Exposing The Under Garden

It started because I was not in the mood to do what needed doing or anything else on my winter list of chores. I'll just go chop down the Lush of the garden's backdrop and check on the red and yellow twig dogwoods.

I may be finally achieving success after numerous failed attempts. The dogwoods were alive and still there. I have come to think that even as small transplants they will need to get cut to the ground come spring. That seems to stimulate the vigorous growth I have been waiting ever so patiently for and never seeing.

Then I kept chopping. I'll just do this little piece along the Great Lawn as a warm up for exposing the Under Garden. Then I kept chopping. I'll just do this one section of the Under Garden.

Exposing the Under Garden was exciting. I have not seen it since June. I was tempted to keep going. I really do need to empty the refrigerator next door and turn it off. So I stopped chopping. A small taste will have to suffice for now.

Everything was looking good.

There is a lot more slope to chop. It isn't that big a deal since I do chop and drop. No cleanup, only decomposition.

The Under Garden is ready to come out of hiding, a low mounding tapestry of evergreen texture and color, the garden of winter interest.

The longer I live here the more impressive and dramatic the changing seasons have become. My long time reference points of Florida and Maui were exercises in seasonal subtlety.

Initially I was afraid of the barren time. How do you have a garden in winter? By planting one of course.

A decade later it has come to the point where I get most of my garden chores done over the winter. While it is green and growing is when I let things be.