Finding Beauty in a Dead Garden

While gardeners in every state but my own have beautiful photos of rime covered trees and fluffy snow drifts, mine is decidedly less dramatic.  Nobody rants and raves about winter's beautiful scenery in the Coastal South, but I would beg to differ.  Lets take a break from covering our plants for a moment and look at the beauty that we so often take for granted.
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Okay, so this isn't the most beautiful winter photo you'll ever see.  The dead grass has been dug up by by armadillos (I think) leaving muddy patches, and the lushly tropical landscape that I shared with you only a couple months ago is barely evident in those limp and dried out leaves.  If it looks ugly, its because you're not looking at it the right way... look closer!


Winter comes with its own set of rules, and the dead grass and empty canopies only serve to better highlight those hidden forms!  Take this wax myrtle for example.  Its berries have a waxy bluish finish, and the shapes are so ornamental that I would even recommend using them in a cut arrangement!  Of course you could also make bayberry candles with the wax on the berries, but you'd need a lot of fruit laden branches to make even a little candle.  Its better just to appreciate the ornamental form.  Oh, and did I mention that the wax myrtle is evergreen?  This earns it big brownie points in my garden. 


Grasses are also great for winter interest in places with, or without snow.  Even as cold winds and frost suck the moisture out of their cells, they retain their structure and often provide a little color too!  My lemongrass (not pictured) is gray and dead, but still retains its fountain like form.


This clump of ginger has seen better days to be sure, but I'm still fascinated by its resilience, and thrilled to know that it will rebound in spring with no recollection of this painful trial.  When allowed to recover plants do not hold grudges, keeping no memory of how you've allowed them to suffer. 


Here are some alocasia leaves, still pushing out of the ground in this coldest of winters.  I hope to some day be so persistent myself!
 
I was looking at my miserable ti plant today, its leaves nothing more than skeletons of ridges and veins left in between the damaged tissue.  The leaves twisted around in agony as some portions dried out faster than others, and I couldn't help but be intrigued by the forces at work.  If that thought depresses, you, how about this: In just a few months that plant and the garden will recover, just like nothing ever happened!  How is that not a miracle?
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18 comments:

  1. I went out a while ago to take some pictures for Sunday's foliage follow up. I was amazed at how much life there was out there. Little signs of things just beginning to wake up.

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  2. danger garden:
    Isn't it amazing? After last year's record cold I just expect EVERYTHING to have died back to the ground but that's clearly not the case... yet.

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  3. wow- you must be having another cold winter again..... some pretty resilient plants you have there.

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  4. I walk outside my place and think that just a few months ago it was over a 100 degrees and wonder how it could be so cold now!! I know that the plants will rebound and that the spring will bring wonderful change, but it's sometimes hard to look at the frost damage:)

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  5. africanaussie:
    Very cold... It got down to 35 degrees F last night! You gotta love those plants that come back from the roots!

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  6. rohrerbot:
    I know! Isn't it crazy? I think that the strong contrast between winter and summer landscapes is all the more enjoyable though. I guess it wouldn't be as rewarding if I lived in Miami.

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  7. How true! It's easy to wallow and fixate on the scruffy state of plants in winter, but come summer alot of plants perk up and recover so well that winter soon becomes a distant memory. A miracle indeed :)

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  8. My garden may look brown and a tad ugly,but at least I'm not sweating my tail off,or swatting mosquitoes,when I work in the garden.There's a silver lining everywhere.

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  9. We do have the ugly gardens here right now...and for some time to come. Wow! What gorgeous rime-covered trees in that PATSP post! Of course, the reality of living in that gorgeous frozen world is a very different thing from seeing it in pictures. Personally, I can't wait to get back outdoors. I tend to hole myself up inside when the weather gets so frigid. I too am glad that so many of our "tropicals we shouldn't plant" are resilient.

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  10. All those dead leaves and plants are just free biomass for the compost bin. Way I look at things now, anything that dies off from the Winter cold is just making a free contribution to the betterment of the garden soil in the summer.

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  11. It really is a miracle, Steve and totally amazing. With each day we're getting closer to the end of winter for us. I never noticed the blue color of the wax myrtle berries. I'll have to take a close look at mine. The birds love these fruits.

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  12. The winter look is not working for me; I need my green plants back. Hopefully we are done with the freezing weather

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  13. A few years back we had record cold temperatures and so many plants froze. Although many tropicals died, the ones that didn't came back even more beautiful. It was like this hard pruning that you are reluctant to do because the plant is always green? Well, it was amazing.

    And yikes, didn't know armadillos did garden damage. Didn't know you had them in Florida. I just learned something new.

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  14. Aw yes nature is wonderful isn't it? My garden looks awfully sad at the moment except for the few evergreens. Yet I know that year after year the little buds will show their faces and let me know that spring is round the corner waiting for that perfect painting once again. Spring is my favorite time of year when eveything is so fresh.

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  15. Sanddune couldn't have said it better! And anything established should pop its head back up when the temps warm up. I love seeing the new growth amid the brown...so hopeful!

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  16. lol to rusty up there "the winter look is not working for me." i know the feeling. my garden is all brown and white right now - nothing blooming. fortunately, houseplants, seeds and fellow garden bloggers will get us through until spring waxes miraculous again. :)

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  17. We are still a long way from having our yards and gardens make a comeback. But I do look at the fallen leaves and covered plants and think about the future. Sometimes it makes me feel giddy inside thinking of the springtime fun. Bringing all the plants out of the garage, setting up my planting station and making plans. These are the things I think about when I look outside and in my garage where my succulents are sleeping!

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  18. Hey everyone! Sorry its taken so long to respond to your wonderful comments! I've been sick with a cold and its been hard to form clear thoughts with all of this congestion. I miss you guys and hope to be blogging again tomorrow! :)

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