the 2009 garden in pictures: a slideshow
JACK AND I WISH YOU EVERY GOOD THING in 2010 (however you wish to pronounce it, twenty-ten or two-thousand ten, or even two-oh-one-oh). As our parting shot, a look at some of the zillions of photos we enjoyed taking in 2009. Happy New Year! (Photo of us thanks to Erica Berger, and no, I am not torturing Jack. Promise.)
Click on the first thumbnail to start the show, then toggle from slide to slide using the arrows next to each caption. Enjoy!
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- The start of each calendar year is the slowest point of the garden’s own calendar in my northern garden, when I’m happy for little joys like the persistent foliage of the Korean maple, Acer pseudosieboldianum…
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- …or for the startling shape of the oldest apple trees, left behind a century ago, beautiful in every season.
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- In January and February, I scuttle along narrow runs made in the snow, not unlike the moles and voles and mice who are looking for sustenance as well.
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- By late February 2009, half of one frogpond melted and a sea lion-like bullfrog came up for the year’s first visit.
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- I shouldn’t leave the sets of painted chairs out in winter, but I am hungry for their cheer.
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- By the first week of March, signs of hope, in the form of winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis).
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- The curator of the gardens, HRH King Jack the Demon Cat, in the Eranthis mid-March.
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- The first hellebore, by March 21 in 2009, is always the Christmas rose (Helleborus niger).
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- Around the same time, the big clumps of orientalis hellebore seedlings are budding up…
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- …and by later in the month and throughout April, in bloom, in shades from yellow to near-black.
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- At the end of March I heard a duck outside, but if it quacks like a duck it might be a wood frog instead, and it was (a male looking for a mate).
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- Some wildlife moments here are not so joyous, like the day in early April when a Cooper’s hawk hit a tree in the side yard and died from the crash.
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- By late April, the hostas are showing serious signs of life.
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- The vegetable garden beds needed renovation and lots of compost this year, and got it in April.
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- Tulips for cutting help take the edge off the waiting.
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- By late April, the ephemerals are in full tilt…Hylomecon, trilliums, the hellebores still and so on, planted in big carpets beneath all the old apples.
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- Skip ahead a month, and it’s late May — tour time. The big old rhodie out back showed off on cue this year.
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- I grow herbaceous peonies (like the tulips) for cutting only, in an out-of-the-way bed; they always bloom for my early June birthday…
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- …and so does the woody vine Lonicera sempervirens, seen here June 8.
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- By July, the doublefile viburnums fruited up nicely, along with some other species….
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- …and the groundcover-type sedums were all afire alongside the vegetable garden.
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- Who needs flowers in the shade in June when you have this autumn fern and painted fern?
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- Jack brought me 7 weasel tails by season’s end; just 6 by June 20, when this photo was taken. His record is 13 in a season. I hate that he kills these wonderful animals, but he lived in the woods here long before he adopted me, and the wildness is hard to tame.
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- Allium moly is a charming little bulb, at its peak in mid to late June.
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- On June 26, who knows what this guy was saying to Buddha (but their little whisper-in-the-ear went on for quite some time).
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- Also in June, a female wasp with a long ovipositor drilled into a tree out back to plant her eggs.
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- One of my favorite “annuals” is Acalypha, whose frilly and colorful foliage comes in many named varieties.
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- The promise of Brussels sprouts had me hungry for this favorite vegetable since July.
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- In July, nothing looks as beautiful as the sight of a garbage can full of a visiting woodchuck, who got driven in helper Susan’s car down the road apiece and released.
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- Well, maybe golden staghorn sumac looks even nicer than the captured woodchuck. This is ‘Tiger Eye.’
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- Angelica gigas is the plant everyone asks about here in August-September, a biennial with other-worldly flowerheads that are chest-high.
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- The back garden in August, with a glimpse of the larger frogpond.
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- Even in a terrible tomato year, I had a decent crop in my raised beds; these (chopped for sauce) yielded in late August.
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- By late August and throughout September, the giant perennial Lespedeza thunbergii catches the eye even across the yard, a fountain of purple.
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- …like these…
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- If I had no garden, I think I would be happy to just live with these old creatures till I die.
