CHANGEABLE FEBRUARY

I always have to remind myself that winter in Raleigh, NC is not over until February is gone. This year I just heard that the Jet Stream is always playing with the weather and this winter the dips have brought abundant cold, wind,  snow and ice to us. Ours is usually a gentle snow that is melted away within a week as the temperatures fluctuate between below 30' and even up to 50' throughout the month. In the meantime we enjoy and sometimes lament the changes we see in the gardens. The winds do a pretty good job of pruning the weak and dead tree branches. 

The dead wood in the trees can come down hard and ruin an older plant specimen in a heartbeat. The Tulip Poplar branch on the ground has bisected a 5 year old Daphne odora. 

Ill try gently tying the two halves together and wait for new growth later in April and cross fingers that it recovers. 

On the upside of the wind pruning. Every Feb. and March the gales that whip over my roof prune a 30 foot China Fir. I find the branchlets thrown as much as 40-50' away. Like the Sweet-gum tree if this plant were in the wrong place it would be an unwanted specimen.  I take about 15 minutes to gather up the branchlets with a rake and heavy pair of gloves and place them under the tree each year. The natural mulch  skirt looks pleasant to me and by mid summer the Vinca minor (Periwinkle) has crept up through and hidden all the brown. 

If the snowfall is a light dusting over my warmed rock terraces I get a white patchwork look for awhile. 

The deck looks more Zen  like than ever. I like the calm feeling this view gives me as a change from the cottage style planting in my other garden spaces. 

Now, the paths take center stage among the bare branches and evergreen plants .

February is always a time I like to cut budding branches and place them in the windowsill to enjoy the sight of the unfolding and scent of the flowers. 

I have an Edgeworthia chrysantha and a ' Jet Trail ' Quince in this little display. 

When all else fails to cheer up your gloomy February drag out some remembrances of the warm days in the garden. Old Mr. Sun ( he looks like a Mr. to me) is frowning on the icy sight he sees out the window to the right. The frogs, out of hybernation, remind me to keep up the yoga, and the chickens, painted by Kathleen Jardin, brighten up the display pecking in the golden sunshine of coming summer. I have a wonderful friend that told me the other day , " I want to remember this cold in the heat of summer." Maybe that mental trick will work for me when it's too hot to work in the garden.