Contemplation Before The Lush Returns

The bare bones of winter is an excellent time to contemplate the design of a garden. There is much less distraction.

I need more of this low mounding evergreen texture and color on the slope below the cozy cabin. It is this under garden that gets me through the winter.

Right now it ends rather abruptly near the border created by the down hill path that starts between my shiny balls.

This low mounding evergreen texture and color needs to sweep over to the left half of the slope to bring better flow to the bigger picture of the garden becoming. I think six more Yucca filamentosa, one more of the creeping yews and three or four currently unknown low mounding evergreens should do it. I'd like to add a new texture for more interest and movement.

I'll have to wait a bit though. One, the nurseries need to reopen so I can find a new plant to add. And two, I have already planted all kinds of herbaceous perennials on the left side. They need to wake up so I know where they are. Things can be hard to find in the chop and drop.

I was also contemplating my crispy frozen, clumping evergreen, hardy Fargesia bamboo. This freeze dried look is a first. It has stayed green every other winter. I now know this won't be the last time this happens. It can happen again in winters to come. The question is how will it grow  back out? I'm not worried about it being dead, but did it freeze to the ground or will the old canes leaf back out. Bamboo is quite capable of that.

There was a lot of winter burn this year. I haven't been singled out. I'm seeing a lot of crispy hollies and cherry laurels in my travels. There's nothing to do but wait.

I'm fairly satisfied with this section of the garden becoming. There is a mix of evergreen trees and shrubs and a good number of deciduous flowering shrubs already planted. In time all the baby shrubberies will gain more substance. In time this sweeping view will be gone.

Before the Lush returns, before the under garden fades into a winter memory, I contemplate how to make it better. I will be looking at it for all the winters that remain. It needs to be entertaining. It needs to bring me outside.