Things I'll miss

With cold weather creeping into the garden, and our first sub-freezing temperatures coming tomorrow, there will soon be less to see around my yard. These are some of the things I'll be missing soon...

...starting with the castor bean. I love the bamboo -- it's a "ten" for me -- but the dark-leaved castor bean next to it turns it up to eleven. What else will I be missing?

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I'll miss the tangle of vines that have taken over...

...especially the Maypop (Passiflora incarnata) which I think is going to be trouble next year. It may be the only non-bamboo plant you'll see in my photos come next summer! It's covering the Chamaecyparis pretty well:

And the whole stream area, and there's a Japanese maple somewhere under there too:

(I've been digging divisions of this -- I'll have plenty to trade or gift next year.)

I'll certainly be missing views like this...

...where the Canna 'Paton' in the lower right works so well with the dark Pennisetum 'Vertigo', the assorted Colocasia in small pots to keep their leaves smaller, and of course the vines and bamboo.

I mentioned castor bean before -- I have three plantings of this, the one just below the deck is probably the one I'll miss most:

This is a single plant, and just dominates the area. It's a great foreground subject for the background bamboos...

...and pairs well with the Pennisetum 'rubrum' and the Hydrangea 'Lady in Red' which is somewhat pulled over by vines:

(That's the view leaning over the deck railing and looking down.)

I'll also miss hanging baskets:

This Tradescantia basket (with a little bit of spider plant mixed in) will be converted to a few cuttings which I will overwinter indoors under lights. I can't bring myself to buy this every spring when it's so simple to keep some alive.

Speaking of indoors, that's where I'm moving for the last thing I'll miss. It's so unfortunate that during the winter the view out of this thin window...

...completely goes away. Once the papyrus (Cyperus papyrus 'King Tut') gets moved into the garage for the winter, I'll just see the side of the neighbor's house.


So that's some of the things I'll be missing this winter. What will you miss most as the seasons change?

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