A Garden Off-Season? Never!

My Garden Life as of late has focused around my new venture- A Year in the Park. I have been, when my energy and the weather permits, visiting the park in the morning before going to the office. I can safely say if it were not for having a few gardens at the park that I care for I certainly would not be drawn to the park in the garden off-season. But, as any experienced gardener knows, there really is not a garden off-season. The soil may be frozen, flowers long lost and seed heads pillaged, but the garden is still there with much to teach us and much to enjoy.

It is now mid January. There were days when the autumn garden was in full glory, followed by a spectacular snowfall which transformed the landscape into a place of awe and pure delight for sledding children and their parents. Now the gardens are lessons in successful and not so successful garden structure and design. It behooves a novice gardener to spend time in the winter garden learning how to create structure, flow and visual interest without the assist of flowers and most foliage.

A garden student, no matter how diligent in her winter garden studies, still longs for flowers. At least this garden girl does. I have been eagerly awaiting the first blooms of winter.

Last time I visited the park, the Witchhazel, (Hammamelis virginiana) was moments from blooming as were the Hellebores. I tried to investigate the hellebores more closely to see if some of the blooms were complete, but the leaves and stems were stiff from the frigid night and I didn’t want to risk damaging the plant.