The Truth About “Winter Interest”
Many, many thanks to everyone who took the time to send kind notes and words of wisdom after reading my last blog post about my broken teeth. I’ve already put some of your suggestions into practice and, I have to say, I’m feeling a little bit more relaxed already. In fact, I got the idea for this post the other day while sipping tea and looking out the window at the heaps of snow and ice in our backyard rather than running all around doing whatever it is I do all the time.
Yes, fellow gardeners, as the magazines tell us, tis the season for enjoying all that “winter interest” we’ve created by following advice to plant things like colorful red-twigged dogwoods and unusual evergreens in a landscape bedazzled with sturdy structures and planters overflowing with cute pinecones and twigs and whatnot. Everything looks so lovely in those glossy photo spreads. But we who garden in parts of the country where actual snow falls, not just a fairy dusting but, say, 10 inches or so, fairly often, followed by icy rain and slush, know the truth about winter interest. In the absence of photo stylists, props and camera crews, it simply doesn’t exist.
Don’t get me wrong; snowy gardens are beautiful, just not in the way magazines portray them. But let’s pretend for a minute that there is a magazine willing to run a winter story that tells it like it is. Articles could offer tips on things like how to spread fresh snow around the yard to obscure all those frozen yellow dog pee circles. A short sidebar might be: “3 Strategies For Chipping Frozen Poo From Snowbanks.” I’m sure a lot of us could submit photos that readers could relate to. Here are some of mine, and I’ve even written captions.
An empty cattle trough looks silly overflowing with snow while the nearly buried fireplace adds interest to the slippery pavement near the back door.
Arctic willow branches bend and break under the weight of snow and ice as the back gate only opens part way because it’s frozen.
Leave ornamental grasses standing to provide structure in winter gardens.
Bird feeders make attractive additions to any winter landscape
Evergreens offer a pop of color against the bright snow in winter gardens.
Have you got some “winter interest” photos to share? If so, please email them to me and I’ll post them!
Amy
This had me laughing out loud. So true!
Meleah
Hey Amy,
Ha! Thanks for your note. I think this every year at some point, but this year it really got me after that huge snow we had earlier this month. 🙂 m
Vicki Hoffman
Meleah,
Thanks so much for your truthfulness. My husband has been after me for a few months about cutting the tall grasses near the front door and driveway because they get covered with snow from the snowblower after each winter storm. I’ve been resisting his requests by reminding him that a year ago I cut them down and no snow! This year they are all bent over, mushed down, and frozen to the ground like your photo. My crystal ball of snowfall predicting is NOT working at all!!
Vicki
Meleah
Hi Vicky,
Ha! My husband and I go back and forth, too, over what to cut back or let stay. More and more, I’m leaning towards cutting most everything back since it winds up looking so horrible all “mushed down and frozen to the ground,” as you say. Thanks for your nice note! – m
Amanda
Dear M&M – Finally someone who tells it like it is! I always wondered at the enormous, peculiar gap between the magazines and my yard/garden reality, even in summer! You must put your above blog post in your next book!!!
Last summer with the drought, crabgrass invasion, Japanese beetle swarm, hosta-chomping slugs, asters-yellow-weirdo disease (still don’t get what that was) and fat lawn rabbits outnumbering neighbors, the yard looked more like a science fiction rag than garden mag.
Meleah
Hi Amanda,
Ha! Thanks so much for your note. People have been sending in some really funny photos of their own lovely winter gardens, so I’ve got to get those posted. Reality is definitely not as pretty as a magazine photo spread. 🙂