One of the great things about  New England is  that the seasons change so remarkably. We are lucky here to be perpetually awaiting the next best thing. In spring we await the heat and blooms of summer, in summer we await the cool crisp nights of fall, in fall we giddily  await the first snowfall, and in winter we await the opening of all the buds on the trees and shrubs we can see plumping before our very eyes.

But waiting is hard, we have now grown tired of dirty snow banks, gray February days and salt covered cars. We are ready for birdsong, green grass and the first daffodils. Good thing we know a trick or two to rush the season in!

Forcing branches is one of the easiest and most satisfying of late winter activities. All it takes is a quick trip around the yard with the clippers and soon enough the house can be filled with the colors and feeling of springtime. About 8 days ago I cut the first bunch( of  what will be many)  forsythia branches that will come indoors. I usually start earlier , but somehow I got distracted and forgot. But, no worries there as the buds  are already breaking and showing lots of hints of the yellow explosion that will happen within the next day or two.

For the next few weeks I will head out every few days to cut more of them and lots of other things too that will keep this house in spring bloom until Mother Nature takes over outside.

Here is a list of what I will /or have already cut:

Hamemelis ‘Purple Ribbons’

Cherry branches  Prunus spcs.

Pussy willows

Birch and corylus for their catkins

Lonicera fragrantissima or Winter Honeysuckle  mmmmmm

Crab apples

Red bud    cercis canadensis

Red Maple   acer rubrum

Spirea branches from those  whose first leaves open in fiery color (‘Goldmound’, ‘Double Play’ and the like)

Two varieties of forsythia , one lemon yellow, one golden yellow

Spice bush lindera benzoin, which flowers much like forsythia

Lilacs

Magnolias  and Viburnum carlessii, both of which are difficult to force but as you can see by the photos below, even their unopened buds are cool to look at.

When cutting branches from shrubs and trees  for forcing, the closer to their actual bloom time you bring them in, the more success you will have . Finegardening.com has a timetable that is pretty accurate, but if you just follow the normal succession of things you should  be OK. Start with Hamemelis (witch hazel) and forsythia as they bloom first and are easy forcers.

For very thick branches or shrubs that resist forcing, instead  of mashing the stems with a hammer which actually destroys the plants ability to siphon  water up ,try instead using a vegetable peeler to expose some of the cambium and sapwood  ( the layers under the bark)  to help with absorption. It works !

Our last few snow storms have fallen while the temps were so low the snow was like crystal, just one look  at the sparkle and glitter and you knew the air was frigidly cold .

This weekend’s  snowstorm , much unlike those of the past two , is wet and heavy  due to warmer temps and the landscape that kind of snow  creates is stunningly  beautiful. It is sticking on all  the branches, both bare and  evergreen,  as well as the garden ornaments , furniture, and birdhouses.

A walk tonight shows New England at it’s best…..pure magic

Where has February gone? It has been cold and snowy, and that is precisely  when I take it as permission from the universe to sit and catch up on some reading and knitting and when the sitting gets old, some cleaning and organizing. I really  don’t know which I enjoy more, new warm wooly mittens or a neat file cabinet.

I have also done the taxes, seen lots of movies with Wil who has been around more than usual, started the college search process with two of the offspring, wrote a new presentation, started revamping a few others that need updating,  and even gave  a few including three well attended workshops.

You will notice I did not say “blog” or “garden” even once. For shame.

So ,I will try to clear my guilty conscience here and now by telling you of some plans , projects and books that all involve gardening.

First : Projects . Over the summer I grew ( as I always do ) birdhouse gourds. I love to cover the garden in vines vines and more vines, and if as a bonus they yield raw materials for making birdhouses, all the better. The vine itself could not be easier to grow, just sun and water and the occasional fertilizer and  TA- DA, the adorable gourds appear and grow effortlessly. At the end of the season to get them ready to dry and hollow out….you do nothing! Just leave them as they were , on the vine, even after it browns and  dies from frost and and eventually gets covered in snow. Only after those hard frosts  and the first few snow storms do I cut the gourds  from the vine and bring them into the cellar to finish curing.

