Jeanne Cronce from Port Orchard, Washington shares the surreal beauty of a cold, wet November morning.
"Good morning on this crisp and clear, wet and cold November morning. I decided to send some new photos of our gardens in the month of October and november…there is always some thing going on in a garden, in every month. Planting bulbs, moving plants or planting new ones, dividing, prunning, etc. A garden never is finished and always changing. What a wonderful passion to have."
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Comments
always always a treat to see your garden, Jeanne. hope you didn't receive too much damage from the storm
Good morning Jeff..well we made it thru the storm without too much damage. We cleaned up a huge willow yesterday and now I have an empty spot! Woohoo! It had provided some shade for other plants so I need to find something that grows fast. We uprighted and staked off the huge Arizona cypress and with fingers crossed it will make it. I love this so and I sure would hate to lose it! Even the smell of it is so great. Have a great day!
All your garden photos are beautiful & the ones with the mist in the background are suitable for framing. I love when a plan comes together & yours certainly has.
Thanks Joe...well my planning really isn't planning. I just wing it with a glass of wine and sit for a spell. Then when I find a plant I like then I will fit it in somewhere. But this kind of planning creates more work in the longrun...moving plants and things...The mist is nice as it is getting colder. Mornings are a good time to experience it. Happy days ahead for you!
It's just a delight to see your beautiful, and colorful garden. And I'm sure the photos really don't do it justice. But I'm glad I get this portal into your garden. Like the misty atmosphere in some of those pics.
Thanks NC Yarden... Yes, the photos don't seem to pick up how it really is. I usually get quite frustrated with this when I take pictures. Have a great season ahead!
Your playful pops of purple ornamentation always bring a smile of delight, Jeanne. I invariably grin and say to myself, "Good for her!" I also admire your use of the tall pencil thin conifers dotted throughout your garden beds. They always catch my eye as I take in the picture and add an interesting note of drama. Yours is an exceptionally beautiful 4 season garden and I'm so glad you thrive in your nurturing of it.
Good morning Michaele! Picture four if I counted right is of our blueberry bushes and a tub of a sumac which has made its way out of the bottom! But it brings nice colors in the fall. Glad you like the color of purple. Its hard for my husband but he lets me do it. I love orange so I will be having some orange and purple tulips that will pop up in the spring and I have this huge orange red hot poker that will shadow the purple. Iam a little excited to see what it will look like when it all comes together. Yes, I thrive on gardening. It is so hard when its too wet out to really work out in it. But I have been cleaning up the greenhouses and moving pots around. Have a wonderful season ahead!
When I read this, I thought of you, Jeanne....except you would make your hair a bright purple. This lady has a lot of spunk and energy for 85! http://www.npr.org/2015/11/18/456349585/gray-haired-granny-an-85-year-old-writer-goes-punk-rock-instead
This is so wonderfully freeing! My daughter has been wanting me to cut my hair in spikes and bleach it white! I just might do that! I still have a little of the "young touches" left though. Well at least a few lashes and brows. I am having a hard time letting all the beauty stuff go. So this article is wonderful!
This is so wonderfully freeing! My daughter has been wanting me to cut my hair in spikes and bleach it white! I just might do that! I still have a little of the "young touches" left though. Well at least a few lashes and brows. I am having a hard time letting all the beauty stuff go. So this article is wonderful
Jeanne, wow, what a wonderland! Years of love and hard work here! Do tell, how do you keep micro weeds out of your moss paths? I am currently down on my knees pulling out invasives with tweezers! Yikes! I adore my moss, yet weeding is a chore.
Hi Diane! So you have a moss garden! Awsome! Well here in the northwest moss is actually an invasive weed if you try to have a nice lawn. We gave up on having nice lawns because we didn't want to use all the chemicals and wanted worms around for the birds. So I let the moss grow on the pavers and in the hot summer it turns brown. There are a few weeds that pop up and when they get big enough I pull them up. That's wonderful that you adore moss! In the back of our woods its like carpet. Well enjoy your moss!
