It is Spring, Fall or Winter…

 

 

Are you wondering when it’s going to snow? The winter solstice is only three weeks away! I know many of you would be happy if winter passed us by completely, but our gardens could suffer real consequences if we miss the moisture and frosty cold conditions required for the trees and perennials that we grow in zone 4b, where I live.

I was out in my front garden (Nov. 28) cleaning up willow branches that had dropped after a strong wind we experienced lately. What struck me was how green some of the perennials still are. Below are photos I took that day of the periwinkle, hellebore, an Autumn Mist clematis, ivy (still in containers) and creeping thyme.

 

I have complete faith in Nature and assume she knows what she’s doing. Having said that, I’ve also been watering the spruce trees in the back garden…just in case she forgot about us. I did take some comfort in seeing a “white” rabbit hiding behind a shrub. They know what’s coming…right? And I haven’t seen the flocks of geese that have been gathering for the past week. They may have flown south.

This has been a fabulous, mild fall season and has shortened winter by weeks already. Is this an anomaly, or is this the result of climate change? Only Nature can answer that question with certainty, but I’m hoping my garden adapts accordingly, and I’ll try to wait for Spring ...patiently without worrying about the unestablished perennial gardens planted this past summer.

xox Judy❤️