Author: Alice Massey

“Good bones,” a favorite term of garden designers, really comes home during February, that forgotten month in the garden. It refers to the visual structure that binds your plants into a pleasing design. Those “bones” serve as a backdrop during the warmer months when there are riots of colorful flowers taking center stage.

This is the time of year when traditions reign. Every family has their own and at our home, without fail and barring bad weather, I photograph our garden especially noting what is blooming on Christmas Day each year. If we are out of town I do this on New Year’s Day. I’ll cheat a bit and take photos early this year so I can still get the article in on time.

This year, autumn can best be described as “quirky.”  The normal warm and cool temperature swings have been anything but normal and it has been wet, very wet. The weeds are winning the race and as I write this yet another storm is approaching and with each gust of wind my house is bombarded by acorns.

Anyone else old enough to remember that ad for tired, poor blood?  Did you know that our container plants can have tired, poor soil?   It is just all worn out, sort of like people in this weather.

Iced tea, lazy afternoons in the hammock under the palmettos, and just letting the bees and butterflies have the garden to themselves. That’s what comes to mind this month. Everything moves in slow motion, slightly hazy and mirage like. Lowcountry heat will do that; it is nature’s way of calming us so we can slow down and appreciate our surroundings.    

And I say Solanum Lycospurnum. Well not really, can you imagine the funny looks I would get in the grocery store? There are good reasons for learning the botanical names for plants however. 

And it’s about time ! Is it just me, or did winter seem to go on forever this year? I’m ready for less pollen and fewer Live Oak leaves.

  We’re almost there. Any day now our blissfully short winter will be a mere memory. It didn’t always feel short to me; a friend visiting from up north chastised me recently because I said it was cold. She reminded me of those who are still snowed in, those who will not see their gardens for many weeks.

  The holidays are, once again, a pleasant memory.   The decorations are put back in the attic and the cookies have all been eaten. Just when we thought it was time to relax a new crop of catalogs started arriving.

Indoor projects have kept me out of the garden lately and the recent cold snap took me by surprise. Oh, I’d heard of its impending arrival but had put the thought in the back of my mind until it was obvious something had to be done and done quickly. Tender plants were moved to sheltered spots and a few came indoors. The cold weather duration was short, we never had a hard freeze, and all was well in my garden.