Jeanne, yes in my hot, humid central VA gardens, moss has found her way in between a river rock path and within an iron mat just outside my shed door. It does go dormant in our brutal summers, yet pops back to that lovely green as soon as the cooler temps arrive in fall and winter. Just like clockwork. I will see if I can attach a photo. The tiny weeds are tiresome, as if I let them grow, when they are removed, they take the moss with them, therefore the knees and tweezers...'-)
If nothing else, we gardeners in PA have zone envy...beautiful job Jeanne, but you must be careful. You don't want to attract too many people to the Pacific Northwest!!!!
Ha Ha... We use to really be serious about that! But people have come anyway! Its too bad for us but its good for them. This area is really getting populated. But thanks for the nice comment, Rhonda! Have a wonderful season!
Awesome~ always love seeing your gardens... so much to see and appreciate. Great variety, SO much interest! Definitely an all season garden.
Good morning Margaret... thanks for sharing your great comments. It is a year round garden. Having a lot of conifers help and then there are the rhodies around here that stay green year round and then they flower too.
Love your gardens, Jeanne. What is that wonderful tall, columnar dark evergreen on the left in picture 7? I'd love to research to see if it will grow in my Illinois zone 6 garden.
Hi Polly! Well I counted down with the pictures and I believe its the one with the hint of blue to it? This is a very old plant and I bought it at a clearance with no tag years ago. I am sorry but I don't have the name. But isn't the color nice! It looks better in the fall when it gets colder. Iam sure it would grow in your area. They are very hardy. There are quite a few varieties of this kind.
Jeanne, the first picture is just magical, thank you
You are welcome, Howard. Iam glad you enjoyed them! Have a great day!
Splendid Jeanne! Each photo is so full that I could spend an hour on this posting. Gorgeous. Crazy about the first shot framed with the bamboo. It's still hard to believe that the path is made with a mold. That's a gorgeous fern hiding in there, too. Cyrtomium? I just purchased Cyrtomium fortunei this year. Supposed to be exceedingly hardy in my zone, but it doesn't look like a plant that should be hardy. Fingers crossed!
You have some really amazing architectural plants; from the bamboo to the huge grasses to the conifers. A botanical delight.
A friend sent me the cartoon below this morning. I've emailed it to a few folks, but am posting it here because I think this happens to a lot of people on this blog.....
OMG, Tim. This cartoon hits FAR too close to home....!!!!
So true for me and my husband!!! But since he has retired he has been so helpful to stop at nurseries along the way on road trips!
Hi Tim, my rock friend, Iam headed up to Ediz spit for some rocks today! Anyway thanks for the comments. Yes this is a cyrtomium, holly fern. It is super hardy and I have divided this a few times for more of them! I love this fern. I hope it will do well for you! Love the cartoon! Certainly a true situation! Have a wonderful season!
I *love* rocks.
Hmmm..."Tim" looks like an orchid-lover. ;-)
Hey, thanks to some conversations on this blog I've got two new bloom spikes forming on a Cymbidium. Looks like it will take a while for it to actually bloom and it was a gift, and I don't know what it will look like. I've got a bloom on a Paphiopedilum I bought out of bloom for $5 last year. Stunning!
Tim, Congrats?? Was your beautiful Paphiopedilum in a greenhouse? I was thrilled when I got my Ladies Slipper to rebloom in my kitchen bay window!??
Great minds. East-facing kitchen windowsill, in a little bonsai pot. Seems to work great for them so far.
Great job on your paph and cymbidium, Tim!
That cartoon is a stitch, Tim and I think many of us certainly identify with it. I have a plant depository spot where I can empty the car of purchases before I pull into the garage. Sometimes I feel embarrassed at the quantity of little pots that somehow ended up in backseat area. Back when I was a little kid, I used to lure other people's animals to "follow" me home and then express innocence to my mom when she questioned why we suddenly had a new dog or cat. Thinking back on it, I must have driven the neighborhood crazy as my poor mom had to sort out ownership. I can't use that excuse with the plants since they don't have legs.