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- Some fall moments are less majestic: picked-up seedpods from under the magnolias…
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- …and dried ‘Nest Egg’ gourds for the windowsill. Look how a ladybug is crawling up the discarded snakeskin I draped over the gourds. Everyone wants to get into the act (and house).
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- By the third week of October, the color starts to peak. The concolor fir on the back hillside with a complement of maples.
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- More maples in the distance, looking across the terrace…
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- …and even more from up on top of the hillside, worth the hike in fall especially.
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- In late October, ‘Sheffield Pink’ perennial mum is a winner (and I hate mums).
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- By early November, the leaves are fading fast…and Jack is on the hunt, listening for any movement in the grass.
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- The crabapple crop invites migrating birds to think about a pit stop.
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- Spiraea thunbergii ‘Ogon’ manages to keep its gleaming head until December, miraculously.
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- So does Yucca filamentosa ‘Color Guard,’ a stunner 12 months a year, and a plant I am grateful for in November onward.
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- Even if there is little going on at ground level some weeks, there’s always the sky (this was how it looked at first snowfall, December 6).
Happy New Year from N.Florida.
Jack is a lovely “Tuxedo” cat, always dressed for the occasion.
We are having some VERY cold weather for us. It will be interesting to see what it will do to our gardens.
Margaret,
What a lovely journey through 2009!!! I would like to feature it with another slideshow I am writing about on Garden Variety. Can I use one of your pictures on the blog? Your choice!
Thank you for sharing your pics and memories with us:) I love the ‘Tiger’s eye’ sumac and the ‘ephemeral’ picture, well that got me in the mood for spring time really fast. Alas as i am sitting here in Georgia wearing three pairs of socks in record low temps It seems I will have a bit more time for fantasizing about the glories of spring.
Welcome, Susan, and yes, borrow ahead since it it for a good cause; thank you for asking. Happy New Year to you.
Welcome, Keren. It has been bitter here, too, these last few days. I have not gone past two pairs of socks but it sounds like a good idea. :) I am going to sit down with the seed catalogs tomorrow for a big dose of hopefulness and forward-thinking. See you soon.
What a beautiful picture of you and that furry devil Jack! Happy New Year, Margaret – your gifts in the garden (and on the page) inspired me all your. Here’s to an energized, sisterly 2010. :)
Happy New Year, Margaret and Jack!!!!
Thanks for the beautiful slide show. Looking forward to
all of your posts in 2010.
If I let you have the garden and the cat … can I have your hair? HAPPY 2010 … and thanks for all the great mail. Mimi
It’s amazing to see so many varied scenes of beauty coming from one place. Perfect example of how gardening enriches our lives. Hope you have a great year!
Dear Margaret
You SO live in the garden of Eden. I loved your slides and wish that I could magically step into the one with your spring ephemerals under the old apple tree. it is just so breathtakingly beautiful! You are a wizard!
I am really enjoying your blog and have been perusing your older posts; your home and garden just Wow me!!
It is so nice to see that I am not the only person dragging all sorts of tidbits from the outdoors to bring inside. Pretty soon there will be no distinction between the two!
I just had to say thak-you for sharing your piece of heaven on earth after seeing your wonderful photos.
It is very inspiring.
I love your chairs outside, too!
Sincerely, Wendy C
Welcome, Wendy. I am happy that it looks like a piece of heaven form there…it does from the seat by the window here, too. I am happy to be here — in my garden, and on the blog with all of you. :) Do come see me again soon.
This site is truly one of a kind. It’s the best of everything.
And in my own little cold and snowy Ontario , I remain inspired and looking forward to next year. thank you.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!! to You Margaret, and your readers. May if be a FLOWERiferous year for you ALL!!!!!! ( is there us such a word like that)
On February 13, 2010, at 2pm, at the Monument Mountain School, the Berkshire Botanical Garden is having their winter lecture “Three Decades in the Garden at Highgrove”. Highgrove is the home of Prince Charles . Debs Goodenough, his head gardner is giving the talk. The lecture is $35. for non members. If you are interested visit http://www.berkshirebotanical.org I, for years, from my LOFTY seat in the bleachers, have seen Margaret sitting there, with friends ALMOST front row center. They, for the most part, present a really fine lecture, EQUALLY good as Margaret gives on the 365 day garden.
