Upon a Winter-Kissed, Autumn Day: Magical, First Snowfall in the Garden . . .

 A Snow-Kissed, November Morning Surprise in the Secret Garden

November is an unpredictable month; nebulous skies shifting with blue-grey mystery. One moment the forest is flooded with warm light and the next, swept up in a chill. The first snow fell here yesterday —dusting the garden in a pretty swirl of lacy white — and the balmy days of October are but a beautiful, fading memory.

 Frosted, Starry Helleborus x hybridus Leaves & Winter Blond Hakonechloa macra in the Secret Garden

I’ve a few more garden chores to finish up this month, but with few exceptions, cutting back perennials is not on my list. No, there’s too much charm to be found in a candle-lit, winter garden to let a case of über-tidiness ruin the show. After freezing fog and icy mist settle on a cold autumn night, a morning walk through the crystalline borders is pure, diamond-dust-delight. I prefer to enjoy the frozen blowziness of tufts, tassels and wayward strands throughout the winter, and so, set the shears aside ’till early spring . . .

 Evocative of Fine Venetian Lace, the Garden’s Delicate Textures, Traced in Snow White 

 The Secret Garden Steps, Dotted with Minty Green and Chocolate Brown, then Sprinkled in Confectioner’s Sugar

 Swirling Sangria-Hued Leaves Mix with White, Wind-Driven Snow in the Garden (Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’, Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diablo’, Juniperus chinensis ‘Sargentii’)

 The Mixed Border —Packed with Fruiting Shrubs, Still-Standing Perennials and Ornamental Grasses— Whips About Wildly in the November Wind. Why Surrender the Beauty too Soon? Set Aside the Shears and Sit Back with a Warm Cup of Mulled Cider.

Tea Viburnum Fruits Swing, Radiant as Ruby Chandeliers from Snow-Dusted Branches (Viburnum setigerum)

 Siberian Cypress (Microbiota decussata) and Wooly Thyme (Thymus pseudolanuginosus) on the North Ridge Path

 Bittersweet Strands of White-Tufted Flame Grass Dance Agains the Blue-Green Curtain of Conifers (Miscanthus sinensis purpurascens)

 The Pretty, White, Vertical Lines of Paper Birch Carry the Eye Up and Onward, Through the Snow-Swirled Rusty-Grey Hills

Photography & Textâ“’ Michaela Medina Harlow/The Gardener’s Eden. All photographs, artwork, articles and content on this site (with noted exceptions), are the original, copyrighted property of Michaela Medina Harlow and/or The Gardener’s Eden and may not be reposted, reproduced or used in any way without prior written consent. Contact information is in the left side bar. Please do not take my photographs without asking first. Thank you!

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