ABC Wednesday: The Vagaries of Winter

Note to Garden Bloggers visiting today: My Bloom Day post can be found by scrolling below this one. But I do hope you'll take a moment to read my silly little poem here, since it describes the way my garden looks in December.


One of the things I've come to enjoy about ABC Wednesdays is the chance to meet some other bloggers around the world who I probably wouldn't encounter from reading primarily garden blogs. Each Wednesday I visit a few familiar "faces" from this group, but I usually meet a few new people each week as well. One of the more familiar bloggers in this group, Brenda at Rinkly Rimes, commented on my post last week that my photo of "frozen fennel" suggested a poem to her. Those of you who read Rinkly Rimes' posts know that Brenda is a poet extraordinaire with clever verses on a wide variety of topics. If she does write a poem about frozen fennel, I would be very honored. But in the meantime, she inspired me with the idea for today's V post . . . a little light Verse about my garden:

December 2008

My Garden in Winter

Winter winds have swept the prairie
Cold, ice, and snow have left their mark.
The garden is still—
Zero Zinnias and No Nasturtiums
To brighten each day.
Only Frozen Fennel
and Dill Dusted with snow,
Alongside Pummeled Phlox,
Icy Iris, and Arctic Asters.

Crumpled Coleus and Prone Pansies
Sit by the door.
Dormant Daffodils and Daylilies
wait for warmer weather
Along with
the Tulips under the Tundra.
Slumbering Salvia stand next to
Snowy Sedum and Congealed Coneflowers.

Rain turns to ice, creating Sleety Susans
And Glacial Gaillardias.
In the shade garden
Hyperborean Hellebores shiver
Next to Hibernating Heucheras,
Hostas, and Hydrangeas,
all on Hold till the end of the season.
Frigid Ferns, Polar Primrose, and Bleak Brunnera
Hide under a light coverlet of leaves.

Quivering Quince and Cowering Clematis
Suffer the onslaught.
Lilacs and Lavender Languish
while the Roses Rest
Under a blanket of white.
Verbena and “Victoria Blues” bear the Vicissitudes
Of Winter’s wrath.

My garden sleeps—
dreaming of spring.

Editor's Full Disclosure--Please note the photo above was taken a year ago. I've taken some poetic license in the poem as well, because we haven't had any snow other than a few flurries. But I know that the snow will come eventually--probably with a vengeance--and a brown, muddy garden just doesn't sound very poetic, does it?

Thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt for hosting us once again; for other varied V posts, check out the ABC Blog.

GBBD: A Sonnet for Stella

Sonnet I (For Stella)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love you from the breadth of your bright green foliage,

Waving in the breeze every summer day,

To the depth of your trumpet-shaped flowers that reach for the sun

And beckon the nearby bee to search for nourishment within.

I love you for your constancy:

While others show a flash of beauty and then fade away,

You are there from June to September.

I love you for your understanding: whether rain pounds you

Or the gardener neglects you, you forgive and never fail.

While others may call you ubiquitous or a cliche,
You are always welcome here.

And when your time is done, the green remains,

Growing ever stronger, doubling my joys in years to come.

(With apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning and to any poetry purists who notice this sonnet neither rhymes nor has iambic pentameter.)

On this June Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day Stella d'Oro is the rising star in my garden. Her blooms just began to appear this past week, and, as you can see in the photos, her real show is still a few days away. While Stella is the most popular of all the hemerocallis, there are so many new hybrids in many different hues. I would love to have some of these, particularly the pink, but Stella has grown so large this year I will have to divide her up this fall or next spring. Planting other varieties would require more garden space, which means . . .more digging. I'll have to think about that.

Stella has been in my garden from the beginning, but a new star on the scene is the "Oranges and Lemons" gaillardia in the expanded roadside bed. This is a fairly new variety, I believe, that promises to "bloom profusely throughout the season." We'll see if it fulfills that promise. I'm just thankful it is blooming at all and didn't get pneumonia from the wet feet it had for a week.

An old standby is my yarrow, Achillea "Appleblossom" (I think). This will bloom all season long. In fact, I usually shear it off a couple times during the summer, and it just comes back and back. I'm glad I knew its nature before planting it and planted it next to some large landscape rocks with boundaries to contain it.

Another new plant that has been blooming since I bought it this spring is this Rozanne geranium. I finally planted it in its permanent home, and it seems to be adjusting rather well.

The Knockout roses looked much better last week when I captured a photo of "the perfect rose" for a post. Even though they look a little blowsy right now, they will rebloom all summer long right into fall.

I wish I had taken some photos last week of some of my other flowers. Though they are still blooming right now, the first blooms are withering and not as colorful as they were earlier. These include a "Walker's Low" nepeta...

and a "May Night" salvia as well as "East Friesland" salvias (not pictured)....

The clematis, which I believe is a Nelly Moser, still has some tenacious blooms hanging on.

This is a great time for gardening. While some flowers have lost that first blush, they will be back soon. And other plants are budding, ready to take center stage for awhile. These include my original "Endless Summer" hydrangeas...

...and my first love, the purple coneflower.

Wishing you all lots of blooms to enjoy.

And a Happy Father's Day to any dads out there reading this (and those that aren't).

A special wish to my own dad who is a young 82!

And a happy birthday to a little princess, my granddaughter who turns 5 today.

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day is sponsored by Carol at May Dreams Gardens; visit her to see more of what is blooming in everyone's garden this June.