Over time the gourds may get coated with mold , and you can wipe it off if it bugs you ( it does bug me) or leave it and it won’t hurt them at all. I wipe it off with a paper towel wet with water containing a little bleach or use one of those handy clorox wipes . If  any of them start to get mushy or rot you need to immediately remove from the company of the others, you know the old saying  about the one bad appple. 😉

Now, after a few months they are completely  dry . How do I know this? When I shake them I can hear the seeds rattle around, which means project time. I am hoping this week to get  holes dremmeled in them and a coat of shellac put on  so they will be ready for nesting time in the spring.

I shall also shovel out the door of the shed so I can get the pots of bulbs( snowdrops, squill, tulips and daffodils)  I put in there before the big snowstorm a few weeks ago that I intend to bring in the house to force into bloom for instant spring, and while I am outside I will tramp  down a path to the back to cut branches of forsythia, plum trees , winter honeysuckle and  quince and make them join the party too.( If you are looking for help and direction in branch forcing  click here, the most complete, and accurate info I have found and I wish I had compiled it myself)

Plans: I have started to scout out what seeds I am hoping to plant this year, probably lots of new vines and maybe a handful of perennials including mountain mint.

I have ordered some veggie seeds , not for the produce, but for their flowers and leaves  , so I can figure out how to best use them in the arrangements that will come from the garden.

Quinoa, orach, red basil,runner beans  ooooo, the possibilities !!!

I also have the Oakes Dayliy catalogue , Annies Annuals, and of course David Austin’s rose catalogue on my desk awaiting the many post it notes that will  mark  the new additions I need to order for my garden.

And the books, there have been so many books , although only a few related to the garden:

Shed Chic   to help me come up with  decorating ideas  for the Red Shed.

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The Life of a Leaf  by Steven Vogel    ….very cool stuff in here if you don’t mind a little mid-winter  science lesson

The Backyard Parables  by Margaret Roach ( to be honest, I hated it and struggled through about half before giving up)

and the poetry of Alfred  Tennyson, starting with the lovely verses of The Window, or Songs of the Wrens*   ….after all who could resist spending a snowy afternoon curled up with honey and lemon tea contemplating  lines like

Vine, vine, eglantine,

Clasp her window,trail and twine

Rose, rose and clematis

trail and twine, and clasp and kiss

or closer to our more current situation:

Bite, frost bite!

The woods are all the searer,

The fuel is all the dearer,

The fires are all the clearer,

My spring is all the nearer,

You have bitten into the heart of the earth

But not into mine

The Window was written at the request of Arthur Sullivan to be a song cycle, although I have never heard the music/recording, I can only imagine the songs would be stuck in my head for days at a time given how close the words hit my heart .

The copy I have on loan was bound in the late 1800’s and has gilded pages, numerous illustrations, and a fine red leather cover . I fear someone will have to pry it out of my hands to get it returned to it’s rightful owner.

There,now  I am back and  you know where to find me again. Did you miss me?.

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* I fear I may give up before getting to Sonnet Written On Hearing of the Outbreak of the Polish Insurrection though

Although no winter here in central MA can ever be described as easy, a few are more difficult than others. Ice storms, blizzards, arctic air,100 + inches of snow are all part of our “normal” winter here .Two years ago we had record snowfall amounts, along with the accompanying collapse of roofs and snow removal budgets. Last year, our annual snowfall was way under normal totals, but we got hit with an  early snowstorm  that caused a lot of tree damage.

This year  we have had about a foot less than usual  of snow, and have been suffering through a stretch of arctic weather with bitter cold temperatures with very  little snow on the ground..and that is the recipe for garden disaster. Snow acts as a great insulator for plants and being all tucked in under a heavy layer prevents wind burn for small evergreens, frost heaving for perennials, and stops  rabbit munching as a bonus. My hydrangeas also will bloom beautifully if their buds have spent the coldest part of winter protected by snow. Only time will tell if we suffered plant loss here in The Burrow, a full report can not be given until May at the earliest, so I may as well just sit back and enjoy the scenery and the fire and the wealth of pictures I have taken over the last few years of snow and ice covered landscapes.

Later today we are expecting 1-3 inches of snow followed by some icing, so it will be a tea and knitting kind of afternoon. Join me by looking through my photos before settling in with your favorite book/project/indoor winter activity.

It is cold today. No, not just cold, Siberia cold .Temperatures plummeted into single digits with below zero wind chills and when you step outside it feels like everything around you , including your own fingers and toes , is going to crack and shatter . Even the intrepid corgis do not want to be outside, and that my friend is very very rare.