Really Michaele! You are so funny!
These are some of the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen on here. Gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for your very generous comment Kay. There have been some wonderful gardens on this site that I feel so inferior to. So I guess its just a matter of the type of gardens we like personally.
You should never feel inferior. You have a spectacular garden.
Ahhh,what a beautiful time of year. Your garden exemplifies the best of fall, Jeanne. Some day I'm coming to visit!
Hey Girl! Howdy! You know you are always welcome to stop by when you are in the area thawing out! No...just kidding. I enjoy Montana in the early summers but its too cold for my bones in winter!
Ha! You're right...I could handle some thawing! I might go out to the NW flower and garden show in February...are you going?
Hi... well iam not sure if I will be going or not...It would be fun to all try to meet up and get a hotel for the night. There is so much to see and its hard to pin point what day would work.
Hi Diane.... Thanks for the generous comments. Its so amazing here in the northwest as we now can garden year round. It used to be we had hard winters but not any more. But this fall has been the best one so far. All the colors were exceptional. Have a cozy season ahead!
Jeanne, I love your garden in every season. All of it speaks to me with welcome in its voice.
Does that purple paint last longer than a year? This year I created a bunch of round bins out of galvanized metal fencing in which to compost the fall leaves. Though they are meant to be temporary, I don't like the look of the metal. I wish I had remembered your striking purple arch.
Hi May! Glad to hear of "welcome" in the voice of the gardens. That is exactly what I always hoped for. Well this spray paint works great. It lasts for quite awhile on metal. So far I haven't had to redo any of my other projects around. Your round bins sounds wonderful! I love metal...I so would love to get a plasma cutter and do some metal walls and gates..we all have to dream ....well take care and I am enjoying your fb posts!
I hope you have been able to clear up the worst of the storm debris by now and that the couple of days of sunshine have helped get rid of your extra water. I was lucky and only had little branches come down, though there were plenty of those! I enjoy your fb posts too. One day I might get organized enough to send some photos to Michelle.
Nearly every photo shows color or shape 'echos' within the picture - it is obvious that you not only planned your garden carefully (or intuitively?) as each picture has superb composition. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hi Cheryl...thanks, so glad u like it. It is totally intuitive. I just love art and plants and it all works together I supose.
I only recently learned about appreciating the repetition of shapes or colors. We are now rebuilding our home after a fire last year, and I am so aware of color and shapes- now if I can only get that heightened sense of awareness in my garden. I wish it were intuitive for me! Maybe that glass of wine you mentioned earlier would help!
Absolutely gorgeous, Jeanne. I'm so jealous, not just of your garden, but of the entire PNW. Thank you for sharing!
Hi...glad you enjoyed seeing gardens. Isn't it fun and it's a great way for inspiration for many things. We are quite fortunate to live here. I use to think how wonderful it would be to live in California but now with the water shortage there I am quite content here as long as I can get a break from the cold dark days during winter. Have a great season ahead...
We have our share of dark winter days here in Michigan too, and I know how depressing it can be. Let's hope for a sunny winter for both of us this year!
Your garden is so inspiring Jeanne. Even in the Fall it looks gorgeous. Thanks for sharing with us. Glad you survived the storm. Lots of trees down on Vancouver Island but all I had was branches messing up the yard.
Hi Catherine...glad to hear you made it thru okay. Do sent it feel so crisp and clean now? I sure miss all the color of the deciduous trees though!
Jeanne, thanks for the stroll through your beautiful NW garden. Your hogwire trellis is charming. Is that a new bed being created? We've had to start from scratch in our gardens after clearing out dead trees and invasive blackberry, so your very full, mature garden is most appealing.
Hi Linda...it was great to visit with you both as well! The area with the livestock panel is partly new. I had to enlarge it for a new magnolia tree I bought. So of course I had to put in an arbor/ trellis for some vines. Have a wonderful season ahead!
