It's Not Nice to Rhyme With Ice

Have all the poppies perished? 

Are the columbines soon to croak?

Winter became reality,

the icy forecast was no joke!

March 2nd ice accumulation at my entryway

Have the roses come to ruin?

Oh, the salvias look so bad!

Will they live to bloom another day,

when now they look so sad?

The catmint looks all crinkled

The spiraea lost its buds.

Will they have a second flush of growth,

or are they merely duds?

Triumphator Lily June 2013

Will the Triumphator lily rise again

to toot its lovely horn?

Or will this winter be its end

and leave me so forlorn

The day the icy precip fell

and temps began to drop ...

 The daffodils once stood tall and bright...

Ice Follies the day before the ice

...then froze and took a flop

The pansies and the kale in pots

I fear are finally toast.

No containers full of color this year

about which I can boast.

Colorful containers February 2013

 About right now the warmth of spring

would really hit the spot. 

I'm so ready for winter to cash it in;

I just hope my plants have not!

A few buds remain to comfort me

Maybe spring's about to start.

A little sign to bring some hope

for my winter-weary heart.

I wrote this poem to lift my spirits

after a winter filled with ice.

And even though the words may rhyme,

this winter's been all but nice! 

Take care...and stay warm!

Toni :-)

From Balmy to Brrrr

The first week of December in North Central Texas was a very interesting week of weather.

We started out the week quite balmy, with temperatures in the 70s.  Early Monday morning a light fog had rolled in and created a beautiful photo op as the sun was rising.

We have had a couple freezes this fall already, but only down to about 30 degrees.   Some of the most tender perennials were burned, but other perennials were not even fazed.    Some of the trees had already lost their leaves, some were at peak color, and some were just beginning to turn.

As the fog burned off later Monday morning, the Japanese maples in my garden were showing off their finest fall color.

Tuesday was a sunny and warm day, my kind of December :-)  I went with a client to my favorite Japanese maple nursery, Metro Maples, with the intention of purchasing some maples for her garden, but I just couldn't resist the urge to buy another maple for my garden, as well!

I came home with a new maple is called 'Koto No Ito,' which means "String of Old Harp."  It has an upright form with narrow strap leaves that have green spring color and yellow/orange/red fall colors.
  

I planted the new maple on Wednesday when it was sunny and 78 degrees! 

I originally had a 'Peaches & Cream' maple in this spot, but I transplanted it across the bed where I thought its highly variegated summer leaves would brighten a dark spot.

The 'Peaches & Cream' maple was added to my garden in December of 2010, and this is the first year I have seen good fall color on it.

Thursday morning the temperatures had dropped to the 40s (tolerable), but the forecast was calling for the temps to continue to drop throughout the day, with freezing rain and sleet arriving late afternoon and evening (not so tolerable).   

I knew this was probably going to be my last opportunity to get some good pictures of the fall color in my garden, so I grabbed my camera and headed outside to memorialize this beautiful season.

      In the picture below you can see the new orange 'Koto No Ito' to the right front, and the similarly fall colored 'Peaches & Cream' is behind the bench now on the other side of the bed.

 'Sango Kaku' (Coral Bark) Maple (below - center) has been more yellow in years past, but this year it is showing lots of red color.

I think this is one of the prettiest fall color seasons I have seen in the 27 years I have lived in Texas.  A little bit of rain this fall, cool nights, and sunny days have created the perfect environment for a spectacular fall show.

'Fireglow'

'Orange Dream'

'Tamukeyama' (foreground)  -  'Viridis' (background)

'Sango Kaku'

By late Thursday afternoon the temperatures had dropped into the 20s and the precipitation started falling...and freezing.  

On Friday morning my garden looked like this...brrrrr!

Thankfully I had drained and cleaned the fountain on Wednesday when it was nice and warm outside.   

The front hellstrip perennials are now under a covering of ice.  

 The Yaupon Holly tree in the front is splayed open from the weight of the ice.   Back in the winter of 2011 we lost several feet out of the top of this tree from the weight of about a foot of snow that fell in February.  

 

I am hoping once the ice melts it will be okay.

In the backyard, the arbor cover over the patio is dripping with tiny icicles.

The ornamental grasses near the pond that usually sway in the breeze are frozen stiff.

The maples that were so beautiful just one day earlier are now covered in ice and droop from the weight of the ice.

 

"He gives snow like wool;

He scatters the frost like ashes.

He casts forth His ice as fragments;

Who can stand before His cold?

He sends forth His word and melts them;

He causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow."

Psalm 147:16-18

So until God sends a few warm breezes to thaw the ice that blankets our area, I guess I will just hunker down under a cozier type of blanket in my nice warm house, and treasure a few quiet days.

Take care....and stay warm!

Toni :-)

Backyard Bling #4 - Luxury Tweet

I've always loved the look of a dovecote birdhouse perched above a long sweeping border of perennials.

Several years ago on a trip to Wisconsin to see my family, I purchased this decorative "dovecote style" birdhouse for about $20.  And if you've ever priced an English dovecote, then you know that that was such a screamin' deal that I could not pass it up.

I placed it among the perennials in a long sweeping bed in my backyard.  

Good to go, right?

This birdhouse has served me well, giving me photo ops even in the dead of winter.

Well, you get what you pay for, 

and let's just say this birdhouse has seen better days.

It lasted about five years, so I would say I got my money's worth out of it.

Since my garden was on tour this spring, I decided a renovation -- make that demolition -- was in order.    Every time the wind blew, I knew this poor little birdhouse was just one step closer to being a pile of rubble on the ground.

So to the internet I went in search of a new birdhouse.   I may have been swooning over the English dovecotes, but the price was just as dizzying!   I kept looking and finally came across Hatterashouse.com.   I found just what I was looking for, placed my order, and within just a few weeks, I received this lovely copper-topped birdhouse!

This picture was taken in April when the 'Little Henry' Sweetspire was in full bloom.

As a side note, the Red Admiral butterflies just loved the Sweetspire this spring.

This birdhouse is not all bling.  It is move-in ready!    I sure hope the birds like their new home as much as the butterflies loved the blooms below.

Now the birds can tweet in luxury :-)

Toni