Yesterday I ventured out to fill the bird feeders, and promptly ventured right back in to assess what I could accomplish indoors where there is heat and no discernible wind. I have been knitting and knitting for Christmas gift giving. I have 5 projects currently cast on the needles as nothing says winter to me like creating lovely warm clothing for lovely cold people, but frankly my shoulders hurt from the repetitive motion and I am a little bored. That means it is time to hit the books and dream, learn, and drool (with a little studying thrown in there as well) about all things plant.

For christmas Wil bought me some very useful books. First off he got me The PHOTOgrahic Garden by Mathew Benson. The aim here is to learn how to better capture my garden through pictures even though I am often faced with difficult lighting ( full blazing sun) and encumbered by unfamiliarity with my camera functions. This book , accompanied by the most useful Nikon 5100 instructional tome by Rob Sylan, has been sitting next to the couch and in moments of free time I have been scouring them for technological info and practicing using my camera settings . Each manual gives little assignments at the end of each lesson that are most helpful, and neither is so technical that my eyes glaze over when I am reading them.( That is my highest form of literary praise 😉  )

Only time and/ or you , will tell if my photography improves or not.

Wil also bought me some eye candy books, which are awesome diversions in this weather. Bringing Nature Home was a book I had checked out of the library and loved so much I requested it on my amazon.com wish list. The premise of this stunning volume  is that you can enhance your living space indoors year round with plant material from your backyard, which is one I firmly believe in and practice . The authors are  lifestyle photographer Ngoc Minh Ngo and floral arranger Nicoltte Owen , and the arrangements they make and photograph take you on a journey through the seasons in the most delightful manner. Although many  designs are as simple as  artfully arranged branches, each summons you to a particular time and place in the garden  and gives you clues how to capture those fleeting moments in a vase indoors. My favorite is an arrangement of blackberry branches and dahlias of wonderful complementary hues. Simple,  beautiful, annd evvocative of time and place. In other words, perfect. This book is a joy to read and look at from begining to end .

The other eye candy book, In the Garden by Stacy Bass , I have yet to read, but one glance at the full- page size images taken at 18 private New England gardens, and I know I will devour this cover to cover .

On my nighstand for the past few months has been Dream Gardens of England  and each night before  bed I have been reading about and viewing a few of the 100 gardens featured in this beautiful book ( I am up to 76 Saling Hall in case you were interested ).

Talk about dreaming ! If only I had an old castle/stone walls/200 year old beech hedges/moats/6 hectares of land that has been in the family for 400 years, boy would I be happy! But that is the point of the book  for me, to dream , to wish , to covet, and maybe recreate bits and pieces on a much much smaller and less endowed estate. When I get to 100 I will be sad but…

for my birthday I was ever so grateful to recieve this gem, Gardenalia and it is sitting under Dream Gardens waiting take its place.The term gardenalia refers to all the non-plant material we adorn our gardens with ( statuary, furniture, containers , knick knacks and the like) , and this book focuses on those with a vintage flair, which is  right up my alley. Those of you who have been here ( or seen photos) know full well I am a junker, flea market hound, scrounger and re-purpose-er. I love antique stores, Brimfield , and haunt second hand stores looking for treasure which I display and constantly change up in my indoor and outdoor spaces. This book has my name all over it ( well I wish it did, I need to get going on that ).

On the studying side of my winter reading, these books on Botanical Latin top the list. I have to give a talk on the subject in February, but lecture aside, the topic fascinates me. Based on both Latin and Greek, and the binomial nomenclature system of Sweedish Naturalist Carl Linneaus , then seasoned with” latinized” names of patrons and botanists, Botanical Latin has such an interesting evolution. Full of science, history, and peppered with lots humor not only from some of the word derivations *, but from  people try to pronounce what is now a dead and non-spoken language that has more exceptions than rules, studying it is not the drudgery one would assume.

I love Gardener’s Latin by Bill Neal for all the interesting facts and fables he includes, and Harrisons Latin for Gardeners is a booklovers delight  with its textured cover, thick paper ,gorgeous illustrations and ribbon bookmark as well as its informative plant histories and compilation terms and names. The Hamlyn Guide to Plant Names in indispensible for the sheer volume of names , both descriptive and actual ,with the added benefit of common name cross referencing .