Hi again, Linda... I just realized you are a different linda! Sorry about that. You are welcome for the stroll thru the gardens. We started from scratch years ago and it is now how it is. A lot of things have happened and many changes along the way as well. Its all a part of a gardeners life! I know you will enjoy the process of what you guys have started! Its a lot of work but it is so rewarding and a peaceful way to spend the time and boy do we need peace in this unsettled world today! Have a wonderful season ahead!
Jeanne, I think these may be your very best photos to date! They truly bring out the magic of your beloved gardens. There is just something so mysterious about the mist hanging heavily in the air with the willow gently weeping and the cypress standing guard... love it! I, too, am quite relieved you had little damage from the storms, although they sometimes do create unexpected possibilities don't they?
Hi Sheila! Thanks so much...a garden is always evolving for the better if it's kept attended to. So having gardening as a passion helps. We didn't have too much damage and our power was out for a few hours. There are some people still without power though. I hope you didn't get too snowed in! Did you tuck in all your succulents in all the nooks and crannies inside? I am sure you did! Well have a wonderful season!
Hi Jeanne ~ So glad you made it thru the storm with only one downed tree, Now the work begins with cleanup! Our place looks like a war zone but at least the sun is shining today to help with that nasty job. Even in Fall your grounds look wonderfully inviting. I know you have many projects in mind and I will look forward to seeing them in Spring. Happy more gardening ^_^
So sorry to hear you all got hit so hard! You all took the brunt of the weather front. By the time it crossed the mountains and dumped all of the snow on Sheila, all we got was some rain. Best wishes for clean up.
Thanks for your thoughts Tim. It is always scary when you live amongst 150' tall fir trees, especially following days of heavy rains. Fortunately we are on high ground as many rivers in WA flood during these storms and people loose their homes, makes 'clean up' sound simple. Sunshine today, time to dry out ^_^
I so know those mixed feelings of dismay at the wreckage and yet relief it wasn't worse, Linda. We had a doozy of a storm (lots of destructive wind and hail) about 5 years ago that ripped off many pine branches from trees in the vicinity of our house. The following morning when we stepped outside , it was quite daunting to see the amount of clean up that we were going to have to do.
Nice to hear from you Michaele and those storms can be so frightening! Two people lost their lives in this storm in the Puget Sound area. Always makes me so very sad. One young fella was crushed in his car by a falling tree, another electrocuted by fallen wires. Every storm seems to have it's tragedies and I am always so glad when they are over. Let's hope for a peaceful Fall - both weather AND world wide.
Sounds like it was a very dangerous storm and what a terrible shame that it took two lives. I share your hopes expressed in your last sentence.
Hi Linda! I had responded to another linda earlier and thought it was you! Iam so glad you guys made it thru all the wind and rain! You have beautiful trees but at times it can be quite fearful and damaging. I know what you mean about the war zone! We had a bonfire yesterday and took care of an old willow that blew down. But for the most part we didn't have too much damage. Hope you have a wonderful season ahead!
Jeanne, you have created and live in the most beautiful arboretum! What a pleasure to visit it in pictures. Your plantings are gorgeous and well cared for, and our PNW forest background doesn't hurt either. Sure enjoyed seeing it and meeting you and Robin at the flower and garden show last spring. Have a great winter and holiday season. Tim, your paph is gorgeous. One of my favorites is the one with green and white stripes on the top petal - sepal - whatever it is. $5 - don't you love a bargain?!
I DO love a bargain. I have the green and white one, too! Can't pass up a $40 orchid for $5.......
Hi Shirley! How have you been? Hope all is well and flourishing! I enjoyed meeting you and all the others too at the garden show. Too bad it wont be happening this year.
Just cant get over the land there. So lush. Beautiful garden. Such a gorgeous place to live. Beautiful framework beautiful concept & plan. Fabulous plants. Great artist, you are.
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