Bird feeder waits to get installed after spring adventures of one party. It lost the hook and has to be repaired. It is important to start feeding birds after snow comes. Before they have a lot of natural food in the garden - especially they will help us to get rid of unwanted bugs, larvae etc.
My garden furniture needs care. I am going to paint it before spring. Should it be white or blue?
Dendrathema (perennial) starts to bloom in November and doing well until severe freeze.
Beauty of November plants. Hydrangea paniculata Kyushu looks still fine even at dormant stage. Looks great together with evergreen fern Asplenium scolopendrium - it looks same entire winter. This fern likes alcaline soil, so I add crushed egg shells at the bottom of it and mix the soil gently.
Intensively red stems of Cornus alba Sibirica looks great until spring, when I cut them back strongly to keep it at the same level. While cut it produces nice amount of symmetrical stems which look like arranged in the vase. The younger stems the more red they are.
I have two compost bins. One of them I moved to different place, because I wanted to make it more 'comfortable' and also wanted to get rid of it's view through future rose arc (roses are planted, but arc is not installed yet).
Look what I found on the bottom. This is how compost soil looks like after 6 months. Pure black and smelling very nice - its a smell of wet forest. Wandering compost bin makes ready flower/plants beds after it is moved to different place.
Dentrathema is a lovely plant when blooming still now (I never saw one before, I even didn't know it) and your cornus just beautiful. Mine doesn't show such a nice red. Perhaps I should cut it back down (it is in my garden since beginning, i.e. 22 years). I wonder how you'll paint your outdoor furniture. We had - up to this summer- white ones and now they have a beige color as they are not out of wood anymore. I prefer to do painting in warmer days...I should renovate some benches too. On December 4, I'll answer to your tagging!
ReplyDeleteHave a good time, Ewa!
Barbara
Hi Ewa. Your November garden looks beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThe colour of your garden furniture? Blue of course :-)
I agree! Blue! Blue always looks so beautiful against the greens and pinks of a spring and summer garden. And adds some color when it gets grey and snowy.
ReplyDeleteYour Cornus alba Sibirica looks like what we call red-twig dogwood. I just love the color it adds to the garden--almost prettier in the winter than it is in the summer.
Lovely post, as always--and I love the story of the wandering compost bin. Your Cornus is splendid; I've a stretch of Cornus about ten feet long, and this year I cut half of it back hard to promote twig growth while the rest is allowed to grow to a canopy of about eight feet in height. It flowers twice some years, but doesn't produce fruit, so I think I'll introduce a second species and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteEwa: I vote blue for the furniture and love your Cornus! Great color! I have a 'Midwinter Fire' which is still small but great color! Compost rules!
ReplyDeleteBarbara,
ReplyDeletethis cornus major beauty you could see in the winter on young stems, so the more you cut it the more red it will be. Mine needs to be transplanted, cos it is too close to other plants - but I knew I will have to do it one day. 'In 3years' souded like in next 'age' at that time. I wanted to have nice garden fast :)
britt-arnhild,
nice to see you again.
deborah raney,
exactly it looks much better in winter - that is why I invited it to my garden. Its simply has to make it more attractive when flowers are gone.
jodi,
cornus is great 'family' - I fell for them instantly. I have also cornus mas - but it struggled for 1 year with fungus. Luckily we managed with the help of grapefruit extract. This cornus is flowering in March and has edible red fruits - amazing for home made liqueur :) there was tradition among Polish gentry to make great cornus liqueur.
One day it will have enough fruits... hmmm...
layanee,
I agree! compost rules!!
The colours of the Cornus stems (Dogwood) are beautiful. I have some in my garden.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the contrast with the snow scene garden.
Barbara,
ReplyDeleteThank you for visting :) Yes, that Cornus stems are real treat in this season, when most of the garden is gray :)
greetings,
HI..
ReplyDeleteEwa
your garden is such a beautiful.The bird feeder is one of the thing which is missing from my garden.The experience about gardening you shared in your blog is really great.I will follow your blog in future.