Wine Party by the Fire

Cold, in the 50s and sunny.

Jim surprised me and pulled the old aluminum firepit up from the cellar, put it in the gravel garden, got some firewood, cut it up, and built a fire for us to sit around.  For the past two evenings we have had wine and cheese and crackers, sitting around a fire!  Very romantic.

The overhead floodlights from the upper window illuminate the area, and the flames in the firebowl dance.  It doesn't give off much heat, but it's pretty.  And smoky.  The smell of wood smoke is wonderful, especially on a cold night.  But it gets strong and a little stale on our clothes and hair later on!

The one thing we are lacking is a good table by the chairs.  We need a place to put the cheese tray.  My found stump works great for a glass of wine, but with the lichen on it, we can't put a level tray there.

I do love the look of it, but it isn't all that useful.  What to get for a bigger outdoor table?  Something as rustic as the stump . . .  hmmm.

Trash Hill

Cool and breezy today, in the 50s, but there was sun at times.  We had an inch of rain overnight.

Now that all the leaves are down, I went up on the back hill to see the real damage.  So discouraging.  I already knew we had lost the tuliptree --- that was cut down at the stump.

The back hill four days before the snowstorm.  The tuliptree is now gone.

And one of the sweetgums is decapitated about two feet above ground but lives, with only its lower skirt of branches.  I knew about the maples and oaks that were lost or deformed.  But now, seeing all the damage, with no leaves, it looks like a hill of trash.

What the storm left is encased in bittersweet, at least in the middle section.  I cut back what I could reach but it is like wrestling snakes.  One young oak was literally being bent over by the vines.

What the storm left and the vines didn't get was trashed by the road crews.  They hauled away so much cut brush from the road side, but they also left large branches, stumps, logs and limbs covering some of the young trees, in a little from the roadside and all over the top of the hill.

And there was more actual storm damage than I thought.  Some of the junipers were split in the middle.  The new oak I had planted near the top of the slope in 2010 and babied through that summer's drought and heat --- it snapped off and was lying on its side.

Then, to top it all off, I had not put plastic mesh around the newest of the small whips I planted in the meadow at the bottom of the hill.  Of course bucks found the one maple and one oak not covered up, and shredded the bark.. The oak is not bad, the maple is shredded on one side only but I think it will heal.  I put plastic mesh on them.

It does look like brush, kindling, weeds and broken trash all over.

And it had looked so awesome this summer and early fall.

October 11, 2011

And back in May, 2011

Decorations are Up

Today was warm and almost muggy.  In the mid 60s with rain on the way.

Despite the unseasonable feel, we put up the outside decorations.  This year I didn't feel like struggling with lights at all.  We just went with wreaths on each window, a sprig on the lightpost.  Very low key.

They are held up by suction cup hooks on the glass.  We'll see how well they hold up in cold and wet weather.

I may feel differently later, and may light the little Alberta spruce in front.  For now, I just like the wreaths.

The End

Warmer than it's been for a while --- it's 65 today and not so breezy.

We brought the deck and patio furniture in today.  The chairs and the little bench on the front stoop are put away.  I did keep the lightweight plastic Adirondack chairs out in the gravel garden for a while longer yet.

Winter is coming.

The big bayberry shrub in the back of Meadow's Edge had gotten leggy and sparse at the tops of the branches.  With the snow damage, it looked even worse, so I cut it back by almost half, to a horizontal shrub about two feet high.  We'll see how it rejuvenates.  I tried to get a picture but didn't get a shot that shows the new shape very well.

I did get some nice shots of the startlingly bright red winterberry fruits.

Now It's Really Autumn

In the days after the October 29 snowstorm we had abundant sunshine and it was cold (20s and 30s at night, 40s and 50s in the day).  Now, in mid November it is warmer (60s today) but a lot of dreary overcast skies.

Phil and Becky were here all last week.  We had a great time, even got down to NYC again to see the High Line!  They just left Monday.  Now back to work in the garden - - - 

I dug up the plumbago today and put both of them in big pots in the garage for winter.  I cut back the hops vine (not sure I like its exuberant leafiness massing in the front garden.  I liked the more refined clematis there better.  Next year . . . ?)

Look at the yellowroot!  It started reddish and wine colored in late October but is golden now.

And the fothergilla has colored up. It is always late to put on fall color.  This year it is all golden, there is little of the orange and multi colors of past years.

Without the redbud in front of the guest room window it looks very different. 

November is the best month for the itea too.  It looked rusty red for most of October, but look at the deep, clear garnet now.  Nice.

Bobcat

Gwen got this close up of the bobcat sunning herself in the side yard on Saturday.  Wow.

October 29 Snowstorm

A complete disaster, one of the worst storms in Connecticut history.

