lasts a couple of days.~~Dee
MA said…
I swear the torso sculpture has taken to wearing ermine! Lovely.
Rhonda said…
My goodness, that's alot of snow. I'm impressed. It is actually cold here in central Texas....again after a couple of days of 70 degree weather. Only in Texas.
Take care and Happy Holidays to you and yours.
EAL said…
Thanks for the compliments all! It helps me make the best of the cold weather.
Gail said…
Hi Elizabeth,

The cyclamen against the snowy outdoor scene is spectacular! I don't dislike indoor plants at all...I haven't a space to hide them from the plant eating and re-gifting cat!

We could use the snow cover tonight when temps plummet to 12 degrees with nothing to protect our zone 7 plants!
Being in the middle south we occasionally get the worst of northern and southern temperature extremes. Can you hear me sigh!

Happy Solstice and Happiest of Holidays!

gail
The Merry said…
I love the photos!
We have several inches of snow on the ground, not typical for Portland (OR) and while I don't look forward to putting on chains, I do love the fact that all the weeds are completely invisible :)
RK said…
Hi Elizabeth - I thought you might want to add a link to a rather large garden wiki site - it has thousands of articles and photos already, but as a wiki, the more people that use it, the more useful it becomes!

http://www.plants.am
This is the only style of White Garden I would be good at. I tried to make a white garden once and I didn't like the results. This one however is beautiful. I don't envy you your shoveling though. I love houseplants. They just struggle here is all.
sweetbay said…
Your cyclamen looks to be very happy inside looking out at the snow. It's gorgeous.

I love snow -- once in a while -- but if I lived in Buffalo I'd get tired of shoveling it too. Isn't Buffalo the snow capitol of the world?

Merry Christmas!
Annie in Austin said…
The cyclamen on my windowsill are pretty, too, EAL- but oh, yours look so lovely against the white,protective blanket of snow. Shoveling snow can even be interesting, but not driving in it!

Happy blooming Christmas to you!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Phillip M said…
I wish we would get just a little bit more snow down here in tidewater Virginia.
Jenn said…
"I just don't get it when people diss houseplants."

Me, either. When I was a northerner, the blooming African violets were my LIFELINE to the green...
Anonymous said…
I agree with the love/hate relationship with the snow. It looks beautiful and my dog, whose not little, looks like a little deer bounding around in it. I don't like to hear it may have hurt the local merchants, though.
Anonymous said…
What pretty pink cyclamens against the snowy backdrop. I can see why northerners love houseplants in the winter. I don't keep them myself, but I sure won't diss them. ;-)

Merry Christmas, Elizabeth!
Unknown said…
Add me to the list of those who don't get why anyone would dis houseplants. They're instant cheer-me-ups when all seems bleak and dreary. My office is full of them and I swear they're what get me through the winter. Well, and dark chocolate too, of course.
Unknown said…
Okay, I love your cyclamen photo too... but WOW that's a lot of snow! I now see what we somehow dodged here... maybe 3-4 inches, max, is all we've seen at one time this winter.
EAL said…
It's all gone now!

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