December

 We still consider December a gardening month. To be honest, I consider all months gardening months but if it's dry enough in December look for me in the garden. I prefer it to the hubbub of holiday activities. Breathing crisp air, hanging with the birdies, putzing and dreaming up new projects and sometimes moving compost, gravel, woodchips or any combination of these is pretty much my idea of happiness in December. I'm best suited being an analog creature making my fingernails dirty even now in the midst of the holiday season.

Berberis jamesiana's berries are vibrantly colored and the foliage is beginning to turn orange. It's a rich combination that lasts quite a while. The birds hang out in this very large shrub a lot this time of the year, I think they do so for its protection though I have spotted some birds eating berries.

Greens of a rosemary hedge with an Arctostaphylos 'Howard McMinn' in the center. This is the edge of the labyrinth area and in full sun. It is also a favorite of wild birds; they are abundant here in winter.

Trunk and foliage of Arctostaphylos 'Saint Helena' with Stachys 'Helen Von Stein' at her feet. The yucca (lower right) was chopped down early in the year as it's too crowded in there and it did exactly what I suspected it would, grew right back. Maybe I'll do that every other year or so as it's too poorly placed to be able to reach a fully mature size. Muhlenbergia rigens grass in all its spiky glory on the left.

The edge of the labyrinth garden where textures reign supreme. The bed in the foreground is pretty new, having been expanded in December 2023 and has filled in as I had hoped it would.

In the center of it all stands the Salix elaegnos elaeagnos ssp. angustifolia, rosemary willow that holds onto its now-yellow foliage late into December. 

Golden-yellow foliage against a bright blue sky, a rarity so far this very wet December.

Muhlenbergia rigens once more. The spikes! I love them.

Roldana petasitis subsp. cristobalensis, a strange and wonderful plant given to me by fellow garden blogger Lance Wright. It lives in a pot and comes into the greenhouse in inclement weather. I'm not really sure what to do with it as it is wanting a really huge pot to be happy and apparently it's not hardy in the ground in my zone 8-ish garden. For now, it's a fun curiosity that lives in a smallish pot.

Here I stand between the shade garden out of sight on the left and the top of the berm garden on the right taking in textures and shades of green. The Juniperus communis 'Compressa' are, after several years, finally getting to a height where their presence is noticeable. It's a wonderful slow-growing conifer if you want to add some verticality to a border, they are also very drought-adapted.

Here's a shot while standing in a bed in the shade garden looking past the pavilion. The soft lighting of this rare sunny December weather was lovely.

As we've had such a mild autumn, some ferns are still looking great. This is Arachniodes simplicior 'Variegata', which is technically evergreen or semi-evergreen, but looks bedraggled after bad winters. It's been slow to grow for me but this year it gained some umph.

Another favorite fern is Athyrium otophorum, eared lady fern. It is deciduous, though it does not die back as soon as other ferns, especially other Athyrium species such as the Japanese painted ferns.

A new plant in the garden, Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Atropurpureum' purchased at work a few weeks ago. I thought its purple evergreen foliage (very few plants I've come across have purple + evergreen) would be a good contrast in the shade garden. It gets a little sun, I worry it won't get enough but so far all of the other pittosporum in the shade garden are thriving so I thought I would experiment.

Mossy path goodness in the shade garden.

Sweet little mushrooms (I don't know which, I know nothing about mushrooms admittedly), were incredibly abundant this year. Thousands! I'm not exaggerating. I think partially due to the wood chips in many parts of the garden as they are beginning to break down but also just a lot of rain.

Tree dahlia, Dahlia imperialis is going for it. It's been so mild as far as temperatures are concerned that it might bloom. Of course, now I've cursed it.

Though a very simple planting, there's something about this view that is appealing. Perhaps it's the Fuchsia speciosa still blooming in the center.

Fuchsia speciosa with Liriope 'Big Blue' on the left, not my favorite plant for it looks worn and tattered a good part of the year but today it's looking fine. This whole area, by the way, is a two-month project in removing leaves. It's under Quercus garryana and some awful Prunus avium that was mature when we moved here. I would love to cut the Prunus avium down, but it shades so much of this in summer - I have to think of how to handle this. The leaves and debris from these two trees are jaw droppingly abundant. Every other day I rake/leaf blow beginning in October and ending sometime around now. Leaves get transported to other parts of the garden where they can break down without smothering an entire garden. I still have to pick out oak leaves in a 100' circumference of this area well into spring, it's one of the most time-consuming tasks I have. Lesson? Don't create a garden under an oak tree unless you don't mind the extra work. Oak leaves, these anyhow, take a full couple of years to completely break down. 

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Wissel's Saguaro' holding court at the end of the berm garden. This has taken nine years or so to get this large. As it's so unusual, it does make a great specimen plant. It took me a long time to find the perfect place to plant it and finally it's at a stage I envisioned a decade ago.

Miscanthus sinensis 'Cabaret' going golden for the year. This is at an angle not often seen, a pathway between the garden bed and the house.

