Secret winter garden

Hamamelix x intermedia 'Diane'

There's actually no secret to my winter garden except that I've forgotten to post about it! This was a little side project that I started last winter when I feel in love with witch hazels and decided I needed somewhere to plant one. This little corner of front yard, north of the driveway and east of the street, already had a pieris japonica and a forsythia that's been overrun by wisteria. It's shaded in the morning by the house and a Japanese maple but gets quite a bit of afternoon sun.

February 2017, looking west toward street

Last February, I moved a few wheelbarrow loads of mulch here and planted:

• 1 Hamamelix x intermedia 'Diane'
• 3 Sarcoccoca ruscifolia

Later in February 2017, looking east

Later in February 2017, a better view of the new plants

Then added a few more plants through the year:

• Salvia spathacea, hummingbird sage
• Satureja douglasii, yerba buena
• Cornus sericea/stolonifera, red osier dogwood
• 10 eranthis hyemalis
• 14 trumpet narcissus
• 5 narcissus 'Barrett Browning'
• Viburnum x bodnantense 'Pink Dawn'
• Another package of narcissus bulbs that I've lost the label for

June 2017, see the wisteria in the back

Fall 2017, colorful leaves on the red osier dogwood (left) and witch hazel (right)

The salvia and satureja are experimental ground cover. I planted them in a couple of other areas around the yard too, wanting to see where they do the best. Some of the daffodils are starting to poke through the mulch, but I don't see any sign of the eranthis yet, not sure if I should be worried about them. 

The big problem that I'll need to work on in the spring is the wisteria. It was planted by previous owners and I've been fighting with it for 15 years. It has to be pruned weekly or it'll take over the sidewalk and everything I have growing along the street - and it tries to spread down the driveway too. It had pretty blooms for about a week each spring but is definitely the wrong plant for this location. I cut most of it down late this the fall and painted poison on the stems. I'm sure that won't be enough to kill it, I expect to be chasing shoots for years, but it was time to start.

January 2018, remaining wisteria trunk on the right

The witch hazel and sarcococca are almost a year in the ground now and I'm glad I started this bed every time I go out the front door! I'm looking at what else to plant now, probably some winter heath and cyclamen. 

Hamamelix x intermedia 'Diane

Sarcococca

Dawn viburnum

January 2018

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - January 2018

Hamamelis x intermedia 'Diane'

I'm feeling rather pleased with myself for finally planting for winter interest last year, so there are quite a few blooms in my yard this January. Of course that makes me want to plant more, surely I have room for a few more witch hazels and another patch of hellebores?

Yesterday was bright and sunny with record high temperature of 57F, but I hope the plants know it's not spring yet. I'm betting we'll have more cold weather to come.

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting this monthly roundup of blooms. There are plants blooming somewhere every month!

Hamamelis x intermedia 'Diane' just starting to bloom

Camellia 'Winter's Snowman' 

Camellia 'Winter's Snowman' 

Camellia 'Yuletide'

Helleborus 'Cinnamon Snow'

Pieris japonica

Sarcococca

Chimonanthus (Wintersweet) just starting to bloom

Viburnum x bodnantense 'Diane'

Calendula, seems likely to live through the whole winter

Borage is also hanging on

Indoors, I bought two new amaryllis bulbs this year and they are spectacular. One of my old bulbs is getting ready to bloom too.

Amaryllises in the kitchen window

Amaryllis 'Rosy Star'

Amaryllis 'Tres Chic'

Only one African violet is blooming now

What's next? More hellebores, and I'm excited to have snowdrops coming up (and so far not eaten by the wildlife).

Front side yard update

Winter is the time for catch up, and I haven't posted an update on the front side yard since July.

The unknown rhododendron continues to thrive with a lot of water this summer. It has many buds and should bloom in the spring, which it didn't do last year. I'm still not convinced this is the right place for it because I don't want to water that much every year, but I'll see how it does with less water next summer.

The moss experiment next to the rhododendron is going well, a few weeds like to come up but the grass is pretty well gone.

Looking east

Back under the pine tree, I added more groundcover:

• White English bluebells, hyacinthoides non-scripta white
• Geranium macrorrhizum 'Ingwerson's Variety', 3
• Cardamine trifolia, 6 - an evergreen bittercress

Frosty cardamine trifolia in December

And more plants in the sunnier area:

• Veronica 'Waterperry Blue' - two more
• Sanguisorba officinalis 'Red Thunder'
• Sanguisorba menziesii, 2
• Lily flowering tulip bulbs
• Rock cress, grown from seed

Geranium thunbergii 'Jester's Jacket' blooming in September

I also added a cover for the drain that's on the corner of the garage, so I could stop worrying about stepping in it - on the bottom right of the photo below.

Looking south from driveway

Yucca in the snow in early November

I widened the path around the garage a little bit and started to fill in the rock garden:

• Jupiter's beard (centranthus ruber) - grown from seed
• Species tulips bulb mix
• Rock cress - grown from seed
• Lewisia cotyldon 'Elise'
• Two unknown lewisia transplanted from the sunny hillside

Lewisia cotyldon 'Elise' blooming in September

For now the rock garden is covered in wood chip mulch, but eventually will transition to more rocks. The brick path edging might or might not stay, it was a good re-use of material I had. If I keep them, I'll need to dig down and level the bricks. 

Looking east along the garage, rock garden on the left

Looking west along the garage, rock garden on the right

The other moss experiment is along the fence next to the garage. There are more weeds here, I noticed today that the shotweed (the invasive type of bittercress) is trying to move in. I have a red variety of aquilegia and foxglove all grown from seed planted in here too.

Moss experment

The plants are all still small and don't look like much in the winter but I think they will really fill in this year! I'm planning to water a lot less next summer too, most of the plants should need very little once established.