After I finish all these, I have a library list as long as my arm  and I am hoping to catch up on some of the non-gardening titles I have on it and maybe even squish in a little fiction ( Christopher Moore’s new book and the latest in Bernard  Cornwell’s saxon saga are waiting )

Now I need to know ….what  is on your bookshelf?

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*like  the latinized word isabellinus meaning dirty yellow or tawny , that comes from the scandalous story of  the Archduchess Isabella of Spain who vowed not to change or wash her underwear until her father Philip II won the seige of Ostend which went on for three years. Tee-hee…potty humor…now go tell your garden club about your newest plant aquisition  eremurus isabellinus ‘Cleopatra’ with a straight face lol

** plant porn: a snapdragon I picked from the garden right before the christmas snow is blooming now ( admit your jealousy and move on)

and my amaryllis is now sportng 4 gorgeous flowers with several more in bud!

This morning we woke to a serene and beautiful snow covered world. Everyone is still on vacation here, and the house is full of tired  people who have been enjoying so many wonderful holiday celebrations they  are grateful for a day to sleep in and be snowed in. Outside it looks like this….

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.and inside it still feels  magical from the holiday decorations.  A few years ago I decided to make “winter” a bigger theme in my holiday decorating so I can leave many of them up through the dreariest pat of the year.

On January 6th , which is the Epiphany, and the last day of christmas for me, it  is always so depressing to take down the tree and the santas. Now I continue to display the snowmen, mittens,snowshoes,wooden skiis,  and other winter themed decorations through February, and of course  continue to have all the evergreen-ery and pinecones cut and replaced often to add to the winter feeling..

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Also inside, . many of the houseplants are working hard to bring some joy…this angel wing begonia has been in bloom for over a year . I do not know it’s name because  was a stealth cutting taken by a friend from a mutual friend who does not willingly share cuttings/plants. Little does that mutual friend know how very many people have this lovely plant gracing their home  :).

The clematis florida that is winding it’s way around the picture window  is about to

burst into bloom and I have been feeling a  little crazy when people sit in the window seat under  it becuase I am so afraid  the vine  will get broken off before it get to enjoy it. So far, so good though , and I expect lovely purple flowers to unfurl any day now.

And of course, forced bulbs like this amaryllis, will help brighten our spirits until winter is over.

Hope you all had a peace and joy filled holiday!

Do you feed the birds in your yard? As if  I don’t already have quite enough hobbies, I have become strangely preoccupied with the birds.

The birds are beautiful and calming to look at .The bird’s antics are amusing ; a great source of entertainment when the garden has gone quiet, I have even taken to breaking up their spats like I used to do with my kids were little and they were not playing nice, my girls have taken to singing the bird woman song from Mary Poppins to me almost daily….I love the birds.

I quite clearly remember thinking how odd it was that my grandfather used to feed , shelter, and interact with the birds. Maybe it is age, maybe I inherited some eccentricities from him, who knows? but I am clearly on the path to obsession.

Some people will tell you feeding the birds is a no no. The arguments against are ( and I am sure there are more, there always are in any controversy)

-spreading disease from birds flocking at a feeder, which may happen, but will also happen in the wild wherever birds of a feather flock together

-attracting predators, which also may happen , but if you are going to keep an outdoor cat just use common sense and don’t hang bird feeders unless you want to witness the gore. As for the hawks, they will appear , but here they are welcome to help with rabbit control .We have had them swoop in on a mourning dove or two which is violent and horrible to witness, but also jaw droppingly amazing  and part of the cycle of nature.

-bird strikes on windows: we have a window mounted feeder that gets frequented by all types of birds ( even the ones who misjudge their size in relation to the feeder and cause me to wince when they land). On the inside of the window are lots and lots of plants, and I do not know if that helps them avoid mistaking the window for sky, but we have had no harmful head banging strikes.

I feel that as long as birds need food and are going to get it somewhere,  why not here where I can enjoy them?

Feeding can get expensive once you commit and have lots of birds visiting. To stretch the budget  I leave up lots of seed heads in the garden for them to munch (coneflowers, sunflowers )instead of cutting them back  and grow many a shrub that puts forth berries for them to snack on ( hollies and viburnums of all kinds, calicarpa, crab apple etc) which both make a cheaper alternative to buying seeds.