Looking south towards three Cupressus 'Donard Gold' which by this point at seven or eight years after planting create a boundary, a backdrop, a secret corridor down below that beckons you to come explore. They have totally changed the garden for me in a really good way.

This area looks messy and not inspired now, but the point of this photo is the green patch. Those are Limnanthes douglasii seedlings, our native annual meadowfoam that has done its best to spread out, especially here. When they do bloom in spring it's a delightful effect among Carex comans.

View of the fire pit looking south, Azara microphylla on the left and expanses of my neighborhood trees through the opening on the right. That little stretch of green grass is my neighbor's field, below that is a fairly well-traversed road the view of which will hopefully be blocked by newish plantings near our fence line.

A bit difficult to see, but there's Nigel on this wood pile, our resident chipmunk. OK, all the chipmunks are named Nigel or Nigelina, and to be fair - there are many. They are also very wiggly and difficult to photograph. We enjoy having them around.

Hebe 'Karo Golden Esk', behind it a new to us plant that was given as a gift from Sean Hogan. Magnolia laevifolia 'Warm Fuzzies' is an evergreen small tree with dark coppery indumentum on the reverse of the leaf. It has small white flowers as well. This was planted in honor of Hobbes, our boy kitty who died a year ago. We also have a special tree planted for his sister, Lucy, a Franklinia alatamaha. A special tree for a special girl. We chose this tree because of the name, Warm Fuzzies. Plus it's a gorgeous, special tree. It's planted where we can see it from inside the house. We look forward to watching it settle in and grow.

Some evergreen views near the base of the deck with Yucca gloriosa 'Variegata', Hebe cupressoides, Hebe 'Sutherlandii' and Arctostaphylos 'Saint Helena' The grass in the background is Miscanthus sinensis 'Malepartus'.

The persimmon tree had a great crop this year. This is Diospyros kaki 'Saijo', an astringent type of persimmon which means don't eat it unless it's fully ripe. Yuck. Wait until they are soft like jelly which can happen if you let them ripen on your countertop or on the tree. The birds do love pecking at them, though, so grab them while you can. Saijo apparently translates to "the very best one" and yes, it's incredibly sweet when perfectly ripe. The foliage and tree are stunning.

Not much to look at but in the category of chores I refreshed the strawberry bed recently, the first time in years. Long overdue. All the raised beds got a nice thick layer of compost.

PO-TA-TOES, boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew. Lord of the Rings fans know this line well, we cite it often. OK, so the potatoes were super-neglected this summer (watering) and we harvested what we could at the time. Now they're doing this with the recent rains and obviously, I didn't harvest them all. What to do now? Leave them until the foliage dies back then perhaps dig around in there to see if we can have winter potatoes. It's all one big experiment.

A muddled leafy image, but the point of this photo is that we removed another rather large Lonicera nitida that was growing exponentially. It basically took up this entire hole now left by its absence. Years ago while trimming out reversions on a Lonicera 'Silver Beauty', I stuck a cutting into the ground here (and several other places that needed some foliage). To my delight at the time, they all seemed to root and grow, though not fast at first. Then last year we noticed how huge two areas had become and it was too much, they were crowding out other plants I wanted to keep. So out the Lonicera nitida came, though it was no small task. Last year we removed a different huge area that took the better part of two wet, muddy days. This patch was the last of it anywhere in the garden. In its place, though difficult to see, is a Cercis occidentalis, our native redbud tree. It's center left surrounded by some logs. While the lonicera might be a good option for other applications, for me it was too aggressive. I must say other lonicera forms are not as aggressive - I have L. 'Red Tips', 'Baggensen's Gold', 'Twiggy', 'Briloni' and 'Silver Beauty', all of which are quite polite, I'm happy to report.

A couple small projects - FM completed this section of steel edging near the veggie garden. It's so much smarter and hopefully will contain the gravel.

A second well-traversed path from the house to the chicken coop is probably the first path we created 10 years ago. Now it has proper metal edging, plus we can see it out our windows so it gives me great joy to look out to a lovely, neat gravel path.

A side shoot from the previous path, this leading up to the shade garden. It is now edged and wonderful. It has taken us 10 years to slowly add paths, beds, structure and cohesion to the garden. We are still working on it, a little each year.

Closing out this post with an image of Lucy and Hobbes' graves. It has been one year (on the 14th) that our dear beloved Hobbes left this planet and crossed the rainbow bridge. We miss them both, brother and sister, so very much. The hole is huge. We say hello to them nearly every day. It is a comfort having them close by, as odd as that may sound.

December, right now, is wet wet wet. I was fortunate to have a little dry time early on to capture the last of the autumnal influence combined with low winter light and lots of evergreen plants in the mix. I've enjoyed working outside as much as I can and frankly, enjoy the break after what has been a long, effed-up, heartbreaking and traumatic year. We don't have non-garden stuff to do this month and we are SO grateful. Just being here is enough.

On that note I hope nature gives you enough this December, be it walks in your local park, your own garden, tending pots on your apartment balcony or windowsill, photos and videos online. It all counts.

That's a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. As always, thank you so much for reading and commenting, we do love hearing from you!