Thank you for sharing with all of us, Margaret. Your gardens AND your photography are stunning.
Gorgeous photos, Margaret! Especially love the Lespedeza thunbergii — you’ve inspired me to get some of my own. Happy new year!
@Jessica: Nice to see you and happy new year back. It’s a great plant; give it room, and time to shape up. See you soon.
Greetings from Northern Michigan, Margaret! I just love your newsletter. Thanks for sharing your pics, your life, you!
Welcome, Susie. I expect it’s cold in your neck o’ the woods (as it is here this weekend again, brrrrr). Thanks for your encouragement, and don’t be a stranger.
Oh, beautiful dear Margaret — happy, happy new year! I would now like to marry pictures 16 an 33, if it’s okay. I love them sooooooooo much.
greetings from Virginia: I could help thinking about Jack as he danced around the mulberry bush singing “Pop Goes the Weasel” Thanks for the wonderful pictures.
Welcome, Mary. ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ is right. Jack an you are in total synch. :) See you soon again.
Hello Margaret! I found you through an article written by Mariana Greene in the Dallas Morning News entitled “Looking for other gardening fools online” I immediately recognized you from your years with Martha Stewart Living. Your website is amazing and look forward to exploring it! I live on an acre outside of Dallas and attempted tomato plants in pots with some success. I bought a tumbler composter last year and was so excited to see my first batch of compost. I built a raised bed to try my tomato plants again this year with hopefully more tomatoes. So glad you started you own blog! I feel like I found an old gardening friend.
Welcome, Stephen from Dallas. Yes, our old gardening friends are here with me, gradually showing up season by season. Glad to have you along, and hear of your backyard adventures. See you soon again, I hope.
I also found you through Mariana Greene’s article in the Dallas Morning News this morning. What a marvelous website! I am thrilled to have found it and thoroughly enjoyed the fabulous photos of your garden. I look forward to following your 2010 gardening adventures. Love Jack – a kitty with attitude!
Welcome, May. Jack will love it — being called “a kitty with attitude.” He certainly has that (when he is not stoned on catnip, which is a lot of the time lately). I am glad you have found me and that we can garden virtually together in the season to come. I have a few months yet of waiting, but I will try to conjure up some offseason entertainment. See you soon again.
Happy New Year, Margaret! Thanks for the beautiful slideshow & for sharing your lovely space and knowledge. You and Jack look great :)
I went to High School with Erica Berger. We were on the Conestoga staff together she has accomplished fantastic things. We had a fantastic adviser, Miriam Grant at NMSH.
@Kathleen: How nice to hear from an old friend of Erica Berger’s. Yes, she is so talented, isn’t she? And a very true friend. Hope to see you soon again.
I saw a blurb about your blog in my local newspaper, and I really enjoyed logging on. I have been a fan since you were at Martha Stewart Living. Look forward to your garden in 2010!
Welcome, Angela. How nice of you to come investigate. Especially nice for me at near-zero days here to have the warmth of your comment. :) See you soon again, I hope.
Dear Margaret;
I saw a quick slide of an upright purple coned conifer. I couldn’t locate it later. I have seen this before and would like to add one to my pinetum. Do you have the variety and where I might locate one?
Having just discovered your spectacular site, I hope to venture over for a peek during one of the Open Days.
It almost hit 70 today so I am charged for the season.
Regards;
Jeff
Welcome, Jeff. It is Abies koreana, the Korean fir, that has the purple “pine” cones. It’s in a few places, including this post. It is easy, beautiful, and oh those cones! Thanks for the kind words, and yes, do some visit. I will be here, under a pile of weeds or trimmings of some kind. :)
Hi Martha,
Saw that you were going to be on the Martha Stewart Show and a little about
your history. I made it a point to see the show.
Even went out tonight and got your book. You have done a remarkable thing to
follow your dream of how you truly wanted to live. You have a beautiful home and
all the beautiful scenery , flowers, trees and landscaping, is breathless. I now will
be keeping in touch and on your blog. Also love Jack, as I am a cat lover.
OMG she’s gonna strangle poor Jack!!!