Waiting For A Winter Wonderland

The weathers diagnosis is calling for the rather vicious entry of a late winter. I could well be encased in a winter wonderland when I wake up in the morning and it will continue to get more wintery as the day progresses. They're talking lows in the teens and wind gusts up to 50 mph. This could bring more of the dead hemlocks down. That will be fine. The sooner they fall, the sooner they'll rot.



This was the last chance to get anything done for a couple of days. Just to be on the safe side I covered the sprouting Eryngium yuccifolium with a dollop of woodchips for a bit of insulation.



Then I went looking for stepping stones. A little snow, melt, freeze, melt, rain and more snow will help settle the dirt and bring the clean gravel back to the top. So far it feels comfortable walking on the new stepping stones. Flat is a relative term with wild rocks.



Is it too much? Have I gone overboard with the glass bottles and rocks? Frankly I can get tired of looking at it all and obsessing over it. I hope it gets covered in a thick layer of snow just for the visual break.

I do realize as a garden begins to grow, the greenery will take some of the edge off. I also keep telling myself that to create the biggest impact you need to go all out or you might as well go home. Maybe I haven't gone far enough?



You are not going to see something like this in Garden Design that's for sure. That magazine is focused on high end landscape design. The kind of people who can afford those gardens can afford to buy nice rocks. What you see here is the pauper's version of trying to make a beautiful garden with the available free stuff.



Soon enough a jury of my peers will be here to judge my taste and efforts. At least by then there will be some greenery to take a little of the edge off.