I also let the chipmunks bury lots of sunflower seeds for me. Stupid creatures, chipmunks are. They bury seeds to eat later not fully grasping the whole seed+ soil+water = plant equation and the results are lots of sunflowers for me and my birds.   Chipmunks are NOT amusing or entertaining to me in the slightest, but I do enjoy their free , if  misdirected , labor.

Over time I have come to realize what is important as far as getting the birds to come to you. First is shelter. Scattered all over my property are shrubs I let grow unpruned. They are, by their nature , open branched and perfect for bird hangouts . Pruned bushes are often very dense and woody and not at all accessible to birds. Their favorites are small evergreens such as mugo pine and arborvitae that offer lots of cover year round.

Second is the feeder. By far the most popular feeders here are the platform types that are easy for them to get to and easy for me to fill as well.Into them we put black oil sunflower seeds, a blended berry mix from our local Agway and sometimes even add peanuts and fruit. This time of year I also add suet hanging in the trees. Not all of the birds will eat it, but woodpeckers adore it if it especially if it has insects added.

We keep this book right near the bay window to ID who is coming over for dinner.Our most frequent visitor this month was  the pine siskin for whom we added thistle seed into the mix  in the feeders.

I find feeding the birds one of the great extended joys of gardening. Our first few winters here before the gardens went in were unmemorable, but since the shrub cover and feeders went in I can remember each for the different species and flocks of birds who have visited here in The Burrow. So I ask again, do you feed the birds?

*Some helpful advice from Mass Audobon

at least not here in the Burrow. In October for the first few years we lived here I suffered some pretty serious tree envy. All of New England is just glowing with burnt orange, deep yellow and fiery reds, until you drive into my neighborhood. I live in a new development built on a sand pit so there were no trees in existence, and the builder planted maples and Bradford Pears left a lot to be desired. As time went by people starting planting trees and more importantly the trees started growing enough to give them some prominence, but then the twin tragedies of the ’08 Ice Storm and the ’11 October Blizzard and those same trees were devastated.

Luckily for me, I had been busy planting lots of shrubs and perennials that show off show pretty rad colors in the fall, so even though my trees are not co-operating in the bucolic New England scenery thing, it is pretty darn colorful here.

In the shrub department  summersweet ‘clethra alnifolia’ turns vivid yellow in the later part of the season, positively lighting up the border in the Dog Garden.

Fothergilla’s ribbed leaves seem to smoulder as they turn from bluish -green to burnt orange and reds.

My neighbor has a hedge of burning bush ‘euonymous alata’  ( now on the invasive plant list here in MA) which backdrops my garden and I can enjoy guilt free since I did not plant it.

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Lilac “miss kim’ has lovely disease free leaves all season long, then turns burgundy for fall.

The rugosa roses all turn yellow,azeleas jump on the color turn wagon,  the ninebarks change their color make-up almost daily , as do the new spireas ‘big bang’ and double play’.

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As for perennials, platycodon’s ( or balloon flowers) leaves turn first yellow then morph into a burgandy- yellow mix and persist well after the first few frosts have leveled  mostly everything else.

sedums always contribute greatly to the show

this gentain’s leaves are also showing off some fall burgundy while the flowers remain that stunning shade of blue.

The peonies  start to get reddish mottling in  their leaves

…and then there are the berries

Ilex verticillata ‘winter gold sports these orangey gems for quite a while until some flock of southward flying birds descends for a feats.

callicarpa holds it’s electric purple berries right through the winter, although the color will start to fade in late Jan

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the hips on the roses are a delight.

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the blue berries of the dogwoods spark agaist the white of a sweet autumn clematis

and the hollies and viburnums explode with red , the hollies for a few months , the viburnums for a few hours it seems as the birds devour their immedialty afetr they appear. ( hence no photo )

AND we still have roses in bloom both the drift called ‘Pink’ and the one called ‘Sweet’, pictured here as well as ‘Seafoam’, ‘Double Pink knockout’, and the two magic carpet varities ‘Amber’ and white.

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.as a HUGE bonus there are clematis in bloom too! here are ‘Ville de Lyon ‘ and ‘Pope John Paul II’ along with the beautiful  foliage of the honeysuckle called ‘Harlequin’.

now, if I could get some MONEY to grow on the shrubs, that would be a trick for the ages!