We got two feet of wet heavy snow, wires snapped, electricity shut down and we were without power for 7 full days.  Temperatures were in the 20s overnight and in the 50s in the daytime.

The house stayed at 50 degrees.  Very cold, very uncomfortable and very dark at night.  I showered one day at the emergency center in town at the middle school.  One day I showered at Milano's in the spa room.  We hunkered in the dark and went to bed at 7 p.m. every night, or earlier.  It was awful.

Power came on yesterday, November 5, and I am so grateful.  Half of the town and over half of Simsbury, Avon, Farmington and W. Hartford are still out.

Inventory of lost trees:
Most of the back hill maples are topped, snapped off midway.  The tuliptree (I just took pictures of how lush and big it had gotten!) keeled over and uprooted itself.  One sweetgum, so lovely, and growing so well from that little 2 gal. pot I got from Home Depot, has snapped off a foot above the ground.  All the silver maples have self destructed.

In the yard the Oklahoma redbud split in two and is gone; we cleared the branches out and nothing but a stump is left.

The Okame cherry is snapped off, only a foot of bare trunk left.

The new Forest Pansy redbud snapped off about 18 inches above the ground.

The witch hazels spit in two and are quite deformed. but may live.  The largest Tardiva hydrangea is completely without branches, but you can prune them severely to the ground and they regrow, I think.

The katsura tree has almost no leaves now, maybe three spindly branches left.

The pear tree split apart, and all three of Gwen's did too, as well as all three of her cherry trees on our side.  In fact, all over town and all down Day Hill Road the pear trees imploded.  Here's a picture of one on Deerfield, they all pretty much look like this:

The big maples in the yard are very deformed, with half their canopies ripped out awkwardly, but they will live, and may regain shape over the years.

The same for the beautiful flowering dogwood at the corner of the garage.  It is deformed, topped, with its middle chopped out, but it will live and may regain its shape over time as well.  The sourwood survived but lost a branch, which it can't afford since it only grows one small branch a year!

So I will start over with some design ideas, and make gardens where stuff has disappeared or must be cut down.  The river birches and white birches all look good, and the evergreens do too.  The sweetbay magnolia is tilted but I can tie it back straighter I think. The Elizabeth magnolia is lopsided, but will survive.

You know what looks good?  The stiff black gums and the stiffly branched blackhaw viburnums.  The strong oaks, even the small ones, look good.

It was a terrible unseasonable storm.  We are warm now tonight, but most of the town is not and is still dark and cold.

First Frost

Well, it wasn't a typical first frost with a sugary coating on the grass in the morning.  It snowed.  Actually it rained here all yesterday and it snowed slushy heavy snow just a few miles away.

This morning everything was coated in ice.  The deck was very slippery and when I went to check the rain gauge outside, it had frozen solid, with 3/4 of an inch of solid ice in the tube, and I broke the plastic connection trying to empty it out.

back in August

The coleus at the back of the Birch Garden was a slimy black mess, so I took it all out today.  I wanted to do more outside, but the ground was so COLD and it wasn't all that pleasant out despite nice sunshine.

Some Yellow, Some Green, A Little Wine Red

Cloudy, a little rain, some brief sun.  In the 50s.  Rain expected tomorrow.

Another update on fall color: the river birches have turned a lovely yellow, except for the one that is at the front of the berm.  It's still totally green.  

One yellow, one green!  Just a few feet apart.

I think it is due to moisture levels.  The one on the right, which grew so awesomely from an Arborday twig, is at the edge of the berm in a low spot where water puddles.  It has the most rapid growth and lushest form, and I think it colors later because of the extra moisture.  Just guessing.

River Birch in Meadow's Edge

The yellowroot this year is a subtle wine red.  Not as bronzy or copper colored as in previous years.

Wine red in the sun

A softer muted color in shade

Bright and Windy

Bright and windy today.  Cool, in the 50s.

The black gum is coloring, but it's not bright red yet!

Same thing for the stewartia and the dogwood and the sourwood --- all are getting dark, brownish almost, and will likely get deep red next week.

But we are expecting rain, even some light snow in the next days, and I fear the trees will drop leaves before any real color develops.  And if they do color up, it will be too cloudy and dark to take good pictures!  At least today was blue sky and beautiful.

The witch hazels have not shown any color change at all.  Last year the hamamelis vernalis was turning deep gold at this time.

I need to do something about the blueberries.  They look awful each year and I finally have to face the fact they are not doing well under the overhanging amsonias.  Too shaded, too wet from overhead.  Fall color never develops (the new little blueberry planted in the Birch Garden is a nice red color now.)

These blueberries always look awful

Next spring I will dig up the four Northblues and put them in the strip that borders the new gravel garden, where they should have more space and more sun.