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HOW TO DESIGN YOUR GARDEN FOR WINTER INTEREST

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Border at The Winter Garden, Bressingham Gardens, Norfolk, UK.

How to design your landscape for winter interest? Here are a few concepts and suggestions. A professional designer can select the best plant materials for your site and especially, your lifestyle.

  • first, consider your outdoor lifestyle and circulation around your property
  • anchor your landscape design with evergreens that contrast one another in shape, size and color (in addition to needled and broadleaf)
  • add deciduous shrubs with striking twig colors
  • add a few grasses and perennials for flavor
  • as always, make sure all your plant selections will thrive in the existing cultural conditions of your particular planting area (sun, soil, water, wind, drainage, etc.).
  • native trees, shrubs, perennials, and grasses often do best in our area, as well as being the best choices for supporting pollinators
Bressingham Gardens' design pop with color in winter.

Designed for color and contrast, Bressingham Gardens pop with vibrancy in winter.

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM NORTH EASTON, MA

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Fresh now on a gallery of Taxus trees at the Governor Oliver Ames Estate,North Easton, MA

Here’s my favorite view of a secluded gallery of mature Taxus trees on The Trustees of Reservations’ Governor Oliver Ames Estate in North Easton, MA. The 36-acre property features rolling hills, meadows, ponds, and a robust horticulture collection. The Ames family’s industrial and cultural contributions have helped shape the history of Easton, as well as the nation, since the early 19th century. 

 

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IS IT TOO LATE TO PLANT…IN THE SNOW?

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What am I doing planting in the snow? After a robust season of gardening for others, I’m still catching up with my own home gardening by getting inkberry in the ground before the earth freezes up for good.

Inkberry (Ilex glabra) is a New England native plant that supports pollinators and other wildlife. In the holly family, these particular female Ilex glabra shrubs have nice dark berries that birds love. The red berries? This is a female winterberry, another native shrub in the holly family (Ilex verticillata), especially important to birds migrating in the spring.

Since I’m planting so late here in North Easton, I’ll apply about two gallons of water, delivered in small gulps, then cover the planting area with a thick but fluffy layer of leaves for insulation for the winter. Until the ground freezes, they’ll need about an inch of water every week, so I’ll continue watering as needed.

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WANTED: DEAD NOT ALIVE Training Delivered to The Garden Continuum

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WANTED: DEAD NOT ALIVE invasive plants training at The Garden Continuum

Horticulture Specialist Carol Lundeen opens an invasive plant identification workshop for staff of the Garden Continuum, Medfield, MA

Staff of The Garden Continuum, Medfield, MA learning together to identify invasive plants,

Exotic invasive plants potted up as educational exhibits for a landscape staff training.

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September Sunflowers at Easton’s Langwater Farm

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Cultivating tractor and sunflower at the Langwater Farm farmstand

Summer has past and sunflowers thrive in early fall at Easton’s Langwater Farm. Not only are sunflowers a top farm stand seller, they’re also a top pollinator host plant and provide food for our native insects, birds and mammals. Look closely and you’ll see raindrops on the sunflower petals. Langwater Farm is always a colorful spot, even on a cloudy rainy day.

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WANTED: DEAD NOT ALIVE Invasive Plants Exhibit Wins Educational Excellence Award

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Invasive plants exhibit at Sharon Garden Club September Garden Medley

WANTED: DEAD NOT ALIVE received an Educational Excellence award at the Sharon Garden Club’s September Garden Medley on September 9, 2017. The exhibit featured potted exotic invasive plants and illustrated some of the environmental damage they cause. Left to right are Carol Lundeen of Easton and Brenda Minihan and Ellen Schoenfeld-Beeks of Sharon. The trio played roles as invasive plant sheriffs, engaging visitors in conversation and offering invasive plant checklists, images, and ideas for native plant alternatives. Photo by Carol Lundeen.

WANTED: DEAD NOT ALIVE received an Educational Excellence award at the Sharon Garden Club’s September Garden Medley on September 9, 2017. The exhibit featured potted exotic invasive plants and illustrated some of the environmental damage that invasives cause. Carol Lundeen of Easton and Brenda Minihan and Ellen Schoenfeld-Beeks of Sharon played roles as invasive plant sheriffs, engaging visitors in conversation and offering invasive plant checklists, images, and ideas for native plant alternatives.

Exotic invasive plants have no natural predators and diseases that would naturally control their growth. Some invasive plants have escaped from our home gardens and public plantings into natural areas and cause profound environmental and economic damage. Massachusetts has developed a list of problematic plants. Some are even illegal to sell, including Norway maple, Japanese maple, burning bush, all hollow-stemmed honeysuckles, garlic mustard, oriental bittersweet, and Japanese knotweed.

The exhibit also included a “Talking Tree,” a young pin oak tree that posed the question, “When I turn one hundred years old, what do you hope I will say?” Visitors then wrote their answers on a card and tied their card to the tree with yarn. The tree will be planted at the Unitarian Universalist Church in the center of Sharon.

The sheriffs urge folks to learn about the species considered invasive in the area, generate a list of those on your property or in your town, create a plan for eliminating them, and execute your plan. Contact the Sharon Garden Club or Carol Lundeen for further information.

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Sharon Garden Club Flyer for September Garden Medley event

Sharon Garden Club Fall Fair – Save the Date – Sept 9

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Hints of fall are in the air, and the Sharon Garden Club is celebrating on September 9th with our September Garden Medley fundraiser. Join us from 11-4 to explore the learning and fun at our two locations :

  • a horticultural guided garden tour (70 Maskwonicut Street, Sharon)
  • a Standard Flower Show (62 Bullard Street, Sharon)
  • an elegant boxed lunch in the garden (70 Maskwonicut Street, Sharon)
  • a garden shoppe (70 Maskwonicut Street, Sharon)
  • live folk music (70 Maskwonicut Street, Sharon)
  • artists at work (70 Maskwonicut Street, Sharon)
  • unique raffle items (70 Maskwonicut Street, Sharon)

TICKETS are $30 in advance, $35 the day of the event. Get tickets from me (617-327-9254 or carol@garden-911.com) or lizsiem@comcast.net.

You’ll probably find me in a stall at the barn at 70 Maskwonicut Street, the stall converted into an art exhibit for pollinator-friendly plants and a jail for nasty butterfly-killing invasive ones. WANTED: native pollinator plants, alive; WANTED: dead invasive plants.

 

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Hardworking Honey Bees in Porter Square

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European honey bee harvests nectar from Helenium

European honey bee harvests nectar from Helenium flower in Cambridge, MA garden, while perhaps unwittingly captures pollen and moves it to other flowers for pollination. Image copyright 2017 Carol Lundeen.  All rights reserved.

What a delight to be gardening in Cambridge and have hardworking European honey bees show up in their pollinator hats. Who keeps the bees, what’s the history of the queens, and who most enjoys the honey? I want to meet these people and the hives and learn their story. Ah, I’m so lucky to have clients who appreciate these little wonders of the world.

 

 

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